Different strokes

Meet a lady who is trying to make the lives of differently abled better.

Life can be changed if someone shows you the path. Here is a story of a lady who has changed the life of many differently abled.Ruma Roka, a resident of Sector 36, Noida, has been running a non-government organisation called Noida Deaf Society (NDS) for six years with an aim of helping those who don't have aural senses.

How did it all start?
"The idea struck me one day while watching TV as I saw a woman using sign language in a news programme on Doordarshan. That's when I realised that I should do something for such people and this forced me to learn the sign language," said Ruma Roka.
Ruma's passion to do something for the less privileged in the society prompted her to learn the sign language in 2004. She also wanted to bring a positive change in the community. "It was difficult to find out an institution to learn sign language in the capital but luckily I found National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (NIHH) in Lajpat Nagar. This was the first experience with the hearing impaired community and I started researching about these people, their issues and needs. The more time I spent with them, the more I realised that I needed to do something. I realised that they had complex issues in the country like lack of education facilities, lack of resources especially designed keeping their needs in mind, no avenues for holistic development and so on. Most importantly, there is no access to quality training leading to sustainable livelihood and this is how Noida Deaf Society came into existence," she added.

What is it all about?
The main goal of Ruma and her team is to enable differently abled to sustain in the mainstream world through education and specialised vocational programmes and also to enable them to get employed by completely understanding their constraints. More than 700 students are getting free education from the organisation that is operating in Sector 29 for kids and Sector 36 for young people.
"The organisation started to grow only through word of mouth and teaching English through sign language was the main priority. As the staff increased, we started providing training in basics of IT and subsequently expanded the course to include life skills, grooming, desktop publishing, graphics and work ethics," Roka added.

Family support
"My husband supported me to fight for the cause. I really wouldn't have done this if my husband hadn't supported me," Roka added.

Hard work pays off
Her success rate lies in the fact that more than 250 students from her institute have been employed in leading organisations in profiles such as graphic designing, backend IT, data entry, retail, hospitality, teaching, export houses, production units and so on.

Future plans
"Our student strength is increasing day by day and it is becoming difficult for us to operate with the help of current facilities. We would like to build a state-of-the-art vocational training institute for deaf, the only one-of-its-kind in the country where we would be able to offer training in multiple trades and enable the deaf to get employed," she added.

Financial help
Initially, she started this journey single-handedly with a two-bedroom flat with her being the only trainer and just five students, but now she has a strong team of 15 people which includes 12 deaf trainers and support staff. "Many private donors and volunteers help us and we are also planning to take government aid to increase the wings of Noida Deaf Society," she added.

Success stories of NDS
Roma shared many success stories with us which were really motivating and inspiring. "There was a boy named Anil Kumar, a hearing disabled, who came to us in 2007. He used to work in a papad factory earning Rs 1,500 a month for a daily workload of 10 hours. He enrolled himself for the English course and eventually, he got placed in Leela Kempinski Hotels, Gurgaon much to his joy and satisfaction."