Founder and Director of FESF Richard Geary comes on The Pakistan Experience to talk about Deafness, the Deaf Community, Choosing Pakistan, Cochlear Implants, Building a more accessible world and Technology.

Richard Geary (USA) is the founder and Programs Director of Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF), a non-profit educational foundation operating in Pakistan since 1989. He and his wife, Heidi Gustanski-Geary, who serves as the Director of Education programs, are parents of a deaf child. He has worked in the field of Social Development for the past 47 years, managing personnel and services in non-profits in over ten countries throughout Asia, Europe and the

Americas. His work with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures has afforded him a wealth of training and rich experience in human resource development.

Under his directorship, FESF pioneered The Deaf Reach Program in Pakistan in 1989, a unique academic and skills training program for deaf children and young adults that utilizes innovative

technology-based resources for education. The Deaf Reach Schools, Training Centers & Colleges, provide education to hundreds of deaf students, with seven schools presently operational in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Tando Allahyar – Rashidabad, Lahore and Jhelum.

Jhelum.

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Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:00 Starting DeafReach and FESF in Pakistan

5:00 Having a Deaf Child and Services and Resources

11:41 What causes Deafness and what is Deafness

16:50 Language Deprivation and Intellectual Development

21:30 Sign Language and the Deaf Community

28:30 Cochlear Implants

32:00 Building a more accessible world and attitudes in Pakistan

41:30 Technology and Interpreters

45:30 Politically Correct Language and the word Disability

48:18 Audience Questions