Recently on an article was published in TOI. Many people across India read it as it was published in several cities. It was about ISH Shiksha’s ISL Course. I will now tell you what was written in the article. For some people learning new languages can be easy while for some it may be difficult. While some are good at spoken languages, some are better at manual languages than spoken languages. Something similar happened with Bhairavi Mehra. While in school she tried learning a few Languages like French, German, Spanish but found it difficult . A few years later she discovered an unexpected linguistic ability: sign language. Amongst the noise of spoken languages, there exists a silent language that has not yet become so popular. It is language that uses hand shapes, body movements and facial expressions and is a form of non-verbal communication — sign language. This language is not just breaking barriers for the Deaf but can be also be a cheat code for the

hearing population. As a deaf individual himself, Alok Kejriwal who founded ISH in 2017 and is the CEO understood the struggle to connect with the hearing world. He then teamed up with Aqil Chinoy, Head of IT and projects at ISH, also Deaf, and Mansi Shah, a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) — to solve accessibility needs of 1.8 crore Deaf in India in news, subtitles, interpreters etc. 

Aqil Chinoy, HOD-IT in ISH gives an example = Imagine, you are in a pub or party where the music is so loud that you can’t hear anything. You will either make some random gestures or will scream so that the person in front of you can hear you. There is no need for this. Just a sign will help you communicate. If you go for an underwater expedition, you don’t have to be silent, your hands can do the talking. You can communicate underwater. Thanks to ISH Shiksha that provides accessible education, news, entertainment for the deaf community in the country, over 112 ‘hearing’ people like Bhairavi who can hear and speak from north, south, east and west of India have enrolled for an Indian Sign Language (ISL) course. This course was launched last year and has been made specially for ‘hearing’ people. It is conducted online and there are one hour weekly sessions over a month. These classes are conducted by Deaf teachers, who even introduce hearing students to deaf culture, deaf history and a wealth of commonly spoken words ranging from action verbs like ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ and expressive words like ‘fast’ and ‘good’ to financial terms and names of cities.

Alok Kejriwal, CEO said,  “We’ve designed the course as a fun way to learn and not something extremely serious. It’s filled with games and quizzes that make the learning process interactive. Hearing people who have done the ISH Shiksha course say their journey into sign language has been “fascinating” and “humbling” as they learn to bring words and emotions to life with precise bodily expressions. Bhairavi, who is pursuing her masters in social work in Philadelphia, enrolled for ISL course as she wanted to pursue a career in mental health, particularly focusing on disability. Bhairavi who is originally from Mumbai said, “I felt sign language could open up pathways to the deaf community when I return to India. I also intend to use it in reaching out to the autistic community(Autism Spectrum Disorder) who are non-verbal and rely on alternative communication devices. Learning to sign has brought Vidya Shankar in Kochi closer to her son Arjun, 26, who is partially deaf. Vidya said, “My son attended a regular school relying on oralism to communicate. When he enrolled in National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Trivandrum, his academic performance suffered as NISH uses sign language as the primary mode of communication. I enrolled him in sign language training after which he topped his class. He could also connect with his peers and express himself better.” Vidya wanted to strengthen her bond with her son and actively engage with his friends, she too decided to learn ISL. 

She said, “Now I’m able to have meaningful conversations about their families, their exam preparations. It feels nice.” Mr Chinoy said, “Last year, PM Modi announced the inclusion of sign language as a subject in the

country’s academic curriculum. But the majority of deaf schools still adhere to oralism. Aqil remembered his own experience of attending an oral school as a child.  He would be fixated on the teacher’s mouth. Similar sounding words like ‘bat’, ‘cat’ and ‘mat’ would be very confusing. He had to strain his eyes and mind to lip read. By the time he understood what was being said, the conversation had moved on.  His comprehension of the communication would be delayed as he had to focus on lip reading. Aqil said, “The objective shouldn’t be to make the Deaf into imitations (copies) of hearing people, but help them become well-adjusted, empowered individuals.”

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