A Voice in the World of Silence

CEBU, Philippines – In every one thousand population there are three deaf persons. That’s bad enough, but worse – one out of three deaf women and children are being abused. These are data gathered by the Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme, Inc. (GVSP) in Cebu.

This is the situation that Janice Aparri is coming from. She claims to have been a victim of molestation, apart from being discriminated against for being deaf. But, instead of letting her condition bring her down, Janice insists to live normally like other people with no such disability.

And she has quite succeeded. Janice is now a court interpreter assisting in cases involving deaf persons. She stands as the voice of the deaf before the court.

The second and only girl among four children, Janice was not born deaf. It was a household accident that brought about her condition. When she was two years old, she accidentally fell from the stairs. Years after, her family noticed that she could not hear them anymore.

At age seven, she went to a school for the deaf. She learned how to read and write just like the normal children. But she had to be trained in lip reading, to be able to engage in conversations.

Her brother, Jayliben, said there were times when other kids did not want to play with Janice, but she would insist and played her best. Jayliben was proud to share that his sister excels in everything. She graduated valedictorian in high school and had various awards in curricular activities. She wanted to go far, do a lot of things – especially to finish a four-year course. Unfortunately, their late mother did not allow her; perhaps thinking that a deaf girl was particularly vulnerable in a fierce world.

Eventually, though, her mother conceded. She allowed Janice to take a vocational course in computer programming. The deaf girl finished the course, after which she got a job in a company. Part of her pay went to her mother, of course.

There were instances at work when she felt degraded. When she started, she was not told how much would be her salary. By reading her co-workers lips, she knew they were calling her “amang,” a demeaning term for those without the facility for normal speech. They would talk about her right in her presence, even mimic her sign language mockingly. 

In her early 20s, something happened that motivated her in a big way to get to where she is right now. This was when her molestation took place – by her own stepfather. The sad thing was that her mother would not believe it.

It took her around three years – until her mother died in 2007 – to finally tell a cousin about it. Her story got to the other relatives too. Everybody was determined to seek justice for her. Jayliben understood their mother’s reluctance; she was one who would not want trouble.

A case was filed against the stepfather but did not prosper due partly to the fact that it was difficult to litigate a case involving a victim who could not speak. Two years ago, when GVSP launched the “Break the Silence Project,” a program providing court interpreters during hearings of cases involving deaf persons, Janice willingly signed up. She did not want her own experience to be repeated with other deaf victims.

“When I started [as court interpreter] my own experience was already resolved,” Janice gestures. “I want to empower other deaf girls, being a former victim myself.”

 Janice Aparri is the vice president of the Cebu Gualandi Association of the Deaf, Inc (CGAD). She has already handled at least 26 cases involving abuses on deaf persons. She has, indeed, become the voice in their world of silence.