Love Ideas HK Programme - “Learning Sign Language - Start from Infants”

Recently the Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies participated in the “Love Ideas HK” Programme initiated by the Li Ka Shing Foundation and submitted a proposal for a cultural project named “Learning Sign Language - Start from Infants” which aims at promoting inclusion of the Deaf and letting infants, parents and teachers learn more about sign language and Deaf culture. The project was successfully elected by the public, and the Centre received a HKD $200,000 grant from the Li Ka Shing Foundation for implementation from September 2012 to August 2013.

Currently two day crèches under Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children - Air Cargo Community Day Crèche and SIA Shaukiwan Day Crèche have joined the project and have yielded positive results. Activities held so far included on-site sign language activities for infants, parent talks, sign language training to teachers, sharing sessions, seminars and parents’ workshop. The project is planning to reach more early education institutes in the second half of the project.