Women Empowerment through Sign Language and Technology

The first official record of Sign Language being taught dates back to 1771 when Abbe Charles Michel de L’Epee established the National Institute for Deaf-Mutes in Paris. It has come a long way since then, with 41 countries recognizing it as an official language. Human Rights groups across the world advocate the recognition and use of the sign language in equal status to spoken and written word to promote the linguistic identity of the deaf.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has a “right to freedom of opinion and expression”, including the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.

Sign language is gaining prominence among the youth. Some want to learn it to communicate with deaf people in their families or while some learn it to gain employment as Sign Language Interpreters. Corporates today are readily hiring Interpreters to enable their workforce to communicate better with their hearing-impaired colleagues and the community at large.

At Ashray Akruti, we believe that learning the sign language is a necessary first step towards building an inclusive community. The objective of the course is to dignify the right of communication for the hearing-impaired. This will help bring about a systemic change as far as employability is concerned with more people signing up to become the voice of the deaf and the other disabled population. Sign language has gained prominence these days and it is recognized as one of the important tool for communication and to gain employment to communicate better as a siblings and a member of the society.

Communication is a significant challenge that deaf people face in day today life. They struggle to express themselves to others, which often leads to social exclusion and ridicule. Every society that wishes to improve people's living conditions with hearing loss and remove communication barriers is of paramount importance.

As far as India is concerned, there are only about 250 certified Sign Language interpreters in India, translating for a deaf population of 63 million. There are currently only very few institutes, namely ISLRT, NIHH, and DEF, that provide Sign Language training. With only very few trained Sign Language interpreters to bridge the gap between the deaf population and others, there is a massive scarcity of Sign Language interpreters.

Learning Sign Language is a necessity for a deaf person. This helps him, or her connect with other deaf people. However, for a hearing person learning Sign Language can be a skill to communicate with Hearing-Impaired people. Learning Sign Language is about bridging the gap between hearing and deaf people. As our society moves towards a more inclusive one, we foresee that in the near future, there will be a requirement for Sign Language interpreters at corporates, public places such as hospitals, police stations, etc., which means learning the skill will throw up job opportunities as well. Sign Language Interpreters' demand is expected to rise from 46% from 2012 to 2022, increasing 29,300 jobs.

Being proficient in Indian sign language allows to communicate with a wide range of hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf individuals—including students in mainstream and deaf school or university programs and deaf or hard of hearing residents and business people in our community.

 

Under this Project Ashray Akruti seeks support to provide 3 months training in sign language interpretation to 10 young women’s from underprivileged background. This training will provide employable skills and make them financially independent and live life with their fullest capacity and dignity. We believe that every individual deserves a future, a fair chance to dream, and a vision to work towards those dreams. As we talk about equity and inclusion let us keep in mind that many young women’s stay away from their dreams due to financial and other social constraints.

With this difficult situation ringing a constant bell in our minds we would like to invite you to be a part of this noble initiative and bring about a change in a young mind’s life. 

·        10 Women from underprivileged background will be independent confident and grow into contributing citizen of society.

·        Family will be stress-free due to the employment provided as an interpreter would be support to the financial status of the family.

·        Build a greater awareness to bridge a gap between hearing and non-hearing.

·        An offline training aided by technology, Practice and communication will improve the concentration and listening skills.

·        Create job opportunities for sign language interpreter  in special schools and colleges

·        Provide Job opportunities in corporates under the Inclusion and Diversity policy.

·        To adopt technology to improve their learning experiences and enhance their digital skills along with getting an offline learning experience.

·        Educated young women contributes to her vulnerable family and it will eliminate the circle of Poverty.

·        Working as a sign language interpreter will lead employability skills, which will enable young women for a decent life.