Metro India News | Hyderabad 

Prof. Patan Ummar Khan, Founder Chairman of Helen Keller’s Group of Institutions for Disabled Children, has dedicated over four decades to transforming the lives of children with speech and hearing disabilities.

His journey began in 1984 when, unable to find a trained special educator in undivided Andhra Pradesh, he set aside his Chartered Accountancy studies to pursue special education training in Mumbai. That decision marked the start of a lifelong mission.

Starting with just 10 students in a small school in Kadapa, Prof. Khan’s vision has grown into a thriving institution educating over 1,000 students annually across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, offering programs from preschool to university level.

After serving 22 years at the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Speech and Hearing Disabled (AYJNISHD) in Secunderabad, he took voluntary retirement in 2008 to focus fully on expanding access to education for the hearing impaired. He has since trained over 4,800 special educators and guided more than 650 BASLP and 254 MASLP graduates who now serve across India and abroad.

He founded the first degree colleges for the deaf in Hyderabad and Kadapa. To date, over 2,800 hearing-impaired students have graduated under his leadership.

His work is recognized nationwide, earning him awards like the Seva Ratna (2002), Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award (2004), Swami Vivekananda Samman Puraskar (2015), and Outstanding Lion Leader Awards (2014–16).

Now 65, Prof. Khan continues to lead with the goal of establishing a deemed university dedicated to special education for the deaf and hard of hearing—cementing a legacy built on compassion, perseverance, and transformative change.