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Challenges before Hearing Impaired people
Padma Kalra
Member, Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women
I have a great pleasure to address this VIIth National Conference and I thank all of you whole heartedly and the DFDW for giving me this opportunity. This year as you all know the Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women is organizing its VIIth National Conference and IIIrd Cultural Festival of India for deaf. Needless to mention here DFWD is the only organization in all over India who has taken the lead in successfully rehabilitating and encouraging hearing impaired, especially women, in our country since 1973. It is struggling hard since its formation. I feel proud to be a part of DFDW to be associated with Late Smt. Renee Kurien between 1988 and 1999. Hearing impaired people right from childhood have to face lot of problems on account of social interaction, language and communication, education, behavioural problems, poor education mental health and safety to name a few. All these have a negative impact on their social development. Gradually when they become adults they suffer from low self-esteem and lack of confidence and this affects their relationship with peers/friends and family. They find it hard to hear in group conversations. Therefore, they fear group participation thus affecting their leisure and social participation. Hearing impaired people cannot telephone and when they watch TV they have to be dependent on hearing people. Even we are deprived of the pleasure of watching TV and films and here also we need the help of a companion because movies and serials on TV do not have sub titles on them and it should be compulsory and mandatory. I may mention here that life has become easy for a few who have access to SMS through cell phones and by using internet/emails. Not all enjoy these privileges. In the name of communicating other people yell at them causing embarrassment in the public, society and become a reason of mockery. Many deaf people withdraw from social situations because of embarrassment and this contributes to isolation, frustration and depression. They always fear that others cannot understand them so they become self-conscious. All these problems lead to improper educational development. They lag behind in educational and professional achievements. Irrespective of all these problems they work hard and make their own place in the mainstream of the society. To improve the lives of the hearing impaired the United Nations is supporting more and more the human rights of hearing impaired people and works closely with the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). In fact in 1993 the UN General Assembly adopted Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Anyone may think that these are powerful and wonderful words to be easily adopted by each country on this earth in order to improve the more than 70 million lives of the hearing impaired people. You may think that apply these rules to each responsible government and everything will be fine for the hearing impaired community. Unfortunately, this is not so and the reality is very different. In India we do not have ample good hearing impaired schools. Even if we have a few are the levels of the hearing impaired schools equal to the normal hearing schools, do the hearing teachers encourage the deaf children properly to go for higher education in universities and encourage them to take up jobs. Do we have ample universities and vocational training institutes for the hearing impaired so that they can become self-sufficient? The answers to many of the above questions is negative. Our Government on their part have they ever tried to find out how many hearing impaired people live in India and how do they live? How is the relationship between them and the hearing society in general? How much does our society know about the needs of the hearing impaired people? And how much does the hearing impaired community educate the hearing people about the needs of hearing impaired people? Is Sign Language recognized as a language by law? It is not. How strong is the deaf community? How strong are the Deaf Associations/NGOs around the states and cities? How they run? Are they self-sufficient and so on? Indian Government on other hand has given reservation in jobs to the physically handicapped but how many hearing impaired people have got the jobs? Hearing impaired get passes and concessions in road and rail transport respectively. But no concessions available for the hearing impaired in the air travel as well as in metro. In Railway Stations, metro stations and in Airports the hearing impaired are at the mercy of their companions. They feel nervous to travel alone because we do not have sign language interpreters by not recognizing Sign Language as a language by law. There may be many hearing impaired married couples with children among us who are trying to make both their ends meet. Schools, colleges should give fee concession to their children so they get good education so that there is no financial burden on the parents. Concessions should be given for the hearing impaired in metros and air travel. All I want to say here is that life from childhood till his last breath life is not easy for a deaf person. Now I want to touch upon the problems faced by the hearing impaired people in the weaker sections. The rich manage to get admission here and there. Many private schools are running facilities for this. But with regard to children with disabilities belonging to weaker sections, the government schools are totally insensitive. More work has to be done. The problems are many and it is now time that the hearing impaired community all over India should come together in solving these problems so that the future generation will not have to face the problems that we are facing today. The Government should be more committed to solve the problems faced by the deaf and the NGOS for deaf spread all over India should come together for addressing and finding solutions to the problems of the hearing impaired. The Social Justice Ministry was ignoring the rights of the disabled and, instead, concentrating on issues involving other sections of the society who form a major vote bank. The Government should ensure that the there are no vacant posts of physically handicapped in any of the Government departments, banks, hospitals, and all Government agencies. The private sector on the other hand should come forward to help the physically handicapped by giving them suitable jobs. The Disability Act and the National Policy on Disability announced in 2007 looks great on paper but success depends upon its proper implementation. Our Government on the other hand demanded reservation for the Scheduled Castes in the private sector, but forgot all about the disabled and hearing impaired community. I strongly feel these private sectors have to take little pain and should try to accommodate hearing impaired candidates in their jobs. Instead of many offices like the Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities, the Rehabilitation Council of India there should one permanent National Disability Commission. The National Disability Commission, which was announced on August 15, 2003 was abolished in 2007. So the Government should in the first place should set up a National Disability Commission for the physically handicapped. It should look into the demands of the physically handicapped and work towards the identification of the conditions and progressive enhancement of those conditions at the National level. This Commission would serve to ensure that people with disabilities lead full and productive lives. Last but not the least the family of every hearing impaired should play a key role by supporting, encouraging, motivate them. Parents, brothers, sisters and relatives should pour impartial love, should adjust and should have the willingness to tolerate that member instead of making that member realize that he/she is a burden or a cause of social embarrassment because as you all know charity begins at home. I once again thank everyone for giving me this opportunity to present myself before all of you. Thank you! |
DFDW Videos III Cultural Festival of India for Deaf Women December 29, 2008 : Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi DANCE : First Prize Gujarat
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