The culture of those with a hearing impairment is based on the culture of the hearing majority. It is our social responsibility to give the hearing-impaired the chance to experience a specially adjusted performance for their needs, “because not hearing does not equal not perceiving”.

PRO VIDA participated in the organization of the pilot project: Popolvár – a musical for the hearing-impaired performed by the Slovak National Theater Ballet. Thanks to this musical nearly 500 children with a hearing impairment were able to experience the atmosphere of a musical on October 6, 2008.

Theater performance: A BUG WAS BORN

Given the big success of the pilot project, PRO VIDA together with the Slovak National Theater and hearing-impaired artists decided to organize another children’s production A Bug was Born, translated into sign-language.

More than 500 hearing-impaired children experienced the atmosphere of a theater performance.

These types of cultural events connect the hearts of the organizers as well as allow those who have a perfect hearing to understand the “silent world” of the hearing-impaired.

Baseline situation before this project began

From the medical perspective, people who have a hearing impairment are considered patients with a certain problem where all resources should be utilized to help them adjust to the hearing majority.

Hearing impairment is considered to be an invisible disability because you cannot determine that someone is deaf only by looking at them. Hearing impairment usually does not cause a physical pain and can therefore be identified quiet late.

Hearing impairment has also social and emotional consequences where insufficient opportunity for communication gets reflected in inter-personal relations, which provide the basis for our role in groups and building new relationships.