"OPEN your ears." "What are your dreams?"
These two phrases seem to have nothing in common, but actually they are equally inapplicable and difficult to understand for deaf people. For more than six years, however, Slavina Lozanova has been trying to change this.
Slavina is a speech-hearing therapist. Now aged 30, she has devoted much of her life to teach deaf people how to speak and communicate freely both in English and Bulgarian.
In 1997, Slavina graduated defectology - a science studying development problems experienced by mentally and physically disabled children, children with impaired sight or hearing, deviant behaviour patterns. It is a science requiring knowledge in the areas of psychology, psychopathology, neurology, medicine used by Slavina in her work with hard of hearing young people between 15 and 30 years of age.
"People tend to think that hard of hearing means necessarily that a person can perceive absolutely nothing through their hearing. But this is a myth," Slavina says. Indeed, there are people with heavy hearing losses, but even they can perceive sounds, though in the form of vibrations going through their body. "On the other hand, there are people who cannot perceive only certain low-frequently sounds, such as p, t, k. Thus, the quality of speech is also affected. Can you imagine a sentence without these sounds? It will sound like a foreign language. Yet other senses can be put to use and help a lot. For example, the Bulgarian sound for "s" as in the word "see" and the sound for "sh" as in "shell" can be taught by making a deaf person recognise the warmth of air stream in the production of these sounds. Try it. When you produce "s" against the back of your hand, you can see your breath feels kind of cold, while when you produce "sh" - a much warmer air touches your skin," Slavena explains one of the ways to help the hard of hearing pronounce correctly sounds and words. Pronunciation is actually their main problem, because they can easily read one's lips and understand perfectly what one is talking about. "One cannot hide a thing from the people with impaired hearing," Slavena says, all smiles. "This is because one has to be very emotional and dedicated to the work with people with hearing problems. They are very selective and prefer someone who is just as emotional as they are, a person willing to understand and accept them and their problem. They do not need your pity. They can detect pity immediately and withdraw from you. The best approach one can choose is to accept the fact that this is a totally different world," Slavina says, evaluating the impact of this world on her as a therapist. "It is a two-sided process, you see. I am also influenced by my work with deaf people. They do not let you grow old, that is, they will not let you become a slave to routine. They are always in search of a lively communication with someone who accepts them as equals. Thus, they draw energy from you, but they also give you plenty of it in return," Slavena says, now in her capacity as a psychologist.
"To communicate with people who have that kind of problem, you have to know their world very well, their needs, their interests, their personal story. You see, sign language contains no signs for abstract words and notions. So, to explain words like daydream, love, envy, ambition, sympathy, spite, egoism, you have to try and help the person put themselves in a situation in which he/she experiences those emotions," Slavena says, remembering a case when she and one of her patients had to translate a text from the famous Bulgarian novel "Under the Yoke" into the sign language. The bit they had to tackle touched on the love between the main characters - Rada and Boicho Ognianov. Slavena's student, however, was very puzzled how come Rada loved Boicho so much she was ready to die for him. "So, I had to put her in the characters' shoes and give an example through a situation from her own life." This lack of abstract notions in the communication used by deaf people suggests a purity in their world. "This is what they teach me in return," Slavena says.