If You Were Waiting For A Sign
- Pre-Seed
A global eLearning platform App+Web+Softwares that gives access to education in Sign Language. Innovative programs & creative activities for schools, such as our Muse Seek Project (attached), promoting the integration and inclusion of Deaf students in regular education and activities.
Deaf people are too often and too mistakenly considered to have some sort of learning disability.There's +70 million Deaf people in the world, only 2% has access to education in Sign Language.1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss. Over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing loss.Unaddressed hearing loss = annual global cost of US$750 billion.
Research by Dr. Peter C. Hauser of RIT shows that traditional methods for teaching reading and assessing comprehension are based on how hearing people learn and do not generally take into account the visual needs of deaf learners. Deaf students do not necessarily learn to read more slowly than hearing students—just differently. Attention control, emotional control, impulse control, memory, organizing your thoughts, planning your thoughts— these are all components of executive function that continue to develop in the brain until early adulthood. Inefficient executive function development can have a negative impact on learning and academic achievement.
Our impact begins in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Our mission is to change the fact that Deaf children have no good reading and writing skills. Yet those same Deaf children are expressive in their native signed language, but don't have a large sign vocabulary. Sadly, words escape them. Hearing teachers, who often do not know how to sign well themselves, are left baffled.
track downloads in the app store / track visits on website - 50,000 people in Dominican Republic and Haiti download our app and visit our web
research + tests through app and website - 50,000 Deaf or hearing (the entire community) engaged in learning Sign Language and/or online Signed education in the Dominican Republic and Haiti
track engagement via app/web + facebook pages and social media - Deaf and hearing students interacting through inclusive activities/events
- Child
- Adolescent
- Early childhood education
- Primary
- Secondary
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Middle East and North Africa
- Consumer-facing software (mobile applications, cloud services)
- Digital systems (machine learning, control systems, big data)
- Management & design approaches
Through music, art and technology it provides: Education in Sign Language, a Human Right which 98% of the Deaf population of the world as no access to. Helps hearing-teachers perform better in schools for the Deaf; governments to have more awareness; and hearing-people learn Sign Language and have awareness.
We work on a daily basis with local schools for the Deaf involving students, teachers and parents in our research, working hand in hand. Also Deaf scientists and professors. This solution will be built from scratch with the Deaf and hearing community integrated.
It will be accessible in schools (for hearing and/or Deaf) or public technology centers with computers. We will work with schools and governments to make it accessible. Also by smartphones or tablets.
- 0 (Concept)
- Non-Profit
- Dominican Republic
We are working on sustainable plans to make profits (would be extremely helpful to receive mentorship on that) besides writing grants and sponsorships that share our vision to impact education, integration and make a change.
1. Lack of Funds
2. No computers accessible for the Deaf
3. No smartphones accessible for the Deaf
4. No internet accessible for the Deaf
- 3 years
- 3-6 months
- 6-12 months
https://www.virgin.com/virgin-unite/if-you-were-waiting-sign
https://apnews.com/6c5c0d2a21ce448797b341bbe76d806f/high-tech-backpacks-open-world-whales-deaf-students
- Technology Access
- Arts Education
- Early Childhood Education
- Online Learning
- Refugee Education
I am an artist turned teaching artist. In 2013, I created The Muse Seek Project -an initiative published by The New York Times in April 2017- which innovates education for Deaf students through music and technology. Yet with Solve we can take everything I've done to another level. With your guidance and mentorship, we can TRULY solve this problem worldwide and make history.
In the DR: All schools/Deaf+2 private schools/hearing (AS+Kids Create)+3 universities(UNIBE+UNPHU+BARNA).In France:Delegations of Haiti and DR to UNESCO.In Romania: CLOUD Tech.In USA: SUBPAC. Members of the Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble have participated in our local educational initiatives with Deaf students (Cristina Pato, Ko Umezaki, Shane Shanahan).
There are no active eLearning platform that provide our solutions.
Founder & President