What is the Indian Sign Language community?

The “ISL community” refers to the social, cultural and linguistic community formed around users of ISL. This includes Deaf persons who identify themselves as part of Deaf culture, sign-language users, interpreters, educators, and family/support networks. 

The community has its own norms, shared experiences (for example of living as Deaf in a hearing world), social organisations, culture (including art, humour, identity) and advocacy goals (for recognition of ISL, access to education and services). In India, the community works to strengthen ISL’s recognition as a legitimate language, ensure its inclusion in education, media and public life, and preserve its cultural identity. So the “community” is not just the technical users of ISL but the network of people for whom ISL is a meaningful shared language and cultural space.