A chit chat with Adarsh Hasija of Sign Language Karo

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Language has no barriers. We listen to understand. Speak to communicate. But is language limited to words? 


No. 

There's body movements. Gestures. 

And Sign language. 


India is home to 63 million people hard of hearing and sign language was not included in the curriculum till 2021.  


Identifying the gap in people who do not know the basics of sign language Sign Language Karo was born. A brief chat with its founder, Adarsh Hasija. 


Why did you think of Sign Language Karo?

AH: It was a technology driven decision. I realised that technology had reached a point where, if you made hands signs in front of your phone’s camera, the phone can actually notice the positions of the fingers and recognise the signs. Computer Vision has made progress. And I thought why craft a sign language experience out this. And thus Sign Language Karo was born.


How has you journey been so far?

AH: It’s been great. As I mentioned it was a tech driven decision. So I started creating sign language spelling games. I taught myself sign language through these games! I shared the games around online. More and more people found them and played them and took an interest in sign language.


I conducted offline sessions as well.


Today many of my games have been played hundreds of thousands of time. Some even a few million times!


My aim from Sign Language Karo was to convert people who are not familiar with sign language into people who are familiar with sign language. I believe I achieved that! People have learned some basic sign language through these games.




Please share your learnings from this initiative

AH: I learned very early on that the technology was good enough to recognise hand signs but not good enough to be a translator. So I named this initiative as Sign Language Karo very intentionally. I wasn’t calling it a translator. The message I was conveying was…Just do sign language. 


I learned other things as well. The kind of content. It had to be content that anyone could relate to. That’s why most of my games are around sporting icons, sports, or holidays.


Any stories you wish to share?

AH: Many


I have personally learned sign language spelling. Going with the popular saying: “You are your own first customer” I have conducted offline sessions. My games have enjoyed hundreds of thousands of plays. Some have enjoyed a few million plays. The most popular game has enjoyed over 200 Million plays!


Sign Language Karo has been a finalist in the AbilityNet Tech 4 Good Awards 2023. I have become an Inclusion Fellow with the Indian Inclusion Summit with this initiative.




Can you please share about 1 to 2 games from Sign Language Karo?
AH: Yes, here are 2 examples. Note that these are links to Snapchat. You will need to install Snapchat and have an account there.


How can a person be involved with your initiative?
AH: 
1. Sharing the content I post on the social media handles
2. Suggesting new content
3. Doing offline sign language sessions with these games. At your company or education institution. Wherever you may be.
4. If you are someone who is well versed in AI, I'd appreciate your views on how this content can be expanded to include more words and phrases.


Comments

  1. AnanyaMarch 28, 2024 at 11:41 AM

    What a great concept of spreading sign language through games.. .wow!

    ReplyDelete

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