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