Shaheer Ahmed
According to research, there are a total of 10 million hearing impaired people in Pakistan, all of whom are just as dedicated and passionate about the things in life as any other person. Unfortunately, because we are so stuck in whether to write and talk in English or Urdu, we tend to neglect one of the most important languages ASL.
American Sign Language or ASL, is the sign language used to be able to communicate with the deaf people. Personally, I think that learning ASL needs to be mandatory for everyone, because it creates a communication barrier that should not exist in the first place.
And yet still even with this barrier, Muneeb, a deaf person based out of works at his own food stall in F-7 Islamabad. The best part about him is that all of his employees are of the special community.
His dedication towards his work is to be appreciated and admired, because he does not let the communication barrier stop him, and puts in all the hard work. His food stall has all the stuff that you would find in any other stall.Muneeb Kay Khanay Khao
What I want to ask the people reading this, is are they doing anything to help Muneeb, and others like him? How many of us have tried to put in the effort to learn ASL?
I can very easily say that there aren’t a lot of people who have done so. And the irony is that most of us already use our hands, gestures and different signals as a non-verbal form of communication in our day to day lives. Yet still, we do not know how to properly greet a deaf person.Muneeb Kay Khanay Khao
What we do know is just to smile at them in lack of knowing how to respond to them. But what if someone wants to talk or has a lot to say and because you do not know how to talk to them, they can’t.
Having said that, I think we all, especially those living in Islamabad, and those who visit the city should put in the effort and learn the basics of ASL, and visit the food stalls of Abey Khao in F-6, and support Muneeb.
We at Neemopani, sure will.
