Hello Everybody,
This is my concluding blog about my documentary project.....this blog discusses a lot about the content exhibited in the documentary.
Much to my surprise and satisfaction, I found that my research was in sync with my actual observations of the deaf community. One of the most important revelations was that there lies an extreme polarity between the hearing and deaf community in India. The hearing people are keen to make deaf people 'hearing.' They want deaf children to learn to lip read and ultimately talk like 'normal' hearing people.
Deaf people, on the contrary, feel that they have every right to maintain their deaf identity and are proud of their 'deaf hood.' They hope to give birth to future deaf generations and want acknowledgment and recognition for their language, identity, and choice within the larger hearing society. The discrimination and marginalization of the minority deaf community at the hands of the majority hearing world is termed by deaf people as 'Audism,' which can be compared to 'Racism' according to them (discrimination against deaf people because of their inability to hear).
In 1910, George Veditz described 'Deaf' as “first, last and for all time, the people of the eye”. This aspect of deaf life was seen during the shooting of the documentary. While conducting day-to-day activities in the hearing world, deaf people were not scared to travel, or ride vehicles, because they were confident of their visual sense. According to them, the eye contact was extremely important for them in their communication too. Even during the interviews, most deaf people found it impossible to look in to the camera and sign. The eye contact with the interviewer was absolutely necessary for them.
Whenever a deaf person meets another deaf person, he/ she is curious to know whether the other person is 'deaf/hearing'. The world for them belongs only in two parts, 'hearing’, and 'deaf'. The boundaries of religion, country, caste, color do not exist for them.
My two deaf subjects, Sunil and Shweta, could lip read and talk, but they both chose to sign and not talk during the interviews. According to them, it was against the ethics of deaf culture to talk!
Most deaf people follow the 90 % rule in life. Out of all the ten deaf subjects I interviewed, only two had deaf had deaf families. Barring them, all had hearing families. The interviewees spoke about their communication problems with their parents. They also mentioned about their parents' reluctance to communicate with them in sign language.
A deaf girl's parents were awfully worried about her marriage, and lamented that her prospects of getting a 'normal' (hearing) bridegroom are minimal. Heena ( deaf girl), on the other hand, is sure of getting married to a deaf boy only. Hearing parents hoped for a miracle to happen and make their children hearing. I had mixed observations regarding this idea during my interactions with deaf, as well as hearing, parents. A widow mother (herself deaf) of two deaf children in their mid-twenties, wanted at least one 'hearing' child to help her in communicating with hearing world. On the other hand, another deaf couple, who had a hearing daughter, Kimaya, were proud to make Kimaya a part of their community by teaching her sign language. They were candid enough to express that they would have loved Kimaya to be deaf and hoped for their next child to be deaf.
During the shooting of the video, I observed that all deaf subjects were proud to be deaf and wanted to have deaf partners, future deaf generations, and the opportunity for making independent choices like any hearing person.
There are 'imagined' problems in the minds of hearing people while recruiting deaf people. The hearing population is unaware of the capabilities of deaf people due to sheer ignorance and lack of interest in understanding them. Government's apathy and lack of will is one of the many reasons for the poor situation of deaf people.
But the Indian government's apathy towards deaf people has ironically helped the country in preserving deaf culture. For example, in Denmark, the government sponsors cochlear implants for deaf people. Therefore, the deaf population in Denmark is decreasing day-by-day. The Indian government, on the other hand, does not encourage any such measures, which helps deaf people to maintain their 'deaf hood. '
Deaf schools in India have adopted oral methods only. Even media and public places lack a deaf- friendly environment. TV channels and films do not use captions. There are no interpreters at railways stations, hospitals, banks, and in government offices. The only way for deaf people to connect to the hearing world is through text messages on mobile phones. Deaf people heavily rely on mobile phones. One of the subjects even said that he cannot imagine his life without mobiles anymore.
But the hallmark of Indian deaf culture is Indian sign language. The introduction of Indian Sign Language (ISL) has empowered the deaf population, at least in the urban societies in India. However, the awareness and spread of ISL is still in its infancy in the country. The government's lack of will and support to make it nationally recognized and give it an academic status in deaf schools still keeps the language beyond the reach of deaf people in small cities.
The subjects spoke a lot about the lack of support for ISL at homes, too. Their parents refuse to learn the language. People in the majority hearing community do not have awareness about ISL. This divide between a deaf and hearing community has caused deaf people to look for avenues of progress and development in their own community only, which, again, are fairly limited. As an ISL instructor said: deaf people can progress only if they compete within the deaf community.
Conclusion
Beyond Silence is a documentary that is made with an intention of understanding the perspective of the deaf people in India. India, a country with a population of around one billion people, lacks the basic infrastructure and social consciousness to accommodate the “voices” of deaf people. This documentary is made with an intention of understanding these hidden voices in their own “words, language, and culture.” The documentary is made to reach out to a wider audience all around the world through film and video festivals, private screenings, and media workshops.
India is my home country, and my previous experience of working in the media industry facilitated my understanding of the basic societal values and orientation of the people belonging to the deaf community. This video project is a humble attempt to acknowledge the existence of a living, competent, and thinking deaf community that has the ability to communicate “beyond silence.”
My entire experience, close to about a year now, about reading, writing, interacting, and shooting deaf life so closely has brought about lot of revelations and understanding about deaf people in India.
I could observe through the process of making this documentary that these people just expect one thing from the larger hearing community. 'Live and Let Live.' They do not ask for any special favors, but are very vociferously ready to fight for their rights. Having interpreters is their right, and they want the government and the public to support it. Sign language is the mother tongue of deaf people and they want their own families, teachers and society to accept that. The Indian Sign Language (ISL) is the most important characteristic of the Indian deaf culture.
I hope the distribution and exhibition of this documentary helps deaf community in India to strengthen their fight for their basic rights, like the recognition and adoption of sign language in schools and in the society, awareness about deaf culture and motivation of the entertainment media in the country to adopt captioning.
My attempt has been to capture the real emotion that lies in the thriving deaf population in the city of Mumbai. They are all set to establish the first ever deaf college in the country in the year 2009. There is a long way to go, but at least the march has begun. The documentary, Beyond Silence, is an attempt to capture the essence of their struggle, perseverance, and indomitable spirit.
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