Matchmaking meet for hearing & speech impaired

BHOPAL: In a one-of-its-kind endeavour, Deaf Can Foundation, a voluntary organisation working for welfare of the deaf, organised a matchmaking meet for the hearing and speech impaired at Parinay Milan Sammelan on Sunday.

“When a couple are speech and hearing impaired they can communicate faster, as it is expected that both know sign language. Moreover, they also stand at the same level emotionally,” said Preeti Shah, director of the foundation, who has been organising this meet consecutively for two years. She said that in most cases marriages between an impaired and the normal person don’t really last long and hence people from hearing and speech impaired community today prefer matches from their own community.

A par t i cipant at t he do expressed in sign language that he is a divorcee and is looking for a suitable match. His father told HT that his son had married a normal girl but due to the communication gap it didn’t last long. About 100 people had registered themselves for the event from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh besides Bhopal and Indore, she conveyed.

“We have come here to look for a suitable match for my elder brother. Caste is nowhere in our mind,” said Pawan Pratap Singh, who had travelled from Kota in Rajasthan to attend the meet. Most of the bachelors, who introduced themselves on stage, stressed that they don’t have any issues regarding inter-caste matches.

However, there were a few who were hopeful of finding a match within their castes. A case in point was a Jain family from Sagar looking for a match for their daughter. They insisted for a Jain match and were lucky to find one. However, it didn’t work out later. “There are cultural differences between us which may result in discord,” said the father wishing not to be named.