FPJ OPED What is Deafness
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What is deafness?
Deafness was included in the Indian censuses for the first time in the National Sample Survey Organizations 36th round in 1981, which was also the International Year of Disabled Persons. The second count was carried out in the 47th round of the NSSO which estimated a 6.5 million deaf Indian population in 1991. In both the surveys, Hearing Disability was defined as The deaf are those in whom the sense of hearing is non functional for ordinary purpose of life. Generally a loss of hearing at 70 db or above at 500, 1000 and 2000 frequencies will make residual hearing non-functional.
Hearing disability was defined taking into consideration the following categories.
1) Profound – Who could hear only loud sound or thunder.
2) Severe – Who could hear shouted words or could hear when speaker was sitting in front.
3) Moderate Neither profound nor severe.
Government Acts
“The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995” has come into force on February 7, 1996. This law is an important landmark and is a significant step in the direction of ensuring equal opportunities for people with disabilities and their full participation in the nation building. The Act provides for both preventive and promotional aspects of rehabilitation like education, employment and vocational training, job reservation, research and manpower development, creation of barrier-free environment, rehabilitation of persons with disability, unemployment allowance for the disabled, special insurance scheme for the disabled employees and establishment of homes for persons with severe disability etc.
Main Provisions of the Disabilities Act relating to the hearing impaired:
According to the Act, “Disability” means-
(i) Blindness;
(ii) Low vision;
(iii) Leprosy-cured;
(iv) Hearing impairment;
(v) Loco motor disability;
(vi) Mental retardation;
(vii) Mental illness;
Further, “Hearing impairment” is defined as a loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies;
The Act provides states that for :
Employment:
i) 3% of vacancies in government employment shall be reserved for people with disabilities, 1% each for persons suffering from:
- Blindness or Low vision
- Hearing Impairment
- Locomotor Disability & Cerebral Palsy
ii) Government Educational Institutes and other Educational Institutes receiving grant from Government shall reserve at least 3% seats for people with disabilities.
iii) All poverty alleviation schemes shall reserve at least 3% for the benefit of people with disabilities.
The Act also states that each State has a Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, who can be contacted for full details of schemes and special provisions available for persons with disabilities.
In Maharashtra: Commissioner of Social Welfare
Govt. of Maharashtra
Pune 1
Phone: 022-6126471
For full text of the Act see https://www.karmayog.org/library/libartdis.asp?r=152&libid=116
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Activities by NGOs Working with the Hearing Challenged
Activities by NGOs involved with the hearing or speech impaired include evaluation, diagnosis, selection & fitting of hearing aids, parent infant programme, speech & language therapy, behaviour, modification therapy, medical intervention, guidance & counselling, referral and follow-up, outreach and extension services, earmould & hearing aid repair facilities.
There are 3 approaches that the NGOs adopt while working with the hearing challenged: sign language, auditory verbal therapy, & cochlear implants.
Comprehensive diagnostic, therapeutic, educational services are provided to the hearing & speech impaired. An inter-disciplinary team of audiologists, speech language pathologists, special educators, psychologists, social workers, ENT specialist, pediatrician and neurologist maintain high standard of rehabilitation services.
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Profiles of NGO working in the hearing challenged sector
Following are profiles of 2 organizations that work with the hearing challenged and that through their diverse outreach and areas of work show the range of issues to be addressed within this sector.
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1. Samata Mook Badhir Vidyalaya
(A hostel-cum-school for tribal children at Satara, including those who are deaf and mute).
This school was started by Partha Polke, an activist from Satara, who has been working with the nomadic tribes of that region, being himself from one of the local communities, the Potraj’. Partha decided to devote his life to the up-liftment of deprived children of tribals, especially those who are hearing challenged and started a small boarding school in Satara. Today the school houses a few hundred students and equips them to actually speak, even without sign language, and some of the students who can now speak can also work for their living.
The people of Satara support the School by donating small sums in cash or kind. Of late, the demand for admission into the school has been overwhelming as the numbers of nomadic poor with no shelter and work have increased. They leave their children with Partha at the school for education and he looks after them.
Strength of school: 138 boys and girls day scholars
60+ residential accommodation for girls and boys
Total: 198.
Age Group: 2 years to 14 years
Requirements to run the school:
The School requires basic infrastructure such as construction of toilets, purchase of computers, etc as well as daily recurring expenses such as supply of food grains, milk, etc. The staff salaries are also to be paid, including special educators, with some minimal support being available from the Government.
School Registration No. MAH / 724 / Satara under Trust Act Establishment 1984.
Some young volunteers give their time and work at the school in their spare. Food for the hostel and clothes are donated by local people on an individual basis.
Partha has little skills in preparing project reports and spends most of his time in travelling all over Maharashtra, especially in drought prone areas to locate children with malnutrition and no support, and brings them to the school give them shelter and food and education.
Contact Details– Parth Polke, Sanchalak
Samata Mook Badhir Vidyalaya
21, Malhar Peth,
SATARA
Tel. Nos.: 02162-238288/
9822969744
2. Nilam Patel Bahushrut Foundation
The Nilam Patel Bahushrut Foundation was started in 1993 by Ms Nilam Patel, who has been involved in the training of young hearing impaired babies and integrating them in to the regular schools since 1980. Ms Kalpana Samtani and Ms Madhu Jagasia who are also mothers of hearing impaired children are two other trustees. The activities of the foundation are managed by three of them.
The foundation has been awarding scholarships and prizes to hearing impaired students for college education every year at SSC, HSC, Graduate and Post graduate levels since 1995.
The main vision of the Foundation is to ensure that all hearing impaired students are able to study in regular educational institutions and be included in mainstream of the society. The Foundation works to implement this vision by spreading awareness about the importance of Inclusive Education for the disabled and sensitizing the educators, parents and people about their special needs, and by encouraging higher education among hearing impaired students by awarding scholarships and prizes.
Registration Number: E 15003
Services Offered by the Foundation:
1) Awarding scholarships and prizes to hearing impaired students for college education. This is done every year in month of October.
2) Matrimonial Bureau for the hearing impaired. This is information providing service.
236 students have been awarded scholarships and prizes during years 1995 to 2005. Hearing impaired adults of Indian origin have registered from all over India and countries like UK, USA and Africa with the matrimonial bureau. Since the Foundation is mainly a scholarship giving trust, it does not have office premises of its own and operates from the residence of the managing trustee. Nor does the foundation conduct any activity on day to day basis. The functions and get-togethers generally last for 2 to 3 hours.
Help Needed:
- Advisors and mentors needed to raise funds.
- Volunteers with computer skills needed to prepare various kinds of databases.
- Hearing Aids for the needy.
- Rs 1000/- to Rs. 5000/- to sponsor a child for scholarship for a year.
Contact Details: Ms. Nilam Patel, Managing Trustee
Bahushrut Foundation
401, Amogh, 4th floor. 098, Murari Ghag Marg
Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025
Telephone: 91-22-24220477, 91-22-24373079 Fax: 91-22-24372693
E-mail: nilampatel@vsnl.com
Website: www.bahushrutfoundation.org
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For details of 24 Schools for the Hearing or Speech Impaired in & near Mumbai,
20 NGOs supporting the Hearing or Speech Challenged in Mumbai and
Other Resources for Hearing Challenged, see the section on hearing challenged at
http://www.karmayog.com/hearing.htm
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Inclusive Education for the Hearing Impaired
(An Extract from Nilam Patel’s Thesis: The Factors That Influence Inclusive Education For Hearing Impaired
Inclusive Education is a development approach seeking to address the learning needs of all children, youth and adults with a specific focus on those who are vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion. The principle of Inclusive education was adopted at the world conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality (Salamanca, Spain, 1994) and was restated at the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000). The idea of inclusion is further supported by the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities proclaiming participation and equality.
Some organizations and people, however express reservation as to whether the ordinary classroom in regular schools can provide optimal quality education for handicapped children. This debate is historical and has been on-going ever since people began to question the old segregated institutions, and to struggle for the equality of handicapped children and their integration in to society and in to education. Educational intervention and support designed to address special educational needs should be viewed from three indicators. Community, Equality and Participation.
The philosophy of education that caters to the needs of all children can be said to rest on three factors.
1) Handicap seen in relation to demands from environment
2) A holistic view of the pupil.
3) The principal of non-segregation measure.
The objectives of Inclusive education are:
1) To educate all children together for their mutual benefit
2) To change attitudes towards different children by forming the basics for a just and non-discriminatory society which encourages people to live and learn together.
In recent years, the appropriateness of having separate system in form of special schools has been questioned, both from the human rights perspective and from the point of view of effectiveness. Do disable children have to remain segregated all their life? Do they have to be onlookers always, for no fault of theirs?
There is a cry in the disability sector today for inclusive education where the disabled child can go to the same neighborhood school as his friends, sit at the same desk, play the same games and do everything else that other children do, keeping in mind his limitations, weaknesses and strengths.
(For full text of the thesis see http://www.karmayog.com/ngos/npbft1.htm)
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