Express News Service
HYDERABAD: On the occasion of the 73rd Republic Day, Hyderabad-based NGO Deaf EnAbled Foundation (DEF) has translated the Preamble into the Indian sign language, honouring the country’s indomitable spirit of diversity. The central idea behind the initiative was not just to celebrate the nation’s glorious past, but also to envision a future where all its citizens are equally represented.
“The phrase ‘We the people..’ of the Preamble signifies the very foundation of the Indian democracy and is a blueprint of the society that its Constitution makers had envisioned for it. We, as an organisation, always believed that a modern India can only be built upon the idea of inclusivity. This should start by making the vulnerable aware of their rights and duties. The Preamble is just the beginning. This mission will provide a voice to those who lack one,” says Ramya Miryala, the director of DEF.
Sharing how the idea came up, she shares, “One of our DEF members, Sandeep, who had his share of experience of lacking inclusivity, realised that this should stop with him. He saw great need for people like him to be aware and make use of all that the Constitution guarantees to every individual, regardless of class, gender and abilities too.”
The organisation has been able to translate the Constitution up to Article 127 so far and hopes to complete the rest by this year-end. “Who knows, by the next Republic Day we could have the entire Constitution in our hands, literally,” Ramya says.
Speaking about some of the challenges the team faces as they set out to recreate the Constitution, she says, “It is a time-taking process because it begins with all of us first being able to understand the Constitution. There’s going to be so much learning and unlearning and then the translation begins. Once that is done, care has to be taken to put it out well. For instance, sign language does not have many prepositions or sometimes even pronouns. Syntax, body language, facial expressions and other components play a huge role in doing this. Thus, the need to be thorough, perfect and accurate.”
The pandemic has been a tough time for the deaf and was a double disadvantage to the deaf community. Schools and colleges going online made matters worse for them, she says. “That’s when we decided to come up with our app, EduSign Academy, where people have been pursuing various degrees. Over 12,000 people have already downloaded and are pursuing their careers here. We hope to have an MBA programme soon; we’re working towards collaborating with universities who could help with their trainers and we could take care of the interpretation.”
With the noble aim to spread legal knowledge, help the deaf be aware of their rights and duties, the NGO also hopes to primarily help educational institutions to be deaf-friendly with better infrastructure, …….