The Hindu : Front Page : ‘Sound of the silent’ set to allure the hearing impaired

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Monday, Oct 08, 2007
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‘Sound of the silent’ set to allure the hearing impaired

Anasuya Menon

A 28-minute slot once a week on Doordarshan sought

K. Murali, Director of Deaf Leaders

COIMBATORE: A tele-serial exclusively for the hearing impaired will soon capture the aesthetic interests of the hearing impaired country-wide.

A brainchild of K. Murali, Director of Deaf Leaders, an organisation working for the empowerment of the hearing impaired in Coimbatore, “Sound of the Silent” would feature success stories of hearing impaired individuals.

Speaking to The Hindu before his visit to Japan for a “Leadership Training for Deaf Persons,” Mr. Murali said that he had met Government officials in New Delhi and Doordarshan to get a 28-minute slot once a week on the national channel. Mr. Murali was expecting a positive response from the Centre in two to three months.

A compact disc on the lives of two hearing impaired people from Madurai and Coimbatore had also been released by him, which would be used as material for the programme.

Insufficient funds were slowing down the process. The camera and related equipment were expensive and finding professionals to undertake the production work was also difficult.

Mr. Murali was expecting technical assistance from Japan and planned to get equipment required for shooting videos from there.

With movies on hearing impairment having begun to be accepted in mainstream cinema, the hearing impaired community would feel less excluded, he said. Such movies should be encouraged as they did not portray the hearing impaired as seeking public sympathy, but empowered citizens contributing to society. Through “Sound of the Silent,” he aimed at motivate those of his ilk to empower themselves and contribute to society.

He is the only person from the country who has been selected by the Government of Japan to attend the training programme, which would mainly concentrate on improving communication skills for international sign languages and formulate an action plan to resolve the problems faced by hearing impaired people.

On his return from Japan, he would conduct conferences to impart the information to other organisations.

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