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   “The new methodology, which replaced the old Oralism (speech and lip-reading), has helped deaf students to improve academically and some of them are very well-established now,” she said in an interview.

   To show their appreciation, she said 323 of the school’s former students in Penang and Kedah have sent a stack of signatures with the heading, Thank You for Approving the Total Communication to Dr Mahathir recently.

   Also present were four former students, including two who were from the first batch of Total Communication class.

   Saleena said: “Without Dr Mahathir, deaf students would not be able to communicate with the rest of the world using sign language and we wish him a happy retirement.”

   Chung Kim Cheong, 56, who is now a warden at the school, thanked Dr Mahathir for looking after the handicapped.

   Chung, who experienced Oralism and the new methodology, recalled the shortcomings of the former and its effects on students.

   “Deaf students, who often failed to lip read their teachers, were punished and did not manage to learn anything from school,” he said, through sign language.

   Chan Hock Joo, 50, an assistant planning officer in the Department of Town and Country Planning at Penang Development Corporation (PDC), thanked the Prime Minister for reducing income tax on the handicapped seven years ago.

   “I also thank him for exempting the handicapped from paying the annual road tax,” he gestured.

   Sharon Ong, 24, a computer programming coordinator and Tan Mei Ling, 27, a clerk at YMCA, said they were thankful that Total Communication was already in use when they started schooling.

   “Although I did not have to suffer from Oralism, I am thankful to Dr Mahathir for approving Total Communication,” Ong indicated.

   “It has opened the doors of the deaf society to the world and enabled us to communicate with the hearing community,” Tan gestured.

   Referring to the Prime Minister as ‘Bapa Kebajikan' (Father of Welfare), the federation has invited him to its 50th anniversary celebration next year.

   “About 800 former students will be attending the gathering next year and we sincerely hope that Dr Mahathir would be the guest-of-honour,” Saleena said.

From the deaf with love By Elizabeth Looi
	(From left)Chung,Chan,Tan,Saleena and Sharon looking at the 323 signatures collected from former students.