“First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 words” was launched by Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment at a function here today. The dictionary has been developed byIndian Sign Language Research & Training Centre (ISLR&TC) under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), M/o Social Justice & Empowerment. Ministers of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Krishan Pal Gujar and Shri Ramdas Athwale and Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar were also present on the occasion. 

Addressing on the occasion, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot said that the basic aim of developing the ISL Dictionary is to remove communications barriers between the deaf and hearing communities as it is focused on providing more information in Indian sign language. Its aim is to give Deaf people the constitutional right to speech and opportunity of freedom of expression and also bringing them into the main stream of the society. He said that soon many new words will be added in this dictionary. The ISL dictionary has focused on providing more information in Indian Sign Language. He hoped that more and more people use this dictionary and get the benefit of learning Indian Sign Language.

ISLR&TC has been working on its dream project of developing the Indian Sign Language Dictionary for last one and a half years. As per the census 2011, there are 50, 71,007 Deaf people and 19, 98,535 with speech disability in India. ISLRTC, New Delhi realized the gravity of the situation and issues being faced by the large number of Deaf people in common communication.

Therefore, ISLRTC has developed an ISL Dictionary for Deaf people and Hearing people, offering them the maximum words to learn and expressing their feelings, ideas etc. ISL dictionary consists of various categories of words for example legal terms, medical terms, academic terms, technical terms and daily use words. The videos are subtitled.

The English and Hindi terms for the dictionary will also help deaf children to learn English. The ISL dictionary consists of words of five categories:

1. Everyday Terms – This category includes terms that are used in everyday communication. The videos contain the sign and the corresponding English term.

2. Legal Terms – This category includes videos for 237 legal terms help explain complicated legal terminology like “Affidavit”, “Acquittal”, etc. That are used in various legal situations.

3. Academic Terms – To help deaf children understand complex academic concepts, the academic dictionary contains explanations for terms like “Nervous System”, “Rotation” and “Revolution”, etc. The words are from various subjects like Physics, Geography, Biology, Maths, etc. This category contains 229 videos for 212 terms.
4. Medical Terms – This category includes 200 sign videos for 200 medical terms will help the deaf community to better understand medical terminology used in hospitals and in medical situations.

5. Technical Terms – This category has 206 videos of sign and explanations in ISL for 204 technical terms that are used in vocational training or in computer courses.