Software Solutions To Accessibility

An article on solving Accessibility problems through use of technology.

Read it here: http://mindtreeux.blogspot.com/2008/10/software-solutions-to-accessibility.html

Bringing babies into world of sound - An Early Intervention Program

* Deafness can be detected within 48 hours of a child's birth. Most deaf children have a certain amount of hearing, which can be preserved if they are fitted with a hearing aid from a very young age and continue to wear it.

* In most cases, the only thing standing between a hearing impaired child and a normal life with the use of language and sound is a parent in denial

* Government of Tamil Nadu has been running an early intervention programme for early detection and rehabilitation of hearing impaired babies. Chennai-based Balavidyalaya Institute runs an orientation program for the candidates of early intervention centre.

* Early intervention centres will help the children develop age-appropriate skills in language, motor, speech and cognition and prepare them to join a mainstream school by the time they are five years old.

From The Times Of India - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Bringing_babies_into_world_of_sound_/articleshow/3592763.cms

Shamute and Shahnaz Hussain

Shamute is a beaty training school that provides vocational training courses to the speech and hearing impaired, started in 1984 by Shahnaz Hussain - a known beautician, chairperson/CMD of Shahnaz Husain Group.

* The trainings are free of cost and courses open to everyone. At the end of the course the trainees are given a diploma.

* The syllabus at Shamute includes theoretical knowledge, along with the learning of practical skills like facial, head and body massages and other normal salon services.

* Shamute is located at Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi

* Meeta Tomar is said to be one of the graduates of Shamute and runs an own parlour at Lucknow.

Sources:

Beauty for a Cause: (http://in.news.yahoo.com/hindustantimes/20080513/r_t_ht_en_lstyle/ten-beauty-for-a-cause-6d0b026.html)

Economic empowerment of women helps corporates too by Shahnaz Hussian (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Economic-empowerment-of-women-helps-corporates-too/258131/1)

Best Advice I Got - interview with Shahnaz Hussain (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Best-Advice-I-Got/363843/)

About Meeta Tomar (http://www.thedeafway.net/html_files/dachbot.htm)

Achiever: Satish Gujral

I knew about Sri Satish Gujral, a recognised painter and architect, but I did not know he was hearing impaired. I came to know only recently and here is a blog dedicated to this inspirational achiever.

(Entrance at the Belgian Embassy building which was designed by Satish Gujral)

* He had an accident when he was 8 years old and consequently lost his hearing at the age of 11

* Until then he had only studied Urdu till Class 3

* His family identified his interest in art. Satish, then, received his further education in arts from Mayo Art College, Lahore and JJ School of Art, Mumbai.

* He was started being recognised for his paintings - his famous paintings were on Partition at that time.

* He went on to paint famous politicians at that time - including Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

* He went to Mexico to study Art and has travelled widely

* He also is an architect and has designed buildings - his most famous being the Belgium Embassy in India

* He has received several recognitions - national awards for painting and sculpture, Padma Vibhushan among others.

* It seems Satish is no longer hearing impaired - having been operated in 1998. But the important thing is he did not let the disability be an excuse to work towards what he wanted to do.


I referred to these pages:

http://www.disabilityindia.org/djstoriesssep06B.cfm

Official Website: http://www.satishgujral.com/

Where I first came to know first: http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/17747

An interview with Sri Gujral in which he talks about his paintings and life before and after: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031005/spectrum/main1.htm

Photo: Entrance at the Belgian Embassy by 'd ha rm e sh' on flickr, shared under Creative Commons Share, Attrib, Non Commercial http://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmesh84/228315263/)

Employment problems for the disabled

- Only 37% of the disabled adults work and this has decreased from 42% in 1993

- About 58% of the hearing impaired are employed

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/63_special_persons_jobless_/articleshow/3424274.cms

Related post: Anubhuti Mittal

Counting the Days Until the World Goes Quiet

This is a touching story of a young woman - Jessica - and her chosen journey towards deafness. Jessica had Neurofibromatosis (NF2) - a genetic disorder that causes growth on tumours on nerves. One of the effects is growth of tumours on auditory nerves - which will eventually affect hearing. When her brain tumours were detected, Jessica had to make a choice - get operated and lose hearing or do not get operated and lose life.

What comes of this heart-wrenching story is the way Jessica chose to handle the "adversity" that faced her. She kept a video log of the last 30 days of her hearing life and face the impending silent-world head-on.

Jessica was featured on Good Morning America on ABC News.

See the video and read the full story here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=5666574&page=1


BTW, the video is not captioned. Do you see an irony here? :)

Recognition for Std X toppers

• 17 Speech and hearing impaired children were felicitated for scoring over 60% in their SSLC exams (Std X under Karnataka board)
• The function was organized by the Foundation for Art and Culture for Deaf.
• The Founder of the foundation is A K Umesh, a hearing impaired person himself, who works at Geological Survey of India.
• The foundation supports differently abled children and recognizes academic achievements by providing scholarships.
• Most of these children have studied at regular schools.
• Varalakshmi, a parent: "My daughter Lakshmi scored 81% in SSLC. Though she is hearing and speech impaired , we got her educated in a normal school and she topped her class."
• Mohammed, a parent: "Both my children are hearing and speech impaired but this has never been a hurdle for excellence . Teachers too have a significant contribution to their success."
• A teacher: "Scoring over 60% by comprehending lessons through lip-reading is an achievement to be proud of."

From The Times of India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Special_celebration_for_special_children/articleshow/3354247.cms

Enabler - Anubhuti Mittal

Anubhuti Mittal is a mediator between two unlikely parties: corporates and visually-impaired people who want work.

Anubhuti is 35-year old MBA from Allahabad University' and former assistant vice-president (human resources) at GE.

She works as the 'missing link' between the corporate world and the differently-abled and has placed people at organisations such as IBM-Daksh, Pepsi, Genesis PR, TVB Marketing, Impact R&D.

Anubhuti sees economic sense in employing the disabled. “India has over 70 million disabled people. Assuming skilled workers form 10 per cent of this population, that’s still a huge alternative talent pool.”

In recognition of her efforts, she was presented with the Helen Keller Special Award.

From Indian Express - http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Sight-on-jobs/343995/

Theatre of the Silence

Edward Chan, Edwin Chan, Keith Lee, Anthony Wong and Carmen Mok are the performers of "Theatre of the Silence" - a deaf theatre group from Hong Kong.

From: http://spotted.gazette.net/pages/gallery.php?gallery=2490

No matter what we are

In China there is a performing arts troupe that is composed of physically challenged individuals. The group is called “China’s Physically Impaired Performing Arts Troupe”. Its members have some form of physical impairment, whether it be of sight, hearing, or mobility.

Yet, each one passionately believes that everyone has the right to a full life. And for these privileged few their means is through performance. As they themselves say:

Life is full of dreams.
People of disabilities equally love life and art.

Their first tour in Japan ... was called “My Dream”.

Many of the members were born with physical difficulties, but others had accidents that left permanent damage.

The seedlings, shoots, and fully-grown plants were portrayed by dancers, all of them hearing impaired. They were able to perform in perfect synchronization with the music.

The visually impaired and those who could not walk were the singers and musicians.

Every life deserves respect and dignity.
Every life is precious beyond measure.

Quoted from and full article at:
http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/readers_blog/2754/no_matter_how_imperfect_we_are

Post script: The original article had the title "No matter how imperfect we are", which I do not wholly agree with and hence changed the title of this blog post to "No matter what we are". Having no hearing does not make us imperfect, we are perfect, we are complete. This is how we are meant to be. This is our perfection.

Why can't she just accept she is deaf?

Hearing Impaired Achiever: Tusharaa - Model and Actress

* Tusharaa is an aspiring model
* She has acted in a recent movie Thoovaanam (Tamil language) - her character in the movie is also hearing impaired
* Tusharaa was earlier featured in Femina 'I Believe' campaign (the above image is a copy of the campaign - from here)
* She is inspired by Miss America, Heather Whitestone - who is deaf

From Indian Express - Hearing from Kollywood

Achiever: Baldev Gulati

• Baldev Gulati didn’t let his visual impairment come in the way of his work. He now employs people with disabilities not only in his spice factory, but also helps them get placements.

• 80 per cent of the staff at "NP Masale" are disabled

• Gulati’s employment drive is not restricted to his factory. He hires 10-15 disabled people in his factory, trains them for three to five months and then gets them placed in other units. In the last year and a half, he’s placed some 273 such people.

• 'I am a ruthless employer, I punish the workers for coming late to work and taking erratic breaks. I tell them to not expect leniency from anyone just because they are disabled. Only then, they can hope for equality.' - Gulati.

Quoted from: Spice route to empowerment on Indian Express

Deaf Anthem

This poem can very well be the deaf and HOH anthem!

Listen to Me

I may not hear you,
But I can listen,
Listen to your hands,
Your face and your eyes.
All I ask of you
Is that you do the same.
Listen to the words
That I want to tell.
Look past hearing aids
And see the real me.
Look at what I can be
Not what I cannot.
Heather Whitestone showed you
That I can be beautiful.
Marlee Matlin showed you
That I can be in movies.
Thomas Edison showed you
That I can make history.
Ludwig van Beethoven showed you
That I can make music.
Sir John Warcup Cornforth showed you
That I can win the Nobel Prize.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky showed you
That I can send rockets to the moon.
Helen Keller showed you
That I can overcome anything.
Now, let me show you
That I can be a friend.
I have things to tell you.
Listen to me.

— By Tawnysha Lynch

From the e-magazine World Around You (SPRING/SUMMER 2002 VOL XXIII ISSUE 3)
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/WorldAroundYou/Spr-Sum-2002/spr-sum-2002-WAY.pdf

Copyright belongs to Gallaudet University Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center/author. I do not claim ownership.

Four year Bachelor of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology (BSLPA) Course

Found information about a professional Bachelor's course in speech and hearing:

BSLPA trains one to become a paramedical professional dealing with people who are hearing impaired or who have speech defects. This course is available in institutions such as All India Institute of Speech and Hearing - Mysore, SR Chandrashekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing Hennur Road, Bangalore and Samvaad Institute of Speech and Hearing - Hebbal, Bangalore (Phone 9845018302 www.samvaadinstitute.org). Applications to be made at the institutes directly.

Came across in Deccan Herald: http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun52008/dheducation2008060471674.asp

Achievers: Shayan Lahari and Prateek Asnani

• Shayan Lahiri got 92.6 percent to emerge topper among the special category students in CBSE Class X.
• ... he fractured a bone behind the ear at the ... age of two ... [leading] to a hearing impairment.
• “The CBSE offered me an extra hour as I was from the special category. But I refused to take that. Why should I take extra time when I can compete with the other students? I finished my papers within the stipulated time,” said a confident Shayan, a student of Sanskriti School here at Chanakyapuri. Shayan, who uses hearing aid for both the ears, has decided to take up Science in Class XI with Maths and Computer Science and is keen on studying engineering.

• Prateek Asnani scored 91 percent in CBSE Class X.
• Prateek ... student of Blue Bells International School ... has set his sights on aeronautical engineering.
• “He has always been a bright student. We put him in school with the normal students. He got all the support from the teachers and classmates. We are very happy that his dream has come true.” - Prateek's father

Read full article in:
The Hindu: Success story of Delhi’s achievers

Also reported in:
The Times of India: Better & better, it hots up

Express India (Indian Express): CBSE results out: HOTS betters performance, govt schools improve

Hearing Impaired Achiever: Manoj Kumar Khara

"Manoj, nick named Bulu, had lost his hearing power after suffering from diarrhea, while he was in standard IX. This made him speak uncomfortably too. Whatever he wanted to communicate, he had to write on a piece of paper." However, Manoj "secured all India rank 165 in the recently-announced results of all-India examination conducted by the union public service commission (UPSC)".

From The Statesman

Solar powered inexpensive hearing aids

* Howard Weinstein, a Canadian who "parlayed valves and faucets into a major business, then sold it for a bundle to a Fortune 500 corporation, staying on as president" has worked in Africa to come up with an inexpensive ("$100"), solar-powered hearing aids.
* Weinstein has actually used hearing-impaired people to realise this vision. "Because mastering sign language takes acute hand-eye coordination, deaf people are well suited to the fine soldering and microelectronics that go into making hearing aids."
* And to top it all? "He didn't know the first thing about audiology. 'I didn't know a decibel from Tinkerbell.' Even so, he didn't need a degree in physiology to understand the scope of the problem."

Read at Newsweek: Something to Shout About

Hearing Impaired Achiever: Ranjini Ramanujam

Ranjini Ramanujam is the Arjuna, Ekalavya and Karnataka Rajyotsava awardee, who has so far won 23 medals in national and international tournaments in both badminton and chess.

Read more at: Deccan Herald - Hearing the sweet music of success

WALK IN INTERVIEW FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AT MPHASIS: TRAINEE SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Related to my previous post (Changing Lives - an initiative by MPhasis to train differently-abled people), Mphasis is serious about recruiting differently-abled people. Here is an announcement for a special walk-in session.

WALK IN INTERVIEW FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AT MPHASIS - AN EDS COMPANY

DATE: SATURDAY, 17^TH MAY 2008

TIME: 11.00 A.M.

POSITION: TRAINEE – SOFTWARE ENGINEER

VENUE: NO. 65/2, BAGMANE PARIN, BLOCK-A, LEVEL 6, BAGMANE TECHNOLOGY PARK, BYRASANDRA, CV RAMAN NAGAR, BANGALORE 560093

AGE: 21 & ABOVE

QUALIFICATION:

· X & XII & Engineering or MCA, MCM (Computer Science), M .Sc (Mathematics or Physics) – 1st Class
· Good communication and analytical skills
· Open to flexibility – Working across Technologies, in Support Projects, Rotating shifts
· All offered candidates would have to undergo training at ELLA-EDS Learning and leadership Academy (Mangalore) for 75 day. Post this training, they would be allotted various location to work, based on Business Demand
· Candidates should be comfortable relocation

SELECTION PROCESS:
Written Exam – evaluates candidates for skills in:
• English Grammar
• Logical Reasoning
• Mathematics
• Technology

– Technical interview

– HR interview– evaluates candidates in:
• Culture fitment
• Communication
• Comprehension

We would also like to encourage people with hemophilia, thalassaemia, dyslexia, etc. who are not mentioned under the Disability Act to also come for the interview and take advantage of the special drive.

Note: Travel / stay will not be provided for out station candidates for attending the interview.

Please share this information with other NGOs, universities and others you feel will benefit from it.

Please publicize this as widely as possible.

For any details/clarifications/accommodations before the interview please contact the below mentioned.

P.S: Services are available across a wide range of technical platforms and encompass mainframe, client/server and open systems ,Web technologies , Enterprise Applications, Integration, Database administration, embedded technologies , testing. Service applications include Application Management, Development and Integration; Application Migration and Refresh; Project Management; Performance Management; Performance Assessment; Testing and Quality Assurance Services. This Recruitment Drive is for placements in 2009.

MEENU BHAMBHANI | Manager - Community Initiative| M P H A S I S an EDS Company|

The Millenia, 7th Floor, Tower A, 1&2 Murphy Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore 560 008, IndiaTel: +91 80 41882200 Ext: 1751

www.mphasis.com

Changing Lives - an initiative by MPhasis to train differently-abled people

"
Helping the differently-abled is one thing, and giving them a regular life is quite another.

Project Communicate, the unique effort tries to train differently-abled people with basic communication skills, soft skills, analytical skills, is a partnership between MphasiS and APD (the association of people with disability).

“We’ve just finished with our pilot batch of training and have already recruited 15 people. IBM has recruited one and Hungry Bangalore has recruited two people from this programme” - Meenu Bhambhani, manager, corporate social responsibility at MPhasis

Once the training programme is over every person has to go through the regular recruitment channels and is not treated any differently. This in fact, has given all the candidates the extra boost to perform better and not expect favouritism.

"While 64 percent of IT companies do recruit people with disabilities, they don’t invest much in training. Only those who are already employable are offered jobs."
"

Full Article from Mid-Day

The movie "Taare Zameen Par" in sign language

Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par has been dubbed in sign language for the benefit of hearing and speech impaired children. Indore-based non-government organisation, Anand Mook Badhir Kendra, had initiated this project.

- Said Gyanendra Purohit of Anand Mook Badhir Kendra

http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2008/apr/15tzp.htm

Texting for the Deaf

Texting for the Deaf:

"KENNEWICK, Wash.- Text messaging has changed the lives of millions, but there's one group who's lives have been transformed through the simple ability to text."

Read more