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The international conference DeafSkills will be held in Russia in the spring of 2021

At the same time, with the support of the youth organization of the Deaf "Success", the all-Russian championships for professional skills "DeafSkills" will be held.


MOSCOW, December 5 /TASS/.

The International Association of DeafSkills, dealing with the problem of employment of the deaf and hard of hearing, will hold a conference on education and employment of people with hearing disabilities in the Moscow region in April 2021, the head of the Association, President of the all-Russian society of the Deaf (VOG), a board member of the World Federation of the Deaf, Stanislav Ivanov told TASS on Saturday. He added that at the same time, with the support of the youth organization of the Deaf "Success", the all-Russian championship in professional skills DeafSkills will be held.

"In 2018, the Russian branch of The Association of DeafSkills - the youth organization for the deaf "Success" - won a grant from the United Nations Democracy Fund to host the national DeafSkills championship in Russia. It was supposed to take place in April 2020, but for obvious reasons, it was postponed to the spring of 2021. On the same days, an international conference will be held on the issues of education and employment of the deaf. The Moscow region was chosen as the venue on a competitive basis, " Ivanov said.The exact place and time of the conference and championship will be announced later, he said.

The DeafSkills Association unites public organizations that support the deaf in Russia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other countries. The Association was established on December 5, 2015, and this year it will be five years old. Its goal is to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people obtain professional education and employment.

WHY SEPARATE COMPETITIONS ARE HELD FOR PEOPLE WITH HEARING DISABILITIES

The head of DeafSkills notes that in recent years, professional skill Championships have been held, including among the disabled, but people with hearing disabilities almost do not participate in them. This prompted the establishment of special competitions for the deaf and hard of hearing.

"There was already two strong international organization which was engaged in carrying out of competitions of professional skill: WorldSkills for students and Abilympics for people with disabilities. For obvious reasons, hearing impaired people were very rarely admitted to WorldSkills, and very few were admitted to international Abilympics. Moreover, the Deaf themselves did not know anything about these contests. In sports, too, there is such a division - the Olympics, Paralympics and separately Deaflympics," explained Stanislav Ivanov, the President of DeafSkills.

The first Russian DeafSkills championship was held in 2017 in Kazan, where about 80 participants competed in ten popular professions. "The results of the championship are still visible - many new courses and programs have been organized in Tatarstan to train people with hearing disabilities, the employment situation has changed, and young leaders with hearing disabilities have grown," says the head of DeafSkills.

FIVE YEARS OF OPERATION OF DEAFSKILLS

The problem of employment of people with hearing disabilities is relevant for the whole world since these people often live behind a "communication fence", but this problem is especially relevant for the post-Soviet space, says Ivanov.

"It is precisely in the post-Soviet territories, where until the 90s enterprises that successfully employed deaf employees successfully developed, that problems with obtaining professional education and employment are now particularly felt. In Russia, less than 20% of school leavers with hearing disabilities continue their education, " he said.

For five years of work, the Association has held professional skill Championships in all countries participating in the DeafSkills movement, managed to draw the attention of officials and employers to the problems of young people with hearing disorders, says Stanislav Ivanov.

"There are a lot of talented sculptors, artists, jewelers, fashion designers among deaf people. With proper training, the deaf becomes brilliant engineers. This is an example of studying at Russian universities - Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Kazan national research technical University named after A. N. Tupolev-Kazan aviation Institute, and at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and at the famous University of Rochester (RIT/NTID) in the United States, non-hearing students show very high results and subsequently build a successful career. And this should be the case everywhere," the head of the Association concludes.

Source: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/10179433

Tags: #DeafSkills #YoungPeople #Success