Sonu Anand Sharma was born deaf and mute. There was 100% hearing impairment in both her ears at the time of birth.
Despite being eager to learn, Sharma could not understand what was going on during classes because the teachers either did not know sign language or didn’t know it well enough to teach someone. Deafness requires special attention and care and that was never fulfilled in Sharma’s case. She could not overcome these obstacles and to date, she can’t form a complete sentence due to the gaps in her education. “We hear and we start talking. That’s how we learn our mother tongue, but in my case, I could not hear so I can’t automatically talk and writing is also difficult,” told Sharma to HerZindagi over text.
A World Health Organization report states that around 63 million people in India suffer from either complete or partial deafness, and of these, at least 5 million are children. One hindrance standing before the country’s deaf population is the tattered infrastructure of educational institutions such as specialised schools. The country only has about 700 schools that provide sign language. Another big impediment is the State’s unwillingness to give the official language status to Indian Sign Language (ISL).
“Correct grammar, sentence structure, and formation have been one of the biggest setbacks faced by the deaf community. The majority of the community is unable to form basic sentences and understand textual conversations. Hence, there is always a requirement for an interpreter, which feels discouraging,” Sharma added.
Recipientof the National Award for Empowerment of Person With Disabilities in 2005
Born in 1975, Sonu Anand Sharma started playing badminton at the age of 10. Her hearing impairment affected her training because the attitude she had to deal with was extremely insensitive propelled by a lack of an inclusive mindset.
“Coaches were never up to the mark. The hearing team would always get a better coach. We never got that much attention. And whenever we were at a training camp where there were hearing as well as deaf individuals, at that time the coaches were relatively good, but they spent more time focusing on non-disabled players,” she said. “Whereas deaf-only camps had coaches that were not that great. ‘Save money, why should we spend that much on deaf players,’ was the general atmosphere.”
But, she believed in training and pushing herself, which made her reach greater heights. She never got discouraged when she got average coaches, instead, Sharma tried harder each time to excel. “I am passionate about badminton, so why should I stop? I wanted to be a good player,” she said. “I practised every day; trained since sunrise and would return late at night.”
Being from a middle-class family, her father used to wait till the time she came back. He did not even have a scooter to pick her up. “I would travel by bus and my parents would be very scared, not only because I was a girl, but being deaf meant extra caution,” she said. However, they were extremely supportive and never stopped her from training late.
She was very young when she went to represent India in Hong Kong for the Abilympics (Olympics For People With Disabilities). After playing for India multiple times, she was approached by the All India Sports Council Of The Deaf (AISCD) to be a woman representative from India. It was the first time a woman was given such a position. Thereafter, she was made the Honorary Technical Director for badminton. Then came the opportunity of being a badminton coach, which she could not deny.
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Indian Deaf Badminton Team won Gold in Team Events of the 25th Summer Deaflympics in Brazil from 1 to 15 May, 2022
Sharma was responsible for scouting Jernlin Anika, while she was playing at the local level. She spotted her talent immediately. Approaching the organisation to include Anika was a task as she was quite young. But, Sharma’s determination to make her play has resulted in Anika getting an opportunity to do wonders in the future, which include representing India at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics, where she clinched three gold medals by winning the mixed doubles, team event, and women’s singles. She was even selected for the Arjuna award in 2022.
Since 2014, Sharma has been striving to build a great team. Initially, she faced many hurdles in creating a team who won matches, but gradually through perseverance and hard work, she has scouted players, who did a phenomenal job in the Deaflympics and Asian Championships this year.
Traditionally, in many Indian families, after getting married, women are expected to leave their jobs and succumb to partaking in domestic chores. But even after Sharma’s first daughter was born, she continued to play badminton and she went on to win several international tournaments. Her in-laws never stopped her from following her ambitions. After her son was born, she retired and became a coach.
But having children meant multitasking. She equipped herself to wake up early in the mornings to exercise, cook food for the family, and send off her children to school. She also became a full-time employee at Delhi Tourism, after which she used to go to train. A lot of effort was put into each day to not give up on her dreams of continuing to play her favourite sport without deterrence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated the Indian Deaf Badminton Team for winning gold in the 24th Summer Deaflympics
When you have a disability, there is a lot of unconscious bias that comes from outside. People look at you differently. The same was the case for Sharma, who had office colleagues who judged her for her disability, something that was not in her control. “When you cannot communicate with someone over text properly at this age when everybody’s on social media, there is a debilitating feeling that comes along with that,” she said. “The idea that I was not literate or educated enough was always stuck in people’s minds.”
There was also overt discrimination when it came to equal opportunities and equal pay. “The Delhi Government announced that the coach for the Olympic gold medalist will be receiving ₹10 Lakh. This was published innewspapers as well. But I did not receive the same recognition despite achieving similar results. I never got the same incentive or motivation to coach deaf badminton players, all of this is voluntary work,” she said. “There is no salary coming from the government side. And when you see other non-disabled individuals getting rewarded, it hits hard. It is not about money, but acknowledgement and acceptance that we deserve the same for our calibre. Where is the equality and equity we all talk about?”
The Union Sports Ministry has announced that the Deaflympics and the world championships are at par with elite sports, in its scheme of cash awards, as per its latest amendment implemented on March 11, 2020, because it was a long-standing demand of the AISCD to treat the achievement of its athletes equally in comparison to those sportspersons who participate in the Olympics and Paralympics.
She agrees that the treatment of her team has been getting better gradually, but it is nowhere near equitable. Sharma recollects how a sports reporter paid no heed when they were asked to cover the achievements of deaf players and just assumed that there were a limited number of players, so they had a higher chance of receiving gold medals.
It was downright amusing and humiliating at the same time for Sharma to find this out because this yearmore than 2200 players from over 72 nations have participated in the Deaflympics. “What big achievement is it?” was the reporter’s reaction. “Aren’t they discarding all our efforts?” Sharma said.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the contingent to his residence in Delhi because of an exemplary performance at the Deaflympics this year.
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In the Women’s Sports Commission of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), Sharma was focused on the Middle East as women’s participation is very low in the area because of Islamic rules of wearing the Hijab, not showing skin, and not allowing several other things due to those policies. “I tried to include certain rules, like Hijab should be allowed to be included in sporting activities as a uniform,” she said.
On March 8, 2021, during the lockdown, she was the speaker for a conference organised by the ICSD to spread awareness about the mission and vision of the Women’s Sports Commission made that year. She also spoke at a seminar in Kerala; to encourage deaf youngsters to do what they love, to pursue their hopes and dreams, study, play and do whatever they envision.
She implores disabled individuals to not give up or lose hope. “I still have not. I have a long way to go to get recognition for the work that I have been doing for 20 years now. I will keep going and not let these things bother me, so I wish everyone realises that it is about ‘you’ and ‘not what others think of you’. You should go for something you feel strongly about and not let your disability restrict you at all,” she said.
“All we want is to be seen as equal. I cannot speak, I cannot hear, I cannot communicate, but I am not an alien, I am an individual. I deserve to be given equal opportunities, equal pay for the same work, and be treated according to my qualities and not what disability I have. I don’t want your pity. I don’t want you to feel bad about me; I don’t feel bad about myself. I live a happy and ‘normal’ life – whatever normal means to you,” Sharma said. “I have fun, I have friends, I go out and party, I drink, I cry, I laugh; I have all the same emotions as you. Just treat me the same. What hurts the most is seeing non-disabled people get what I don’t,” she concluded.
(Image Courtesy: Sonu Anand Sharma)
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