Our Language, Our Identity: India's deaf community opposes PIL for American Sign Language

A staff member speaking to Vinod Maithani, brand chef at Ishaara, who learnt signing to communicate with hearing-impaired staff

At Ishaara, the North Indian restaurant where one signs to dine, service runs smoothly. Mukund Magar, a manager at the restaurant, acts as translator between us and the hearing-impaired staff, signing the questions we ask and translating answers.

Magar became part of the team around Christmas 2024, a time so busy that he had to quickly pick up signing. "There was no time for special training, I learnt how to sign through YouTube videos, and learnt the Indian Sign Language (ISL) alphabet on the job," he says.

Was it troublesome to have to pick up a language especially for a job? "I never thought of it that way," he shrugs.

Love you, nice, two, hope and small

It's not tough to learn a language, especially for Indians who speak at least two. Yet, in a country where millions are deaf or hearing-impaired, none of us speak ISL unless regularly interacting with someone who needs to speak it.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates about 6.3 crore Indians with significant auditory impairment. Other sources, like the National Association of the Deaf, suggest 1.8 crore people are Deaf, while the 2011 census reported 50 lakh. These discrepancies are due to differing survey methods and definitions of hearing impairment. The bottom line: The community's numbers are in lakhs.

What ties the community together is Indian Sign Language, which has its own unique linguistic structure, similar to spoken languages like Hindi or English. While the language is unique to India, countries across the globe have their own sign languages in a similar fashion.

Ishaara restaurant's owner Prashant Issar showing a social media post by an employee to indicate that their grammar may be incorrect as spoken and sign languages have different structure, but you still understand what they mean

That's why it was odd when a public interest litigation (PIL) plea, for American Sign Language (ASL) to be made mandatory, was filed in the Supreme Court earlier this year. The PIL, not ruled on as of October 2025, was filed by Aman Azad who runs a news portal for the Deaf and argues that learning ASL would create better global employment opportunities and educational resources for Deaf students in India.

The PIL has met with sharp opposition from the Deaf community, who feel that mandating the use of ASL in Indian schools would erase ISL, its culture, and identity. "ISL has evolved naturally within India's diverse cultural and linguistic landscape. It is not just a communication system, it is a reflection of India's heritage, values, and social identity," says Aqil Chinoy, CTO of India Signing Hands (ISH) that runs ISH News, ISH Kids, and ISH Shiksha.

The organisations at the forefront of the pushback include All India Federation of the Deaf (AIFD) and the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) with support from the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).

Tazeen Shaikh, Avinash Pandey, Alok Kejriwal, Aqil Chinoy, CTO of India Signing Hands

ISL is a visual language distinct to India, incorporating its own grammar, regional dialects, and expressive cues rooted in Indian culture. Chinoy explains, "ISL is a beautiful expressive language that carries within it the essence of Indian history and culture. Many of its signs have evolved from traditional Indian customs. For example, the sign for "man" involves twisting an imaginary moustache, a typical symbol of Indian masculinity. The sign for "woman" points to the nose, symbolising the traditional nose ring." Naturally, you won't find these signs in any other sign language dictionary across the globe.

Moreover, interpreters explain, ASL uses one hand, while ISL uses two. Tazeen Shaikh, an ISL interpreter registered with the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), says, "Grammar in spoken languages and in Deaf languages is different. So, the base itself, for many, is weak and they only grasp correct written grammar later. ASL is not used in India, so why make it mandatory?"

The fight here is to protect not just the language, but also the community's identity. "Looking at language as only a tool to communicate is very restrictive," says Dr Avinash Pandey, faculty member of Mumbai University's Department of Linguistics, explaining that language is used to form social relationships, to observe and to think.

Management trainee Uma Potdar, whose husband and child are also deaf, makes the I, her sign name

"Every language has a way of thinking about the world; if we lose different point of views, it's a major loss to humankind," he says, adding that when languages die out, communities die out too.

Pandey says it is a question of dominance. "Why standardise ASL and not ISL?" he asks, and says that languages thrive on hybridity, multiplicity, and heterogeneity. "You need all the languages you know."

ISLRTC's website highlights another point: ISL is not used in deaf schools to teach deaf children. It also adds that teacher training programmes don't include ISL methods or teaching materials, but focus on oralism. Alok Kejriwal, founder and CEO of Signing Hands Foundation, says, "They are essentially forcing kids with a disability to adapt and lip-read, which is not practical."

Potdar communicating with guests at Ishaara

Speaking further about adaptation, Chinoy adds that the PIL's argument overlooks how sign languages actually function. He says, "When Deaf Indians meet Deaf Americans abroad, there may be initial communication gaps, but mutual understanding quickly develops through shared visual context and gestures. In reality, global communication among deaf people happens through adaptation and visual learning, not through replacing one language with another."

Prashant Issar, MD at Bellona Hospitality, has employed hearing-impaired persons at Ishaara as well as at previously owned restaurants. Hearing impairedness hasn't been an issue at work, he says, adding that one learns to adapt. "We have sign names for each other. I learnt ISL, and our WhatsApp group is active at all times. Sure, the grammar may be incorrect, but it's not like you won't understand," he says, showing us a couple of his staff's social media posts.

He adds that as the other senses for hearing-impaired persons are heightened, they tend to grasp and understand instructions quicker.

Issar says that the staff has built their own vocabulary too, and adds that families and individuals often have their own signs for words that are unique to them, but rooted in ISL.

"Instead of making ASL mandatory, why not make the cochlear implant cheaper? Or distribute free hearing aids and make batteries cheaper?" he asks, stating that batteries cost between Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 each month.

Shaikh highlights other problems that need to be addressed first, including adding ISL as a medium of instruction in schools and colleges. "All this adds up to the fact that the hearing-impaired don't get higher education or high-qualifying jobs," she says, pointing back to the PIL's argument around employment.

Kejriwal concludes by asking, "Is the rationale behind the PIL that the deaf should leave the country for employment?"

6.3 cr
Indians with significant auditory impairment, estimated by the World Health Organization