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...

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...