Two young women have won accolades for their performances in a small-budget film, which is a true-to-life depiction of their experiences overcoming hearing impairments and battling discrimination.
Chiang Wen-yi (江文頤) and Lin Ching-lan (林靖嵐), who were cast in the leading roles, attended the film’s premiere on Wednesday last week to meet the audience and speak about their experiences.
The film, Use Your Heart to Listen for Happiness (用心聽見幸福), was based on true stories of the struggles and difficulties encountered by people with hearing impairments.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
The storyline revolves around two friends who have hearing impairments, with Chiang in the role of Hsiao-yun (曉雲), and Lin playing her namesake, Ching-lan (靖嵐).
Hsiao-yun is an office worker and, due to her impaired hearing, she has to put in more effort and time than her colleagues to succeed at her job.
Due to her persistence and determination to achieve success at work, she is finally accepted by her in-laws.
Ching-lan is a young woman with a passion for dance.
By practicing diligently, she fulfills her dream of becoming a professional dancer and subsequently founds Taiwan’s first troupe for hearing-impaired dancers, giving them the confidence to strive for their dreams.
The storyline closely mirrors the pairs’ real-life experiences while giving insight into the inner world of the hearing impaired, which is seldom touched upon in commercial films.
Both women are amateur actors and others in the cast were also hearing impaired.
“Hearing impairment is like being near-sighted for most people; it causes inconvenience in daily life. Vision problems can be corrected by wearing eyeglasses. Hearing problems can be helped by wearing a hearing aid, along with learning sign language, lip reading and undergoing speech therapy,” Chiang said.
“When these hearing aids and skills can be utilized, our intelligence and ability to work will not be affected much. On the contrary, when a hearing impairment can be overcome, it can stimulate hidden potential and bring out further capabilities,” she added.
With a moderate degree of hearing impairment, she has worn a hearing aid since childhood.
Thanks to her parents’ whole-hearted support of her education, Chiang underwent speech therapy, and made good progress in school.
She is a role model for other hearing-impaired people as she passed her examinations to enter university and obtained a post-graduate degree from the College of Management at Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan County.
She currently works at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world’s top contract chipmaker.
Lin has been severely hearing impaired since birth.
She graduated from university with a degree in special education while keeping up her love of dancing.
In the Taipei Deaflympic Games in 2009, Lin won a silver medal in dance.
Later, she started a dance troupe to teach dance to physically challenged children.
The film was produced by an organization for the rights of the hearing impaired — the Sound Home Alliance Association.
“We cannot change their conditions. Some people are born deaf, but through education, they can break out from their silent world. We can lead advocacy campaigns for the public to understand the inner world of deaf people,” association honorary chairperson Mo Su-chuan (莫素娟) said.
“We want to show society: Do not let hearing impairments impede social interaction. It is also our aim to inspire deaf people, to allow them to understand that the road to success can be made only by hard work,” Mo said.
Several screenings of the film with panel discussions are scheduled for cities across the nation over the next few months.
The film is also available on YouTube.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS