Deaf Role Models

Babloo Kumar, is an enterprising youth leader. He is well known for his abstract metaphors in Indian Sign Language and his strong leadership skills. He is the President of the  Youth Association of the Deaf, India (YADI)  and has formerly worked as a  Mobilization Specialist  for ' Deaf Empowerment ' at the Centum GRO Initiative and ISL Teacher at NISH, Kerala . He actively participates in the conferences at national and International level. He has already traveled to Turkey, Denmark, Singapore and wishes to travel more! Babloo had very humble beginnings. He was born in a small village called 'Hatiya' in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Later, his family moved to Moradabad, UP. His family is all hearing, except his elder brother Dabloo. His father worked at a Government Office in U.P. and mother was a house-wife. He grew up in a society, where sign language had no place. His brother mostly lived apart, so there was limited interaction while growing up. He recounts his ...

Sachin is an enigmatic, industrious and accomplished youth leader. He works as an Instructor, Sign Linguistics at Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center, New Delhi. He is an international deaf youth representative at Disabled People International (DPI), and is also actively involved in various research projects. Sachin was born deaf. He spent most of his life in Lucknow, U.P.  His mother and elder sister are deaf, along with many other relatives from his maternal side like his uncle, aunt and many others. However, none of them knew sign language. They have been managing with gestures and limited speech, which is what Sachin received as his first language input. Despite having so many deaf members in his family, he never received the Sign Language support that was needed. He studied in a mainstream school. He was the only deaf student there. He understood absolutely nothing in his classroom. Year after year, teachers came and delivered lesson after lesson -...

Abigail Beilfuss is a free-spirited traveler , a deaf interpreter , who knows multiple sign languages - Indian Sign Language (ISL), American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), German Sign Language (DGS), French Sign Language (LSF) and International Sign (IS). She is an independent single mother. She is the General Secretary (Woman), Goa Association of the Deaf and  Vice-President of the newly established National Youth Association of Deaf (NYAD) , India. She is fascinated by the power of sign languages in transforming deaf lives, giving an identity, sense of self-confidence and a way to express the most complex of the ideas and feelings with ease. Abigail was born in Calcutta , India and spent most of her childhood in Delhi, India. She became deaf due to meningitis when she was 6 months old. Initially, she was put for the speech therapy, better known as the ‘ Oralism ’ approach.  But she found it dull, and highly inadequate. She was introduced to the wor...

Radha Kakaria was born deaf to hearing parents in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her elder brother and elder sister are also deaf, along with one hearing elder brother.  She studied up to 8th in Tamil medium at Little Flower Convent School for Deaf , Chennai. She always used to get first rank in her class.  Later she shifted to hearing school to compete with other hearing students. When she asked for the T.C., the Principal said : " You cannot study in hearing school and pass easily ”. But her parents were adamant and Principal issued T.C. on the condition that she should never come back to this deaf school in case she failed .  With hard work and determination, she completed 10th standard with very good results - 73% overall and 88% in maths, competing with millions of hearing students. Hence, she proved: " DEAF CAN DO" . Then she completed her 12th in English medium and got 72% marks (Maths - 89% and Accountancy - 88%) . To be able to clear, 12th in English med...

Aqil was born and brought up in a deaf family in Mumbai, India. Indian Sign Language (ISL) was his first language, as his parents, his younger brother and many other members in his family were deaf. His grandparents were hearing and strong supporters of oralism. The awareness related to sign language was extremely limited during those years, and most deaf schools in India followed the oral method. He was put in one such oral school in Mumbai, where his teachers warned his parents not to use sign language with him, since there is a common misconception that sign language diminishes speech and lip reading skills (despite the research proving otherwise, sadly the misconception continues to prevail). Aqil was a little bewildered by the extreme focus on the speech, and objection to something that came so naturally to him i.e. Sign Language. He used those years to build a strong foundation in English language. His books became his closest friends. He was often found engrossed in readi...

B. Joyshree Devi (from Manipur) has created history by being the first ever deaf candidate from the entire North East to successfully complete her D.Ed. in Special Education (HI) from Montfort Centre for Education, Tura. While most deaf adults would dread a 2-year regular teacher-training programme, with all hearing batch-mates and teachers, Joyshree has been an exception from the start. She is currently working with Ferrando Centre for Speech and Hearing, Umniuh-Khwan for a project on “Inclusive Education” - RAISE - North East.  Joyshree Devi was born profoundly deaf. But her ambitions have always been extra-ordinary. Remembering her school days at Manipur, she had often shared her disappointment and anger at the teachers there who didn’t know Sign Language and never really could teach much. She confessed that she passed class 10 th from Manipur, without even understanding meanings of basic words which a class 3 student must know. She credits Ferrando Centre which ...

Vishwajit Nair was born in Thane, Mumbai in a deaf family  -  20 members including his parents are deaf in his family . Though he had the sign language access from the beginning - he was still expected to learn speech and lip reading in his deaf school. The concept of sign language as the mother tongue was unheard of. Even his own parents, who were deaf themselves, supported oral education. The teachers in his school were never able to build interest or translate concepts. He was an extremely naughty child, and his parents were actually quite worried for him. But today he is a role model, currently working at Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center,  ISLRTC , New Delhi as Instructor of  Sign Linguistics . As a child, Vishwajit was very fond of arts - he could draw a portrait even at an early age of 10. He was also talented in sports. When he passed class 10th, he was rather confused in life. He joined ' Ishara Foundation ' in Bombay and it was then, t...

Sh. Anuj Jain is the Joint Secretary of National Association of the Deaf, the only truly national and grassroots Disabled People's Organisation that fights for the rights of deaf people in India. He has been a part of many developments of the Indian Deaf community but most recently is the accessible telecast of Republic Day Parade 2017 via ISL interpreter, &  demanded the passing of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill among others on December 2016. He has been working with and for the deaf and hard of hearing sector for over 30 years. He has demanded the Social Welfare Dept., Delhi Govt to vacate the deaf school which they continue its use space for the deaf school was illegal. He also demanded Delhi Govt for providing the driving license for the deaf. He was one of the few selected participants to the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, Durban, South Africa in July 2011 and the Grassroots International Advocacy Leadership Training by Gallau...

Priti Shah Soni is the Founder and  General Secretary of " Deaf Can Foundation" (DCF) , Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and an Executive Member of "National Association of Deaf" (NAD), India. She is well known in the Deaf community for her active work in the empowerment of deaf especially deaf women and her sign language videos for spreading awareness on her YouTube Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC830RiHvLxste0LDCqM5SVA/videos) . She was born and brought up in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. She was raised in a deaf family i.e. both her parents and her sister were deaf.  She completed her education from Indore Deaf Bilingual Academy (IDBA) run by Mook Badhir Sangathan (MKS). She pursued her higher education and post-graduation from Barkatullah University, MP. Then, she went to Deaf Enabled Foundation (DEF) in Hyderabad, India to attend a 3 month training in management. She also worked at the ‘Bhopal Deaf Association’ to understand more about organization structure...

Sh. Attupurth Sreedharan Narayanan has been working with the deaf community in India for the past 25 years. He is the President of National Association of the Deaf, India. He has been actively involved in the setting up and functioning of Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC).  He was instrumental in getting the legislation approved for  issuance of driving licenses for deaf people.  Currently, he is leading the campaign for the recognition of Indian Sign Language as one of the official languages of India, and captioning on TV, among other issues.