What is deafness?
Deafness was included in the Indian census for the first time in the National Sample Survey Organisation’s 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 nonfunctional.”
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 would 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 6t!rrce 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.
Main provisions of the Disabilities Act relating to the hearing impaired:
According to the Act, “Disability” means
(i) Blindness; (ii) Low vision; (iii) Leprosycured; (iv) Hearing impairment; (v) Loco
motor disability; (vi) Mental retardation; and (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 for. Employment:
i) 3 per cent of vacancies in government employment shall be reserved for people with disabilities; l per cent each for persons suffering from: a. Blindness or low vision. 2. Hearing impairment 3. Locomotbr disability & cerebral palsy.
ii) Government educational institutes and other educational institutes receiving grant from Government shall reserve at least 3 per cent seats for people with disabilities.
iii) All poverty alleviation schemes shall reserve at least 3 per cent 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
Profiles of NGOs Working in the hearing challenged sector
1. Samata Mook Badhir Vidyalaya (A hostel-cum-school for tribal children at Satara,
‘including those, who are deaf and mute): This scloool was started by Partha Polke, an activist from Satard, 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-liftmant 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. Strength of school: 138 boys and girls — day scholars. Besides 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/724lSatara under. Trust Act Establishment 1984.
Some young volunteers give their time and work at the school in their spare time. Food for the hostel and clothes are donated by local people on an individual basis.
Contact Details — Parth Polke, Sanchalak, Samata Mook Bdhir Vidyalaya, 21, Malhar Peth, Satara Tel. Nos.: 02162-2382881
2. Nilartz Patel Bahushrut Foundation: This foundation was started in 1993 by Nilam Patel, who has been involved in the training of young hearing impaired babies and integrating them in to the regular schools since 1980. Kalpana Sanuani and Madhu Jagasia, who are also mothers of hearing impaired children, are two other trustees 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 since1995. The main vision of the foundation is to ensure that all hearing-impaired students are
Services offered by the foundation a) Awarding scholar-ships and prizes to hearing impaired students for college education. This is done every year in month of October. b)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 the UK the US 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 a) Advisors and, mentors needed to raise funds, b) Volunteers, with computer skills needed to prepare various The activities of the foundation kinds of databases. C) Hearing Aids far the needy: d) Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 to sponsor a child for scholarship for a year. Contact Details: Nilam Patel, Managing Trustee, Bahushrut Foundation 401, Amogh,4th floor.098, Murari Ghag Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 900 025. Telephone: 91-22-24220477, 91-22-24373079 Fax: 91-22-24372693 E-mail: nil-ampatel@vsnl.com Website : http://www.bahushrutfoundation.org
For details on the 24 schools for the hearing or speech impaired in and near Mumbai, . 20 NGOs supporting or speech challenged in Mumbai and
Other resources for hearing challenged, see the section on hearing. challenged at http:/www.karmayog.com/hearing.com
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 rnarginalisatian 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 equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities proclaiming participation and equali
organisations 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 ongoing 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 an three factors.
1) Handicap seen in relation to demands from environment. 2) A holistic view of the pupil. 3) The principal of nonsegregation measure.
The objectives of inclusive education are: 1)’1’o educate all children together for their mutual benefit. 2) To change attitudes towards different children by forming the basics for a
I ‘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 disabled 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 neighbourhood 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/ngoslnpbftl.iitm)
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