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‘Duolingo for the deaf': 28-year-old Indian hearing-impaired entrepreneur wins UNDP-supported Youth Co:Lab award for her startup
On the eve of World Youth Skills Day, which is celebrated every year on July 15, hearing-impaired entrepreneur Shraddha Agarwal, born deaf, said she had to put in twice the effort in her studies as other children in her school in Chennai. She said that despite a supportive system and intensive training that made lipreading easy, challenges persisted.
In a conversation with The Indian Express, she recalled how, during her formative years, the teachers did not often repeat what they were saying.
However, Agarwal, who 'once was not able to cope in the classroom', went on to pursue a Master's in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Warwick.
Inspired by her own experiences, the now 28-year-old entrepreneur set up SignSetu, a startup where she is building a gamified foundational learning platform for the deaf community.
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed and this year, her startup has received an award and Rs 2 lakh as prize money from Youth Co:Lab 2024-25, an initiative that is co-led by United Nations Development Programme and Citi Foundation, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and implemented by AssisTech Foundation.
'Honestly, I have been at the receiving end and I do not want anyone to go through what I had to,' Agarwal said, adding how most deaf children lack the right support systems, especially in schools not equipped with videos or visual tools.
'Students from underprivileged backgrounds often struggle with basic comprehension. For instance, a Class 7 deaf student may not know the difference between 'doctor' and 'daughter',' she said, adding that her work is akin to a 'Duolingo for the deaf.'
She mentioned that several studies have observed that a deaf or hard-of-hearing student in Class 12 typically has literacy skills equivalent to a Class 3-4 student. The challenges for low literacy levels include language deprivation, limited early exposure to a full natural language, and lack of accessible, high-quality educational resources, added Agarwal.
The platform set up by Agarwal includes vocabulary, storybooks, and videos in sign language, and aims to bridge both fundamental and contextual gaps.
Two deaf schools in Chennai – Little Flower School and MGR School – are currently part of the prototype testing with 30 students (15–17 in each school). A larger test with 150 students is planned in the next two months.
'It is a deeply personal mission rooted in my own lived experiences,' Agarwal said, adding that she had no roadmap when she started.
'Sometimes the best thing you can do is jump in and figure it out along the way. What keeps me going is the dream of a world where every deaf student can read, write, and access information confidently, where what has been my privilege becomes the norm,' she added.
