To celebrate International Museum Day 2018, the Tainan-based National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) will hold a special exhibition featuring deaf culture from May 18 through June 17.
Titled "Special Exhibition of Deaf Culture: Deaf People Can Do Anything," the exhibition is curated to echo the theme "Hyperconnected museums: New approaches, new publics" of International Museum Day 2018.
As one of the largest exhibitions of the 2018 Tainan Museum Festival, the special exhibition is co-organized by the Department of Visual Arts and Design and the Department of Special Education of the National University of Tainan, Alumni Association of the Affiliated Hearing Impaired School of National University of Tainan, and the ROC National Association of the Deaf.
The exhibition hopes to highlight equal cultural access and cultural participation for deaf individuals by echoing the Deaf President Now movement in the U.S., which successfully made Dr. King Jordan, who once said "deaf people can do anything hearing people can do, except hear," the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in 1988.
The movement helped boost the confidence of deaf individuals and raised awareness worldwide. People with disabilities in Taiwan were also encouraged to launch a campaign promoting equal access to information and culture in 2013, pushing museums in Taiwan to pay more attention to the cultural rights of people with disabilities.
In response to the Ministry of Culture's policies on equal opportunities in culture, NMTL formed a task team in 2014 responsible for implementing cultural equality, including conducting service training for assisting visitors with hearing impairments and organizing book clubs for deaf individuals.
NMTL has also launched a sign-language mobile application for guiding deaf visitors around the museum, and held several forums on deaf culture over the past three years. This year, the museum hopes to connect members of the general public and deaf individuals through specially curated exhibitions.
Additional film screenings, educational activities, and forums accompanied by simultaneous interpretation through sign language demonstrations and transcriptions will also be held at the museum. For more information, please visit the NTML's website.
‘Special Exhibition of Deaf Culture: Deaf People Can Do Anything’
- Date: May 18 – June 18, 2018
- Venue: National Museum of Taiwan Literature
- Address: No. 1 Zhongzheng Rd., West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan (ROC)
- Event Site: Facebook page