The perception of the disabled community has somewhat changed through films released in the past few years. From the French comedy-drama film The Intouchables (nominated for eight César Awards in 2012), which tells the story of a rich man who becomes quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, and decides to hire a young man from the projects to be his caretaker; to a funny and touching Belgian movie, Hasta la vista, which describes the journey of young disabled characters going from Belgium to Spain, hoping – as normal teenagers do – to have their first sexual experience, the message is clear: they are normal people too.
Whether the everyday-life conditions of the disabled community has improved or not, they still face a battle. A great deal of the Deaf community, for example, is affected by unemployment, and once they get a job, promotions are rare. If the Deaf community faces difficulties in society, is society ready to hear them?
It is usually said “music soothes the soul” and EO Horizons takes this proverb perfectly into practice. Their work proves that music is the universal language of emotions; even though scientifically, it is not proven that musical emotions are biological or simply a product of our culture. Western music, Eastern music, African music… All cultures produce music and seem to be sensitive to it. Whether you are a great musician, or if you like humming under the shower, or even if you are deaf!
By developing the Deaf arts scene, EO Horizons makes its mission to empower and to better integrate the deaf community into a society sometimes hostile to differences. Moreover, in order to create bridges between the Hearing and the Deaf, EO Horizons organizes classes of sign language.
Thus, the social enterprise, ExtraOrdinary Horizons, run by Deaf people from Singapore, which brings awareness and knowledge about the Deaf community to the world, shows us that Deaf people can enjoy, feel and live music like everybody else. And, actually, I am sure that thanks to this video the Deaf will rock you!
So, get involved for a brilliant deaf future!
