The Alares® Foundation, in collaboration with CNSE (the Spanish National Confederation of Deaf People) and Lo Que No Existe, presents the book SORDO y ¡qué! about the lives of deaf people who have achieved success.

The Alares® Foundation, in collaboration with CNSE (National Confederation of Deaf People in Spain) and the publisher Lo Que No Existe, is promoting an autobiographical book about the lives of thirteen deaf people who have achieved success in their professional careers: Deaf, So What? The Lives of Deaf People Who Have Achieved Success. Ms. Mª Teresa Fernández de la Vega, First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, wrote the book’s introduction, while Mr. Javier Benavente Barrón, President of the Alares® Foundation, wrote its foreword. Mr. Álvaro Marchesi, Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the UCM, was responsible for the introduction, and Mr. Luis J. Cañón wrote the epilogue. Through this social initiative, the Alares® Foundation introduced this book, which was presented last Tuesday, November 27, at the Cultural Exchange Room of El Corte Inglés at 52 Serrano Street, Madrid. The establishment will donate the royalties and any profits from its sale to the CNSE Foundation, so that this organization can develop social, educational, cultural, and sports projects to help improve the social integration of deaf people. The book is distributed nationwide through the country’s main sales outlets, including El Corte Inglés, Fnac, VIPS, and others. The personal experiences recounted by the thirteen authors aim to show society at large the courage and sacrifice that this group demonstrates every day, conveying through their experiences the personal and professional success each of them has achieved. These testimonies turn silence into sound and whispers into shouts. The work includes the full text of the law recognizing Sign Language, regulating the right to learn, know, and use it, and establishing and guaranteeing communication-support resources for the oral communication of deaf people, people with hearing disabilities, and deafblind people. The Law on Sign Language and Communication Support Resources for Deaf People, People with Hearing Disabilities, and Deafblind People was approved on October 10, 2007. Popularly known as the Sign Language Law, it was passed unanimously by the Plenary of the Spanish Senate and represents a historic demand of the representative associative movement of deaf people, people with hearing disabilities, and deafblind people. “Books like this serve as an incentive and an inspiration for those of us who, through our political responsibilities, are committed to building a fairer and more egalitarian society. The Government of Spain has committed itself to guaranteeing deaf people full access to political, economic, cultural, and social life,” states Ms. Mª Teresa Fernández de la Vega, First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, in the introduction. In the foreword, Mr. Javier Benavente Barrón, President of the Alares® Foundation, points out that “the reason for and purpose of this book fit perfectly with the principles of the Alares® Foundation. For this reason, we decided to support it and make it a reality.” Mr. Álvaro Marchesi, Secretary-General of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture and Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the UCM Faculty of Psychology, states in the introduction that “the book I now have the pleasure of introducing presents the lives of several deaf people in whom perseverance and determination are combined with the ability to tolerate frustration and the desire to live a fulfilling life.” Mr. Luis J. Cañón, President of the State Confederation of Deaf People (CNSE), an organization founded in 1936 that defends the interests of deaf people and their families, declares in the epilogue that “the book collects the testimony of many deaf people who, thanks to their spirit of self-improvement, have excelled in different areas of life. Stories of first-class citizens that, ultimately, deserve to be known. Stories to remember.” This book offers a very special way of getting to know a community that represents nearly two million people in Spain. Although many people affected by deafness have been left out for reasons of space and time, the protagonists faithfully reflect the feelings, hopes, complaints, dreams, and courage of that silent majority. The authors sign their own names and surnames. They are not pseudonyms, but overwhelming truths.