RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Shinjini Bhattacharjee| 05 | Sem 9 | Design Dissertation

1.Working Title
Constructing the Deaf worldview by empowering the use of Indian Sign Language
2. Thesis Objectives
2.1. Introduction
A space is a creation formed out of our desires to feel comfortable, safe and get inspiration. Therefore
we create space to reflect who we are and what we believe is important. Human beings perceive what
is expected of them as they encounter space and set a tone reacting to the space itself and the people
in it. Spaces are complicated, they are alive and they foster human connectivity within our confines.
Most imporant spaces are ideas, a reflection of our understanding of what and how a space
represents ourselves and our values. This is not an exemption to the deaf community and their space.
However, the concept of Deafspace is widely overlooked in the Indian context while designing learning
institutins.
The hearing imparied have therfore been forced to adapt in a built environment which is not
considerate to their unique culture. To achieve a full functional built environment for the deaf in this
country, there is a need for researchers to critically investigate the various design strategies to tmatch
with deaf culture. There are 18 million deaf people in India. Their first language is Indian Sign
Language. However, most deaf people have not had access to learn proper sign language. They are
the least educated and least employed among the sensory disabled people in the country. This is
because of lack of access to basic language and communication skills. They are also the least included
for the same reason.
2.2. Lexicon
▪ Deafspace capital D is used to refer to people who have
DeafSpace is an architectural concept tailored been deaf all their lives, or since before they
to Deaf vision in space. Buildings, hallways, started to learn to talk.
and other spatial arrangements are designed
to Deaf people's way of seeing and being in ▪ Deaf gain
their environment. DeafSpace aims to create Deaf gain is a fairly new term that Deaf
spaces that have maximum visual access and people use when discussing all of the benefits
promote interaction. of being Deaf and being involved in the Deaf
community. Rather than seeing Deafness as
▪ De'via hearing “loss”, many Deaf people prefer to
Deaf View/Image Art, abbreviated as De'VIA, see it as Deaf “gain”.
is a genre of visual art that intentionally
represents the Deaf experience and Deaf ▪ Sensory design
culture. Sensory design aims to establish an overall
diagnosis of the sensory perceptions of a
▪ Audism product, and define appropriate means
Discrimination or prejudice against individuals to design or redesign it on that basis.
who are deaf or hard of hearing.
▪ Universal design
▪ “Deaf” Universal design is the design of buildings,
The word deaf is used to describe or identify products or environments to make
anyone who has a severe hearing problem. them accessible to all people, regardless of
Sometimes it is used to refer to people who are age, disability or other factors.
severely hard of hearing too. Deaf with a
2.3. Long term objectives
▪ To aid the government in offering the best support services to deaf population through proper
education, provision of resources, and inclusion
▪ To promote awareness on the contribution Deaf population can make towards national
development
▪ To advocate appropriate measures to minimise social stigma and societal marginalisation
regarded disability; by recognition of Indian Sign Language
▪ Empowerment of Deaf population by recognition in mainstream media and inclusion in various
fields of life by promoting awareness and appreciation of Deaf art and literature
▪ UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities makes it clear that sign language
should be given equal status as other spoken languages. It is the right of deaf people to access
information in sign language. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 provides for - sign
language as a mode of communication, having sign language teachers in educational institutions,
sign language interpretations in media, etc.
2.4. Short term objectives

▪ To explore the unique challenges and opportunities with Deafspace architecture and identify how
the lessons learnt can be applied in universal design and best practice in learning institutions for
the Deaf
▪ Examine the aspect of architecture and deaf culture to identify sensibility that the concept of
Deafspace offers to the architectural discourse
▪ Identify and document Architectural elements that can be used to bring comfort to deaf attuned
persons in learning institute in Indian context
▪ knowledge on deaf space architectural design elements for deaf space architecture is needed for
the better integration of deaf persons in the built environment.

(The research is limited to learning institutions for the deaf because they present the best avenue in which
the government can use to realise its mission of provision of resources leading to self-reliance and minimise
conditions leading to disability.)

3. Research framework

3.1. Research questions

▪ What are the unique challenges and opportunities with Deaf persons in the built environment
within learning institution?
▪ Can Deaf persons bring unique sensibility to the architectural discourse in learning institutions?
▪ What is the proper architectural element that can be used to bring comfort to deal attuned
persons in leaning in institutions?
▪ What is the most appropriate way to impart education by empowering the Indian deaf
community?
▪ How can we acknowledge sign language as an equal medium of communication as other
languages?
▪ What will happen if we step away from the word “disability” and start focusing on how
diverse human bodies actually occupy the space?
 3.2. Diagrammatic representation

What is
• Study of government policies
• Surveys and questionnaries
needed? • Availability of resources and programs to
conducted for current Deaf youth teach ISL
to assess their needs and concerns • Reform and recognition of • Making a nationally acclaimed centre for
Indian Sign Language Deaf population regardless of economic
• Existing Deaf centres, Deaf • More awareness and
Schools - maps background
consistency in the knowlege of • Inclusion of ISL in general courses of higher
ISL throughout India education
What exists?
• More qualified sign language What can be
interpreters
done?

What can be done?

(How can I study it?)

Deaf empowerment

Psychological Social Economic Educational Political

Empowerment Empowerment Empowerment Empowerment Empowerment

Design of built Environment Social reforms against Audism Cultural representation

Articles on
Case studies societal Deaf art - De'via
analysis oppression

Deaf Space Interviews, Deaf representation in

Sensory Design Inclusive design Design Anthropometric Surveys, media/films
Principles considerations Questionnaires

Deaf literature and

Space and poetry
Proximity

Deaf leadership and Role

Sensory Reach models

Mobility and
proximity

Light and
colour

Acoustics
 3.3. Research Content Organization
3.2.1. What exists?
3.2.1.1. GOVERNMENT POLICIES

“The appropriate Government and the local authorities shall endeavour that all educational institutions funded or recognised by
them provide inclusive education to the children with disabilities and towards that end shall ensure that the education to persons
who are blind or deaf or both is imparted in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication.”

- The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

3.2.1.2. DEAF INSTITUTIONS

1Deaf Associations 3Deaf Schools

2Deaf Youth Associations 4Deaf Schools in East India5Job Training

Institutions
6ISL Classes 8Early Intervention Centres

7Interpreting Certificates/ Degree Programs 9Higher Education

3.2.1.3. WHAT HAS LED TO THE SLOWED DOWN THE PROGRESS OF RECOGNITION OF INDIAN
SIGN LANGUAGE?
▪ Lack of research
o In India, sign language is not recognised as a natural human language either
legally or socially or academically. Sign language, therefore, is neglected as a
tool of empowerment for the deaf community
o The lack of research on Indian Sign Language in Indian academia has resulted
indirectly to accept the fact that sign language is not a natural human language,
not good enough to carry out research on the area.
▪ Discrepancy in surveys and underreporting due to social stigma related to deafness
o The 2011 Indian census cites roughly 1.3 million people with "hearing impairment."
Contrast that to numbers from India's National Association of the Deaf, which
estimates that 18 million people — roughly 1 percent of the Indian population —
are deaf.
o Part of this discrepancy is due to differences in survey methods or definitions of
hearing impairment. But it also reflects a pattern. The latest census reported that
2.21 percent of the Indian population is disabled, compared to the global
average for that year estimated at 15 percent.
 o Underreporting is common partially because families are unwilling to disclose
disabilities due to social stigma. And some census takers fail to understand and
properly report cases of disability. This invisibility has serious consequences,
particularly in terms of government services and accessibility. It's also slowed the
spread of Indian Sign Language (ISL).
o So, by this discrepancy, there is a wide range of between 1.8 million and 7 million
deaf persons in India as the Indian census documents an aggregate number of
people with disabilities, not the deaf population by headcount.
o "The Indian notion of a deaf person is they are dumb," Because sign language is
the visible marker of deafness, it's been similarly shunned. sign language is the
stigma, more than the deafness."

▪ Oral methods of teaching adopted instead of sign language

o There are 478 schools receiving government funding and approximately 372
private schools for the deaf scattered throughout India. Most of these schools use
the “oral approach” in the classroom which leads to difficulty in understanding. It is
rare that a school that uses signs in the classroom.
o The National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities (NISHD), which
recognizes the controversy over oral education, argues in its position statement
that there's an inconsistency in signs and lack of evidence demonstrating efficacy
of a bilingual approach.

▪ Inconsistency in sign languages in different parts of India due to diversity

o Sign languages, like spoken languages, are unique to their country of origin. That
means ASL is different from British Sign Language. And so is ISL, which has formed
gradually from a blend of local dialects.
o While differences in spoken languages in India often create barriers in
understanding, deaf people across the nation have been using signs to
communicate for decades.
o 80 percent understanding between deaf people from the different states has
been documented. There are some differences [in signs], but not serious enough to
hinder communication, a deaf person from Dehradun can and does communicate
with a deaf person in Chennai.

▪ Very low ratio of interpreters to deaf population

o A single post-graduate diploma course in ISL interpretation is offered each year.
And there are only 250 certified ISL interpreters in the entire nation. Because of
this lack of resources, in a handful of major cities, "Finger Chat" groups, an
initiative of the NGO Enable India, offering a chance to learn ISL have been
started by volunteers, but the scope of these grassroots efforts is limited

▪ Rural areas
o The situation is particularly tough in rural areas, where deaf people can be
isolated. Urban areas have more opportunities in education and health care.
o Rural Indian Deaf often do not receive an education due the distance that must be
travelled to go to school and to being needed as laborers at home.

▪ Duty of the Government

o The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment does oversee the Indian Sign
Language Research and Training Centre, which is currently compiling a
crowdsourced ISL video and print dictionary. The ministry’s Department of
Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities runs programs like a job search portal
for the hearing-impaired, and a program for the prevention and control of
avoidable hearing loss. Currently, there are close to 400 government-funded
schools for the hearing-impaired across the country.
o According to several social workers, deaf Indians who cannot access formal
education learn signs primarily when they meet other deaf people. As Indian Sign
 Language is not formalized or widely taught, however, the signs themselves vary
widely across regions and states.
▪ Economic disparity
o Without adequate education most Deaf lack good communication skills to be
employed; thus, many Deaf are without work. Over 600 million live in deep
poverty, and 300 million live below the bread-line. India’s widespread use of
English gives the country a major advantage as its economy opens up to the world.

3.2.2. What is needed?

▪ A better educational system with teachers and administrators trained in sign language.
▪ Sign language needs to be used in classrooms along with oral methods.
▪ A change of attitude in the society would help, especially parents' attitudes toward their deaf
children and the use of signed language.
▪ More schools could be developed for the Indian Deaf in cities that lack them. Indian Deaf
teachers are needed with proficient knowledge of Indian Sign language.
▪ An ecological condition which extended towards social and political ecology in which Indian
Sign Language can develop and flourish
▪ The linguists’ community needs to address and translate the contemporary problems regarding
Indian Sign Language into prospects for a better understanding of human language and in
maintaining linguistic rights and ecology, to which scholarly analysts are accountable.

3.2.3. What can be done?

3.2.3.1 Deaf Culture

▪ De’Via (Deaf Art)

Deaf View/Image Art, also known as De’VIA, is art that examines and expresses the Deaf
Experience from a cultural, linguistic, and intersectional point of view.
The 4 Elements of De’VIA:

De Deaf & Deaf-Blind Expression of Affirmation, Resistance, and Liberation

V View of how Deaf & Deaf-Blind experience the world
I Images/Motifs/Symbols of the Deaf Experience
A Art, Activism, Aesthetics, and Authentic Expressions of the Deaf Experience

▪ Deaf representation in films

▪ Sign language poetry and literature

3.2.3.2 Design of Built Environment
o DeafSpace Design Principles

Summary of the DeafSpace Architectural Design Guidelines

4. Case Studies
4.1. Based on design
4.1.1. Gaulladet University
Location: Gallaudet University, Washington D.C.
Architects: SmithGroup / JJR
Year: 1864
Area: 99 acres (0.40 km2)

It was the first school for the advanced education of the

deaf and hard of hearing in the world and remains the
only higher education institution in which all programs
and services are specifically designed to accommodate
deaf and hard of hearing students.

4.1.2. Hazelwood School District

Architects: Alan Dunlop Architect Limited
Status:
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Area:
Year:

Hazelwood School District is for children and young

people, aged 2 to 18, who are blind and deaf – “dual
sensory impaired”.

4.1.3. Deyang School for Deaf & Intellectually Disabled Children

Architects: China Southwest Architectural Design and

Research Institute Corp. Ltd
Status: Built
Area: 7998 m²
Year: 2012

Deyang School for Deaf & Intellectually Disabled

Children is a charitable educational institution, recruiting
children with talking and hearing disabilities or mentally
retarded pupils. The school includes teaching, sports and
accommodation facilities.

4.1.3. Akshar Center for the Hearing-Impaired children

Location: Vadodara, Gujarat

Architects: Karan Grover & Associates
Status: Built
Completion Year: 2016
Site Area: 1,07,640 sq. ft
Built-Up Area: 10,676 sq.ft
Contractor: Manishi Constructions
4.2. Based on function
4.2.1. Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of speech and hearing
disabilities Divyangjan (AYJNISHD)

Location: Bandra West, Mumbai

5. Sample Space Details

5.1. Site Criteria
▪ Accessibility to people from urban and rural alike
▪ Good connectivity to major cities
(further criteria to be considered)

5.2. Possible sites

(Yet to consider other sites)

5.3. Tentative site: Shantiniketan, West Bengal

▪ Shantiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur city in Bolpur

subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India,
approximately 152 km north of Kolkata.
▪ It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later
expanded by his son Rabindranath Tagore whose vision became
what is now a university town with the creation of the Visva-
Bharati University.
▪ Shantiniketan in many ways is still quite different compared to
other universities in the country. It supports open air education as
it was believed by Tagore that the four walls of a classroom
represent conditioning of the mind.
▪ Many have deep reverence for the place and take the visit as a
pilgrimage to pay their respects to Tagore.

5.3.1. Reason for selection of tentative site

• University town: centre of learning and regarded as a haven for education in the eyes of
public
• Education systems of open-air learning can be beneficial for the Deaf community to benefit
from for learning
• A place for rural Deaf population and others interested in empowering the Deaf community to
come and learn sign language in addition to any other languages
• Due to the courses on a variety of other languages, adding another language department
blurs the discrimination between the disabled and majority.
• Sustainable and vernacular design of already existing structures in Shantiniketan will
promote a cohesive design in line with nature.
5.3.2. Context study

Main town
centre

Ballavpur Wildlife Heritage Academic

blocks
railway station
Shantiniketan

Sanctuary area

Institutes and Sports Grounds &

Physical Education
Department
Dept
blocks Gurupalli town

Toward
s
References:
▪ https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/14/575921716/a-mom-fights-to-get-
an-education-for-her-deaf-
daughters#:~:text=The%202011%20Indian%20census%20cites,the%20Indian%20populatio
n%20%E2%80%94%20are%20deaf.
▪ https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-04/deaf-community-millions-hearing-india-only-just-
beginning-sign
▪ https://www.accessmantra.com/
▪ http://nadindia.org/Projects/Education
▪ http://www.designforall.in/newsletterdec2018.pdf
▪ https://www.museumofdeaf.org/de-via-1

Case studies:
▪ https://www.archdaily.com/433968/deyang-deaf-and-intelectual-disability-children-education-
school-china-southwest-architectural-design-and-research-institute-corp-ltd
▪ https://www.kga.co.in/akshar-
center.php#:~:text=29%20years%20ago%2C%20Ms.&text=It%20is%20on%20the%20w
estern,down%20to%20the%20Mini%20river.
▪ https://www.gallaudet.edu/campus-design-and-planning/deafspace
▪ https://www.curbed.com/2016/3/2/11140210/gallaudet-deafspace-washington-dc
Literary works referred:
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped. (2000). In Directory of Rehabilitation
Resources for Persons with Hearing Impairment in India. AYJNIHH (p. 537p.). Mumbai:
Information and Documentation Centre.
Charters, K. (2014). Beyond Vision: Designing for the Deaf. Syracuse University.
Durr, P. (n.d.). De'VIA: Investigating deaf visual art.
Hamill, A. (August 2012). From discrimination to action : understanding empowerment in the deaf
community .
Irma M Munoz-Baell, M. T. (2000). Empowering the deaf. Let the deaf be deaf. Epidemiol Community
Health.
Tsymbal, K. A. (2010). Deaf space and the visual world - buildings that speak: an elementary school for
the deaF.