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What is Bay Area
Asian Deaf Association (BAADA)?
BAADA has sponsored
a number of activities to meet its goals of heightening the culture and improving
the quality of life for Deaf Asian-Americans including:
A variety of social activities such as Chinese and Iranian New Year
parties; Asian Food Festivals; informal gatherings and other social activities.
A number of projects designed to increase self-esteem and foster positive
self-identify among Deaf Asian youth and adults including participation in Chinese
New Year Parade festivities; a service program for Deaf Asians and other projects.
Programs designed to increase understanding and awareness of the lives
and cultures of Deaf Asians including workshops on communication and identify;
orientation program of hearing Asian families with Deaf family members; theatre
presentations on the lives of Deaf immigrants and other programs.
Recreational activities designed to foster interaction among Deaf and
hearing Asian-American youth and adults including picnics, annual bowling events
and other activities.
BAADA's mission is to promote personal and community development, network, cultural awareness, education, advocacy and the interests of the Asian Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community of San Francisco Bay Area. BAADA also enhances the celebration of cultural diversity in our community.
The mission of
BAADA shall be to:
To advocate
for and serve the needs of Asian people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
To promote various issues of interest to Asian Deaf and Hard of Hearing
people.
To enhance recognition and achievements of Asian Deaf and Hard of Hearing
people.
To empower Asian Deaf and Hard of Hearing people and help them develop
self-esteem.
To enrich Asian Deaf traditions and culture.
To provide a network to facilitate communication, understanding and
friendship among the national and international Asian Deaf and Hard of Hearing
communities.
To promote and support Family and Community Education with regard to
Asian Deaf issues, Deaf Culture, Community and American Sign Language.
To host annual events.
Participants
Many BAADA members
come from a home in which English is not the first language, and bring to the
program the language and culture of another country. The majority of BAADA participants
use ASL here as well as their native sign language in their own country.
History of BAADA
The number of Deaf
Asian People has been increasing in the Bay Area since the 1980s. Most
of them immigrated from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and other Asian countries.
They would like to share their culture and tradition with the American people.
Cheryl Wu and Judy Ho have worked hard to set up the first National Conference
called Access Silent Asia Conference. It was held at the Holiday Inn in SF Chinatown
in 1994 with the help of several committees. After the successful conference,
Greater Washington Association of Deaf Asian (GWADA) was established in the
Washington DC Area in July 1994. BAADA was formed to set up its local association
at the Deaf Community Center in June 1995. They have held many Deaf events such
as Chinese New Year, Moon Festival, Iranian New Year, bowling and Japanese Cherry
Bloom Festival. In addition, they have also held various workshops and presented
the play called The Color of Deaf directed by Don Bangs for two
weekends in November 2000. As the years progress BAADA has been serving more
Asian Deaf Community to develop awareness and knowledge about self-identify
and empowerment.
Future
of BAADA
BAADA will host the 2007 Conference of the National Asian Deaf Congress in San
Francisco on June 30 - July 4, 2007. This conference will include workshops
and political and social activities designed to advance the welfare of Asian
Deaf people.