The sound of success

What if you cannot hear the phone ringing, vehicles honking or the engines roaring? For many of us, a life without sound seems hard to imagine but apparently, it isn't so for the ones who live their lives devoid of sound, thanks to the efforts put in by a few of us. We take a look at two organisations in South Mumbai that work towards improving the lives of the hearing impaired.

This 37-year-old institution, which operates from within the Municipal Secondary School, Byculla, initially catered only to the deaf and deafblind students. But now, it works with people suffering from multiple disorders.
When the late Beroz Vacha (founder of the school) taught in a deaf school, she observed that some of the hearing impaired students were visually challenged as well and realised that there weren't any institutes designed especially for them. She thus opened a teaching home in July 1977 with three students under her wings and Rs. 150 in her pocket.
Finance still remains an impediment for the school but not to a great extent. "Finance has been a major challenge but we have overcome it due to the transparency in our organisation, the benevolence shown by parents and corporates and many other factors," says Sheela Sinha, Director-Education, Hellen Keller Institute for Deaf and DeafBlind. While many organisations work for the hearing impaired, Hellen Keller stands apart from the others as a rare supporter of the deafblind.
The school is a non-profit organisation and provides education free of cost to its students. They not only work at a nascent stage through the early intervention centre but also provide schooling, IEPs (Individual Education Programs), transitional programmes (where teenagers learn minor jobs), and vocational training (envelope-making, handicrafts and more,) to help the children become independent.
The handicrafts and printing centres are usually buzzing with activity to complete orders. The animation course has provided employment to students with a 100% success rate, claims Sinha.

Mirakle Couriers is a for-profit social enterprise, based in Churchgate and founded by Dhruv Lakra in 2010. It all started once upon a time when Lakra came across a young boy with hearing impairment on a Mumbai bus. The boy conversed with him using a pen and paper, which is when Lakra realised that even trivial things like travel are difficult for the hearing impaired.
Over the next few months, Lakra learnt the Indian Sign Language and researched about the hearing impaired, and eventually started a courier service that employs only them.
Armed with an MBA degree from the Oxford University and experience in banking from Merill Lynch, why did Lakra, an HR College alumnus want to take this up, we ask. "Because it is a challenging task…the deaf are huge in numbers and they can see what's going on."
When asked about difficulties, he mentions finance as the only obstacle. The employees are provided only employment and a bank account; they receive no special training. Lakra believes that they are no different than others and argues, "Why would they have any problem with communication? There is a sign language." The organisation assists the employees in every way possible; nevertheless they are as firm-footed and confident as anyone else in this world.
To get in touch with these organisations, contact Hellen Keller School for Deaf and Deafblind at 9702088488 and Mirakle Couriers at 9920079384.