A hearing-impaired Vietnamese author has released a book on useful life skills for hearing-impaired people as well as tips for volunteers working with them.

The “Handbook for Supporters Who Work with People with Hearing Loss” was introduced at a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on March 29 by Duong Phuong Hanh, director of the HCMC-based Center for Research and Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CED).

“We want to help hearing-impaired people have a better life by providing them with some common situations they might face in their daily life,” Hanh said. “We also want supporters to have a better understanding of deaf people.”

The publishing of the handbook, accompanied by a DVD, was supported by Education for Development (EFD), an international organization that works with Vietnamese partners to improve and expand their educational services for local disadvantaged children and young people.

EFD was involved in the preparation of the handbook from the beginning in hopes that this good initiative would benefit a lot of people, country coordinator Kirsten Theuns said.

Hanh is a hearing-impaired person but she can speak both Vietnamese and English fluently.  

She is also general secretary of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People and president of the Asia Pacific Federation of the Hard of Hearing and Deafened.