Yau Shun-Chiu at CNAM -chinese sign language linguistics

Yau Shun-Chiu works for the CNRS on linguistics of Chinese sign language. He spoke to us on the blind and deaf people in China. He gave some historical background, his experience is mostly based on Quangzhou – he has contact with a school there where he has been giving out some financial help. He gave some official Chinese statistics but he was not too confident about their accuracy. He thought that they might be too optimistic. I found his talk interesting and I asked him at the end a question on the use of computers in schools for the blind. He said he was sure that they were very much into the use of computers but not for those of the older generation. I found him not very forthcoming – inspite of my addressing him in our native Cantonese dialect. I am not sure whether it is his usual manner or me or something else. I have been doing my own research and I was surprised that he did not cover certain aspects. But that is a my own personal perspective and he might have a totally different take on disability. It is true that in Chinese the word ‘ deaf’ did not have any connotations of deafness and it is the sound of the word which is indicated in the calligraphy. This is in comparison with the word ‘disability’, ‘charn zart’ which has all the negative connotations which went with a word which means ‘wasted, faded.” I grew up with the word “charn fei” which means ‘wasted and useless”. He did not at all mention the word-perhaps this is only in the usage for motor disabilities and is not at all connected with blindness or deafness. He has many articles published on Chinese sign language.