News

Volume 7 Issue 2 - January 15, 2010

Website on Indian Sign Language launched

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: With the government’s lackadaisical attitude, deaf persons have taken it upon themselves to address the issue of access that they face. A website called www.deafsigns.org recently went online to promote Indian Sign Language so that deaf persons can be better understood.

This website is the first of its kind to use video instructions to teach Indian Sign Language. The signs are displayed in short continuously repeated video files. This gives any user who accesses the site, an easy way to learn mimics and gestures that are necessary for visual communication.

So far, Indian Sign Language has received very little attention. Lack of interpreters has been a major concern for deaf persons across the country. Last year, Indira Gandhi National Open University (I.G.N.O.U.) launched a course on Applied Sign Language to deal with this problem and foster an effective communicative environment for speech and hearing impaired persons. Around the same time, I.G.N.O.U. also hosted an international conference called SIGN4 to bring researchers into the areas of sign language and deaf studies.