Expression counts: Deaf Art Community members are seen on stage during their first art performance on Dec. 28, 2004 in Yogyakarta.

The community started from a simple art performance for a charity program, but the spirit of its members has taken them to events abroad.

Artist Broto Wijayanto was lost for words as he tried to describe the deep gratitude he felt for the members of the Deaf Art Community (DAC), who have traveled the world to attend international events.

In June, two members of DAC went to the United States for two weeks, he said. In the US, with deaf people from around the world, they learned about leadership in the US-Indonesia Deaf Youth Leadership Program supported by the US Embassy to Indonesia.

In 2013, three other members of DAC participated in the Global Platform conference on disaster risk reduction hosted by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in Geneva, Switzerland.

In an old house down a small alley in Yogyakarta, Broto shared the story of the community that used art to develop its members’ confidence and pride.

When he founded DAC 12 years ago, he had one purpose: boosting the members’ self-esteem.

In 2004, Broto met with deaf community organization Matahariku Social Voluntary, founded by Galuh Sukmara, a former deaf student of Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) Department of Psychology. She told him she planned to hold a charity event for cancer survivors, and she wanted 30 deaf children to perform in an art performance. She asked him to help train them.

“She said, ‘Is it possible for my students to perform on stage?’ I told her it was possible,” Broto said.

“I then taught them to mime. At first, it was stressful because I did not understand sign language, but I also enjoyed the challenge.”

During the practices, Broto was mesmerized by the members’ passion and determination. After their show in December of 2004, they told him they wanted to continue learning performing arts.

After Galuh graduated and continued her study in Australia, Broto took over the group and changed its name to DAC. Today, DAC members can mime, perform magic tricks, play percussion instruments and do hip-hop freestyle dance, having graced many stages.   

“They can also perform poetry with sign language,” said a graduate from the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta, who teaches theater at the Indonesian Performing Arts Vocational High School (SMKI) in Bantul.

Learning freestyle dance and other performing arts was the DAC members’ idea, not Broto. He just provides support, such as downloading tutorial videos from YouTube, but he lets them learn on their own.

“In DAC, the ideas must come from them. I just listen and try to help,” he explained. “If their ideas are heard, they will have more confidence.”

The community was supported by a number of professional artists from ISI, who volunteered to train the DAC members.

Learning about the arts and performing on stage have become “art therapy” for deaf people as it improves their confidence, Broto said.

“When they perform on stage, they get people’s attention. That matters because they are [often] underestimated and discriminated against because they are deaf,” he said, adding that he always attends their shows.

In order to familiarize people with sign language, DAC provides free sign language classes twice a week under a program called Sekolah Semangat Tuli (Deaf Spirit School).

“The members of DAC are the teachers. They teach sign language to others,” he said.   

The course has attracted many people and some wind up serving as interpreters for DAC after the course. Broto said about 20 people show up at the start of each new course.

He said that the parents of the members of DAC were happy knowing their children were a part of DAC. However, he was sad to see that only a few parents have been interested in learning sign language.  

“[The parents] say sign language is difficult. They refuse to learn it although the course is free. I do not have a child in DAC, but I learned sign language. So, why can’t they?” he said, adding that some parents preferred that their children go through speech therapy.        

Broto believes that speech therapy is unethical because deaf people are forced to speak words that they cannot hear, and then they are expected to remember the words and sounds.

Broto says he has been delighted watching the members’ progress. He is proud to see them conquering their fears and proving themselves to society.

One of the members, Adhie Kusumo Bharoto, is now the director of Research Laboratory of Sign Language in Yogyakarta after graduating from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Others are attending various universities, such as ISI and Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN).

Broto says that DAC has become a second home for its members, who still face discrimination.

“Here, they can call me a friend, brother or father because we are family.”

— Photo by A. Kurniawan Ulung

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