HIGHLIGHTS
- A group has been organising sessions for people to learn the sign language of the people having hearing disability
- The group, FingerChats, is aims at forming a standard language for making the world easier to live in for the hearing-challenged
The idea is simple - to form a standard language for making this world an easier place to live in for the hearing-challenged.
Sanjana Rangan, a software engineer, who is also the principal coordinator of the group, has an apt method to the best way to learn any language: "The best way to learn a language is through the native speaker. It's just like a North Indian coming to the South and learning the language from someone who already knows and speaks it.
Similarly, FingerChats aims at recreating the learning process with the people who have lived through the struggles of the disability."
It all started for Sanjana when she was shopping at a clothing retail shop and came across a salesman who could not hear. According to her, he was trying his best to communicate. "I felt really awful! I wanted to talk to him but there was no way that I could. And then I thought 'If he can try to fit in, why can't I do my part?'," she said.
Sanjana's story is similar to that of how the organisation came into the picture. Subhadra, an analyst, who is a core volunteer of the group, said, "The idea of FingerChats came along when we met a group of hearing impaired people who wanted to dance at a social event but could not communicate it well to the authorities concerned. A group of us wanted to do something about it, and we formed a sign language booth where people could drop in to learn sign language. In this process, something surprising happened. We had a lot of hearing-challenged who came forward to teach the signs to the people with no disability. And that's when we knew, these people really want to fit into our world. Thus, the sessions began."
As a core volunteer of the group, she realised that the hearing-challenged do not want sympathy or rehabilitation programmes. They want to be treated as equals.
Subhadra narrated an incident wherein she was able to help a hearing-challenge person and make him feel comfortable: "I spoke to him just like I am talking to you - with the same zeal and interest. I could talk to him using signs for about 10 minutes without having any awkward moment. While I was leaving, he said through sign language and with a broad smile, 'Thanks for treating me like a normal person!'." Rajesh, a resident of Koramangala was there because he wanted to learn a new language. "Isn't it just a new language? If we can learn regional languages then why can't we learn this?" he said.
The modus operandi
To begin with, the core members facilitate interaction between the volunteers and the hearing-challenged. This is where the hearing-challenged use their expressions to communicate. The next level is where volunteers learn all the alphabets in signs. When that's done, the volunteers learn how to use common phrases and greeting words like: "What's your name?" or "Where are you from?"
Like any other language, the main focus remains on practising what they have already learnt. Subhadra said, "As we do not meet many hearing-challenged people every day, it is important for us to practise whenever we can."
Battling the language barrier
As FingerChats aims at an inclusive method of making life comfortable for the hearing-challenged through public gatherings, it also takes the language barrier into consideration.
Deaf, in many non-English speaking countries, struggle with employment as their sign language syntax doesn't match English. So their aim is to train volunteers in "Indian Sign Language" so it becomes easier for the hearing impaired to communicate with the so-called normal world.
The future plans
FingerChats has now branched out into virtual programmes and has a WhatsApp group which broadcasts one sign per day.
They want to reach out to more people in India and expose them to sign language with customised versions of FingerChats for students, corporates and villagers.
They aim at going beyond borders and have hearing-challenged people from Nepal volunteering to understand the similarity of sign language in Nepali and Indian languages. They are also researching on Pakistani sign language via social media platforms.
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