Dr. Desai conceived "PROJECT DEAF INDIA." There was an epidemic of German Measles in the U.S.A. in 1964 and Dr. Desai's daughter was born deaf. Sixty four thousand children were also born deaf as a result of the epidemic. Most of these were due to pregnant women exposed to the virus in the first trimester of pregnancy. Today Dr. Desai's daughter is married, a mother, a professional woman and holds a Master's degree from Gallaudet University, the only university in the world that imparts bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees to deaf students. Needless to say, her's is a success story. Dr. Desai is driven by the desire to provide the deaf and hard of hearing children in India with the same opportunity and access to
education and employment that his daughter had. Consequently, two years ago, he joined Newport Balboa Rotary Club and Rotary Mysore in South India to initiate this challenging project. Due to the cooperation of these two Rotary Clubs, he was able to obtain a matching grant of financial support from the Rotary International. 
    
Click on photos for large view

Project Deaf India was launched from Mysore, in collaboration with Rotary Club of
Newport Balboa, District 5320, USA, and the Gallaudet University, Washington D.C. Based
at Mysore, the program is for deaf children, their parents and teachers, the teachers of the
deaf child.

This project is born out of the firm conviction of Dr. Rajendra Desai of Rotary Club Newport
Balboa, California, USA and Rotarians of Rotary Mysore to help the deaf and those hard of
hearing to lead a normal life.

Under the Matching Grant Program, a mobile clinic equipped with audiometers and other clinical diagnostic equipments is
handed over to Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, a charitable organization
of voluntary doctors serving in rural areas. Also, an electronic microscope has
been installed at a rural hosptial to conduct corrective surgeries to reduce the
degree of deafness at this stage.

Two teachers, trained in sign language from Gallaudet University, Washington,
D.C., were deputed to Mysore specially for this training under Volunteers Grant of
Rotary Foundation.

Project Deaf India's goals are to:

1) Provide Total Communication skills to the deaf and hard of hearing
children by offering them instruction in sign language, lip reading and
speech. Two certified teachers, graduates of Gallaudet University,
traveled to India and with the help from the Rotary Grants funding
spent twelve weeks educating deaf children and their parents.

2) A mobile van equipped with an audiometer and a doctor went to the
villages in that area for early detection of infant deafness. Also,
computer education was introduced to the deaf.

Following the success of this program a future immediate vision is to
introduce the first "Computer School for the Deaf" for approximately 1000 children from 6-18 years of age. The goal being to give the Deaf and Hard of Hearing job opportunities, self-sufficiency and self-respect. This project is estimated to cost
about five million dollars. It will consist of a residential school for the children, classrooms, teachers, computers, and equipment.

Local Rotarians in India brought to our attention the second project that there was a tribal village of approximately 500 people with 40-50% of the residents deaf. With the help of local physicians and Rotarians, it was confirmed that the high incidence did exist. Dr. Desai with a team from the National Institute of Health, Washington, D.C. researched the village in
November 1999 and found that deafness was multi-factorial due to consanguinity, malnutrition, possible water pollution and chronic infection in the ear. The future vision of this tribal group is to provide them with a health clinic, subterranean wells (instead of only one superficial BORE well which exists at the present), give advice about hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and ear care from visiting doctors and healthcare professionals from nearby cities. In addition, they should be provided with hearing aids and batteries.

The long term vision of Project Deaf India is to reduce one of the highest incidences of deafness in the world and to enable deaf and hard of hearing young adults to become respectable, self earning members of society rather than being discriminated and considered "deaf and
dumb." It is well known that the Deaf can do everything as their counterparts
in the society except they can not hear!

With this introduction of Project Deaf India, we request your sincere support to
help the almost one million deaf children of India. Please consider a financial
contribution to help achieve this most noble humanitarian goal. 

The Next Step . . .
To establish a Vocational Computer School for the Deaf with the eventual goal of a
full-fledged University.
Project Deaf India program aims at extending it to other parts of the state and country.

In India, over 2 million people are deaf. These people cannot enjoy the sound of leaves blowing in the wind, the alarm clock
ringing in the morning, or someone saying their name, nor listening to the birds singing in the trees. They also face many problems in self-develpement and communication. This also leads to discrimination against them. Hence it is necessary that
tese people are trained to be independent and lead a near normal life.