We are publishing the speech of Mr. Vinko Trinkaus, a person with total deafblindness (no remaining sight and no remaining hearing), representative of elderly people with deafblindness, the Deafblind Association of Slovenia DLAN.
Charity event Deafblindness among us – Together we are stronger, June 17, 2023, Pogačar Square, Ljubljana
Rotary Club Ljubljana – Barje – the Deafblind Association of Slovenia DLAN
Why are people with deafblindness still discriminated against? Why do they experience so much humiliation, injustice, violence, and severe manipulation?
The dehumanization of those who live in the “culture of silence and darkness” has always been an easy act, since they did not (do not) have a valid discourse, and their words are incomprehensible and untrue to the majority in society. They can be controlled by those who have power and those who have “chosen” their rights (by tradition) throughout history. Thus, people with deafblindness are often treated as objects, as things that have no goals and no future.
There are still many deceptions, and transmission of wrong information to the public. All this with the aim of further suppressing the deafblind community and exclusively satisfying the egoistic needs of individuals.
When the oppressed themselves understand and demand change and are ready to accept full responsibility for it, a historic moment can occur – a moment of liberation.
(Gerenčer, S., 2021, The right to be human).
