Ishara Foundation

A national level conference was conducted by ISHARA on the 24th and 25th November, 2007 in Mumbai.

The theme of the workshop was ' Bridges to success in Higher Education for Deaf in India'. Participation by members of Ishara, members of India's Deaf community, and professionals working in Deaf education, as well as others interested in new developments and visions was enthusiastic ... and greatly appreciated. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants, as well as Campion School for providing the venu, and Bisleri for providing the water.

The workshop consisted of two parts, a conference with invited presentations and question-answer sessions on the first day, and discussion groups working in detail on a range of sub-topics on the second day, followed by a plenary session with a panel. The outline of the programme is as follows:

November 24, 2007
Morning session: Presentations by invited academic speakers
Question-answer session with speakers
Afternoon session: Presentations by invited deaf community representatives
Question-answer session with speakers

November 25, 2007:
Morning session: Discussion groups (EDUCATION, MANPOWER, RESOURCES, FINANCE ETC.)
Afternoon session: Plenary session with panel

A short list of professionals who took part in the conference is given below.

Prof. Ulrike Zeshan, Director, International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.

Dr. Michael W. Morgan, a Sign Language linguist with previous academic affiliations in the US and Japan ... and new Managing Director of Ishara Foundation

Prof. P.R. Ramanujam, Director, Inter-University Consortium for Technology-Enabled Flexible Education and Development, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

Sibaji Panda, Lecturer in Applied Sign Linguistics, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.

PICTURES of this workshop will be posted shortly!