A 25-year-old man with hearing impairment, who had initially thought that he would not have the same opportunities as others, now works for a multinational company.
A woman who can communicate only through sign language has been a hairstylist for about 20 years. She got trained in Jamaica and Mumbai.
Both of them and many others with varying degrees of hearing impairment have passed out of Oral School for Deaf Children on Short Street in south-central Kolkata.
The school has been guiding differently abled children complete school. Many of them have gone on to make successful careers.
The school that had started in 1964 recently organised its annual programme where some of the alumni were present to encourage the students.
“When I started my career I was scared because people around me could speak and listen to others, which I could not. But I remembered what I was taught in school which is never to lose confidence. I managed to survive,” Lavina Jagtiani, 40, who works as a hairstylist, communicated through a teacher.
Initially, the training institutes and the salons would turn me down saying that I would not be able to cope with others, she said.
“My mother would request on my behalf and try to get them to see my work for a week or two,” she said.
At present, she not only works as a hairstylist but there are a bunch of customers who would want only her to style their hair. Lavinia has taught sign language to her colleagues.
Syed Askari Abbas, who passed out of school about five years back, has been able to make a career by being himself.
“Being a hearing-impaired person, I always knew that students like me did not have many opportunities compared to others. I would see children with hearing impairment unable to pursue their dreams,” he wrote in a message.
But he persisted and after school did Bachelor’s in science and a course in multimedia and animation.
“I try to give my best in every situation that life throws at me. I like being adventurous and taking up responsibilities and my biggest pet peeve is when people anticipate that I cannot do a task because I am differently abled,” he wrote.
Over the years the school has been nurturing students not only academically but holistically.
“Parents come to us with the knowledge and hope that there will be a future for their children. There are even parents from poor families who come to us because of the reputation that we have built,” said Bahadur Postwalla of the Oral School for Deaf Children.