Thomas Sandholm tells about his life as a deaf person in a recent biography.
Thomas Sandholm is known as Yle’s news anchor. Riitta Heiskanen
News anchor for Ylen Sign Language News Thomas Sandholm59, says in the news book Born to sign (SKS Books 2023) about his life as a deaf person in the hearing world. The path to becoming a news anchor known to the entire Finnish people has not been easy for him.
Bad treatment
Sandholm was born in 1963. The year is described in the book as a bad year for a deaf boy to be born in Finland, as only a few deaf boys were born in Finland at that time. One of the reasons behind this was that deaf people were not allowed to have children with each other at that time.
Until 1970, a law on forced sterilization was in force in Finland, and the deaf were outside the law, but in practice forced sterilization was a prerequisite for marriage.
Sandholm’s parents were deaf. It was no secret at home that they were not always treated well.
When Thomas Sandholm was a child, his grandmother had a negative attitude towards deafness. Thomas Sandholm’s home album
– It was always said that deaf people can’t do this, that deaf people can’t. I thought I’d try to see how it goes if I do things differently. Deafness is not an obstacle to such. That’s where it started and we’re on that path, Sandholm states in the work.
Deafness was once viewed very negatively in Sandholm’s family circle as well.
– My mother did not enjoy staying with her mother-in-law, who did not approve of this marriage between deaf people. There was always a very cool and cold atmosphere. The mother sometimes said that the grandmother never accepted her as a mother, Sandholm says in the book.
A unique life
Sandholm experienced a great realization at the World Congress of the Deaf organized in 1987. At that time, it turned out that the position of deaf people all over the world was not the same as in Finland.
– I imagined that in the world of the deaf, everyone was the same person with the same identity. I imagined that the whole world is one big community, similar to Finland. Then, when I went to America, I noticed that deafness was not a particularly important thing, Sandholm says in the book.
Since then, a trip to America proved that deafness did not arouse any kind of reaction in the locals, but skin color determined a place in the local social hierarchy.
Despite the fact that Sandholm has encountered a lot of unpleasant prejudices during his life, he has come a long way. Nowadays, he is very grateful for the kind of life he lives.
– I have a strong sign language identity, and this has caused friction between me and the prevailing society. I am grateful that I get to live my own life and enjoy every moment of it. However, a large number of people are good and treat me well, for which I am grateful, Sandholm states in the work.
Source: Sami Koski and Thomas Sandholm: Born with a sign (SKS Kirjat 2023). Sami Koski is Iltalehti’s editor.