The Deaf Community celebrates the International Week of the Deaf.
It was started by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) in 1958 in Rome, Italy.
It is celebrated every year by Deaf individuals across the world in the last week of September.
This year the theme of the 2020 International Week of the Deaf is,
“Reaffirming Deaf People’s Human Rights”. This means that everyone should unite to advocate & create awareness
about Sign Languages and various factors. Continuously highlighting these points will create awareness.
This will eventually lead to equal rights for ther Deaf and better life with the power of Sign Language.
Right now Deaf people in India are facing many barriers
due to inaccessibility, inadequate education, lack of interpreters, etc. Deaf individuals across India are suffering.
This is because Sign Language is not recognised in India.
The Deaf Community needs to unitedly create awareness and advocate about the importance of Sign language.
Through celebrations such as these, Deaf indivudals can showcase their human rights.
These Human Rights will ensure equality and ensure better employment, education, accessiblity on media platforms
and various opportunities for the Deaf Community.
From 21st September - 27th September, each day of the week will have a different theme.
We will be releasing a video everyday explaining the theme of the day.
So stay tuned and keep watching and share the videos with family and friends.
Sharing these with friends, families and colleagues will create awareness about the Deaf Community.
This will lead to development. This is done around the world.
Today 21st September's theme is “Sign Languages”
Sign language is the native language of Deaf people around the world.
There are more than 200 different sign languages used around the world such as ISL, ASL, BSL, etc.
There are more than 70 million Deaf people worldwide.
They all used Sign Language to communicate.
Sign Langugae is used by Deaf children, Deaf families,
Hearing parents use Sign Language to communicate with Deaf children, interpreters, teachers and many people use Sign Language.
When Deaf individuals meet, their communication begins with the use of Sign Language.
Through Sign language, Deaf individuals connect with each other, leading to growth of the community.
They share their culture and identity through signs.
Sign Langauge is used for teaching, in clubs, at work places, etc.
Thus ensuring the growth of the Deaf Community. Without it, there will be stagnation.
Hence, Deaf Individuals using Sign Language will benefit a lot.
The Deaf Community is very diverse. There are Deaf people that belong to different, religions, cultures, etc.
Across North, South, East and West of India, there is diversity among Deaf Communities.
Deaf individuals belong to various cultural backgrounds such as Muslims, Christianity, Buddhism, etc.
But they all use Sign Language. This is the same all over the world.
International Week of the Deaf wants to showcase the beauty of Sign Languages.
Just like spoken languages like English, Hindi, Marathi have their own grammar, Sign Language too has its own grammar.
International Week of the Deaf aims to highlight the richness of Sign Language and its equal status.
Showcasing this will demonstarate the importance of Sign Language to the Deaf Community.
Deaf individuals across the world face a lot of discrimination and are not allowed to use Sign Language.
We can over come this discrimination by creating awareness and advocating the importance of Sign Language.
It cannot only be done through advocacy but also creating awareness by training hearing individuals,
organising activities, showcasing stories in Sign Languages, etc.
People will see that the Deaf Community is happy and are entitled to Sign Language as their Human Rights.
When it is dully given to them it will lead to immese development.