National Association of Deaf

seeks common sign language

At a meeting held in Chennai on Sunday, facial expressions said it all

NAD general secretary A.S. Narayanan addressing a State-level meeting in Chennai

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) wants a common sign language for use across the country. It should be recognised by the Constitution and made the medium of instruction, according to leaders of the Association.

At present, schools for the hearing impaired in the country follow their own sign language making it difficult for students of different institutions to interact with one another, Association president Aran Rao told The Hindu over telephone from Dehra-dun.

He was elaborating on the demands raised by the association at its meeting here on Sunday. "The students do not have a uniform language but the teachers are being trained to teach students. How is it possible? Sign languages are created by the deaf children," he explained.

He also wanted the Centre to set up six colleges in different regions. At present, there are only two colleges, one of them in Chennai.

At the meeting here, NAD members and organizations working with the hearing impaired in Tamil Nadu stressed the need for interpreters to be posted in government departments, hospitals, police stations and court rooms.

It was one of those meet­ings where facial expressions said it all. Many of them came with their children and spouses. For three hours, the members discussed their needs and ways to present their demands to the govern­ment.

NAD general secretary A.S. Narayanan said though orga­nisations for the deaf were started in 1950, till date the country had only 550 schools and two colleges. "Only one per cent of the deaf go to school," he said, calling for captioning (giving sub-titles to) television programmes that are not telecast live.

This could be done by in­stalling decoder chips in TV sets, he pointed out.

Ranjini Murugan, who runs the Deaf Adult Women's Needs Foundation here, called for speeding up the is­sue of identity cards by the office of Disability Commis­sioner.