Indian Sign language and the Interpreter situation in India has received very little attention and as such it has been an uphill struggle to get anyone to understand the importance of the access issues the deaf face. I have been trying in vain for years for people to understand the issue and accept the fact that interpreters are an integral part of the intervention the deaf people of india need to be able to participate in society and be included. this has had no effect on any of the ones I have spoken to beyond tut tutting and a pat on the back. so had to take the bull by the horns on this one.
The marathon production took over a 18 months to complete and finalise and finally design and upload. A team of deaf people worked on it for vocabulary and choosing dominant and popular signs. the film work and the editing was also done by deaf people. a completely indigenously made website with a lot to offer.
We plan to make a DVD of the entire site with sentences in Sign language included and grammar notations to enable student of Indian Sign Language to access learning at home.
The Deaf Way had made the first VCd of Indian Sign Language years ago and that has been the mainstay of the teaching process at The DEaf Way for some time. This new Website has taken it to the next level and we really hope that many people will be able to access and use it to learn.
The ASLI ie Association of Sign Language Interpreters was launched some time ago and has yet to really make a mark on the national scene however the upcoming conference in February hopefully will do this to a great extent. look out for conference info online at www.signasli.org
