Activists Around the World: Shrutilata Singh

Shrutilata Singh is a deaf-blind activist and advocate in the realm of disability and education. We share her story and accomplishments.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stephane
never told your production of I Heart Radio, and welcome
to activists around the world. Yeah, I've changed it again.
This is what we're gonna keep doing. We'ch is gonna
make it so. We are celebrating people who have or

(00:29):
continue to do things that impact their community, our community,
and therefore the world. And today we're celebrating the beautiful
works of disability activists. Shooti Lata Sing and Sing is
a deaf blind activist who is making history in India
and around the world. In just in case you don't know,
deaf blindness is quote a rare condition in which an

(00:50):
individual has combined hearing and vision loss, thus limiting access
to both auditory and visual information. And this is according
to the National Center of Deaf Blindness and specifically for seeing.
Hers is a progressive death blindness, which means she loses
her sight and hearing bit by dip bit through her lifetime.
So it has gotten progressively the wars and it is
getting progressively wars. But she is actively able to still

(01:12):
communicate and still see sign language um and so she
has some accessibility, but it is getting more and more
difficult for sure. Yes, And when it comes to education opportunities,
the Center reports educational resources and accommodation are more difficult
to access due to the multiple diagnoses and due to
the systems that are not set up to provide the
full services that they deserve in the educational systems um quote.

(01:34):
Because death blindness significantly impacts a child our use ability
to access information, communicate, and interact with other people, it
has profound implications for educational services. The limited sensory channels
available for learning necessitate developing a highly individualized program for
each child that addresses their interests and unique ways of learning.
Sensory deficits can easily mislead even experienced educators into underestimating

(01:58):
are occasionally overestimate eating intelligence and constructing inappropriate programs. Assessment
is crucial every step of the way, right. And I
know we've talked about the system, especially when it comes
to individualized education plans UM and active helping for those
who are in the disabled community who may need a
little more assistance. Uh. And it's hard to get and

(02:20):
a lot of the times there's no funding in the schools. Uh.
If you really want something to be done, it's probably
privately funded, and I think that needs to be said. Overall,
this is a worldwide problem. The United States is probably
I haven't looked at the statistics, not that great when
it comes to working with children with special needs um And.
I say this as in like school level and UM

(02:43):
I have seen the testing system in order to get
any type of assistance for that, and it's difficult, and
if you don't know what you're doing, you can be
relroaded by the system that does minimal to keep kids
out of the way instead of actually educating them. So
this is a worldwide and we wouldn't make sure we
had dressed this even though what we who we're talking
about is based in India. Unfortunately, these experiences are again international.

(03:07):
But for Seeing, being born girl was an added difficulty
for her to access her independence. Seeing it recalled her
own experiences of being isolated in her home, and she
spoke about her fears of being out in the world
as she and many of the women didn't feel safe
due to the violence against women in her area. And
oftentimes we're limited to just getting married and then stayed
at home and that was their future. Um And. Though

(03:29):
her brother who also was diagnosed with deaf blindness. He's
been able to have more opportunities to do more, such
as independently traveling and just being able to communicate freely
because it was a little less taboo for people to
be closer, standing closer, being able to access touch people
kind of if you know what I mean, Like women
are definitely all about you need to uh stay a

(03:51):
certain distance and this is how she explained that you
need to say a certain distance away and therefore this
level of respect that really limited her ability to see
and talk to people and meaning that she needed to
be in close proximity. One of the pictures shows her
with her interpreter and very close because that's how she
sees UM. So if you need that type of interaction

(04:12):
and you're not allowed to do that because of social taboos,
that definitely limits who you're able to talk to and
what you're able to do. UM. But she was able
to finish and complete schooling with some help from her
family who are educated and was able to assist her.
But she was doing this without the school's assistance or support.
So that says a lot and we know that can

(04:32):
make a break a lot of students and her educational
experience again was not a positive one, with her teachers
unable or unwilling to meet her knees. She left Filly
discouraged and depressed, but she persevered and was able to
continue her studies at the Indira Gandhi National Open University,
graduating with a BA in Biology UM. But it was

(04:52):
still challenging task to do as she had to do
most things by self teaching right UM. But she didn't
stop there. She can need on in her education, eventually
becoming the first person in India to qualify as a
physiotherapist or physical therapist. And she has been an advocate
for others in the deafblind community too. UM. She has
taken her own experiences within her community to have a

(05:14):
larger conversation UM for the rights and fair opportunities for
all women with death blindness, she said in an interview
about her work with Since International, which is the quote
only national level organization supporting needs based services which enables
children and adults with death blindness to overcome the challenges
caused due to deaf blindness UM and that's according to

(05:34):
their site. But in the interview she said, my vision
is a world where deafbline people will be courageous enough
to challenge others. I want a world where women with
deaf blindness can go out without any fear in a
country like ours. I want a world that is fully accessible, inclusive,
and encouraging. I want to make everyone aware that there
is a condition called deaf blindness and it can limit
a person's performance considerably. Right, And she's been a vocal

(05:57):
about limited access to better education due to mislabeling of
those with disabilities like a death blindness, talking about how
she was frustrated during school and would act out due
to that and was labels as such or even labeled
as quote dull uh and the impact of such a
negative influence, she continued in her interview, quote low self
esteem among persons with disabilities is common, and this is

(06:20):
largely because of the negativity of society. I want to
change this. I do not want deaf blind youth to
remain dependent on others for employment. Instead, they all should
have something of their own for which they need guidance,
and I hope to be able to provide this guidance.
They should be aware of their rights and how to
use it. And within the issues of education, she's become
a fish advocate and fostering supports groups for the younger generation.

(06:43):
In our conversations about her work with SINCE International India,
she states, many people with deaf blindness are not so
fortunate to receive support, whether emotional or financial. So what
we ask from our government bodies is to build an
ecosystem of support that fosters and nurtures our skills and
with that um she has emphasized the importance of accessing tech.

(07:04):
In an interview with the Norwegian Human Rights Fund, she
stressed the need for tech companies to be inclusive for
people in the disabled community, as it can be a
way to open up doors for communication and independence for
so many. She said in her interview, technology is the
key and accessibility is not a checkbox. It must be mainstreamed.
When tech companies introduce new products, they need to consider

(07:25):
us no matter what. Having a phone that magnifies text
now means I can order a cab, pay for things
in shops, send voice messages, use Google transferab and go
out into the world and flourish. And she has worked
closely with SINCE International, has both an advocacy officer with
SINCE International India and public speaker as an advocate for
those with death blindness. She participated at their roundtable in

(07:46):
c OSP the Conference of State Parties and in the
thirteenth session of the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities are crp D at the United Nations and
has recently joined the Executive Committee as a Regional Representative
from India with the Commonwealth Network of Children and Youth
with Disabilities to work globally for the well being of
disabled children and youth during this pandemic. Right she has

(08:10):
done a lot, she continues to do a lot. She's
actually mentored several activists as well, including one young lady
who wanna essay contest with the UN and about how
deaf blindness has affected her, but how she is continuing
on who has become a big voice, especially for the
youth of the deaf blind community. And that's something that

(08:31):
she obviously really really values, is just being able to
mentor and push younger activists and younger people in this
disabled community to advocate for themselves and to be able
to be heard. Yes, but we love to see I
love it and see these threads of mentoring and activists
being inspired by other activists. And sometimes we'll talk about

(08:51):
somebody in one of these and then a couple episodes later. Well, yeah,
so we'll talk about someone else who was inspired by
the first we just talked about. That's so cool. I
love that, which I love. Yes us well as always,
if you have suggestions for people we should shout out
in this segment, whatever it is, whatever we call it, uh,
please let us know. You can email U at stuff
at your mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com.

(09:13):
You find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
Instagram and Stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as always
to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina, and thanks
to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You. Use
protection of iHeart Radio for more podcast my heart Radio
if you can visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast
or where you listen to your favorite shows.