The world is moving towards a perspective wherein we no longer ignore the hearing disability. It is important to spread awareness regarding the challenges faced by such individuals and on the occasion of World Disability Day, 3rd December 2021, Mumbai witnessed a compassionate collaboration of JOSH Foundation and Mithibai Kshitij.
JOSH Foundation as a social institution has initiated support and guidance to hearing-impaired children for over 16 years. Founders Dr. Jayant Gandhi, an eminent ENT surgeon, and Devangi Dalal, renowned Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathologist, believe that providing state-of-art medical technologies and treatment at right time can help these children will empower them and make them inclusive in our society. At present, the foundation has distributed over 1300+ digital hearing aids.
On 3rd December 2021, on the occasion of World Disability Day, JOSH Foundation collaborated with Mithibai College’s International Intercollegiate Cultural Festival Kshitij and conducted an event keeping in mind this social cause and inclusivity as its prime goal. The event took place at Santokba Sadan Hall in the presence of Dr.Jayant Gandhi, founder of JOSH Foundation and a trustee of SVKM, Devangi Dalal, co-founder of JOSH Foundation, Ms. Rajat Shah from Inventia Healthcare Private Limited. The event witnessed a charged-up start with paying homage to the National Anthem and reciting a prayer to the Almighty. Then, everyone pleasingly enjoyed a few minutes of yoga and meditation sessions. They also conducted a fun-filled origami craft session which outshined the hidden talents of the uniquely abled children. The children were engaged in various games as well as rocked the dance floor with their amazing moves. Cementing the fact of providing support and care, digital hearing aids worth Rs.15,00,000 were donated to 25 hearing-impaired children. This outstretched help was possible by the generous donation made by Inventia Healthcare Private Limited. Keeping a vision of breaking stereotypes of deaf and dumb, the event concluded with blazing cheers for Kshitij fest by hearing-impaired children.
The event came to an end with strong messages from Devangi Dalal, Dr. Jayant Gandhi and Yashvi Gotecha
Devangi Dalal preached, “The time has come where we come out of the Covid19 fear and learn the art of overcoming challenges from the hearing-impaired children, who trust their abilities over disabilities.”
Dr.Jayant Gandhi stated a crucial message “Every human is equal and deserves to be treated equally despite the disabilities. They are deaf but not dumb. I believe hearing disability is no longer a disability.”
Kshitij Chairperson Yashvi Gotecha “The response we recieved from this initiative was overwhelming, but more importantly heart-warming. With JOSH foundation, we conducted not a social event, rather a celebration; to rejoice and create an inclusive environment for one and all.”
