Japanese Federation of the Deaf

from 15 April 2006 Issue of Japanese Deaf News, JFD’s monthly newspaper:

Feb. 14~16, 2006, UN ESCAP Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand

Making Inputs from the Standpoint of the Deaf

Participants of ILO Expert Group Meeting (Front row, extreme left: Director Ogura of WFD RSA/P)

ILO (International Labour Organization) held a 3-day meeting on “Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Vocational Training” from February 14 to February 16, 2006 at the UN ESCAP Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Participants of the meeting were governmental officials and representatives of corporate employer organizations as well as representatives of persons with disabilities including Mr. Topong Kulkhanchit (DPI Asia-Pacific), representatives of blind organizations from Malaysia and Thailand, and Director Ogura of WFD RSA/P.

On both February 14th and 15th, a video conference was set up, connecting the Bangkok Workshop and the ILO headquarters in Geneva. Ms. Barbara Murray, ILO Senior Specialist on Disability participated in the discussion from Geneva, together with her colleagues.

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from February 2006 Issue of Japanese Deaf News, JFD’s monthly newspaper:

Gifts of TV Sets, DVD Players and School Supplies

Pres. Ando receives a present from students in return for his gift of TV and DVD sets, and
school supplies. (National School for the Deaf in Mandalay)

The Japanese Federation of the Deaf dispatched its President, Mr. Toyoki Ando, and members of the staff to 3 countries in Asia from November 25 to December 3, 2005. The delegation visited Myanmar and Cambodia and discussed future directions of assistance utilizing the Asian Deaf Friendship Fund (ADFF). In Thailand, they visited the Asia- Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) and the office of the National Association of the Deaf in Thailand (NADT) for exchanges of views.

Two Schools in Myanmar

President Ando and his staff entered Myanmar on November 25, 2005. They visited the Myanmar National School for the Deaf in Mandalay on the 26 and the 27. The School was established in 1987 with roughly 50 students. Now the school has 210 students, 140 commuting and 70 boarding. There are 24 teachers, of which 5 are Deaf graduates of the same school.

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from 15 January 2006 Issue of Japanese Deaf News, JFD’s monthly newspaper:

JICA’s Distant Communication Technology Enables Communication in Sign Language

Japanese Participants: (from left) Miyuki Nakagawa, Takuji Wada,
Mizuho Kajiwara, Hisako Hirai､Kaori Shimizu
(JICA Tokyo International Center, Dec.9, 2005)

A video conference connecting Japan and Uzbekistan via ISDN line was conducted successfully and deaf participants from the two countries enjoyed discussion in sign language. The video conference was made possible by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s distant technical cooperation project (JICA-Net). The conference was held on the evening of Dec.9, 2005 at JICA Tokyo International Center with 5 participants from each country.

Director Takeo Ogura of WFD Regional Secretariat in Asia/Pacific (RSA/P) facilitated the video conference. Mr. Yasushi Inaba, the Director of the Uzbek-Japanese Human Resource Development Center, gave an opening speech in which he said, “We offer a computer course for the Deaf at the Uzbek-Japanese Human Resource Development Center. The students have been requesting an opportunity to exchange opinions with Japanese Deaf people. I am glad that we could finally make it happen with the video conferencing system.” Participants at both venues welcomed the speech by waving their hands at the same time on the screen.

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