VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation

Little Vani meets Loretians with Big Hearts

2011-07-29T20:11:00.003+05:30

Little Loretians Learning to Finger Spell the Alphabet

Little Vani, the mascot of VAANI, Deaf Children’s Foundation, met 400 students of Loreto Day School Sealdah to tell them about childhood deafness and to sensitise the participants to the cause of children who are deaf.

The session was conducted by Atreyee Kar, Resource Management Officer at VAANI and she took the children through the journey of discovering the challenges faced by deaf children through examples that the students could relate to. The participants, comprising of students of Class V to Class X, were asked to imagine a life without music, a life where the only sound that exists is the sound of silence. They were asked to do a simple exercise of plugging their ears for a few seconds while Atreyee spoke to them softly. When asked how it feels, the response from the majority was, “it is frustrating to know someone is talking to you and not being able to hear what is being said!”

Sundeep Kothari, Training Assistant of VAANI and a deaf role model as well, performed a mime about a child who wanted a balloon but did not have the money to buy it. The mime was an instant hit with the children and drove home the truth that the deaf just communicate differently, they think, they feel the need to connect, they emote – all they lack is the ability to hear, and that is what makes them different.

The awareness workshop ended in high spirits as Sundeep taught the students how to finger spell the alphabet and there was a rush among the students to volunteer to finger spell their names. Little Vani realised that the workshop was a success when the new friends of VAANI offered to make friendship bands for the children that VAANI works with.

VAANI at the "never-the-less" Conference

2011-07-22T19:57:00.002+05:30

Panellist Ms. Shanti Raghavan speaking about the role of workplace solutions in building an enabling environment

The “never-the-less” campaign was a month long campaign reaching out to 6000 schools, 200 colleges, 300 corporates and 50 NGOs, with the help of 1500 volunteers, for the cause of ‘unifying efforts, investments and innovation for addressing inclusion of persons with disabilities’. The efforts were extended to the fields of education, work places, transport and public places. The conference was attended by multiple stakeholders like, Ms. M V Savitri : Director, State Dept for the Empowerment of Differently Abled & Senior Citizens, Mr. Ashwin Mahesh : Adviser to the Office of the Chief Minister, Mr. Raja Shanmugham : President & Chief People Officer - Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt Ltd, Ms. Meenu Bhambhani: Global Head CSR, Mphasis, Mr. Subramani L : Retina India, Ms. Shanti Raghavan : Founder Enable India,Ms. Malathi Holla: Senior Manager at Syndicate Bank - Paralympian, Asian Silver medallist, Mr. George Abraham : CEO, SCORE Foundation New Delhi, Mr. G.G.Hegde: HRD manager, BMTC and Ms. Vasanthi Srinivasan: Chairperson, Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship, IIMB.

The panellists spoke about the various issues plaguing the inclusion of persons with disability, and how the movement created by the never-the-less campaign could bring together people from various fields to join in and contribute to the cause, in making the process of inclusion smoother. The coordinator of the event, Mr. CC Joseph rightly remarked that in a country that boasts of its unity in diversity, it is strange that one experiences exclusion. After all, the entire concept of diversity is based on acceptance.

As was pointed out by one of the panellists, one of the biggest challenges that India faces today is that the society is a salad bowl and not a melting pot. So we don’t really have an inclusive society. The main aim of the movement is to direct the journey from being a salad bowl to a melting pot. The various stakeholders spoke about the policies they have undertaken to make inclusion a reality in their respective fields and also, the challenges they are facing while undertaking these measures.

The main aim of the conference was to initiate dialogue across a section of people coming from various backgrounds to align personal purpose to collective purpose. It is not disability which is the problem, it is the way people think and react to it – it is the attitudes that need to change.

The conference marked the beginning of a journey to take this movement from Bangalore and Karnataka to the rest of the country in the next five years.

VAANI reaches out to the teachers of Loreto Day School Sealdah

2011-07-21T19:40:00.004+05:30

Teaching the teachers how to administer a simple screening test

VAANI organised an awareness programme for 31 teachers at Loreto Day School on childhood deafness and how teachers, as primary caregivers in school can play an important role in helping a deaf child cope with the education system. VAANI’s technical consultant Ms. Sreela Bose spoke to the teachers about why VAANI works with deafness in children and how early intervention can make a lot of difference in a deaf child’s life. The invisibility of deafness stood out as a stark reality for the teachers as they realised how unaware one tends to be about deafness just because it is the ‘invisible handicap’. Sreela’s session also covered important topics like defining hearing impairment and the challenges of being deaf. She ended her session by teaching the teachers a simple screening test that can be administered by them to check if a child has hearing impairment.

Sundeep Kothari, VAANI’s training assistant took over and spoke to the teachers about he lived with his hearing impairment. Sundeep is profoundly deaf and he shared his achievements with the teachers who applauded his efforts. The teachers interacted with Sundeep and asked him a lot of questions.

The involvement and interest shown by the teachers of the school was encouraging for VAANI. The session ended with the teachers expressing a desire to be part of more such sessions on deafness and children to know more about the cause and support it better.

CTTA Meet for VAANI

2011-06-08T17:11:00.005+05:30

The Tea Trade has always been a pillar of support for VAANI. CTTA strengthened its support when it decided to flag off its celebrations by ‘the act of giving’. It pledged to do its bit to bring about some change in the lives of others. A Charity Tea Auction marked the beginning of this change. Through this auction, CTTA extended its support to the empowerment of the deaf children and their families in India. The proceeds of this auction went to VAANI - Deaf Children’s Foundation.

His Excellency, Shri M K Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal inaugurated the Charity Tea Auction. 50 lots of new season teas donated by various tea producers were on offer in the Charity Tea Auction, to be knocked down to the highest bidder.

The infectious enthusiasm of His Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, in his role as a first-time auctioneer, caught on with the buyers as lot after lot of the finest tea the country has to offer went under the hammer and was sold. The entire auction lasted for a little over one hour.

In a little over one hour, the tea traders of the City of the Joy had effectively changed the lives of thousands of deaf children and their families.

Celebrating Life’s Blissful Moments with the B.RAT Pack

2011-06-08T16:58:00.003+05:30

The B.Rat Pack – a famous jazz band from Bengaluru led by Stanley Pinto, Carlton Braganza and Venkat Subramaniyam, held a musical concert in aid of VAANI on Monday, the 28^th of March, 2011 at the ITC Hotel, The Sonar in Kolkata.

Even as an evening filled with retro music enthralled the audience, Brinda Crishna, the Director of VAANI, in her welcome address, shared that it is these finer moments in life that make us realize that there is an entire section of the society who can never participate in such evenings. The awareness generated by the support extended to the show by the sponsors of the event, the media, the performers and the audience was quite overwhelming, with everyone present uniting in the realisation of how integral the ability to connect with society is in our lives.

Powerful renditions of songs made memorable by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis were brought to life by Stanley, Carlton and Venkat. Alexis added her own charm to the performance with her soulful voice. The 350 strong audience made generous contributions to the cause of making a difference to the lives of the children who will never be able to enjoy evenings like this due to the invisible handicap –deafness.

Singers Usha Utthup and Sandeep Vyas attended the show to re-live the magic created by the Rat Pack’s legendary music and to extend their support to the cause of empowering deaf children and their families across India.

Mary - common name, uncommon life!

2011-05-24T16:20:00.003+05:30

Mary, a student of Class IV, lives in Massar, a picturesque village housing about 600 people in the East Khashi Hills in Meghalaya. The village is, however, more known for a disability that plagues about 20 families than its beauty.

Massar, a village spread over two hills, has 43 deaf people, all of them belonging to the Nongsten clan. In what is one of the major problems in the village, and one that needs immediate intervention, the majority of the people of this clan suffer from progressive deafness.

Mary is the only member in her family who can still hear. But she too, is suffering from a mild hearing loss already. She responds well to loud sounds but does not hear softer sounds. Her disability is invisible. Often in course of a normal conversation she will stare at the person who is speaking to her. It is then that one realises that she is lip-reading. Her mother and her three brothers are all deaf and so is her maternal uncle who lives with them. The family makes brooms to sell for a living like several others in the village.

Mary’s mother (right) and her two brothers

One of Mary’s brothers works in Shillong as a daily wage labourer to support the family. She has two hearing cousins. A fun-loving child, Mary loves playing with her friends and she enjoys school.

Mary doesn’t talk much, but she tends to smile a lot. A smile, after all, is known to be able to cross the boundaries of all language.

Mary, (left) with her friends (right)

Meidil Nongsten..she is a mother too!

2011-05-24T15:02:00.003+05:30

Meidil is a single mother to three boys. The eldest, Pyn Kmen Lang is 20 years old. Pynsuk Nongsten is 19 and Marcon is 14 years old. They live in Massar, a village set in the beautiful East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. Massar spreads over two hills in the region and houses about 600 people. This Nongsten family makes brooms and cane baskets for a living. Nothing unusual. Yet, what sets the family apart from many others is the fact that Meidil, Pyn Kmen and Pynsuk are all deaf and Marcon is losing his hearing by the day.

Meidil Nongsten

This family, like 20 other families of Massar, suffers from post lingual progressive deafness. Pyn Kmen and Pynsuk have only attended school till Nursery. They stopped going to school because they couldn’t hear properly. Macron, the youngest of the three brothers, studied till Class IV. In fact, he also gave his half yearly examinations for Class V. He dropped out after that. Macron feels shy because he doesn’t hear well in class.

As they had already acquired language before their deafness started progressing, Meidil and her two elder sons rely a lot on lip-reading. Meidil is disappointed that all her children are losing their hearing. She thinks that education is very important for everyone. She knows that Marcon is an intelligent child, and she wants him to continue his studies so that he can help his family. Macron being the most educated in the family keeps the accounts and handles all the money.

As a child, Meidil enjoyed going to school herself. She studies till Class I and knows how to read and write. She can sign her name as well. Meidil is completely certain that if someone convinces Marcon to continue his studies, he will have all the support he needs from his family.

Meidil with her sons – Marcon (extreme left) Pynsuk (Middle) and Pyn Kmen (extreme right)

VAANI aims to reach the mothers of children between 0-12 years of age, so that with the early intervention, mothers like Meidil are not left disheartened that their children are shying away from education, from communication, from life.

We hear a lot of stories of courageous mothers who brave all kinds of problems to secure a safe future for their children. Meidil is probably not one of them. She is just one of those mothers who want her children to be able to fend for themselves. She is a scared mother, because she has shared the experience of being deaf with her children. She knows what happens when the world around suddenly goes silent.

He cannot hear the world but he makes sure he is heard - Rituraj Rabha, Assam

2011-05-19T14:31:00.003+05:30

Rituraj at home, getting ready for class with his tutor

Rituraj is a 12 year old boy who loves playing cricket. He plays regularly with a group of 10-12 boys in his village located in Dimoria block in Assam. He studies in Class – VI and lives in a joint family where he is the eldest of the children. He has a brother and a sister and is quite close to them. Like any other 12 year old, he is naughty and friendly. Unlike every other 12 year old, he is deaf.

This invisible disability separates Rituraj from the boys he plays with. He ‘looks’ completely normal, his life is far from it.

He struggles to understand little things that would be common sense to a hearing child. It has nothing to do with his intelligence quotient.

Rituraj is one of the children that Swabalambi, VAANI’s partner in Assam works with. His mother, grandmother and his paternal uncle (father’s elder brother) are the three people who closely follow his trainings. They are also the ones who take training from CBR worker Bipin to communicate properly with Rituraj.

Though Rituraj’s mother identified his deafness when he was around four years old and still did not speak, Swabalambi got involved with him only when he was nine years old. While working with him, the Swabalambi team realised that while Rituraj was not adept at communicating all his thoughts, he was a very fast learner. Rituraj tries to talk, but his speech is limited. He signs and he follows the sign language well, but he loves to draw to express himself.

He is now good with numbers, words and short sentences and uses the teaching aids comfortably to answer and ask questions. His school is very sensitive to the fact that he is deaf. His teachers know the Swabalambi team and seek assistance whenever they have a problem communicating with Rituraj. He is allowed to sit in front and with friends with whom he tends to communicate more.

Even his community members and family members are very supportive and enthusiastic of the intervention made by VAANI. The fact that he now communicates with his family and friends is an unexpected bonus for them. They have extended all their support to ensure that Rituraj gets his rights and is able to live a life that is comfortable, rewarding and fulfilling, for himself and for others around him.

VAANI and I: Bipin Das, CBR Worker

2011-05-19T14:10:00.002+05:30

Bipin (left) with one of his students

Bipin Das is a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) worker working with deaf children for the past five years. He works with Swabalambi, a partner of VAANI – Deaf Children’s Foundation working out of the Dimoria Block in Assam.

Swabalambi is a cross-disability organisation and so, as Bipin puts it very simply, “Before VAANI’s intervention, a disability was a disability, and I never thought a deaf child needs any kind of special attention among other disabled children.” As time passed, he realised it was tough to get his message across to the deaf child. He used gestures to communicate, but often ended up frustrated because he did not know what to do. Today, it comes naturally to him to understand that fear, insecurity, isolation and loss of confidence form part of the attitude of a deaf child. He understands that a deaf child is different from other disabled children and needs individual attention.

It is not an easy task to keep at the task at hand day in and day out. A lot of effort in teaching a deaf child yields very little response. A teacher is disheartened when the student does not do well. Though experience has brought down the frustration in Bipin, he keeps thinking of new ways to tackle every problem he faces in communicating with his students. At the end of the day, a supportive family and an empathetic community goes a long way in restoring his confidence in the cause he is working for.

Bipin has undergone training in Screening Strategies and Identification, Building of Communication Skills, Usage of Teaching and Learning Material for Language Evaluation, Sensitisation and Awareness and Documentation as well, as part of the training by VAANI’s.

Bipin has been working with disability for the past five years. It surprises him today to think that even to him, deafness was invisible once. “Now I realise the communication gap, with the parents, peer group, community and the world around them. It is my job to bridge this gap.”

It is easy to spot the camaraderie between Bipin and 12 year old Rituraj, one of his students. It took Bipin quite some time to earn Rituraj’s trust, but now they are fast friends. A huge grin spreads across the boy’s face as he sees his teacher approach. Rituraj is a naughty child, says the teacher affectionately. A friendly kid, he has a cricket team of 10-12 boys and they play regularly. He is also the much loved eldest son of a joint family comprising of the families of three brothers and one sister.

Bipin has made an arrangement with Rituraj’s school to let him be part of his learning process. He attends school with Rituraj once a week. The teachers and the principal seek his help if they have any problems communicating with Rituraj. He speaks to every new teacher to sensitise them to Rituraj’s situation.

Human beings are social animals. We all know that. To be social, one has to communicate. Most of us do not realise that hearing is the stimulus which creates the need in us to communicate. How does a child live a normal life without being social? It is people like Bipin who have understood how isolation affects children who are deaf, and are working hard to bring communication into their lives.

A breath of fresh air - Farhanaz Mondal, Kalna, West Bengal

2011-04-26T16:16:00.004+05:30

Farhanaz with her doting grandmother

Farhanaz always has something to say about everything around her. She loves her grandmother and has been staying with her since she was 8 months old. It was her grandmother who identified that Farhanaz was deaf when she was around a year old and did not respond to any sound.

Farhanaz studies in class III of Shishu Shiksha Kendra and loves to talk. She is very inquisitive and a good student. A very opinionated child, Farhanaz has her own point of view about everything she observes and she makes sure she is heard.

Farhanaz is a very intelligent student and can write well. She has been responding well to the trainings she has received under VAANI’s intervention and actively participates in the worskhops conducted.

Her grandmother is her best friend and she loves spending time with her. So strong is the bond that Farhanaz goes to visit her parents but cannot stay away from her for long periods of time. Her grandmother has been putting in relentless efforts in making sure that Farhanaz receives proper medical care and the right training. She says she is ready to do whatever it takes to ensure that the child lives a healthy, happy and fulfilling life.

The mother-child bond : Deepa and Indranil Ghosh

2011-04-26T15:47:00.001+05:30

Indranil with his Mother

Indranil is a bright 9 year old who loves to talk to his friends and help his mother learn Sign language along with him. He participates in every activity during training and he loves using his hearing aids. Such is his love for hearing, that as soon as he senses that the batteries are running low, he gets anxious and drives his mother up the wall to get them replaced.

His mother accompanies him to every training workshop and puts in a lot of effort to be able to communicate with him better. Since Indranil and his mother have started attending the trainings given by VAANI from 2010, communication between them has improved by leaps and bounds. “Now I understand everything he says”, says the proud mother.

Indranil used to cry like other babies when he was born and so his parents never thought about him being deaf. His maternal uncle was the first one to identify that he might have trouble with hearing when he was one and half years old. Indranil’s uncle kept blowing the horns of his motorbike and little Indranil, sitting right there, did not react at all to the sounds. It was then that he advised his sister to take the boy to an ENT specialist. The diagnosis showed that Indranil is deaf in his right ear but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying cartoon shows on TV or playing cricket with his friends.

Indranil is a friendly and expressive child. He makes it a point to share every little detail of his weekly classes with his friends and cousins at home.

VAANI and Me: Subh Agarwal, Assam

2011-04-21T13:47:00.003+05:30

My name is : Subh Agarwal

I am : Five years old

I live in: Kahilipara, Assam.

I love : watching action shows and action movies.

My mother suspected my deafness when I did not respond to any sound. I was six months old at that time. When I turned three years old, an audiometry test revealed that I was suffering from profound deafness.

My father works in Purbanchal Steel Industry at a junior level. My mother is a house wife and she spends a lot of time with me for my overall development.

My mother always says that the training programme has given her new ideas to teach me about various things. She was very happy to receive VAANI’s support at the right time. She wants VAANI to organise training programmes every month.

I now know words like “black board”, “pen”, “chalk”, “pencil” and can match object to object.

Subh is a bright child and he communicates through gestures. Whenever he is hungry, he puts his fingers in his mouth and then directs them towards his tummy.

5 year old Subh Agarwal is profoundly deaf but a very lively and bright child who communicates through gestures. Whenever he is hungry, he puts his fingers in his mouth and then directs them towards his tummy. His mother always says that the training programme has given her new ideas to teach me about various things. She was very happy to receive VAANI’s support at the right time. She wants VAANI to organise training programmes every month. Subh now knows words like “black board”, “pen”, “chalk”, “pencil” and can match object to object.

Lakshana - Issue no. 5

2010-06-21T10:40:00.000+05:30

VAANI has been publishing a bi-annual information leaflet/newsletter called 'Lakshana - catalyst for transformation'. The theme for the 5th issue which is under print now is 'early reading' and the articles are about techniques to be used to help a young child to gain literacy. These techniques are explained in simple language and are accompanied by attractive illustrations, We hope parents find this issue as useful as the previous 4 issues.

News Archives

2010-06-10T10:18:00.003+05:30

Childhood Deafness

2010-04-09T11:26:00.002+05:30

'Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your child' - these are probably reassuring words to a young mother worried about her baby's apparent 'different'ness but this is definitely not good advice. A mother always knows when something's wrong and she should be encouraged to go with her instincts.

VAANI works with families to highlight the importance of early detection of, and intervention for, a deaf child. We spread awareness about the importance of language and communication for the emotional and social well-being of a deaf child.

Late diagnosis of deafness is proven to cause delay in language development. Children with hearing losses identified before 6 months of age have significantly better language development than children whose hearing losses are identified after 6 months of age. Children with normal cognitive development whose hearing losses are identified before six months can develop language at the same or a similar rate to a hearing child.

Deafness in itself is not a learning difficulty. Learning difficulties arise when deaf children cannot access communication. An undiagnosed 3-year-old deaf child will only know about 25 words as compared to 700 words for a hearing child of the same age. A majority of deaf children grow up in hearing families with little or no experience of deafness, and most parents never learn to fully communicate with their children.