UFRN graduates its first student in Libras/Portuguese Language

At the end of 2012, the local press reported with some satisfaction that UFRN, through the Center for Human Sciences, Letters and Arts (CCHLA) and the department of humanities (DLET), offered an undergraduate course in humanities with qualifications in Portuguese and Brazilian sign language (LIBRAS). The course in question was proposed in person, with the aim of training teachers to teach Portuguese as a second language and Brazilian sign language (LIBRAS) as a first and second language in primary education – 6th to 9th grade and in secondary education.
After all these years, the press has new information on this sector. The first student who obtained his individual degree on the 16th, and is therefore the protagonist in this training, is called Délio Henrique Delfino de Oliveira, who had to overcome barriers and complete true marathons to obtain his diploma well before the rest of his class, the first to enter the UFRN Libra course.
What motivated Oliveira to seek this early training was the fact that he passed a state teacher competition, requiring a diploma to be able to be appointed. At this moment he was in the sixth of the nine necessary periods. In the rush - all within the legal rules and regulations, he advanced the remaining subjects and completed the mandatory internships, completing the entire advance process through various processes, resources and went beyond what he needed to reach his goal.
Délio has been at this frenetic pace of studies for a long time, having a degree in psychology at UnP, two specializations at UFRN (Library and Psychology) and a master's degree in psychology at UFRN.
In all his studies, he always sought to establish the link between Libras and psychology, even though he had no relatives or anyone in his family who had a severe hearing impairment. According to Oliveira, “it was for psychology reasons that I went to Libras, I became interested in the clinical area, in the work developed in the field of speech and listening in psychotherapy and, as a result, I became uncomfortable thinking about how a deaf person did not receive due psychological support in their natural language”.
He is also a pioneer in psychotherapy services in Libras, having provided the first psychotherapy service in Libras at UnP, a moment that broadened his interest after providing care to a deaf teenager who sought the service. From that moment on, he embraced the cause of Libras, considering the importance of this language for his personal development as a professional and citizen, as well as for psychology.
Today in Brazil, according to the 2010 census, there are around two million people with profound or severe hearing loss. In Rio Grande do Norte, the number reaches around 40 thousand people, that is, almost 2% of the State's population of 3,168,133 in this same census.
Délio moved forward firmly in his aim to complete the course and with the documentation received he is qualified to work as a sign language teacher, the main objective of his degree course which is to train teachers to teach Brazilian sign language. His goals from now on are to pursue a career as a teacher at a higher education level, awaiting future competitions in the area and also to be effectively hired by the State as a primary and secondary school teacher at Libras.
Currently, he continues to work as a psychologist serving hearing people, deaf users of Libras and deaf people in other linguistic conditions, in his private practice located in Portugal Center – Av. Senador Salgado Filho, room 224 – Lagoa Nova. This professional always participates in national/international congresses and events in the area of ​​pounds and psychology, presenting studies always making the link between these two areas.
Délio defends the importance of psychology embracing the deaf community, recognizing the use of the official language of Brazilian deaf citizens during psychological care, as well as gaining knowledge about the linguistic, legal, historical and educational issues of this population. He also informs that there is demand for this type of service, but there are no professionals capable of providing service in pounds and currently only him and two other professionals are available in this segment.
Regarding the Libra/Portuguese language course that he has just concluded in a pioneering way at UFRN, he says, “the course is extremely