Every year, Shalini Gidwani excitedly watches the National Day Parade (NDP) on television. Like most viewers, she loves watching the performances, singing along, and taking in the fireworks.
Because she is deaf, however, she often has to guess what’s happening from what she sees onscreen or rely on the subtitles.
A high fever when she was four years old caused permanent hearing loss. Her main mode of communication is sign language, although she lip-reads and can hear some speech with a hearing aid. She also has a slight speech impediment.
In 2024, after years of watching the parade at home with her family, Gidwani got to be part of it and described her participation as “an experience of a lifetime”.
She was the sign language performer for the pledge and anthem, and also appeared in the picture-in-picture box on the live broadcast of the two segments.
She worked with a sign language interpreter to present the anthem and pledge.
While interpreters focus on conveying the literal meaning of spoken or signed language, performers add artistic expression and emotion through movement and facial expression. Both are essential for a holistic and engaging sign language presentation, Gidwani said.
Her performance was a milestone for her and other deaf people. For years, Gidwani and her family, comprising her deaf husband and two hearing daughters, had longed for sign language interpretation to be included in the parade.
Before 2024, sign language interpreters and performers appeared only briefly in the live NDP broadcasts, usually during the anthem and pledge. Even so, during these segments, the camera would often cut away to other visuals, the 51-year-old told CNA Women.
The live broadcast also did not include picture-in-picture sign language interpretation, except at NDP 2016, where it was used during a song.
Sign language interpretation was also not available on the Padang’s big screens for the live audience.
This year, however, there will be live sign language interpretation on the Padang screens for the first time. It’s a feat that Gidwani helped to achieve, to make it easier for deaf people in the audience to follow along.
“Before last year, it was jarring for deaf people, because one moment, we could understand what’s happening clearly, and then when the interpreters are gone from the television, we’re back to guesswork,” she said.
Last year, after she found out she would be the sign language performer at NDP 2024, she was driven by a desire to help others in the deaf community feel more connected during the parade.
She fought for the picture-in-picture box to remain on screen throughout the anthem and pledge segments, not just in brief cuts.
“Some people may think having sign language doesn’t matter,” Gidwani said. “But if we can have more people like me enjoy the parade beyond just watching it, why not?”
She wants the deaf community to experience NDP not just visually, but to fully understand what’s being said and sung, without having to rely on lip-reading or guesswork.
“I didn’t want to stop at just having a picture-in-picture box of someone signing the anthem and pledge,” she said. “What if more interpreters signed the entire parade?
“That way, more deaf people can enjoy the parade and understand the songs, the jokes, what’s about to happen, and feel the love for Singapore together.”
Besides the rare behind-the-scenes glimpse she got into the coordination and effort that goes into NDP, one moment stood out: Her husband’s reaction at the parade.
Gidwani is passionate about helping deaf people in Singapore feel more included. (Photo: CNA/Izza Haziqah)
“Even though he was proud to see me sign the anthem and pledge, he told me he was also lost at times, because during the rest of the live segment, there were no interpreters.
“So when it was time to sing, or stand, or react to something, he couldn’t always tell. Unless he memorised the programme or looked to others to follow, he had to guess.”
For deaf viewers at home, Gidwani told CNA Women that they would have to watch a Facebook Live stream by The Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) for full sign language interpretation.
“SADeaf does a lot for our community, and I’m so thankful for them. But toggling between screens – one showing the live parade, another with sign language – is a lot of work.
“The solution is to mix them both: Have that small picture-in-picture box with the interpreter and performer. It doesn’t distract. It also makes deaf people more visible by letting hearing people learn about Singapore Sign Language, too.”
Gidwani with her husband at the Padang after NDP 2024. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
She added: “Hearing people think that the only way to enjoy a concert is to listen and hear, but to us deaf people, we also ‘listen’ and understand with sign language, which people can use alongside facial expressions or even dancing. That is our language.”
She remembers past parades where Singaporean singer Kit Chan would perform the hit 1998 National Day song Home, and people around her would cry.
“The lyrics weren’t always subtitled. I could lip-read what people were saying, but without sign language – my language – I couldn’t feel the ‘feeling’ of the music as much. We can only infer, and that won’t give the same emotional impact or connection.”
“After NDP 2024, I told myself, okay, I now know what it’s like to work on NDP behind the scenes. I know some of the relevant people. And I know we all care,” she said.
So she reached out to the NDP 2025 Executive Committee and SADeaf to figure out how to make this year’s parade – and others after – more inclusive.
Gidwani (second from left) worked with NDP 2025’s chairman of the Show Committee, Colonel Edwin Chua (centre), and SADeaf, including deputy director Ernest Lee (far right), to make this year’s parade more inclusive for deaf people. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
Her passion to make it more inclusive for the deaf moved the committee to listen to her, she added.
“I suggested all sorts of ideas that I’ve been thinking about for years. Have picture-in-picture interpretation onscreen throughout the broadcast. Station sign language performers around the Padang and show them on specific screens. Involve both deaf and hearing sign language users to integrate the community better.”
Some of those ideas were taken up.
At this year’s NDP on Saturday (Aug 9), sign language interpreters and performers will interpret all segments of the parade for the live audience at the Padang, which can be seen on the big screens.
Gidwani hopes the next step is to have a picture-in-picture box for an interpreter throughout the live broadcast. For now, however, having interpreters to help the deaf audience at the Padang is already a meaningful step forward.
Beyond SG60, she and SADeaf are aiming to make future NDPs and other national events more inclusive on multiple fronts.
This includes introducing video relay services, which allow deaf or speech-impaired individuals to make video calls – such as for ticketing or logistics – with the help of a sign language interpreter. SADeaf also plans to expand the interpreter team so that more interpreters are available to support the parade and other large-scale national events.
For this year’s parade, Gidwani recommended her former sign language student, nine-year-old Amelia, to be the sign language performer for the anthem and pledge.
Gidwani (right) with her former sign language student, Amelia, and Amelia’s mother, signing ‘I love you’. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
“Amelia may be young, but she can speak well and sign well. I want young deaf people like her to know that they’re not alone and they, too, belong here in Singapore,” Gidwani said. She taught Amelia in 2022 when the latter was in preschool.
“I’ve seen how deaf children light up when they spot a sign language interpreter or performer onscreen,” she said. “Their faces perk up. They smile knowing that they, too, are seen and that their language matters.”
Gidwani started learning sign language and attending speech therapy classes when she was a toddler. She did her primary school education at the now-defunct Singapore School for the Deaf, run by SADeaf, and later, went to a mainstream secondary school.
She recounted her childhood in the early 1980s, when other children would mock her for her speech impediment and inability to hear. Some were mean enough to gesticulate wildly to make fun of her signing.
Gidwani (centre) with her husband, who is also deaf, and her two hearing daughters. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
“At some points, I didn’t feel like I was part of the world. I was so excluded from so many things, like social events, and even going around Singapore was hard because some public transport announcements are only on the speaker. It wasn’t a nice feeling,” she said.
But she didn’t want to dwell on her negative experiences, she said. “My parents raised me to be confident and self-assured, despite my hearing loss.
“They never gave up on me or made me feel excluded. I’m the second of four kids and the only one who’s fully deaf, but everyone in my family learned to sign basic words and common phrases, to communicate with me so I wouldn’t feel left out.”
Meal times were unique. “My siblings and parents would sign or speak while facing me so I could lip-read them. Every dinner felt like a family-bonding activity,” she said.
Gidwani is one of approximately 500,000 deaf people in Singapore, according to SADeaf. This number, which consists mostly of seniors with age-related hearing loss, is expected to reach 800,000 by 2030.
“Sign language, like any other language, is part of our identity – if more people see it being used here, more people will feel that they belong,” she said.
“Singapore is home. It’s brought me so much joy to be able to live here, grow up here, and raise my family here.
“If there’s any way I can make other fellow deaf people love Singapore more, I’d do it.”
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
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Because she is deaf, however, she often has to guess what’s happening from what she sees onscreen or rely on the subtitles.
A high fever when she was four years old caused permanent hearing loss. Her main mode of communication is sign language, although she lip-reads and can hear some speech with a hearing aid. She also has a slight speech impediment.
In 2024, after years of watching the parade at home with her family, Gidwani got to be part of it and described her participation as “an experience of a lifetime”.
She was the sign language performer for the pledge and anthem, and also appeared in the picture-in-picture box on the live broadcast of the two segments.
She worked with a sign language interpreter to present the anthem and pledge.
While interpreters focus on conveying the literal meaning of spoken or signed language, performers add artistic expression and emotion through movement and facial expression. Both are essential for a holistic and engaging sign language presentation, Gidwani said.
Her performance was a milestone for her and other deaf people. For years, Gidwani and her family, comprising her deaf husband and two hearing daughters, had longed for sign language interpretation to be included in the parade.
Before 2024, sign language interpreters and performers appeared only briefly in the live NDP broadcasts, usually during the anthem and pledge. Even so, during these segments, the camera would often cut away to other visuals, the 51-year-old told CNA Women.
The live broadcast also did not include picture-in-picture sign language interpretation, except at NDP 2016, where it was used during a song.
Sign language interpretation was also not available on the Padang’s big screens for the live audience.
This year, however, there will be live sign language interpretation on the Padang screens for the first time. It’s a feat that Gidwani helped to achieve, to make it easier for deaf people in the audience to follow along.
“Before last year, it was jarring for deaf people, because one moment, we could understand what’s happening clearly, and then when the interpreters are gone from the television, we’re back to guesswork,” she said.
Last year, after she found out she would be the sign language performer at NDP 2024, she was driven by a desire to help others in the deaf community feel more connected during the parade.
She fought for the picture-in-picture box to remain on screen throughout the anthem and pledge segments, not just in brief cuts.
“Some people may think having sign language doesn’t matter,” Gidwani said. “But if we can have more people like me enjoy the parade beyond just watching it, why not?”
She wants the deaf community to experience NDP not just visually, but to fully understand what’s being said and sung, without having to rely on lip-reading or guesswork.
“I didn’t want to stop at just having a picture-in-picture box of someone signing the anthem and pledge,” she said. “What if more interpreters signed the entire parade?
“That way, more deaf people can enjoy the parade and understand the songs, the jokes, what’s about to happen, and feel the love for Singapore together.”
CELEBRATING NATIONAL DAY AS A DEAF PERSON
Besides the rare behind-the-scenes glimpse she got into the coordination and effort that goes into NDP, one moment stood out: Her husband’s reaction at the parade.
Gidwani is passionate about helping deaf people in Singapore feel more included. (Photo: CNA/Izza Haziqah)
“Even though he was proud to see me sign the anthem and pledge, he told me he was also lost at times, because during the rest of the live segment, there were no interpreters.
“So when it was time to sing, or stand, or react to something, he couldn’t always tell. Unless he memorised the programme or looked to others to follow, he had to guess.”
For deaf viewers at home, Gidwani told CNA Women that they would have to watch a Facebook Live stream by The Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) for full sign language interpretation.
“SADeaf does a lot for our community, and I’m so thankful for them. But toggling between screens – one showing the live parade, another with sign language – is a lot of work.
“The solution is to mix them both: Have that small picture-in-picture box with the interpreter and performer. It doesn’t distract. It also makes deaf people more visible by letting hearing people learn about Singapore Sign Language, too.”
Gidwani with her husband at the Padang after NDP 2024. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
She added: “Hearing people think that the only way to enjoy a concert is to listen and hear, but to us deaf people, we also ‘listen’ and understand with sign language, which people can use alongside facial expressions or even dancing. That is our language.”
She remembers past parades where Singaporean singer Kit Chan would perform the hit 1998 National Day song Home, and people around her would cry.
“The lyrics weren’t always subtitled. I could lip-read what people were saying, but without sign language – my language – I couldn’t feel the ‘feeling’ of the music as much. We can only infer, and that won’t give the same emotional impact or connection.”
THE NEED FOR BETTER INCLUSION OF DEAF PEOPLE
“After NDP 2024, I told myself, okay, I now know what it’s like to work on NDP behind the scenes. I know some of the relevant people. And I know we all care,” she said.
So she reached out to the NDP 2025 Executive Committee and SADeaf to figure out how to make this year’s parade – and others after – more inclusive.
Gidwani (second from left) worked with NDP 2025’s chairman of the Show Committee, Colonel Edwin Chua (centre), and SADeaf, including deputy director Ernest Lee (far right), to make this year’s parade more inclusive for deaf people. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
Her passion to make it more inclusive for the deaf moved the committee to listen to her, she added.
“I suggested all sorts of ideas that I’ve been thinking about for years. Have picture-in-picture interpretation onscreen throughout the broadcast. Station sign language performers around the Padang and show them on specific screens. Involve both deaf and hearing sign language users to integrate the community better.”
Some of those ideas were taken up.
At this year’s NDP on Saturday (Aug 9), sign language interpreters and performers will interpret all segments of the parade for the live audience at the Padang, which can be seen on the big screens.
Gidwani hopes the next step is to have a picture-in-picture box for an interpreter throughout the live broadcast. For now, however, having interpreters to help the deaf audience at the Padang is already a meaningful step forward.
Beyond SG60, she and SADeaf are aiming to make future NDPs and other national events more inclusive on multiple fronts.
This includes introducing video relay services, which allow deaf or speech-impaired individuals to make video calls – such as for ticketing or logistics – with the help of a sign language interpreter. SADeaf also plans to expand the interpreter team so that more interpreters are available to support the parade and other large-scale national events.
For this year’s parade, Gidwani recommended her former sign language student, nine-year-old Amelia, to be the sign language performer for the anthem and pledge.
Gidwani (right) with her former sign language student, Amelia, and Amelia’s mother, signing ‘I love you’. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
“Amelia may be young, but she can speak well and sign well. I want young deaf people like her to know that they’re not alone and they, too, belong here in Singapore,” Gidwani said. She taught Amelia in 2022 when the latter was in preschool.
“I’ve seen how deaf children light up when they spot a sign language interpreter or performer onscreen,” she said. “Their faces perk up. They smile knowing that they, too, are seen and that their language matters.”
A DEAF PERSON IN A HEARING WORLD
Gidwani started learning sign language and attending speech therapy classes when she was a toddler. She did her primary school education at the now-defunct Singapore School for the Deaf, run by SADeaf, and later, went to a mainstream secondary school.
She recounted her childhood in the early 1980s, when other children would mock her for her speech impediment and inability to hear. Some were mean enough to gesticulate wildly to make fun of her signing.
Gidwani (centre) with her husband, who is also deaf, and her two hearing daughters. (Photo: Shalini Gidwani)
“At some points, I didn’t feel like I was part of the world. I was so excluded from so many things, like social events, and even going around Singapore was hard because some public transport announcements are only on the speaker. It wasn’t a nice feeling,” she said.
But she didn’t want to dwell on her negative experiences, she said. “My parents raised me to be confident and self-assured, despite my hearing loss.
“They never gave up on me or made me feel excluded. I’m the second of four kids and the only one who’s fully deaf, but everyone in my family learned to sign basic words and common phrases, to communicate with me so I wouldn’t feel left out.”
Meal times were unique. “My siblings and parents would sign or speak while facing me so I could lip-read them. Every dinner felt like a family-bonding activity,” she said.
Gidwani is one of approximately 500,000 deaf people in Singapore, according to SADeaf. This number, which consists mostly of seniors with age-related hearing loss, is expected to reach 800,000 by 2030.
“Sign language, like any other language, is part of our identity – if more people see it being used here, more people will feel that they belong,” she said.
“Singapore is home. It’s brought me so much joy to be able to live here, grow up here, and raise my family here.
“If there’s any way I can make other fellow deaf people love Singapore more, I’d do it.”
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...