Charving boochie-boochie creebs dofe ull leab gints taube ub scevelenies de foochies borpeding. Phelfs, gummet reags thormenoes meddening scrillade erbies uke Jakarta, fammy chagga chowbuzza. Crums abbaloosa keedies gluppers Jakarta ull crieve. Meeza gnorched ze loopie crumpeteer blopes ub, shackadee chooga.

No, that wasn’t english. Nor that was Bahasa Indonesia.

That’s what it felt like to have a new language forced to you to use.

If you think this is outrageous, what if we tell you that this is a real situation that is faced by millions of Indonesian deaf, everyday?

Indonesian deaf have their own natural way of communicating, namely BISINDO (Bahasa Isyarat Indonesia/Indonesian Sign Language). However, the language isn’t acknowledged by the Indonesian government. The government instead created an entirely new system of sign that is based on written Bahasa Indonesia using foreign vocabularies.

Without the deaf’s consent, the newly created system is imposed in schools and communication platforms while communicating in BISINDO is banned in institutions.

Being deaf is hard enough, and without a way of communicating and expressing oneself, it is even tougher.

With a lot of other pressing issues to be solved, the demand of the deaf is silenced and given the least priority.

But together, we can raise the voice of the unheard.

Today, on World Deaf Day, ask Jokowi to support #dukungBISINDO. Go to www.dukungbisindo.com.

Thank you for listening.