Gender plays a major role in the lives of people with hearing impairment as women face more harassment than their male counterparts. This observation was made by Era Walton, coordinator of the local chapter of Deafway Foundation, an NGO, during a seminar held on women’s empowerment at the Chandigarh Club on Friday. Manju Sharma, Women and Child Welfare Officer, Haryana, was the chief guest on the occasion.
Walton said that deaf women faced bias even at the hands of their relatives. “Our NGO has received cases where women were discriminated against by their own relatives because of their condition. It is sad to see that people fail to show any compassion to the hearing disabled,” she said.
Women from different walks of life, who despite their handicap had made a mark for themselves, shared their experiences at the seminar. Supriya, who is associated with the NGO for almost two decades, teaches interpretation and sign language to the hearing-disabled. “Women with a hearing disability have not had it easy in life. It has been a journey marked with difficulties but despite all this, they have carved a niche for themselves because of their hard work, persistence and courage,” remarked Walton
A motivating example is that of Rupinder who works with the Indian Overseas Bank and also teaches English to the hearing-impaired and helps them with new technologies. It was also observed that there has been a change in the outlook to hearing-impaired people getting married.
“People with a hearing disability now prefer getting married to people with the same disability as it ensures better compatibility and understanding. This was, however, not the case earlier. We have had cases where women were abandoned by their spouses or harassed for dowry because of their handicap,” said Walton.
Reference : http://www.indianexpress.com
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