(3/16/2012)
Theglobalmail.org - an excellent philanthropically funded, not-for-profit news and feature website has published a captivating article by Aubrey Belford on Bengkala Village, located on the northern slopes of Mount Batur in Bali.
Bengkala is a village of 2,700 people where 44 of the resident are congenitally deaf. A higher-than-normal rate of people suffering from hearing loss has been recorded in the community for eight generations, growing over time, it is believed, due to close intermarriage between those genetically inclided to the condition.
The village has been the subject of extensive study by academics interested in the unique local sign language of kata kolok that has evolved in the Bengkala and the equally unique social structure of a village where Balinese dance forms for the deaf have evolved and where young deaf men, trained rigorously in martial arts, find employment as pacalang or local security guards.
Great reading including interesting video clips at [Bali’s Village of the Deaf]
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