Damascus, Syria - August 18, 2024

Members of Syria's deaf community are creating new sign language characters to enable them to talk about war and natural disasters.

Farah Altal, a sign language interpreter from Damascus, developed an interest in sign language while studying biology. She observed that certain terms, particularly those related to conflict and natural disasters that have emerged in recent years, lacked corresponding sign language characters.

Over the past decade, Farah has played a pivotal role in creating many of the new signs used by the deaf community to discuss and address potential risks. As an accredited interpreter, she conducts meetings with community members to determine the appropriate signs for newly introduced phrases.

The new sign language characters are disseminated online. Members of Syria's deaf community are advised to regularly check their mobile phones for alerts regarding natural disasters or other crises. They can view posted images of incidents and exchange information about locations and safe escape routes with one another.

Mariam is a lady with hearing loss from a rural area of Damascus. When an earthquake hit western Syria earlier this month, she did not feel the tremor. It was a phone message from her sister, featuring a character created after last year's big quake in Syria and Turkiye, that prompted her to take action.

Accurate data on the number of people living with hearing disabilities in Syria is difficult to access.

But the United Nations estimates the number of deaf people in Syria could be higher than in other countries, due to factors including injuries caused by war.

Shotlist:
Damascus, Syria - Aug 18, 2024:
1. Various of Farah Altal, sign language interpreter, with deaf people;
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Farah Altal, sign language interpreter:
"There are words that do not have sign language characters. The deaf create a sign for it that can be suitable and descriptive, and then it is accredited and published online so it can reach deaf people everywhere.";
3. Various of Farah with deaf people;
4. Various of Farah check video on phone;
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Farah Altal, sign language interpreter:
"They post the news on Instagram and Facebook with embedded photos. The photo is an example of one that shows the location. They will send us the photos and we can explain more to them.";
6. Various of deaf people discussing with sign language;
7. SOUNDBITE (sign language, with Arabic interpretation) Mariam Ahmad, Syrian resident:
"At night, I did not know that an earthquake hit. I was writing something and people were outside. My deaf sister made a video call and told me that there was a quake that I did not feel. This is the positive aspect of our created ideas.";
8. Various of Farah, deaf people discussing with sign language;
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Farah Altal, sign language interpreter:
"The number of deaf could increase due to the war and events that we have gone through, in addition to the hearing pollution and the endogamy in rural areas in Syria.";
10. Traffic.

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