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L’Oreal reaches out to hearing impaired with makeup class, new sign language
L'Oreal embraces people with special needs by holding a makeup class and introducing 10 words about beauty products in Indonesian sign language.
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Fifty participants join the inclusive makeup class on Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at Lotte Shopping Avenue in South Jakarta. (L'Oreal Indonesia/File)
L
arissa could not hide her excitement when she finally learned how to communicate the words “contouring” and “highlight” in sign language during a makeup class for disabled people on Tuesday at Lotte Shopping Avenue in South Jakarta.
“I actually already know the words, but I didn’t know how to sign them,” Larissa told The Jakarta Post, adding that she had experimented with makeup since she was 14 years old.
Larissa also feels she knows more about makeup after learning words associated with the beauty industry in sign language.
The makeup class was one of a range of activities L’Oreal has planned for its Disability Awards program, which is part of the cosmetics giant’s global Diversity & Inclusion Driven campaign that first started 10 years ago.
Melanie Masriel, L’Oreal Indonesia’s communications, public affairs and sustainability director, said the program did not only embrace people with different genders and ethnicities, but also people with disabilities and limited access to education.
“We focus on three things: employee, consumer and community,” said Melanie. “We offer opportunities for disabled people to join our company, we ensure that our customers have access to beauty products and we help our disabled friends have access to the beauty industry.”
Read also: L’Oréal underlines the importance of online presence for beauty industry
As the first step of the program, L’Oreal launched a make-up tutorial video in June for disabled people on its YouTube channel.
Titled “Glowing Makeup Tutorial for Ramadan”, it featured Ryan Ogilvy, Maybelline’s official make-up partner, and Angkie Yudistia, founder of Thisable Enterprise, which aims to economically empower disabled Indonesian people in job sectors.
With the help of the Center of Indonesian Sign Language (Pusbisindo), the makeup class, which was attended by 50 people with special needs, introduced 10 new words related to makeup in sign language, including foundation, highlight, strobing and contouring.
“When we created the tutorial video, we were confused because there were some words that didn’t exist [in sign], so we teamed up with Pusbisindo to develop those words and made them easier because a tutorial video would be difficult to understand if there was too much movement,” Melanie said.
Pusbisindo representative Sartika Purnamasari explained that there previously was no word for “contouring” in Indonesian sign language.
“When we transform Indonesian into sign language, we visualize it first and then adjust it to sign language,” Sartika said after the event, adding that the time it takes to develop a word in sign may differ.
“Before we decide [the sign language], Pusbisindo’s team works together to discuss how the word is going to look like – so the results can be different.” (wng)
