User:Nidhipatel0943/Deafness in India

The second largest country in the world, India, is home to approximately 63 million people of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community (DHH). India's government has focused much on modernizing the country with technological resources and infrastructure that it completely ignored the needs of the DHH residents of India. Although, sign language has been evolving within the country for the last hundreds, it was not until 2017 when the Indian government decided to codify sign language in a dictionary format.

Burden/ Cultural Neglect
In a study conducted by Dr. Jill Jepson, a fellow of the National Institute on Aging at the University of California, she examined the linguistics and sociolinguistics of sign language and hearing within India. Dr. Jepson diverted her research specifically to the urban states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. She concluded that families and people of the DHH community either late-deafened or born deaf were ashamed of deafness and continuously for a way to fix it as it was some kind of disease. Instead of making someone comfortable and trying to find ways to fit into society by accepting deafness to be unique, many families went to the extent of visiting several physicians to remove this "disease," experimenting on the deaf with traditional and folk procedures, and several obscure rituals, fasts, and vigils. It is important to keep in mind that a small portion of the country was interviewed as most people were afraid and shameful of getting interviewed because of the negatives consequences (rejection, neglect, abused by family and society).

Deaf Education
The country of India places a large emphasis on education as it has grown to become a foundation of Indian society. Yet, there little to no reliable literature accessible on the education for DHH people (children specifically). The biggest problem that DHH children face is India has eighteen equally significant languages and there is not one significantly more dominant especially since the country is so diverse. For decades now, developmental education has been tormented by this issue of which language to teach. For instance if one is chosen over the other, how do you deal with the different dialects as they are extremely different from region to region? With hearing loss specifically, schools are limited for DHH children are limited to begin with and the only logical language to consider is English. The English language is emphasized much within the country as it is at least taught as the first or second languages within a large variety of schools. Now the major problem that arises from teaching ASL to the DHH community is that children would not be able to learn in their natural tongue. This would put families in an uncomfortable situation and chosen between branching out and imbibing a new cultural or preventing this cultural assimilation. Besides this dilemma there are numerous other problems that face teaching deaf education such as lack of funding, lack of experienced instructors, and lack of awareness and governmental support.

Employment Struggles
A census conducted in 2011 revealed that out of 13.4 million individuals with a hearing disability in India between the ages of 15-59 there were 73.9% were marginal workers. This implies that 26.1% of the active group were actually employed. It is extremely difficult for people of the DHH community to get an education as they are unable to obtain basic skills that the "normal" population would at a young age. Even with these intolerable statistics, there are not many organizations that are actively aiding the DHH community of India, besides the Mook Badhir Mandal (an organization that specifically targets job inequality within the nation).

Deaf Organizations
In a country like India that is set fast on progressing towards modernization, it shall be prioritized to keep an open mind and adapt to new cultural values. For this exact there are organizations such as the Deaf Enabled Foundation in India, Sai Swayam Society - Empowering the Deaf & Mute, and The National Association of the Deaf (India) that are advocating the DHH community. The DEF of India primarily focuses on gaining equal access for the deaf specifically through "development, enhancement of quality of life, providing educational facilties, and social and cultural awareness." This organization has fleshed out on their projects by establishing a DEF skills center, academic academy and sign academy. In comparison to the DEF, the Sai Swayam Society also has been providing the DHH community with several resources such as skill training, remedial education, livelihood, and access to interpreters. Lastly, the NAD in India has a bit more access to more funding and resources on a larger platform as they branch off from the government. With this governmental connection, they are able to and have been working with NGOs around the country to target deaf rights issues, hosted state level meetings to recruit members that have connections in unnoticed high deaf population areas of the nation, and organized three national consultations. Besides these three predominant organizations there are several other organizations within the nation that are actively taking steps to advocate for the DHH community. Even though this may not seem like a lot, it is a major step in the right direction.