Imagine there was no sound in the world. From the roaring of machines at excavation sites and the constant car horns on the road, to the distinct whirring of the fan in a quiet room; imagine if you could not experience the sense of hearing and not have listened to any of these usually ignored sounds in everyday life. But one such culture, one such community does exist, which does not believe, or rather, is oblivious to the existence of this particular one of the five senses — it is the community of the hearing impaired.

The silent world

Many of you might be surprised as to why I referred to those who cannot hear and speak properly as a `culture`. But it is a generally unknown truth. Just like any other, the culture of the hearing impaired is one which is rich in its own unique customs and colours and of course, its own language — sign language.

The hearing impaired people consider themselves a part of a culture, rather than a group of people with an inability. To use expressions like `hearing-impaired`, `hard of hearing` or `handicapped` is considered offensive as they do not wish to be degraded to that category. They believe that their inability to hear only separates them from the rest of the world as a cultural difference, not as an inability to compete in the mainstream with the rest of the world.

What causes hearing loss?

Hearing loss can be caused due to several reasons

* The most common reason is close exposure to extremely loud sounds, such as those caused by bomb blasts and rocket take-offs.

* Brain injuries or tumours can also cause hearing loss.

* It can also be age-related.

* Most people are born deaf. It can genetically be transferred from one generation to another.

* German measles, scarlet fever and other diseases or illnesses caused in early age, may result in the child losing his/her hearing power.

* The damage may also be caused due to any perforation of the ear drum. This usually results in partial hearing loss.

Achievements of the hearing impaired

Inability to hear is nothing to be ashamed of. Many famous personalities were (and are) hearing impaired, and contrary to common perception, thrived quite well in many fields, often better than their hearing counterparts. Some of them are

* Leslie Lemke, the musician. In spite of his ordeal, he grew up to be a famous American musician, playing many instruments such as the piano, the accordion and the trumpet. The irony is that he never even experienced the essence of his profession, yet managed to come out on top.

* The great inventor Thomas Edison also had hearing problem. At an early age, he came down with scarlet fever. Coupled with a blow from an angry train conductor to his head, he completely lost hearing ability in his left ear and suffered from an 80 per cent loss in the other. Still, he grew up to be the famous inventor he is renowned as today.

* Perhaps the most famous person with hearing impairment was Helen Keller. Learning to grow up with her loss, she soon became a strong advocate of people like her, and a spokesperson in many political activities.

And here, in our very own country,

* In Karachi, a branch of a fast food restaurant solely employs the members of the hearing impaired community, from the manager to the cook. The menu card has been translated to sign language, so the hearing customers can easily communicate with the servers.

* Charity organisations such as FESF (Family Educational Services Foundation) support the hearing impaired community, which includes the deaf children themselves and CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults). Deaf Reach — schools and training centres for the hearing impaired have been set up in Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad. Children are taught academic subjects as well as vocational and IT skills with the use of sign language so they too can compete in mainstream society, without their disability hindering their success or productivity in life.

* Pakistan Deaf Association was set up by hearing impaired youths in 1987 as a representative of the Pakistani Deaf culture, nationally and globally. It is entirely run by hearing impaired members, which is a great source of pride for the community itself.

* Pakistan also has its own Deaf Cricket Team which has toured to the UK, and has also participated in the Deaf Asia Cricket Cup tournament.

So now...

Apart from these famous, known personalities, there are hundreds of other members of the hearing impaired community, for whom every day presents a new ordeal. With no cure available for their malady, all they can do is learn to survive in the world just the way they are. During summer vacations I volunteered at FESF (Family Educational Services Foundation), a charity organisation supporting this cause. It was extremely astonishing for me to observe that these children were not ashamed of their loss, but actively participated in all activities, even those involving normal children of their own age. By nature, such children are really innocent and many showed exceptional talent and creativity in their work. They never let their loss hinder their progress and never complained about it.

And here we are, whining about petty issues. We possibly cannot imagine how blessed we are to have all five senses working in perfect order. We experience the world, its feelings and sensations, its sounds, on the whole, each and every action around us, from an amazing and colourful view. But often this goes ignored on our part. I believe that it is vital that we spend time with those less fortunate. This does not mean that we feel sorry for them and take pity on them. We should do it by keeping them on an equal basis with us. They are not beneath us in any manner and like every other person, deserve the same treatment. In today`s self-centred world, this will divert our attention from ourselves for a change. Apart from serving our community and a good cause, it would also definitely change the way we look at our lives; in a new and more optimistic light.