Riya’s Journey
SAHAS – the name of a service that has set the Thames on fire! It has a veritable Midas touch which is turning “deaf and dumb” into the much-vaunted slogan “Deaf, But Not Dumb.”
I am glad to get a chance to share the story of my deaf daughter’s journey. She is now 16 years old. We had come to SAHAS in December 2006 when Riya was 4½ years old. She had only 20 to 30 words in her vocabulary at that time. With the help of the training we received at SAHAS, we succeeded in putting our daughter into a mainstream school by July 2007 with more than 2500 words in her receptive vocabulary. Now Riya has become a chatterbox, a wonderful classical dancer and an art-and-craft artist. The journey is still going on. She is in class 10 now, having enrolled in an open school due to her low vision problem.
All credit goes to the Jajodia couple who have carried the day by giving language to a number of deaf children and lighting a lamp into dark lives. They have blazed the trails to build up the lives and careers of special children and are constantly winning laurels.
I am short of words to express my gratitude towards SAHAS.
Rupali and Vishal Agarwal,
Ambala, Haryana