In response to a recent spate of arrestsof deaf people in HCM City , the Disability Resource andDevelopment (DRD) held a special seminar on Sunday to explore ways toeducate the deaf about the law.

Lawyers and social workers recommended that agencies expand theexisting sign language for the deaf to include signs about the law anddevelop educational aids such as picture books, as many of the city'sdeaf are also illiterate.

Recently local media published a number of articles about an increasein crimes committed by hearing impaired people.

Most participants agreed that deaf people could not communicate withthe community at large, police or the court system.

Tran Thi Ngoi, head of Hy Vong Hearing Impaired School in HCM City's District 1, has spent nine years helping deaf people communicatewith police and the courts.

She said those experiences had caused her anguish. She deals withabout six such trials a year.

"Most people with hearing impairments that I have helped areuneducated. They offer very simple reasons for their crimes, such asbeing paid a bowl of noodle soup or 200,000 VND (10 USD)," Ngoi said.

Ngoi said they thought crimes were easy ways to make money.

Most of them said they knew what they had done was wrong only afterthey were arrested, Ngoi said.

She said in the last two years, crimes by people with hearingimpairments had increased and become more serious, including murder. InThu Duc District recently, a deaf person was paid a bowl of noodle soupto steal a motorbike. Tragically he stabbed the motorbike owner todeath.

The most recent case was when a deaf man killed a young girl in ajealous rage. The man was married and the girl informed his wife that hewas having an internet relationship with her friend.

Ngoi said the courts did not apply any special considerations for deafoffenders, as they were not mentally ill.

Ton Nu Thi Nhi, head of Hy Vong (Hope) School in District 8, who hastranslated at several recent trials, cited the case of a 35-year-olddeaf man who fell in love with a 15-year-old deaf girl and had sex.Allegedly both were ignorant of the legal age of consent of 18, untilafter the man was arrested.

Nhi said that her school had started using picture books to teachtraffic laws to deaf students. She hoped a similar project would helpeducate them about the law.

According to Lawyer Truong Thi Hoa, Vietnam has about 5 milliondisabled people. HCM City has 54,000 people with disabilities and3,522 of them are hearing impaired. He wants TV programmes like the newsto be produced in sign language.

Nguyen Van Tuan, a policeman in District 10, said statistics releasedby HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in 2008showed that five to 10 percent of homeless people had hearing troubles.

He said District 10 police recently arrested two deaf people whosnatched handbags.

Getting employment presents many challenges for hearing impairedpeople, who find it hard to understand and be understood as few peoplecan read sign language. Unlike the blind who have tapes and Braille,there are few such resources for the deaf.

According to the DRD, the education level of many of HCM City 'sdeaf is low. Many are unable to read, write or sign their name.

Vietnamese sign language is also limited and none of the signs canexplain the law, the seminar heard./.