Sushma Angadi, an aurally challenged Class 2 student, has gained fluency in the sign language in just a year. Her parents are happy that she now communicates with them easily.
They believe it would not have been possible without the help of a self-learning textbook brought out by the Association for People with Disability, a non-governmental organisation working for the welfare of the physically challenged in Karnataka.
The NGO says it is the first full textbook in any regional language to help the aurally challenged learn the sign language on their own. R. Ravi, a trainer working under its community education programme, told
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“We have different books on the sign language, but most of them pertain to either British or American versions which do not suit, or cater to, the need of every region. To bridge this gap, we decided to come up with our own textbook,” he said.
Mr. Ravi said that after a year of research and several trial and errors, the NGO produced Nanna Bhashe (My language) with over 500 words and pictorial representations.
“In 2013, we prepared a second volume of the book which has grammar, punctuation and so on. Now, we are preparing a third volume, which will have sentences for developing communication skills,” Mr. Ravi said. Up to some 2,800 words could be added to the textbook based on the requirement.
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Government schools in Karnataka have nearly 70,000 aurally challenged children, the 2001 census shows. These students do not have sign-language textbooks for easy learning.
“Our book is not only helping students but also allowing parents to learn and teach their children. With our book, children can learn 70 per cent of the sign language without the support of a tutor,” he said.
He said only 1,000 copies of the first edition were printed, but when demand increased, 2,000 more were brought out. “We had got 1,000 copies of the second volume printed, which has now been increased to 2,000 copies”, he said.