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We conduct classes in ISL with the help of our interpreter and deaf users and advocates of ISL for those that are  looking for

a) Basic conversational ISL skills.
b) Understanding ways Deaf and Hearing people can communicate.
c) An understanding of Hearing Impairment and related issues
d) Exploring  how ISL can be used to break barriers in the personal, educational, vocational and social spheres
e) New friends from the Deaf community
f) Exploring ISL benefits and   solutions for people with other disabilities
  
Disclaimer: Our course aims at popularising ISL -  imparting  basic ISL skills to the hearing and hearing impaired  to encourage  mainstreaming  of the deaf - and exploring  different applications and benefits
of signing. It  is not an 'ISL instructor/ interpreter'  course.


Some interesting facts!

ISL has  not  been recognised as an official language in India. Yet millions of Hearing Impaired and  hearing people sign and understand each other around the world!

There is no institute in Pune which teaches ISL formally . There are no fully qualified interpreters   or instructors in Pune. Yet, very recently, there was THIS  article in the TOI !!! 
 
 
We all sign...we may not understand the discipline of sign as a definite language, but we do what we   have to in order to be understood.  We sign when we meet someone who doesn't  speak the same languages as us. We sign across sound proof glass. We sign when   we don't want someone to hear what is being communicated. We sign when we're talking on the phone..even though the other person cannot see us   gesticulating.In a country like ours where Cricket is almost  a religion, we understand  and wait for every sign from the  Umpire.

Indian Sign Language  is  not about miming or gesticulation or dance mudras. It has a definite grammar and syntac.

All along we've   marginalised those who cannot speak due to deafness or other conditions.  People in India have always preferred speech therapy over ISL. Why teach deaf persons to speak? Because it is easier. For whom? Those who can  hear.

Speech therapy is  wonderful. Lip reading is great too. But Signing is natural. Two deaf people   left alone will take their hearing aids off and sign. Visit any school  and watch the children revert to signing the moment the 'hearing' teacher   steps out of the class.

Sign Language needn't replace speech   therapy. It can compliment and supplement it. There is plenty of published   evidence that it doesn't retard speech development. And Sign isn't only for the   deaf. A google search online will reveal where else  Sign  Language can help.

Here is a fantastic link to explain. We'd   like you to read most if not all of it.


Why must we all learn to   sign?

Why do some of us  learn  German? Or Japanese? To converse with those who speak those languages.  Why then  isn't it necessary to learn to converse with the deaf? They are not  ess  intelligent than us. They just don't always speak the same language as we   do.

There is a need to educate and employ deaf persons...mainstream them in every sense of the word.   Wouldn't it be lovely to see children with HI playing with hearing kids in a park and having no trouble communicating?

It happens in most developed countries, why not ours? 
 
 
Who MUST learn to sign? [we
believe everybody should]

* People who work  with  children who have learning or speech related issues with or without  deafness.
* Teachers from schools for deaf children.
* Teachers in  inclusive  schools
* People in the service industry,  armed  forces, legal, medical, entertainment fields...
* Those looking for   careers as interpreters for the deaf.
* Deaf instructors.
* Those who would like to make friends with persons who are deaf. 
* Most importantly -   Parents and family of deaf persons