[Photo: File]

Three University of the South Pacific students have publicly apologised to Fiji’s deaf community after a video circulated on social media sparked concern over its use of sign language.

Following the public statement from the University’s student association, USPSA again reached out to this newsroom yesterday morning to confirm that the trio wanted to go public with their apology, adding that counselling is being provided to the students for support

The students Ateca Sawailau, Marika Binatagi, and Mavis Cavalevu, said the video was made casually among friends and was not intended to offend or mock anyone.

They acknowledged, however, that their actions caused hurt and have taken responsibility for the impact.

“After we had lunch we went to the school bridge and we started making our videos like doing vlogs… in our content we didn’t mean to mock the deaf, it was just us making memories and videos but I sincerely apologize for any harm caused,” Sawailau explained.

Binatagi, who was seen using sign language in the video, expressed regret following reactions from the public.

“I understand that were inappropriate disrespectful and could’ve caused hurt or offense. I take full responsibility for my behavior on whether it was intended as a joke or done without thinking about the consequences. I unerstand that the intend does not remove the impact that our actions can have on others and I recognize that making fun, imitating or treating someone as a source of entertainment is not acceptable, so I apologize that my actions may have created a negative impression of me and my friends and I am truly sorry for that.”

Cavalevu added that the experience has been an important lesson for them:

“I just wanted to say that I am truly sorry for the video that’s being viral on social media, and we are truly sorry about it, and I’m saying I’m sorry to all the deaf people in Fiji, we didn’t mean to mock people and this is our lesson learned from it.”

The students say they now want to turn the incident into an opportunity to learn and better understand the importance of sign language.

They have confirmed plans to take up sign language training, saying this will help them gain a better understanding of the deaf community and communicate more respectfully in the future.