Hearing -impaired guides offer special tours

HCM City (VNA) - Hearing-impaired foreign tourists should no longer
be concerned about visiting Vietnam .

That's according to Hoang Thi Minh Thi, director of Smile Tours Service
Int. Co. Ltd, whose company has started a tour aimed specifically at deaf
tourists.

The guides to this special tour can relate to their clients - they are
hearing impaired themselves.

Huynh Quang Dung, Dinh Tuyet Mai, Ho Hai Dang Khoa and Ton Tuan Anh are
Vietnam 's first deaf tour guides.

They learned their new profession through a free training course offered
by Thi. The course taught them international sign language, tour guide
skills and information on Vietnam 's history, culture and society.

Teaching them was not always easy, Thi said.

Their vocabulary was very limited and they had minimal knowledge of
society and politics. When she tried to teach them some abstract
architectural terms, they simply did not understand, she recalled.

However, through hard work and perseverance, the learners overcame their
difficulties and have found success.

Hearing-impaired tourists guided by the group said that they had a great
time while visiting the country. "During the tours, we visited schools and
clubs for the hearing-impaired. We hope to return to Vietnam and travel
to other places in the near future," said an Australian tourist.

So far, the group has guided three tours for deaf foreign tourists.
Destinations have included HCM City and Tien Giang province's My Tho
City.

Tour guide Dung said he enjoyed his job. He especially enjoyed being able
to travel and work with people who also have hearing difficulties.

He and the rest of the group are keen to show that disabled people can
work just as well as everyone else.

Thi said Dung and his colleagues were studious and could become
professional tour guides in the future.

"I am very happy and satisfied with them. In previous tours, I'd go with
them. Now I let them go without me. I have full confidence in them," Thi
said.

The idea to start travel tours for deaf people came at the suggestion of
an American friend of Thi's. He wanted to bring deaf Americans to Vietnam
, but couldn't find any local groups to guide them.

Thi loved the idea and went about turning it into reality. She was also
motivated by creating jobs for the deaf, who she felt were marginalised by
society.

Despite facing obstacles, Thi was able to establish the training course
with the support and encouragement of her friends.

Thi was also careful to note that her company services not only the deaf,
but all those with disabilities. She hopes Vietnam will be an attractive
destination for all the world's people, the disabled not least among
them.-Enditem