Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

`Do not discriminate against persons who are hearing impaired'

Alok Kejriwal

Sign language is artful. It reduces the monotony of speech, says Alok Kejriwal, Export Director of Ampoules and Vials Manufacturing Company, Mumbai.

On a recent visit to Coimbatore in connection with the Deaf Expo, an international conference for the hearing impaired, scheduled in the city in January, he speaks to Anasuya Menon.

Mr. Alok is hearing impaired. The odds faced by a hearing impaired person to excel in his profession - especially one that involves meeting a lot of people and constant interaction with clients - were endless, he says. It calls for immense patience from both parties taking part in the conversation.

Society is still not sensitive to the sentiments of the hearing impaired. Many refer to them as "deaf and dumb," which is highly objectionable, he observes. "It is as if they don't have a mind of their own."

The hearing impaired may not have the power of hearing and speech, but that does not translate to them being `dumb.' The word often suggests stupidity, he adds.

Society has done away with casteist discrimination to a certain extent. But it has still not freed itself from the stranglehold of discrimination against its disabled population.

"Removing the stigma related to deafness was an ongoing struggle," he said. A lot of it had to come from the awareness levels among the hearing impaired people themselves, he observes.

The communication process should be made easier by enabling short messaging services (SMS) to land line phones. Unlike in the West, the facilities for communication for the hearing impaired were abysmally low in India.

In a case of an emergency, they should have some method of communicating their problem to police, fire station, ambulance or the hospitals.

Ten million people in India are hearing impaired and 40 million are hard of hearing. He reels out statistics when asked about the educational facilities for hearing impaired children in the country.

Sign language schools were not rare. But, the quality was suspect, Mr. Kejriwal adds. All over the country there are about 550 schools teaching sign language, but only a few of them impart training based on English.

A combination of oral and sign language is the best way of communication for a hearing impaired person, he points out.

While the Government allots at least one per cent of the jobs for the hearing impaired, these people are totally neglected by private sector companies. "There are plenty of jobs in these companies that hearing impaired people can do," he says.

The Government and the public sector should come together in making their lives better, he adds.

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