International Women’s Day may have come and gone, but the achievements of women like Devangi Dalal continue to inspire us all year long. As an audiologist and speech-language pathologist, Dalal has dedicated her life to helping underprivileged children hear again for free.
One of the founders of the Josh Foundation, Dalal has gained widespread recognition for her work with young children who have hearing impairments. In 2012, she became the first Indian to receive the American Academy of Audiology’s Humanitarian Award, and in 2019, she was honored with the Women Influencers Award.
Throughout her career, Dalal has served as the executive secretary for the Maharashtra Speech & Hearing Association and has been a long-time winner of the title of Best Pediatric Hearing Aid Center in India. She has also authored two books for the hearing-impaired and directed a 17-minute telefilm to create awareness of hearing impairment.
But perhaps her most significant achievement is the work she has done through the Josh Foundation. Dalal and her team have distributed over a thousand hearing aids to children and have successfully provided children in 12 schools with 100 percent digital hearing aids. Through her foundation, she has organized and participated in events to spread awareness about hearing-impaired children and the challenges they face.
For her tireless efforts, Devangi Dalal has been appointed as the First Advocate for Hearing Health from India by the Coalition for Global Hearing Health (CGHH), working with the World Health Organization to promote public awareness about hearing health. She has collected more than Rs 4.5 Crore so far to support hearing-impaired children.
Dalal’s mission is to make these specially abled children equally inclusive in our society. She believes that “the world will aspire to the beauty of kindness if we make these specially abled children equally inclusive in our society.” We honor Devangi Dalal for her unwavering dedication to making the world a better place for all children.
