By Hira Nafees Shah

A young man stood in front of a room full of students with his arms extended towards them. Silently, the students all gestured back as they watched the non-verbal cues and concepts displayed on the projector screen behind the man.

For a person endowed with the gifts of speech and hearing, learning sign language might seem a bit unusual, but for the instructor, Near East and South Asia Undergraduate Exchange (NESA)   Alumnus Waleed Hashmi, and the participants it was a routine fact of life.

Hashmi taught the workshop “Introduction to Deaf History and Deaf Culture in America” to motivate students with physical and mental disabilities to achieve success.

“I am doing these workshops because one of my American teachers made me promise that I would try to raise the standard of living for deaf people in Pakistan,” Hashmi signed. “America helped me and now I am helping my own community in Pakistan.”

This extraordinary spirit of community service motivated Hashmi to conduct three workshops to date for persons with disabilities in Lahore. One workshop held at the Inayat Foundation Academy for the Deaf attracted nearly 100 people, while another at the Hamza Foundation received close to 50 participants.

In the latest presentation held at the Deaf Reach Training Center, Hashmi gave examples of various deaf people throughout history who achieved extraordinary feats such as Doctor Lisa Woolf and actor Charlie McKinney. Hashmi encouraged the participants to look to these examples as evidence and motivation that they too can achieve success in life.

Students were excited to learn of these examples, and took Hashmi’s message to heart:

“I learned that deaf people can do anything and can also become doctors and lawyers,” Zain Nadeem, a student from National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore who communicated through sign language.

“I learned that deaf people are working at the level of normal people in America and it was an eye-opening experience for me,” expressed participant Saima Moeen, who studies at a government school.

Other participants appreciated Hashmi for organizing and conducting the workshops and for also shedding light on the plight of people with disabilities in Pakistan.

“The biggest problem facing special people . . . is that they are not taught science or mathematics,” said participant Irfan Ahmed. “The only training that they receive is in skilled labor.”

Despite the enormous challenges facing people with disabilities in Pakistan, there are still many, like Hashmi, who have not let their disabilities limit their potential.  Hashmi earned a Master’s degree from the National College of Arts (NCA) and currently works in advertising.  He is proud of his achievements, but believes that helping others with disabilities in Pakistan is the most important objective in his life.

The NESA alumnus hopes his efforts will inspire these students to take action at the national level – to propose and pass effective laws for persons with disabilities and achieve representation in Parliament. “Deaf people in Pakistan should rise and improve their conditions,” he said.

But for now, Hashmi is satisfied by his grass-roots initiative to create change.

“I feel happy and satisfied and hope that maybe something will get better someday,” he said. “I am not thinking about myself, but want my community to prosper . . . . Conveying the message is most important now.”

To learn more about Hashmi’s community service activities, check out this link:

www.facebook.com/pages/Community-Service-by-Waleed-Hashmi/1528695087399391?fref=ts