SLAD Leaders Answer Important Questions
25th February 2019, witnessed one of the biggest Deaf protests ever to be held in the country. Deaf Individuals bravely fought for their basic Human Rights. Their struggles have lead to the approval o
The State Level Association of Deaf (SLAD) organised a protest on 25 February 2019. Manoj Patwari, the President of SLAD, Pradeep More the General Secretary and Aniket Selgaonkar the Vice-President were all present at the protest. Thousands of Deaf Individuals gathered outside the State Social Welfare Department’s office in Pune. Deaf people had decided not to leave till all their demands were fulfilled.
SLAD had 14 demands which would benefit deaf in different areas of society. Education, Employment, Driving License, application of Bera testing, etc. were the different demands. The protesters had had enough of the government’s apathy. The police lathi charged and injure many. This did not deter them. They slept on the road for two whole days with no food and water. Sibaji Panda had come all the way from Odisha to support the cause for higher education.
After years of protesting the government has finally approved some of the demands. Members of SLAD will be attending a meeting at the Mantralaya on 28 February for further discussions.
Interpreters like Atiya Hajee, Taslim Shaikh and Shruti Aawale worked extremely hard to help convey the strong emotions of Deaf leaders with extreme accuracy.
