The 28-year-old Tan Ting gestured quickly with both hands to the screen of the mobile phone. Her arms and fingers changed flexibly. Her face showed anxious expression from time to time. After the other side of the screen also responded with sign language, she said with both hands. The "voice" kept asking, explaining and making suggestions.
This is a silent legal consultation. Both the lawyer and the client are deaf.
Tan Ting in life.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Tan Ting, with shoulder-length hair, looks pretty and gentle. She is currently a trainee lawyer.
After the internship expires next year, she will become the first deaf lawyer in China.
In January of this year, after three years of hard work, Tan Ting finally passed the legal professional qualification examination, becoming the only person among the over 20 million deaf people in China to pass the examination.
On her desk, there was a sticky note that read: "I want to use a pair of talking hands to bring the voice of justice to every silent corner."
From scratch to prepare for the exam in 3 years and enter the door of law
Tan Ting was born in Liangshan, Sichuan. When she was 8 years old, she lost her hearing due to improper otitis media treatment. She dropped out of school for 5 years.
Afterwards, she regained her strength and went to special education schools in Xichang and Leshan, Sichuan.
In 2013, Tan Ting was admitted to Chongqing Normal University with a special education major and became the only student who was admitted to an undergraduate school for the whole year.
Tan Ting at work.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
After graduating, Tan Ting came to the law firm of Tang Shuai, the “No. 1 Sign Language Lawyer in the Country” by chance, and became a paralegal.
When assisting Tang Shuai to receive help from deaf people from all over the country, she had never thought of contacting the legal industry and began to hope to become a professional who understands both sign language and law.
“The deaf community is often in a state of'dumb eating coptis, and there is hardship to tell' when facing legal problems. Whenever I think of the look in the eyes of those who seek help, and think of the various injustices they have encountered, a lesson of learning arises invisibly. Motivation." Tan Ting typed and told reporters.
But passing the legal professional qualification examination is not an easy task, especially for Tan Ting, who is physically inconvenient.
Compared with a healthy person, Tan Ting’s test preparation is full of difficulties: the knowledge system of special education and general education is quite different. Before that, she had no legal knowledge foundation, and her severe hearing loss in both ears also prevented her from passing unsubtitled online course videos. To learn.
Tan Ting in reading.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
During the exam preparation period, Tan Ting wakes up at 6 o'clock every day and goes to sleep after 23:00, even on weekends and holidays.
In 2018, she took the exam for the first time and was 10 points short.
In 2019, she took the exam for the second time and was 4 points short.
While failing the exam twice, the four deaf companions who were preparing for the exam also left for various reasons, leaving her alone.
But she never thought of giving up. She felt that she had the stubborn spirit of "like a donkey".
However, on the eve of the third exam, Tan Ting's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. For the first time, this strong girl had the idea of abandoning the road to law.
"I lost my father when I was 23 years old and suffered a very serious mental blow. After my mother fell ill, I wanted to go to the hospital to take care of her, but I don't want to go to the exam." She typed.
Tan Ting in learning.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
But the sick mother strongly encouraged Tan Ting. She said: "You have to take the exam. You should live for yourself and for the society. You should do something meaningful to the society and help those in need in the future. "
Carry out law popularization work to speak for the silent
In January this year, Tan Ting finally passed the legal professional qualification examination and became a trainee lawyer, embarking on a new journey to realize her dream.
After the internship, legal help came one after another. At most, more than 30 people approached Tan Ting for advice a day.
In the process of providing help to the deaf, Tan Ting first encountered a "language barrier."
Tan Ting learned "Chinese Sign Language" in a special education school, and the order of gestures is the same as that of ordinary speech. Most deaf parties use "natural sign language", which mainly conveys meaning through gesture changes and facial expressions. Restricted by the rules of language grammar, it is more vivid.
At the same time, because she couldn't hear outside voices after she was deaf, Tan Ting seldom spoke anymore, and her vocal cords slowly degraded, which made her use a lot of force for every word she said, and it was also very difficult to master the pronunciation correctly.
It wasn't until she had a mobile phone that she could practice pronunciation through software that converts speech to text.
Usually a word has to be read hundreds or thousands of times before she can see the accurate words converted from the voice.
Tan Ting at work.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Through continuous practice, Tan Ting has basically mastered "natural sign language", and more and more people can understand Tan Ting's pronunciation.
At present, she can use sign language to complete legal consulting work independently, and she can also assist the hearing lawyer to understand the case of the deaf client and cooperate with the litigation work.
In April of this year, after learning that Tan Ting "is both deaf and understands the law", a deaf woman came to consult.
A classmate of a deaf woman borrowed more than 100,000 yuan from her before and after, and used part of the money for gambling.
But she did not dare to defend her rights, because the other party said that her borrowing behavior was a "competitor of gambling crimes" and required jail time.
After consulting with Tan Ting, she realized that this was the "intimidation" of the other party, so she decided to protect her legitimate rights and interests through litigation.
"The biggest problem that deaf people encounter in their legal life is that due to many factors such as their own defects and education, they have limited access to information, lagging behind, and ineffective access to information. As a result, their legal awareness is weak and they don’t know. I have violated the law and I don’t know that my lawful rights and interests have been infringed, and when my lawful rights and interests have been infringed, there may be situations where I don’t know how to protect my rights.” Tan Ting typed and introduced, wanting to avoid the above situation. , It is necessary for people who understand the group thinking mode of the deaf to carry out effective sign language popularization for this group.
Tan Ting in life.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
At present, Tan Ting mainly conducts law popularization activities through offline lectures and online live broadcasts.
At a lecture on law popularization, Tan Ting told deaf friends that the crime of throwing objects at height has become an independent crime and has already been sentenced.
After listening to the lecture, someone told Tan Ting in sign language that if it hadn't been for the lecture today, he wouldn't know it was. Before, he only knew that throwing trash at high altitude was just a bad habit and didn't realize the seriousness of the matter.
In Tan Ting's view, it is far from enough to rely on one or two people in order to better help the deaf to speak up and help the deaf group participate in social life on an equal footing.
It needs support from all aspects and a large number of talents in public legal services.
Tan Ting at work.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The young trainee lawyer was deeply moved. She said that what she wants to do most is to do a good job in popularizing the law so that the deaf community can understand the law, abide by the law, and learn to avoid infringements on legitimate rights and interests in life, and know how to use it. Protect their rights through legal means and let them feel the sense of justice and security brought about by the law.
Author: Chen Jingyue Yitong