Avanti is a small group of committed individuals working for the hearing impaired and special children.
Ritika Ramtri Kumar
Avanti is a small group of committed individuals working for the hearing impaired and special children. The group is keen that these children are brought into the mainstream of society.
Anita Iyer, the driving force behind Avanti says there is a thin line between stupidity and insensitivity. She said, "I crossed it the day I told a little child at the Blind School in Delhi that I have to go as it is getting dark outside. The child casually asked me, ’What is dark?’ How do you explain darkness to someone who has never seen light?"
This incident haunted Anita for many years and she kept asking herself why darkness hounded her more than it worried the little child. It was then that Anita realised, "Special people have as much right to the world as we do."
She says, "We refuse to learn the languages that special children speak. Instead, we come up with devices to make them as much like us as possible. Is it really natural to force them to live in a way that is not normal?"
Anita says she is striving for a world without borders. "Why don’t we see these special children in malls, cinemas and birthday parties? Is it that we are so emotionally handicapped, that we subject them to isolation and confinement? What do these people fear?" It is these hard-hitting questions that Anita wants to answer while working with the blind and hearing-impaired children. The name Avanti means go forward and this is what Anita is striving to do.
Avanti’s first initiative is an intensive workshop spread over two days on April 21 and 22. "The endeavour is to introduce sign language and talk about its advantages to family and friends of hearing impaired children and adults."
Atiya Haji, a certified sign language interpreter from the Ali Yavar Jang National Institute for the Hearing Impaired, situated at Bandra in Mumbai, will conduct the programme, along with another certified instructor from Mumbai.
There will also be awareness sessions with Anita Iyer and Poonam Kochhar, another team member. "By conducting this workshop we hope to facilitate better communication with these intelligent minds who are struggling to be heard."
Many programmes including a theatre for and by the blind with no visual references have also been planned. Anita also hopes to talk about Braille. "Why can’t sign languages be taught during the social service period in schools," she asks. It will lead to sensitive young minds who can help these children find a place in society," she points out.
Integrating the hearing impaired into mainstream society and sensitising normal people like us is one of the greatest challenges ahead for Avanti. "We have to start somewhere and I am sure that if we do, we are bound to make a difference," says
Anita.
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