MEET OUR TWO VIRTUAL SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS
Based on the feedback from the deaf community to make the digital avatars relatable for our Indian audience, our we are happy to introduce you two our two brand new avatars. The names of the male and female avatars are Sanket and Mudra, respectively. Here is a short biographical detail.
Get to know Sanket- our male virtual ISL interpreter
Sanket is a supervisor in a new startup that delivers groceries at people’s doorstep. He is fluent in multiple languages including English, Tamil, Bengali, and Hindi. He has done his graduation in business management and along with working in the startup he is also pursuing higher studies.
He learned sign language when he became friends with Amaresh, a graphic designer who works in the same startup. Amaresh is speech impaired. He is an excellent graphic designer, and he can work wonders even with basic images. Sanket also dabbles in many graphic design tools but at a hobby level. This gave them an opportunity to share some works with each other.
Being a keen observer, Sanket began to pick up some visual cues and within a month he had built a small stock of ISL words and expressions. He watched lots of videos on the Internet to further polish his skills so that he could have casual conversations with his friend.
He also started hanging out with Amresh’s other friends who are also speech and hearing-impaired. They often commended him for his fast-developing proficiency in sign language. In his office, he became the de facto sign language interpreter for Amaresh during meetings and other briefings.
That was 2 years ago. Through Amaresh he met Sophia who is also speech and hearing-impaired. They got married and are now expecting their first baby.
Now he is working towards being a full-time sign language interpreter with Friends for Inclusion. He has devoted lots of time in developing this app and believes it is a game changer and will be critical in mainstreaming people with disabilities.
Get to know Mudra – our virtual sign language interpreter
Mudra is a manager in a private sector bank based in New Delhi. She has a 16-year-old son, Kartik, who was born without the ability to hear and speak. Her knowledge of Indian Sign Language is self-acquired. When she discovered that her son was born with a disability, she decided to leave her job and completely focus on taking care of her son.
Unable to cope with a son with hearing and speech disability, her husband left the family and when her son was 2 years old, they got divorced. Ever since then, she has raised her son as a single mom.
There was a school for the deaf and when Kartik got admitted there at the age of 7, she also took up a job in the same school as a teacher so that she could be with her son and to learn as much as possible about how to better communicate with him.
There were many teachers in the school who used sign language and along with her son, she too started learning the language. She was thrilled when she and Kartik could hold a complete conversation on a topic.
When Kartik was old enough to realize that his mother had left her career to take care of him, he started insisting that she applied for the job again. Initially she resisted but then she thought that it would make Kartik more independent and self-respecting to have a mother who is serious about her career.
Fortunately for her, she got the job in the same bank and with her qualifications and previous experience, she quickly got promoted.
It has been 4 years since Mudra joined back. Kartik is quite independent now. Today, they Both enjoy learning new words in Indian Sign language using the dictionary released by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre.
MEET OUR TWO VIRTUAL SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS