“When I moved to Delhi I saw some deaf people signing and it was so beautiful. It was like a movie. I was just admiring it but I did not understand what it meant.” This is how Rupmani Chhetri recollects her first encounters with sign language.
For many years, Chhetri had no connection with the language. Both her parents were hearing individuals and this meant that growing up, she had no exposure to sign language. Today, those early years are just a page in the chapter of her life. After learning and mastering sign language over the years, today, she is a part of Signable Communications, an organisation which provides a helpline for deaf people to communicate with hearing individuals through an interpreter. She is also India’s first differently abled volunteer to have secured the opportunity to work with the United Nations.
But even the smallest things are still a challenge for a deaf person like her. She says while speaking about her experience of travelling in the Bengaluru Metro, “In the metro, there are no captions. I want the captions and lights, but this is not there in any station. They just keep saying ‘mundina nildana..’ but I can't hear anything right?” Chhetri emphasises how there is a need for lights and other indicators to guide deaf people. These indicators would help them understand the station they were at and the route that the metro was taking, she added.
Another challenge that the deaf leader faced when she moved from North India to Bengaluru was the language which was used. She noted that in the south of India, there is greater use of American Sign Language whereas in the north of the country, Indian Sign Language is far more prevalent.
Yet, the challenges go beyond just the language barrier. Rupmani Chhetri says, “Everybody feels deaf people can only stay in their own position. They cannot improve or develop. I want everybody to come up and reach great heights. Companies have to change their perspective when it comes to deaf people.”
For Chhetri, the dream is to see a more accessible Bengaluru and a more accessible India. She speaks about how the government must pay interpreters and ensure that those in the deaf community have free access to interpretation services. “Many deaf people apply for jobs, but they find it so hard to find an interpreter (for the interviews),” she noted. She also speaks passionately when asked about why hearing people must also learn sign language.
But the accessibility that she dreams of begins with something as simple as adding sign language to the currency notes that are in circulation. Chhetri also wants to see a day when all television channels including entertainment channels have captions in sign language.
The dream for her is for Bengaluru to lead the way in terms of accessibility for the deaf. But what was her first experience in the city like? “In the starting period, it was very difficult for me because the language that people use is different right? They viewed me as something different. Then I got a friend called Bharat.” Bharat helped Rupmani get paying guest accommodation in the city, and she recollects how he helped bridge the gap between her and the PG owners.
There was also an adjustment period for her since she wasn’t used to the kind of food which is consumed in Bengaluru. But today, she has moved past all the initial challenges and Bengaluru has truly become home. “It has been 3 years (since I moved here), Bangalore’s weather is good, but it rains all the time,” she signs off.
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