Thursday, July 31, 2008

Spotlight on experimental design and tribal art

Creative range: Some of the works of differently-abled children on display at the WLC College in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Vibrant collages, elegant pencil sketches and experimental dress designs produced by students of the St. Louis School for the Deaf, Adyar, and Clarke’s School for the Specially Abled Children, Mylapore, were on display at the WLC College in Alwarpet in Chennai on Sunday.

Collection
The exhibition marks a milestone indeed in the journey of two students towards putting together a meaningful design collection.

Titled ‘Thandavam’, Radhika Ganesh and Shwetha Raju, students of fashion designing, hope to bring out this set of apparel and accessories that would be inspired by all things Tamil in May.


They also would like to raise awareness of the abilities of the hearing and speech impaired by conducting workshops on design for special children, to help them benefit from their own knowledge.

Elements
On Saturday and Sunday, students from the two institutions played around with the elements of design, tribal art motifs and experimental designs.

Ms. Ganesh is eloquent with praise, “These children are very visually oriented and have a flair for art.”


The workshops would also give students a glimpse of a possible career option from Classes IX and above, Ms. Raju added.

At the college on Sunday evening, students with and without hearing aids were being instructed with signs from their teacher.

Paint-smudged fingers and excited faces hovered over brightly-coloured paintings.

“Since they cannot hear or talk, they are less likely to be distracted,” a student said, while two children behind her carried out an animated conversation in sign language.

The project has been sponsored by the college and space provided to conduct the event, on the premises.

“Creativity requires independence and we are glad to encourage it,” P. Kesavdass, WLC Centre Head, said.

A similar workshop was held previously for students of the St. Louis College for Deaf, Adyar.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Smile, sign language are warriors in this tourney

DEEP IN THOUGHT: Gopinath (left) thinking about his next move during the Chennai Open Chess Competition for the Hearing Impaired in Chennai

CHENNAI: G. Gopinath’s smile and sign language after his triumph in the Chennai Open Silent Chess Championship seemed to be loaded with meaning.
Yet only those who had the privilege to decipher his language of silence understood it and reacted accordingly.
His sign language read: “I am very happy.” Yet his body language conveyed some gloom at a remote part of his psyche.
The 34-year-old Gopinath started playing chess 13 years ago. He was able to enjoy school life only till class VI in the Clark school for the hearing impaired. Monetary constraints his parents faced made them put him in a mainstream school. He was unable to cope with the change and failed in class VIII. He dropped out of school.
The one-year fitter course at the Government Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped, Guindy, too could not fetch him his dream job with the Indian Railways as fitter. His answer in sign language to what he wanted to achieve in life was: “A job with the Railways.”
“While the visually impaired are given stipend by the government, the hearing impaired are not given stipend. So persons with hearing impairment who don’t have proper jobs suffer a lot,” says M.S.P. Kulandaisamy, a member of the Tamil Nadu Sports Council for the Deaf. The child who is unable to speak or hear will face a serious learning problem if not trained by special experts, he adds. “The future of that child will be at stake.”
V.R.Venkatesan, organising secretary of the Silence Brotherhood said, “The Chess Championship has increased the enthusiasm among the fraternity of the hearing impaired.”

Cricket match for hearing impaired

SPORTING SPIRIT: Actor Bosskey interacts with players at the inter-district cricket tournament for the hearing impaired organised in Chennai on Tuesday as interpreter Vijaya Bhaskaran of Ability Foundation translates it into sign language. — P hoto: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association for the Deaf organised their first inter-district cricket tournament for the hearing impaired here on Tuesday.
Teams from Kanyakumari, Cuddalore, Tiruvallur and Chennai gathered at the Anna University playground for the qualifying matches. The final match is scheduled for Thursday.
Inaugurating the tournament, actor and television personality Bosskey said that cricket was a sportsman's game, and that what mattered was how one played it and not what one was. "Don't get discouraged by the disability. See the positive aspects," he said.

As the actor spoke to them, Vijaya Bhaskaran of Ability Foundation translated it into sign language. Every time he cracked a joke, they applauded by waving their hands in the air. While some of the players were hearing impaired, a few were both hearing and speech impaired.

Secretary of the Association Barkat S. Saiyed said he had played for Gujarat earlier and that he had gained a lot of experience there. "I want to share it with the juniors," he said.

Captain of the Chennai team Raja said Sachin Tendulkar inspired him most. "He joined the team as a young lad and later grew to become the greatest cricketers in the history of the game," he said. Raja will represent India in the Asia Cup tournament to be organised in Delhi early next year.

P. Chandrasekar, who has been coaching the Chennai team for the last year, said a scientific way of coaching would help. "Many who usually play tennis ball cricket have come to play with the cricket ball. Coaching has to be consistent and not just before tournaments," he said.
Mr. Chandrasekar said that though he found communicating with the players challenging, he had eventually picked up a little bit of sign language and managed to impart basic skills to his students. "An interpreter is vital as there is a possibility of them misunderstanding what we say if we have not communicated the matter to them clear enough," he explained.

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