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

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 hearingimpaired staff signing the questions we ask and translating answersMagar became part of the team around Christmas 2024 a time so busy that he had to quickly pick up signing ldquoThere was no time for special training I learnt how to sign through YouTube videos and learnt the Indian Sign Language ISL alphabet on the jobrdquo he saysWas it troublesome to have to pick up a language especially for a job ldquoI never thought of it that wayrdquo he shrugsLove you nice two hope and smallItrsquos not tough to learn a language especially for Indians who speak at least two Yet in a country where millions are deaf or hearingimpaired none of us speak ISL unless regularly interacting with someone who needs to speak itThe World Health Organisation WHO estimates about 63 crore Indians with significant auditory impairment Other sources like the National Association of the Deaf suggest 18 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 communityrsquos numbers are in lakhsWhat 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 fashionIshaara restaurantrsquos 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 meanThatrsquos 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 IndiaThe 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 ldquoISL has evolved naturally within Indiarsquos diverse cultural and linguistic landscape It is not just a communication system it is a reflection of Indiarsquos heritage values and social identityrdquo says Aqil Chinoy CTO of India Signing Hands ISH that runs ISH News ISH Kids and ISH ShikshaThe 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 WFDTazeen Shaikh Avinash Pandey Alok Kejriwal Aqil Chinoy CTO of India Signing HandsISL is a visual language distinct to India incorporating its own grammar regional dialects and expressive cues rooted in Indian culture Chinoy explains ldquoISL 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 ldquomanrdquo involves twisting an imaginary moustache a typical symbol of Indian masculinity The sign for ldquowomanrdquo points to the nose symbolising the traditional nose ringrdquo Naturally you wonrsquot find these signs in any other sign language dictionary across the globeMoreover 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 ldquoGrammar 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 mandatoryrdquoThe fight here is to protect not just the language but also the communityrsquos identity ldquoLooking at language as only a tool to communicate is very restrictiverdquo says Dr Avinash Pandey faculty member of Mumbai Universityrsquos Department of Linguistics explaining that language is used to form social relationships to observe and to thinkManagement trainee Uma Potdar whose husband and child are also deaf makes the I her sign nameldquoEvery language has a way of thinking about the world if we lose different point of views itrsquos a major loss to humankindrdquo he says adding that when languages die out communities die out tooPandey says it is a question of dominance ldquoWhy standardise ASL and not ISLrdquo he asks and says that languages thrive on hybridity multiplicity and heterogeneity ldquoYou need all the languages you knowrdquoISLRTCrsquos website highlights another point ISL is not used in deaf schools to teach deaf children It also adds that teacher training programmes donrsquot include ISL methods or teaching materials but focus on oralism Alok Kejriwal founder and CEO of Signing Hands Foundation says ldquoThey are essentially forcing kids with a disability to adapt and lipread which is not practicalrdquoPotdar communicating with guests at IshaaraSpeaking further about adaptation Chinoy adds that the PILrsquos argument overlooks how sign languages actually function He says ldquoWhen 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 anotherrdquoPrashant Issar MD at Bellona Hospitality has employed hearingimpaired persons at Ishaara as well as at previously owned restaurants Hearing impairedness hasnrsquot been an issue at work he says adding that one learns to adapt ldquoWe 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 itrsquos not like you wonrsquot understandrdquo he says showing us a couple of his staffrsquos social media postsHe adds that as the other senses for hearingimpaired persons are heightened they tend to grasp and understand instructions quickerIssar 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 ISLldquoInstead of making ASL mandatory why not make the cochlear implant cheaper Or distribute free hearing aids and make batteries cheaperrdquo he asks stating that batteries cost between Rs 500 to Rs 2000 each monthShaikh highlights other problems that need to be addressed first including adding ISL as a medium of instruction in schools and colleges ldquoAll this adds up to the fact that the hearingimpaired donrsquot get higher education or highqualifying jobsrdquo she says pointing back to the PILrsquos argument around employmentKejriwal concludes by asking ldquoIs the rationale behind the PIL that the deaf should leave the country for employmentrdquo63 crIndians with significant auditory impairment estimated by the World Health Organization