NAD Requests PM Modi to Make ISL an Official Language

 The News Cover: Delhi's NAD - National Association of the Deaf's President A.S.NARAYANAN has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Modi. The letter demanded the recognition of Indian Sign Language (ISL) as an official language. In the letter, NAD praises PM Modi for launching the ISL dictionary which has excited the Deaf Community. President Narayanan has said that if ISL is not recognized, Deaf individuals in India would continue to suffer due to lack of accessibility. They will be deprived of their right to information, employment, etc. 

They mentioned that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that sign language be accorded equal status as other spoken languages. Also, India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 states the importance of ISL, stresses that teachers in colleges, schools, universities must use ISL. 

It also mandates ISL interpretation on television so that people get clear information. In order to fulfill the above-mentioned mandates, NAD believes ISL needs to be recognized. If this does not happen there will be no accessibility. Among the 22 official languages, the association said the Dogri language is spoken by 2.3 million people and the Maithili language is spoken by 15 million people in India. ISL is the mother tongue of 18 million Deaf people in India. 

Yet our language remains unrecognized, even when there are so many Deaf individuals in the country. NAD has written the letter to PM Modi hoping he accepts and makes history. This would make the Deaf Community very happy. Visit NAD's website here, and click on either the PDF or Word document of the letter sent to PM Modi. Print out the letter, sign it, fill in your details and post it to Modi. Hopefully, this might convince the Prime Minister to recognize ISL. So please do it!