Education and jobs for the deaf | Ruma Roka
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0:07 - 0:09Didn't understand anything, did you?
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0:09 - 0:11(Laughter)
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0:11 - 0:13That's 63 million deaf people in India
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0:13 - 0:17who go through this
year after year, day after day, -
0:17 - 0:20trying to make sense
of a world they cannot hear. -
0:20 - 0:23Huge lack of awareness and social stigma
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0:23 - 0:26of having a child
that is differently-abled. -
0:26 - 0:28Parents run from pillar to post
-
0:28 - 0:31trying to understand
how to bring up their child. -
0:31 - 0:34And they are told,
"Even though your child can't hear, -
0:34 - 0:36there is nothing wrong with his voice box.
-
0:36 - 0:38There's nothing wrong
with his vocal chords -
0:38 - 0:41and he can be eventually
taught how to speak." -
0:41 - 0:46There starts the journey
of years being spent trying to teach -
0:46 - 0:50this little child how to articulate words
that he cannot hear. -
0:51 - 0:54Even within the family,
this little child wants -
0:54 - 0:56to communicate with his parents.
-
0:56 - 1:00He wants to be part
of the conversations in the family. -
1:00 - 1:04But he can't. And he doesn't understand
why nobody is listening to him. -
1:05 - 1:07So he feels isolated and misses out
-
1:07 - 1:10on a crucial skill that is required
when we grow up. -
1:10 - 1:14He goes to school thinking, "Okay,
hopefully things will be different." -
1:14 - 1:17And he finds the teachers
opening their mouths and closing -
1:17 - 1:20and writing these strange things
on the board. -
1:20 - 1:23Without understanding,
because he can't hear, -
1:23 - 1:27he copies it all down,
regurgitates it at the exam time, -
1:27 - 1:31and by rote and a few grace marks,
he finishes school, class ten. -
1:31 - 1:35What are his chances of employment?
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1:35 - 1:38Here is this child who really doesn't have
any real education. -
1:38 - 1:41Visual words, vocabulary
of thirty to forty words. -
1:41 - 1:46He's emotionally insecure, he's probably
angry with the whole world also, -
1:46 - 1:49which has, he feels has
systematically disabled him. -
1:49 - 1:53Where does he work?
Menial labor, unskilled jobs, -
1:53 - 1:56often in very abusive conditions.
-
1:56 - 2:02That's where my "birth" journey starts
in 2004. I don't have, as Kelly said, -
2:02 - 2:04I don't have any family who are deaf.
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2:04 - 2:08Just a strange pull and,
no rational thought. -
2:08 - 2:10I jumped into this world
and learned sign language. -
2:10 - 2:14At that time, it was a challenge.
Nobody wanted... Nobody seemed to know... -
2:14 - 2:17"What is it that you want to learn, Ruma?
Is that a language?" -
2:17 - 2:22Anyway, learning sign language
opened up my life to this community -
2:22 - 2:25which is outwardly silent,
but is brimming -
2:25 - 2:28with the passion and curiosity
as visual learners. -
2:28 - 2:31And I heard their stories
of what they wanted to do. -
2:31 - 2:39And a year later, in 2005,
with meager savings of about $5,000 -
2:39 - 2:42of a matured insurance policy,
I started this center, -
2:42 - 2:46in a small two-bedroom flat
with just six students -
2:46 - 2:49and me teaching them English
in sign language. -
2:50 - 2:53The challenges, the need of the hour
at that point was, -
2:53 - 2:56how do I get these kids who just
high school pass -
2:56 - 2:58into real jobs into the companies?
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2:58 - 3:03Jobs of dignity, jobs that can prove
that deaf are not dumb? -
3:04 - 3:08So, the challenges were huge.
The deaf were years sitting like this -
3:08 - 3:11and years of ennui and darkness.
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3:11 - 3:14They needed to believe in themselves.
The parents needed to be convinced -
3:14 - 3:17that this child is not deaf and dumb.
-
3:17 - 3:19And he's capable of standing
on his own two feet. -
3:19 - 3:21But most importantly,
-
3:21 - 3:24would the employer employ
somebody who couldn't speak, -
3:24 - 3:27couldn't hear, and very much
couldn't read or write either? -
3:27 - 3:31I sat together with some of my friends
from the industry, -
3:31 - 3:35and I shared with them my story
about what it meant to be deaf. -
3:35 - 3:39And I understood there were
clear areas in companies -
3:39 - 3:43where deaf could work, deaf people
could work as a great value add. -
3:43 - 3:46And with meager resources,
we created the first ever -
3:46 - 3:49vocational training curriculum for
deaf people in the country. -
3:49 - 3:54Finding trainers was a problem.
So I trained my deaf kids, -
3:54 - 3:57my students, to become
the teachers for the Deaf. -
3:57 - 4:01And it's a job they took on
with great responsibility and pride. -
4:01 - 4:07Still, the employer was skeptic.
Education, qualification, 10th pass. -
4:07 - 4:09"No, no, no, Ruma,
we cannot employ him." -
4:09 - 4:10That was a big problem.
-
4:10 - 4:12"And even if we did employ him,
-
4:12 - 4:15how are we going to communicate
with him? He can't read, write. -
4:15 - 4:16Can't hear/speak."
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4:16 - 4:20I just told them, "Please can we
take it just one step at a time? -
4:21 - 4:23You know, can we focus
on what he can do? -
4:23 - 4:26He's a great visual person.
He can work. And... -
4:26 - 4:30and if it works wonderful, if it doesn't,
we will at least know." -
4:30 - 4:35Here I would like to share
a story about Vishu Kapoor. -
4:35 - 4:39He came to us in 2009
with no language at all. -
4:39 - 4:41He didn't even know sign language.
-
4:41 - 4:45All he saw, processed in his brain
was through his eyes. -
4:45 - 4:47His mother was in despair and
she says, -
4:47 - 4:50"Ruma, can I please keep him
in your center for two hours? -
4:50 - 4:52It's really difficult for me
to manage him, -
4:52 - 4:54you know manage with him
24 hours a day." -
4:54 - 4:58So I said, "Yeah, okay."
Like a crash service. -
4:58 - 5:03It took us a very painstaking
one a half years for us -
5:03 - 5:07to give Vishu a language.
As he started communicating and -
5:07 - 5:11he got a sense of self and
he understand that there was... -
5:11 - 5:14I mean he couldn't hear, but heck,
he could do so many other things. -
5:14 - 5:16He figured out that he liked to work
on the computers. -
5:16 - 5:18We encouraged him, motivated him,
-
5:18 - 5:23and put him through our I.T. programs.
He cleared all the tests, you know, -
5:23 - 5:26much to my nervousness.
An opening came one day -
5:26 - 5:28in the back end of
a very well-known I.T. company, -
5:28 - 5:32and just for the exposure and
the experience, I said, -
5:32 - 5:35"Let Vishu also go
for this job interview." -
5:35 - 5:38Vishu went there and cleared
all the technical tests. -
5:38 - 5:42Even then I said, "Uh, I just hope
he will be able to stick on -
5:42 - 5:44for 6 months at least."
-
5:44 - 5:46It's been a year and a half now.
-
5:46 - 5:50Vishu is stil there,
and he's not only just, -
5:50 - 5:53'oh, this poor guy working in
this hearing environment.' -
5:53 - 5:58He is winning laurels as best employee
of the month, not once but two times. -
5:58 - 6:01(Applause)
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6:01 - 6:04And I want to share with you that,
today, it takes us about -
6:04 - 6:08a year and a half to teach
a deaf person to get ready -
6:08 - 6:10to get into this real world
that we know about. -
6:10 - 6:15In a short time of 6 years, today
500 of my wonderful young students -
6:15 - 6:20are working in some of
the top organizations in the industry: -
6:20 - 6:24in graphic design profiles,
in the back end of I.T. organizations, -
6:24 - 6:28in hospitality,
in barrier breaking employment -
6:28 - 6:31like in the security, and in banks.
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6:31 - 6:34And also in retail outlets, and
doing direct customer service. -
6:34 - 6:36(Applause)
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6:36 - 6:40Directly facing people like
you and me in KFC, in coffee outlets. -
6:40 - 6:42I just leave you with
a small little thought that, -
6:42 - 6:44yes, change is possible.
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6:44 - 6:48And it just starts with one little
change in our perspective. -
6:48 - 6:49Thank you so much.
-
6:49 - 6:56(Applause)
-
7:02 - 7:06And this is applause,
it's an international sign for applause. -
7:06 - 7:08Thank you so much.
- Title:
- Education and jobs for the deaf | Ruma Roka
- Description:
-
Ruma Roka is the Founder of the Noida Deaf Society, which uses specialized vocational programs to help the deaf achieve gainful employment and more fully integrate into their communities. She shares the powerful story of how this came to be, out of her strong will and hard work.
[Note: We want you to see these talks exactly as they happened! The archive footage might be a little rougher than the usual TED.com talk.] - Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 07:10