A cultural evening marked the International Day of the Deaf in the city on Sunday.
Members of the Deaf Enabled Foundation (DEF) organised ‘A friendship evening’ that showcased the skills of the hearing impaired and promoted awareness on the importance of sign language.
At the programme, members of DEF performed a dance, a comedy act and a mime.
Also, the Hellen Keller Student Award and Annie Sullivan Teacher’s Award for Excellence were distributed to those who outperformed in the field of sports, entrepreneurship, volunteering and teaching.
“The children need encouragement that they can share with their friends. It teaches them to be good leaders. And it is because of the teachers that the students develop. Thus, they also need to be appreciated”, said M. Ramya, the director of communications at DEF.
According to her, “The deaf people need sign language as a form of internal communication. Thus, it is important to encourage the use of sign language among people.”
She also spoke about the discrimination faced by the hearing impaired when they scouted for employment opportunities. This goes to show why human resource personnel need to learn sign language, Ms. Ramya said.
DEF, which has a faculty of 48 staff members, has centres in Hyderabad, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Puducherry and Thanjavur. Students and members of DEF receive training and are placed in employment positions in companies like Agro Tech Foods, KFC and Genpact.
