When you are deaf (or with any hearing impairment) in rural India, life is unnecessarily hard for you even if you go to school or college.
It’s true for other disabilities too, be it blindness or any other physical handicap. Many give up on education after tenth grade. They don’t know if there is any career that exists for them. They have very little self-confidence. Over the last several years, Youth4Jobs (an NGO) has been trying to do something about this. They go to rural areas, find such youth, invite them to their training centres in cities across India and give them life-skill and other relevant training (say spoken English or computer literacy). Eventually, most students get placed in relevant companies (mostly retail, hospitality and food outlets).
I spent one day in Hyderabad, looking at what happens in a Youth4Jobs training centre. I also met some of its alumni, to listen to their stories. It was an insightful day for me. I hope my pictures and stories do justice in sharing some of those insights with you.
Click the below image to view the photo-story.
If my pictures got you piqued enough to know more about Youth4Jobs, you can probably watch the below short film (not made by me, just found it on their site). If you liked my pictures, leave a comment? Thank you!