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Jennifer Ngo

"Deaf people can do anything."
Dancer Fred Beam, who made the bold statement using sign language, should know.
Beam is director of American dance group the Wild Zappers, made up entirely of hearing-impaired dancers.
"Who uses ears to dance? You use your whole body to dance - not your ears. We can move, and move well," he said.
The Zappers were among four groups of disabled artists who performed in Hong Kong in a campaign to boost disabled people's employment opportunities.
They perform their hip-hop and funk styles using a count of eight with vibrations from the music and the minimal hearing of some members.
"[Deaf people] aren't all the same," dancer Tara Miles-Downing said. "We can use residual hearing, hearing aides, hearing implants or peripheral vision ... A variety of ways [to dance]."
Similarly, Thai multi-instrumentalist Yongsit Yongkamol defied his visual impairment to play saxophone at a professional level; pianist Lee Hee-ah took on challenging classical pieces by Beethoven and Chopin with just two fingers on each hand, and all-blind Taiwanese a capella group the Bleinders sang without any supporting instruments.
"We can use loss to … help others. I play music because it makes me happy. So I perform to give that happy feeling to others too," Yongkamol said.
Yongkamol started learning instruments at age five, often spending months to learn one classical piece on the saxophone - which he played in Hong Kong on Saturday.
He now teaches music at the secondary school he graduated from - a rare opportunity, he said, because disabled people have a hard time finding jobs in Thailand. He also writes Braille music sheets for other blind students interested in music.
"More than 70 per cent of employed blind people [in Taiwan] are masseuses," said Wayne Lu, who sings bass in the Bleinders.
Taiwan Choral Music Centre director Ray Chu said he founded the group with a few others after seeing the immense singing talents among blind people but no outlet for them to perform.
"I've known [Lu] for years, and have always known how hard it was for him to earn a decent living. He has a remarkable voice, so I thought it'd be great to give all of them a chance to use their talents," Chu said.
The group has been singing together for two years now, and hope to hold a concert and release a CD next year.
Lee Hee-ah spoke of the constant pain piano-playing causes her. Having only her little fingers and thumbs - with one thumb missing a joint - playing the piano was at first a means of therapy, but became a lifelong vocation because of the support she received from friends and family.
"I've become an advocate for the disabled now," she said, adding that Korea's financial support for disabled people and their carers were "worse than Hong Kong's".
Cheung Kin-fai from the Rehabilitation Alliance Hong Kong, said there had been a "huge improvement" in the past decade.
"But the unemployment rate of disabled people is still [high] … More can still be done," he said.
The four groups' performances - part of the Gala Extraordinary Stage of Ability, which includes a drama staged by a team with disabled actors - will be aired on RTHK and by television stations on September 13.
 


Disabled groups defying the odds to dance to a different tune

Hearing-impaired Wild Zappers won't let their disability stop them from dancing. Photo: Nora Tam

News

Hong Kong

Hip-hop dancers who are deaf, a pianist with only four fingers and a blind saxophone player are among artists in campaign for the disabled


"Deaf people can do anything." Dancer Fred Beam, who made the bold statement using sign language, should know. Beam is director of American dance group the Wild Zappers, made up entirely of hearing-impaired dancers.


Disabled groups defying the odds to dance to a different tune

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hip-hop dancers who are deaf, a pianist with only four fingers and a blind saxophone player are among artists in campaign for the disabled

Hip-hop dancers who are deaf, a pianist with only four fingers and a blind saxophone player are among artists in campaign for the disabled