I am a proud deaf woman living in Kerala, India. My life has been a beautiful and adventurous journey. I am enjoying every minute of it. I was lucky to have parents who were very supportive of me and my ambitions from early childhood.

I am confident that I can achieve everything and fulfill my dreams. I am very optimistic about my future. In spite of my disability, I believe I have developed skills and abilities that would help me in my journey.

I have never thought that my being deaf is a big obstacle in my life. Deafness is a condition, just like many of us who have to overcome our own disabilities, to navigate life. If the people around us and society at large are sensitive to our condition, deaf people can easily be as productive as anyone. It is this sensitization that needs to happen in our communities. This is equally true of other conditions, such as mental health, and neurodiversity conditions, among others. But if things don’t go the way you want it, you have to take control and come up with a solution yourself. It’s only then that society would take notice of you.

How can I change the perception of what it means to be deaf in our society?

To do this, there should be more of us in society’s daily life. We shouldn’t just be Deaf people, we should be engineers, doctors, and IT professionals. That was my dream and how we founded the Digital Arts Academy for the deaf (DAAD). 

DAAD is an Edutech startup that focuses on ISL-based education programs. I am now working for the welfare of deaf children. My team and I have developed an ISL program for children to create awareness and to improve and upskill them.