Organisation of Conferences and Seminars

Deaf Dialogue

Date: 13/06/2011 - 17/06/2011

The Nippon Foundation set in motion the first ‘dialogue’ meetings as a means for young, up-and-coming leaders in Asia to interact and engage in meaningful dialogue on a central theme - ‘Building a Better Asia’. After the success of the first dialogue meeting with young Asian intellectuals in Beijing, China, in December 2006, The Nippon Foundation began to explore the possibility of having similar meetings for young persons who are blind, deaf, or physically challenged. In line with its long-standing commitment to these groups of people, The Nippon Foundation places great importance on inviting such individuals to contribute their ideas about the developmental priorities essential to building a better and more inclusive Asia. In July 2008, a dialogue meeting was held for young blind Asian leaders in Bangkok, Thailand.

In line with the spirit of the previous dialogue meetings, the ‘Deaf Dialogue’ events were set up to provide a platform for young deaf individuals from different parts of Asia to exchange their views on how they can proactively contribute to building a better Asia and Asian deaf communities. To pilot this initiative, former Asian deaf scholarship recipients and other deaf beneficiaries of educational projects funded by The Nippon Foundation were invited to participate in these event series.

Three ‘Deaf Dialogue’ events were held at CUHK in December 2009, August 2010 and June 2011, respectively. Deaf trainees in the APSL higher diploma programme were invited to participate in the events, and had fruitful discussions with the deaf participants from throughout Asia.

For more details about Deaf Dialogue, please visit the official website: http://deaf-dialogue.net.