Instead of aimlessly punching away on their smart phones, Bengalureans have now found a noble way to engage with their fingers and they are calling it Fingerchats!
A free initiative by Enable India, this gathering that happens every Sunday at Cubbon Park sees scores of city folk actively take to learning sign language to understand and communicate with the hearing impaired with one aim – to make India more inclusive.
On schedule for this week’s edition today, Vishnu Soman, the brain behind the initiative says it started out on a whim to learn. “As a volunteer I was always looking for opportunities to learn sign language and learn the ‘culture’ of the hearing impaired so that I could communicate better with them,” says the Specialist Community Initiatives for Enable India.
The idea itself was to initiate the community around us in to learning a new language while creating more inclusivity. Having started out in April 2016, they begin every session with the basics – alphabets, question words and greetings. “Even these people come in from various parts of the city and we keep aside one hour just to interact with them,” adds Vidushi Jayaswal, the initiative’s national coordinator.
Aside of being introduced in corporates across the city, these fingerchats are now popping up in Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and next week, in Goa, where it’s happening for the first time. “We have also launched a campaign called “one sign a day” which allows anyone to receive one message a day, allowing them to learn sign language one step at a time,” she explains about the free sessions that focus on teaching Indian sign language to those interested. So far, 1,000 volunteers have signed up to learn and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Take Sangeetha Gudardhhar for instance. A student from the city, she first attended the session out of curiosity. “It’s been four months now,” she tells us. “Earlier, smiling was the only way I could communicate with the hearing impaired. Now, I can sustain conversations with them and they share their feelings. We get to bond that way and we are friends now,” says Sangeetha. They say actions are louder than words, so here’s a start.
