Deaf Role Models

Mr. V. Gopalakrishnan is a renowned Indian Sign Language Expert and Consultant, he is one of the first teachers of Indian Sign Language (ISL). He is currently serving as the General Secretary (GS) of All India Federation of Deaf (AIFD). Gopalakrishnan was born with profound deafness in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on 14 December 1940. Due to complications during pregnancy, the doctors had to use forceps, which is suspect of causing this deafness. As is the case with more than 95% of deaf people, his parents were both hearing. His father was the proprietor of a bookstore selling books on medicine and law in Trivandrum, Kerala. His mother was a Carnatic musician and a housewife. He has 4 siblings, one younger brother and three younger sisters, all hearing. His formal education started only when he was seven years old! Since there were no schools for the Deaf in Trivandrum at that time, he was sent to Madras (present day Chennai) for his primary education at the Little Flower C...

Bilal Chinoy is a charismatic, creative and vibrant role model, who has the ability to instantly impress and connect with a cheering crowd of deaf students with his stock of stimulating stories and discussions. Bilal works as the Multimedia Designer in Gallaudet University's Office of Communications and Public Relations and an Adjunct Professor for Web Design. The focus of his job is to make the stories on Gallaudet University's website come alive by designing visuals. With the power of ' chai ' (tea) in his veins and a love of adventure, Mr. Chinoy finds himself recharged by biking, trekking, running and traveling. He is a step closer to achieving his dream of bridging the gap between education and employability of Deaf youth in India by co-founding Young Achievers, an organization that aims to provide quality bilingual Deaf educational services. Bilal was born Deaf in Mumbai, India.  Because his parents and brother were also Deaf, he didn’t see being Deaf as s...