News

Volume 6 Issue 8 - October 01, 2009

International Day of the Deaf celebrated

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The National Association of the Deaf (N.A.D.) celebrated the International Day of the Deaf on September 27, the last Sunday of September, with a number of Deaf Awareness Marches across the country. This was the first time in history that such an activity was conducted in 10 cities simultaneously. The cities include Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Patna, Chennai, Shimla and Dehradun. Around 6 thousand people across the country took part in the marches.

N.A.D. also organized ‘Nukkad Natak’ in various cities and volunteers distributed flyers outlining the demands of the deaf community. Earlier, press conferences were held in Delhi and Hyderabad on September 24 and 25 where they expressed their disappointment over the non - implementation of the promises outlined in the XIth Five Year Plan. The Plan promises a Sign Language institute, intervention in education and access to information among other things.

A.S. Narayanan, Secretary, N.A.D. said, “We need to create a space for the deaf community and create awareness about it. This will generate goodwill and hopefully more and more people will be seized of the problems and challenges we face. Then and only then can the deaf garner support for their cause and be able to take their rightful place of ‘equality’ in every sense of the word.”