Lending an ear to the voices unheard

[1]

Ruma Roka could have just been a homemaker leading a comfortable life. But she was restless to find a larger meaning in life. She nurtured the dream of running a school for special ability children.

Recollects Ruma, “I happened to see Doordarshan news channel one day, where this lady was signing out the news via a person who was slowly reading it out. That got me thinking as to who were the people watching this news, where were they and how did they survive.”
Subsequently, she learnt sign language at the AIJNIHH (National Institute for the Hearing Impaired) in 2004. Next year, with the money from an insurance policy and a small two bedroom apartment belonging to her husband, she founded the NGO Noida Deaf Society (NDS).
“Having met so many deaf people and hearing their stories of utter despair as far as education and employment was concerned, I knew there was lot to work on. We started with just five students with myself as the single teacher teaching them how to communicate in English in the written form,” smiles Ruma.
Today NDS has five centers in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Noida and impacts more than 1,500 deaf youth every year, who are coming from across the country. It has facilitated the employment of 500 deaf people in various organisations.
Roadblocks were far too many. “Money, space, deciding what to teach and how, and most importantly convincing the deaf and their parents, that they are capable of leading respectable lives. In addition to all these, was the challenge of convincing the employer of the potentials of our students,” adds Ruma.
But she managed to sail through all. She feels that her biggest achievement is the recognition of the fact that deaf people are an able work force. Infact, employers are re-recruiting from NDS, having seen actual proof of the professional productivity of the youth. Many of the students at NDS travel for over three to four hours every other day (from Agra, Meerut, Mathura, Aligarh, even Jaipur, Rewari) just to attend a two and a half hour class.
“Surely if my kids can come from so far, I can at least try to make at least one small dream of theirs come true. The kids consider me as a mother,” smiles Ruma. It provides her inspiration and confidence to steer ahead.