M'sian Opens Bakery To Provide Employment Opportunities For The Local Deaf Community

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Speaking with SAYS, Leong said she grew up watching her mother help Deaf individuals and always welcomed them with open arms.

Seeing her late mum's passion and selflessness for Deaf individuals, she was inspired to pursue the same path and continue her efforts to make a difference in the Deaf community.

Leong was trained in special education and has been involved with the Deaf community for over 40 years and counting. Trained in sign language, she has interpreted for the Deaf community, both locally and internationally. She has also previously interpreted for RTM News, and has been advocating for television news to be inclusive of the Deaf community.

Leong believes that young Deaf people need more than just accommodation from society. In line with the 'teach a man to fish instead of providing him with fish' philosophy, she wants to empower them and provide them with free vocational education. This is in hopes of giving them every chance to succeed in life as they may face more future challenges than most.

Leong reminisces on how she had set up some tables and chairs for her students in Ampang 27 years ago. She told SAYS that the size of her class started out with two students, but soon grew to 50 students.

Leong's life-skills lessons were soon established as an education centre called the Community Service Centre for the Deaf (CSCD) in Kuala Lumpur, which provided free vocational training to Deaf students.

She realised that the Deaf needed more than just being taught life-skills, they needed an avenue to be employed somewhere they could then apply the skills they had learned.

"Even with an education, it is difficult even for our 17-year-old deaf students who have just graduated to find work in the corporate sector. I felt that vocational training might be the answer to providing a better future for them," said Leong.

She also realised that her cause of helping the Deaf community couldn't rely solely on the public funding and donations — it needed to generate its own independent cash flow to sustain itself.

By setting up the Silent Teddies Bakery, Leong is not only able to provide employment opportunities for the Deaf community, but is also able to reach out and benefit more Deaf individuals.

According to Leong, getting funding for Silent Teddies Bakery to begin operations was tough. The venture was met with lots of discouragement from the public, saying that it was a waste of time and that it was going to fail.

However, with the help of supportive organisations and individuals, Leong managed to prove the naysayers wrong and trailblaze through the criticism to bring her vision to life.

She also credits the hard work she and her colleagues have put in to get Silent Teddies Bakery off the ground.

"In life, nothing is impossible to achieve when we have enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and commitment. We always keep faith in ourselves to keep going and to stay strong," the Deaf community activist said.

Many Deaf individuals who have been fostered through Silent Teddies Bakery's system have gone on to successfully integrate themselves into working culture and earn a sustainable living.

Aside from creating working opportunities for the Deaf community, Silent Teddies Bakery also provides services such as Malaysian sign language (BIM) classes, sign language interpretation, and counselling.

Silent Teddies Bakery went on to earn awards such as the MaGIC Amplify Award (2016), and was granted prestigious accreditation such as the Social Enterprise Accreditation Status by the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (2019).

As Silent Teddies Bakery currently caters to the local market in Malaysia, Leong hopes that one day the bakery can break into the international market with the help of digital marketing and exposure on social platforms.

That way, Leong believes that the bakery will be able to help more Deaf individuals, especially those from the B40 sector.

The Deaf community advocate told SAYS that she hopes that Malaysians can extend a helping hand at Silent Teddies Bakery in whatever way they are able. Whether it is through volunteerism, donations, or even promoting awareness of the Deaf community, she believes that a little help goes a long way.

Leong emphasises the importance of creating opportunities for the Deaf community, wherein the deaf should be given a chance to work, integrate into society like regular people, and succeed just like anyone else, whether they are hard of hearing or not.

She also hopes that more establishments and companies will be willing to hire Deaf employees and create an accessible and friendly environment for them to work, which can be as simple as learning a little sign language to communicate with them.

"A company giving back and supporting social enterprises creates a cycle of social impact that is sustainable," Leong said.

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