Promote sign language, urges deaf association

CHENNAI: More than 100 members of the Deaf Enabled Foundation, an NGO for the deaf, took out a rally on International Day of the Deaf, here on Sunday, from the Labour Statue to Light House. The members stressed the need for promoting sign language among the the public too.

Ramya, one of the directors of the foundation, said the march was meant to highlight the importance of sign languages. “A proposal for making sign languages official has been pending with the Union Govt; once approved, life will definitely become better for the deaf community.” T h e members had come from Trichy, Kancheepuram and other districts.

One member said people should be sensitive to the needs of the community. “It is not right on the part of some people to make fun of the sign language,” he said.

An aim of the rally is to empower the deaf by providing adult literacy in Indian sign language and to identify deaf candidates as instructors for the deaf for Indian sign language, said another member.