International DEAF Awareness Week

In a world where one can be anything let's be INCLUSIVE! The Deaf Enabled Foundation (DEF) observed the International Week of the Deaf in collaboration with Digient Technologies Pvt. Ltd, in the month of September. This year the theme of the 2022 International Week of Deaf People is “Building Inclusive Communities for All”. In light of the occasion, the DEF promoted its primary objective of raising awareness and making ISL (Indian Sign Language) available for all.

The DEF commemorated the event held in the last week of September through various activities with the Deaf community as well as the participation and involvement of various stakeholders including families, peers, and professional sign language interpreters.

Find below some of the key takeaways of the week and what it entailed:

- An exclusive session where all the employees of Digient Technologies came together in an attempt to learn the basics of Sign Language.

- Digient in association with DEF continuously aims to promote the ISL Edu App integrated with quality courses that aid the deaf community to pursue higher studies and even graduate in streams like Bachelor of Commerce.

- In addition to that, the ISL App, an app designed to teach sign language at the convenience of your fingertips is an application open for all to learn Indian Sign language at your pace.

- A webinar hosted by DEF on the topic ‘Health for All’ exploring the relationship between mental health and transformations of perceptions. The Speakers - Ms. Sujata Mandal, HR Director and VP of DEF alongside Mr. Ocean, former Student Council Board Member and student of RESSU International, Finland, interacted with a wide audience and discussed critical components that help build positivity and inclusivity among all. Deaf people face barriers, stigmatization, and discrimination, this webinar gave the community access to mental health-related information and coping strategies.

On the whole, it was a week packed with a bunch of productive activities, all conducted with the sole aim to encourage inclusivity; to identify that every individual is facing battles, some different than others. Very few comprehend the philosophy of bringing about policies that foster positive change in society and building inclusive communities for all.

We must believe that these initiatives go a long way in helping us achieve a diverse and vibrant linguistic landscape. Together, we can build strong communities respectful and inclusive of all people and devoid of discrimination. And we urge you to start with learning Indian Sign Language and recognizing it as equivalent to spoken languages.

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