Growing up, Nita Gopalakrishnan had a front-row seat to the challenges faced by people with hearing disabilities. With both her parents being deaf and her own experience as a special educator, she was determined to create change.
The intent to do something to broaden the scope of opportunities for people who were deaf led Nita to co-found ‘Yunikee’ with her husband, Chaithanya Kothapalli, and her colleague Rahul Jain.
The Hyderabad-based organisation is dedicated to helping persons with hearing disabilities in India.
The idea was to create a platform that enabled hearing disabled people to access equal opportunities in terms of jobs, skillset training and more.
Rahul, whose own experience had shown him the lack of options in the job market for deaf people, now says he is proud that he is able to be a part of an initiative that is addressing this gap.
Yunikee has extended its services to over 70,000 deaf persons across India through the wide gamut of activities, projects and campaigns that it conducts.
These include Sign Medium, through which over 20,000 deaf adolescents have been taught sign language; specialised courses in stock trading, web development, and IELTS; and the Champions League programme, which supports deaf individuals who are looking to start ventures of their own.
The team assists them with workshops in sign language, completing legal formalities, and chartered accountancy services.
Through their endeavours, they are attempting to create a space for deaf persons to feel valued, empowered and capable.
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