Australia Awards South and West Asia

To mark International Day of Sign Languages, which has been celebrated across the world on 23 September each year since 2018, we highlight the journey so far of Nepali alum Kedar Prasad Adhikari, popularly known as KP Ji.

KP Ji, who participated in the Australia Awards Short Course on Inclusive Education at Queensland University of Technology in 2016, has made remarkable contributions to Nepal’s disability sector, focusing on people with hearing impairment. As a person with a hearing disability, KP Ji feels strongly about the rights of deaf people. “I lost my hearing power. Perhaps God wanted me to fight for deaf people’s rights,” he says.

KP Ji has been at the forefront of the disability rights movement in Nepal for more than 15 years. But behind his achievements lies a challenging past. Born in 1979 in the hilly district of Myagdi in western Nepal, KP Ji experienced hearing difficulties from early childhood. His father was a schoolteacher who would often get transferred to different locations; as a result, KP Ji would also have to change schools. However, wherever he went, he would face insults and negligence because of his disability. “Even though I was the headmaster’s son,” he recalls, “I had to face insulting words and behaviour, not only from my friends but also from the teachers.” Nonetheless, he stood firm and persevered against the odds.

KP Ji’s father made several efforts to solve his child’s hearing problems. He even took KP Ji to Kathmandu for ear surgery. KP Ji still remembers the long trek to get there: walking up and down hilly trails for two days to reach the main road, then travelling for an additional day by bus to reach the city. He was only ten years old at the time. Following the surgeries and treatments, he gradually began to acquire his sense of hearing. By 1996, he could hear very well. However, this ability only lasted for nine years.

KP Ji communicating in sign language with a colleague at an event organised by Australia Awards – Nepal

In those nine years, KP Ji worked hard. He completed his high school studies at Mahendra Ratna Secondary School in Myagdi and pursued an Intermediate Arts degree from Prithvi Narayan Campus in Pokhara. He also started a small business and dreamt of flying abroad for better opportunities. Unfortunately, these plans were derailed by a series of misfortunes. Armed conflict, which was at its peak as part of the Nepali Civil War, claimed the life of his father—causing irreparable loss and pain that KP Ji feels he will never recover from.

Compounding his sorrows, his family was displaced from their home. Then, while displaced, he experienced hearing loss as well. It was the final straw. “On 16 July 2005, when I lost my hearing power, I felt as if total darkness was falling upon me,” he says. He started feeling very lonely; people began ignoring him again, and even his so-called friends abandoned him. “It took a long time to get back to normal,” he says.

When asked what motivated him to work for the disability cause, KP Ji shares a moving incident. “One day, when I was travelling to my neighbouring district Baglung, I came to know that a school had just been opened up for deaf students,” he recalls. “There, I saw 14 deaf students, who looked so innocent, yet excited about their future.” He took this moment as a sign and decided to devote his life to improving the lives of deaf people. “Honestly speaking, those innocent deaf children are my source of inspiration who changed the course of my life,” he says.

KP Ji began working closely with deaf people, who taught him sign language and provided a solid understanding of their issues. This experience equipped him with leadership skills. In 2008, he became the President of the Association of the Deaf in Baglung. The following year, he joined the National Federation of the Deaf Nepal (NFDN). He went on to serve as General Secretary and later President of NFDN—each for two terms.

Reflecting on his leadership journey, KP Ji feels proud of several accomplishments. One such achievement was the nationwide movement that he led in July 2015 to promote the rights of deaf teachers. The Government of Nepal had made it mandatory for all teachers to have a license to teach in public schools; however, most deaf teachers did not have the license and would have been disproportionately affected. The movement resulted in the government waiving this condition for deaf teachers.

KP Ji considers sign language to be a lifeline for people with hearing impairment. To show how important it is, KP Ji shares the story of a girl from Banke district he met in 2015. Having suddenly lost her hearing, the girl was so upset that she did not want to live anymore. KP Ji could relate to her feelings because he had gone through a similar experience. He counselled her and convinced her to enrol in a deaf school in Baglung, where she could learn sign language. “Sign language helped her in such a way that, over the years, she completed her studies and is now preparing for a teaching job,” he says.

Having realised the value of sign language for people with hearing impairment, KP Ji worked hard to secure resources to provide relevant training. For example, he successfully lobbied the Government of Nepal to secure 20 million Nepali rupees (approximately AUD220,000) in 2019 for sign language training. He also coordinated a team of experts to develop a Nepali sign language dictionary and a mobile application during his tenure as General Secretary of the NFDN in 2017.

Despite such notable successes, KP Ji considers that his work so far is but a small contribution, and says that there is still a lot to be done. For a long time, he has been thinking about an institution that could carry out research and conduct training on sign language. He has also envisioned a high-tech, inclusive school that could provide essential education and adjustment support for children with disability.

However, there are many hurdles in front of such big hopes and plans. KP Ji is realistic about the challenges facing the disability movement in Nepal. The movement is limited by a lack of resources—in terms of both skillsets and finances. Disability inclusion is widely considered to be an issue that only concerns people with disability, which KP Ji believes is a “misunderstanding”. Reflecting on his Australian exposure through the Short Course on Inclusive Education, which he feels “widened his knowledge about inclusion”, KP Ji says, “Disability inclusion should be made an integral part of every development initiative.”

KP Ji believes that International Day of Sign Languages is the right occasion to promote disability inclusion as a core development agenda. Many countries in the world have not yet legally recognised any sign language as an official language. KP Ji seeks to help raise awareness of the importance of sign language as an instrumental tool for the empowerment of people with hearing impairment, which will support them to exercise their rights to equality and justice.