Deaf Role Models

Rupmani Chhetri has made India proud by becoming the first UN Volunteer with any kind of disability. She is currently working in Ukraine as an "Advocacy Specialist" on Disability. Rupmani was born in Nepal (Chitwan) to a hearing family. She did her initial schooling in a deaf school in Kalimpong (Darjeeling) where the teachers did not use sign language. Hence, she had to face lot of difficulties in her studies.  Later, she joined the Ghoom Girls Higher Secondary school in Ghoom district of Darjeeling. She was the only deaf girl in that school, so it was incredibly tough for her to understand and learn anything.  Her father had a limited salary and her family faced financial difficulties. She had to work as a manual labour carrying building material and stones to earn money for her school fees, uniform and books. Her father could not even afford to pay for her fees at National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). She got a job in a salon in Darjeeling. The salary was ver...

Dr. Alim Chandani was born in Mumbai, India. He struggled to fit in the mainstream schools and did not have the opportunity to be part of deaf community or learn Sign Language for the next 21 years until one day, he visited  Rochester Institute of Technology . It was at RIT, that the concept of 'Deaf Identity' and 'Deaf Culture' became integral part of his life. Dr. Chandani graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the RIT, obtained a Master’s degree in Deaf Rehabilitation/Higher Education from New York University, and, ultimately, obtained his Doctorate in Administration and Supervision in Special Education from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. in 2013. Dr. Chandani’s dissertation focused on the feasibility of managing Deaf programs at higher education institutions in India. Dr. Chandani has been working in the field of international development and social entrepreneurship since 2007, when he founded GRO. His brainchild -  Centum Gro initiative in India ha...

Sh. Sibaji Panda was born in Odisha, India on 17 May 1974. He became deaf at the age of 10, but he found sign language support at home, since his elder brother was also deaf. He was an active but average student in a mainstream school, but he had what all other students didn't have in those years - the fearless confidence to speak up for what's right. Inspired by the stories of Mahatma Gandhi, he once challenged all his teachers, even his Principal about the low quality education system and rampant cheating.  He managed to just pass his Class 10th and 12th exams with a low percentage, because he didn't cheat.  He started working with Delhi Foundation for Deaf Women as a computer trainer. It was there that he was spotted by Ulrike Zeeshan, a German professor who was researching about Indian Sign Language. Both of them collaborated to create the first formal one year ISL training course - Level A, B and C used by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and Ali Yavar Jung Nat...

Dr. Madan Vashishta is a legendary figure for the deaf in India.  He pioneered research work in Indian Sign Language (ISL) in 1978, at a time when no-one had any idea that ISL even existed. His research proved that despite all the oppression, stigma and challenges -    Indian Sign Language reverberated in hostels, dining halls, playgrounds and deaf schools in India . He published the first ISL Dictionary in 1981.  He is well known in the deaf community for his two beautiful memoirs:  "Deaf in Delhi" and "Deaf in DC".   With all these credentials, you may think of him as a serious academician, but on the contrary he surprises you with his amazing sense of humour, an outstanding memory, and an ability to charm in a single meeting. Dr. Madan is an admirer of poetry and can read Hindi as well as Urdu.  Dr. Madan M. Vasishta was born in 1941 in northern India, in a village called Gagret, Himachal Pradesh. He became deaf at age 11 from a bout o...