UNAIR NEWS 鈥 Surabaya is rich in historical and cultural values. Unfortunately, the potential has not been developed inclusively, especially for people with disabilities.
Three UNAIR History students, Firmanda Dwi Septiawan, M. Fachrizal Hamdani, and Reni Putri Nurhidayati proposed a Surabaya history learning model based on visualization heritage tourism for deaf people. For the idea, they won First Place in the National Historical Essay Competition 2022 鈥淗ero Month鈥 2022 at Universitas Negeri Semarang, on Saturday, October 29, 2022.
To UNAIR NEWS, Firmanda spelled out their idea. Surabaya is one of the former colonial cities with various stories behind each historical building in the city today.
鈥淪urabaya is a former colonial city, which holds many historical stories. The stories were unfolded in lots of ways. One of the most unique ways is to introduce the local heritage narratives of Surabaya through the historic buildings. The old buildings have long become the silent witness of every historical event in Surabaya,鈥 he said.
However, heritage tourism promotion in Surabaya has not been developed properly for all communities, especially deaf people, who only sense touch and vision. It encouraged them to create a learning model of the history of Surabaya based on visualization and heritage tourism.
鈥淭he idea was sparked from our concern on the unutilized historical and cultural potential of Surabaya with inadequate infrastructure for promotion and learning purposes, especially for deaf people,鈥 Firmanda said.
The history learning model they created provided a friendly system for deaf people, with learning tools like a hearing aid, a local history guidebook, and a sign language guide.
With the enormous potential of Surabaya heritage tourism, he aspired to realize the idea of optimizing an inclusive and equitable heritage introduction of Surabaya. The Mojokerto-origin student also hoped their essay could be published online or in a scientific journal for reference, especially in research or policy recommendations for disabled people.
鈥淢ore than winning, we want our work to be published online as well, or in the journal for future tourism research references, particularly on disabled people facilities,鈥 Firmanda ended.
Author: Yulia Rohmawati
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
