Miss-Delectable
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It's a world where silence speaks and words flow through actions. But, its inhabitants draw their strength from a dream to be self-reliant and independent. With an aim to fulfill this vision, the Noida Deaf Society (NDS) was started two years ago by Ruma Roka. Today, the organisation gives vocational training to the hearing impaired in computers, conducts comprehensive Indian Sign Language classes, along with written English classes to facilitate communication.
Explains Roka, who set up NDS with the help five hearing impaired volunteers, “The motive behind starting this was to let the hearing impaired specialise in training programmes through computer lessons and basic English-speaking courses to sustain themselves after their basic schooling as there are no proper higher educational avenues for the hearing impaired in India.”
She got thinking on this when some of her hearing impaired friends volunteered to help her to do interpretation work in schools and hospitals. Today, the organisation has 58 students pursuing different courses. The NDS presently has two certified hearing impaired teachers: for the basic office application course and the Indian sign language course. Other than this, there is a specialised DTP course, which has been created by NIIT media staff and is being conducted twice a week on a voluntary basis by the NIIT media staff.
But the road to success was not easy. Roka faced opposition from the parents of the hearing impaired children. “Parents do not know whom to turn to when they realise that their child is born impaired of hearing. Their struggle begins right from the time the child is born and efforts taken to make him live like “normal” children. Since the child can talk, they are usually against sign language training and prefer speech therapy which is definitely not the way to provide education, since the child is born hearing impaired. We had to counsel the parents before admitting their wards,” she says.
Other than providing education to the hearing impaired in Noida and NCR, it is also paving way towards self-employment for the instructors. Says Himanshu Sharma, who works as an instructor for the MS office course, “I feel that I am able to make a difference to this small community of hearing impaired.”
Nisha Thomas, who was born hearing impaired and is presently pursuing her DTP course at NDS, says, “I am looking forward to working as a graphic designer. But, there was a time when I was practically losing communication with everyone around. I felt so isolated, but not any more. With my training, I know that I can stand on my feet and help others like me.”
It's a world where silence speaks and words flow through actions. But, its inhabitants draw their strength from a dream to be self-reliant and independent. With an aim to fulfill this vision, the Noida Deaf Society (NDS) was started two years ago by Ruma Roka. Today, the organisation gives vocational training to the hearing impaired in computers, conducts comprehensive Indian Sign Language classes, along with written English classes to facilitate communication.
Explains Roka, who set up NDS with the help five hearing impaired volunteers, “The motive behind starting this was to let the hearing impaired specialise in training programmes through computer lessons and basic English-speaking courses to sustain themselves after their basic schooling as there are no proper higher educational avenues for the hearing impaired in India.”
She got thinking on this when some of her hearing impaired friends volunteered to help her to do interpretation work in schools and hospitals. Today, the organisation has 58 students pursuing different courses. The NDS presently has two certified hearing impaired teachers: for the basic office application course and the Indian sign language course. Other than this, there is a specialised DTP course, which has been created by NIIT media staff and is being conducted twice a week on a voluntary basis by the NIIT media staff.
But the road to success was not easy. Roka faced opposition from the parents of the hearing impaired children. “Parents do not know whom to turn to when they realise that their child is born impaired of hearing. Their struggle begins right from the time the child is born and efforts taken to make him live like “normal” children. Since the child can talk, they are usually against sign language training and prefer speech therapy which is definitely not the way to provide education, since the child is born hearing impaired. We had to counsel the parents before admitting their wards,” she says.
Other than providing education to the hearing impaired in Noida and NCR, it is also paving way towards self-employment for the instructors. Says Himanshu Sharma, who works as an instructor for the MS office course, “I feel that I am able to make a difference to this small community of hearing impaired.”
Nisha Thomas, who was born hearing impaired and is presently pursuing her DTP course at NDS, says, “I am looking forward to working as a graphic designer. But, there was a time when I was practically losing communication with everyone around. I felt so isolated, but not any more. With my training, I know that I can stand on my feet and help others like me.”