KARACHI: The struggle for the rights of physically-challenged people in the country took a giant leap on Wednesday with the launch of ‘Pakistan Sign Language (PSL) Resources’, the first ever sign language learning digital tools that are available free of cost across the country.

“It’s the most comprehensive work on sign language in Pakistan so far that features a 5,000-word visual lexicon in both English and Urdu on a searchable web portal, digital video disc and phone application,” said Richard Geary, executive director of the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF), at the ceremony held at a local hotel.

The programme was organised by the FESF in collaboration with Ilm Ideas, the sponsor of the innovative project.

The event opened with the national anthem in sign language by students of Deaf Reach School, a FESF project.

Introducing the work and tracing back the FESF journey, Mr Geary said the work took three years to complete. The team also took care that people living in areas without electricity should also benefit from the work and a book with basic 1,000 words had also been developed which was available in English, Urdu and four other regional languages.

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According to him, there are about two million deaf people in Pakistan, of them 50 to 60pc were children of school going age. But, only two per cent children have access to schools.

“Education is the key to empowerment. By creating the sign language resources, we are giving a voice to the community that is marginalised in society due to their hearing disability,” he said.

The sign language, he said, was the third most studied language in the United States and a number of countries had developed detailed resources on their respective sign language to facilitate the deaf.

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In Pakistan, however, only few books were available on sign language. Each book contained not more than 500 to 700 words, he said.

He also urged the corporate community to support people with hearing disability by hiring them.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer Alamut Consulting Saad Amanullah Khan acknowledged the 25 years of service of the FESF in promoting deaf education and employment in Pakistan, making a difference in the lives of thousands of children.

Senior Sindh Minister of Education and Literacy Nisar Ahmed Khuhro appreciated the effort on sign language and said that the government would hold a policy dialogue with the FESF to see how to incorporate the PSL learning resources into the regional school curriculum.

The progamme concluded with a short documentary titled Aur Sunao directed by Taqi Shaheen. The film highlighted lives of the deaf who were successfully employed in various jobs as well as the efforts made for creating the sign language resources.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2014