There are approximately 63 million people with significant hearing loss in India. This makes auditory incapacities the second most common form of disability in the country. There aren’t that many facilities available to people with hearing impairments which can lead them to feel isolated. The special education on offer to people with hearing loss is also extremely inadequate.
There is a shockingly low enrolment rate of only a few thousand deaf children in 159 schools. Only 2% of schools use sign language to communicate with deaf students. That’s according to government statistics which show that ineffective communication results in a gap between the curriculum and the actual learning for the students.
These inadequacies are also prevalent in the media and there are few resources to reach the hearing impaired community. This prevents people with hearing impairments from reaching their full potential.
To tackle these disputes, a Kerala based software developer called Kingsley David established Sign TV which was a project aimed at educating the hearing impaired and deaf through Indian Sign Language. The channel broadcasts world news to keep the deaf community up to date with world and current events. They also include health segments with information on diseases and how to prevent them. The audience is also taught Indian Sign Language along the way to help them follow what is being broadcast. They also produce YouTube videos and have an online blog.
The channel aims to bring better access to the hearing impaired of important information on everything from global events to health. The next objective which they aim to achieve is to encourage all special needs schools in India to include at least one hour a day of sign language training in their curriculum.
The channel aims to improve the lives of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They aim to do this by increasing community engagement and awareness of the issues. Provided they get adequate funding they aim to expand the channel and increase community engagement of the hearing impaired and end the stigma associated with disabilities in India.
For further information please visit:
