Mumbai: PayNearby, India’s branchless banking and digital network, has released an awareness campaign on the occasion of “World Hearing Day”. The campaign  promotes the importance of sign language and looks to spread awareness about the importance  of maintaining good hearing health. It urges people to be aware and learn basic Indian Sign Language (ISL) gestures to communicate better with people who have hearing difficulties. It is in sync with World Health Organization’s (WHO) theme for 2023 - ear and hearing care for all! Let’s  make it a reality!

According to WHO estimates, there are approximately 63 million people in India who are  suffering from hearing impairment. Communication barriers can cause social isolation, exclusion,  and discrimination, which can affect the mental health and well-being of people with hearing  difficulties. Learning basic ISL gestures is an essential step towards breaking down these  communication barriers and helping build inclusive and diverse workplaces. PayNearby’s  campaign features Rahul Bhosale, a PayNearby employee, who shows how easily everyone can  communicate with him using ISL. A special colleague himself, Bhosale shares common gestures in  the video, including simple signs for common phrases such as ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, ‘sorry’, and  ‘goodbye’.

On the campaign, PayNearby CMO Jayatri Dasgupta said, “Staying true to our brand  philosophy ‘Zidd Aage Badhne Ki’, we have always stood and taken a stand for social causes. This  campaign is reflective of that. We are an inclusive and diverse organization where we want all  our colleagues to feel included. By featuring our colleague, Rahul, in this campaign, we want to  send out a message that even with a disability, nothing is impossible. All it takes is empathy on  our part and a little bit of sign language. All this can go a long way in facilitating communication  with people with hearing difficulties and help create a more inclusive and accessible world for  all.”