10 Things you must know about ‘Deaf’ people

1. ‘Deaf and Dumb’ is an archaic and derogatory term, and no self-respecting deaf person approves of it. Deaf with capital ‘D’ is most acceptable, but you can use ‘Deaf and Mute’ if you really need to be specific. The terms - Hearing Impaired (HI) and Speech Impaired (SI) are also used, though Deaf community is not particularly fond of them.

2. Deaf people have the same IQ as hearing people, but unfortunately 90 % of them don’t have access to quality education resulting in poor academics. Don’t rush to judge a Deaf person by his/her written language, whatever skills and knowledge he or she has learnt, it is despite the deplorable educational system.

3. Most teachers (Special Educators) don’t have adequate Sign Language skills as it is not fully included in their training. It’s just a week of Basic Sign Language in the two year long training, which doesn’t even equip them to teach Pre-primary classes. 

4. The time period from 0 to 6 years is known as critical age for language development. Unfortunately, more than 90 % of deaf children lose out on those important years as parents are not aware about Sign Language. 

5. ‘Use of Sign Language’ has been suppressed for ages by schools, teachers, parents and society in favour of ‘Use of Speech’. However, studies have shown that Deaf students who have higher levels of sign language proficiency also have better results in reading and writing tests (i.e. literacy), and perform better in cognitive tasks. (World Federation of the Deaf)

6. Empowered Deaf people i.e. those who do get access to quality education at some level, do not consider themselves as disabled or impaired. Deaf Community is like a linguistic minority group, with their own Deaf Culture.

7. Indian Sign Language (ISL) is a fully fledged language with its own grammar and rules, but it is yet to be recognized by Indian government. Sign Languages are already recognized in many countries. (Australian Sign Language or Auslan- 1991, Canada -1993, Finland- Finnish Sign Language- 1995, Thailand- 1999, Czech Sign Language – 1998, NZSL- 2006, Austria- 2005, French and, Belgium LSFB- 2003, Brazil- 2005, Sri Lanka- 2010, Malta - 2016 and Nepal- Legislation underway) 

8. Sign Language Interpreters are mandatory to make information accessible to the Deaf. That‘s why, news, speeches, conferences, trainings, classes etc. must be interpreted if there is any deaf person in the audience. You can contact ISLIA (Indian Sign Language Interpreters Association) or ASLI – India (Association of Sign Language Interpreters) to avail Sign Language Interpreting services.

9. There are only handful of interpreters in the country to serve the needs of millions of Deaf people. More people need to be encouraged to take up the one year ‘Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting’ course or short certificate courses (Level 'A', 'B' and 'C') offered by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) at Delhi (ISLRTC & AYJNIHH), Trivandrum (NISH), Mumbai & Kolkota (AYJNIHH), Indore (IDBA) and Lucknow (DSMRU).

10. It is not considered ethical for a hearing person to teach Sign Language. So, if you want to learn Sign Language, make sure you learn it from a trained ‘Deaf’ teacher.