Feelings of understanding, care and support for our hearing impaired fellow people!
Romfilatelia will introduce into circulation on Wednesday, September 4th this year, a issue of postage stamps whose subject addresses a special social situation that concerns people with hearing impairments. Achieved with the direct support of the Romanian National Association of the Deaf (ANSR), the issue, suggestively entitled “The Voice of Silence”, is intended to be an active means of promoting understanding and support for our peers with disabilities.
The postage stamp (face value of Lei 25) and the First Day Cover, elements of the issue illustrate concrete situations of presenting what is known as “mimic-gestural” language, in which the hand alphabet invented by the French educator and philantropist Charles de l’Épée is used in dialogue with people who suffer from deafness.
In order to suggest the “alphabet of hands” in the graphics of the First Day Cover, the letters of the titles and the ANSR logo are accompanied by the letters of the deaf alphabet, made visually with the help of various positions of the fingers.
The Romanian National Association of the Deaf (ANSR) is a non-governmental, independent, politically and religiously unconditional organization, with legal personality, of public utility, which defends and promotes the social, professional, cultural and educational rights and interests of people with hearing impairments for social inclusion and equalization of opportunities. ANSR has a history of 105 years, being the successor of the “Friendly Society of the Deaf and Dumb in Romania”, founded in November 1919. It is the representative organization, at national and international level, of people with hearing impairments in our country, a member of the World Federation of the Deaf and the European Union of the Deaf and founding member of the Romanian National Disability Council.
The ANSR magazine is “Vocea Tăcerii (The Voice of Silence)”, published for the first time in 1932 under the name “Răsăritul nostru (Our Sunrise)”. Later, it was also called “Gazeta Surdo-Muților (The Deaf-Mute Gazette)” and “Viaţa Noastră (Our Life)”, until the establishment of the current name, one suggestive of the community’s continuous effort of affirmation and recognition among the hearing majority.
To achieve the ideal of full inclusion, ANSR has organized numerous actions, events, seminars, conferences, etc. over the decades of its existence and has developed and implemented projects in various fields to serve the interests of all beneficiaries with whom it comes into contact.
Through its 37 branches, ANSR offers services to thousands of beneficiaries with hearing impairments every year, from oral translation in Romanian sign language to support for professional integration and counselling for acquiring facilities and exercising rights.
Romfilatelia thanks the representatives of the Romanian National Association of the Deaf (ANSR) for the collaboration and documentary support granted to the development of this issue of postage stamps.
