Bengalureans work to sign 'Chacha' and 'Mausi'

The group gets people with hearing and speech disabilities to teach sign language to people without disabilities.

07.09.2016, BENGALURU: Inclusive India might just get a boost with an initiative by a group of Bengalureans who are all set to standardise Indian Sign Language (ISL) with their initiative ‘One sign per day’; and ‘finger chats’.

The group gets people with hearing and speech disabilities to teach sign language to people without disabilities. The student then teaches another and thus the sign language spreads.

With about 8 million deaf people in India, according to the 2010 census, the city-based group believes that ISL has not necessarily evolved with dialects. “It is a challenge to say chacha, mama, mausi and other Indian words. The standard of sign language used in India is mostly American Sign Language (ASL) which has 58 per cent influence of French Sign Language (LSF). Sign language like any other language has lots of expressions and gestures and is most understood through the context in which it is used,” said Vishnu Soman, who has been leading this iniative of EnAble India, a registered charitable trust dedicated to empower people with disability and render them employment, since 2009.

Vishnu came up with the idea of ‘One sign per day’ and ‘finger chats’ when he used to teach enthusiastic volunteers on a personal basis. After receiving an overwhelming response from many, he decided to make it big and virtual.

According to him, to use the uniform sign language from north to the south, regional sign languages have to be developed. “Borrowing from other sign languages gets unnecessarily complicated, making it out of context. Sometimes we are forced to invent some words, and adding them in the sign vocabulary makes the ISL richer,” he said.

The first finger-chat initiative started this April when 23 participants met at Cubbon Park to learn the form of communication. The programme quickly spread to Pune, Delhi, Kochi, and Mumbai was introduced to the list last Sunday. Explaining about the concept, Vishnu said, “Finger chat is a community where a person learns to communicate with the hearing impaired without the use of voice. Around 500 people have learned finger-chat through corporate and public gatherings. There were over 20 participants of finger chats at Cubbon Park on Sunday which will be held at least twice a month.”

EnAble will use this ISL throughout India and will use this in their syllabus. “What will be taught in Bengaluru will be replicated in other finger-chat events in other cities,” Vishnu said.

With September 25 being World Deaf Day, volunteers led by Vishnu decided to teach ‘one sign per day’ virtually and make it World Deaf Month. “All you have to do is register online with WhatsApp or email and you will get one video a day, demonstrating a sign word,” Vishnu said.

Launched on September 1, the initiative has already got over 200 registrations. “The words taught so far include ‘week’, ‘Tuesday’, ‘confidence’ and few others. All these words are random and unconnected. A hearing impaired person and interpreters make the video,” he informed.