Sound her out

Making herself heard in numerous ways, hearing-impaired Selina Ooi has inspired those who share her affliction, and the rest of us to understand them better. Rozana Sani writesIT is 5.30pm.

After a day of websites, flash, graphics and illustrations, multimedia engineer Selina Ooi shuts off her computer and clears up her workstation.

As she is bidding goodbye to her colleagues at the Information System Dept in KDU University College, her phone buzzes. She opens the text message. A friend wants to know whether she has time to meet for drinks later in the evening.

Getting into her silver Viva, she wonders: “Update my blogs after meeting up with friend? It would all depend on the traffic”, sighs the 27-year-old as she drives out of the car park.

All this may seem like just a mundane scene from the daily life of a yuppie, but Selina is no ordinary girl. She has been deaf since birth. A techie by profession, she’s also been putting her knowledge and skills to good use in blogosphere, to help others in her community enjoy the benefits of ICT and the Internet.

Sweet and determined

Selina is the second child in a family of three siblings. Her parents are teachers. Her sister Melissa is two years older than her while Jocelyn is seven years younger.

When her hearing impairment was confirmed by doctors at birth, Selina’s mother Joanne Cheah began to learn sign language so she could communicate with her daughter. A shy child, Selina was never lacking in attention and Joanne made sure that her progress was on par with any child her age.

“When I started primary school, I was placed in the class for deaf students. The regular students could speak and hear with no impediment. But I believed I could attain success by being hardworking and thinking positively. My mom and teachers gave me a lot of motivation and support and I always pushed myself no matter how hard the challenges were, so that I could have a better future,” Selina explained, furrowing her brow.

The challenges kept piling on. After her SPM examinations, Selina applied to the Multimedia University (MMU) in Cyberjaya, following in the footsteps of her older sister. She was accepted, and majored in interface design at the Faculty of Creative Multimedia.

“I became the first deaf student at MMU. I aimed to be one of the top students. I gathered up courage to establish better relationships with my lecturers, and friends, to query them about assignments and get written notes. I put in extra study hours. They understood and accepted me as I was. And that brought out the best in me,” says Selina humbly.

She went on to win several awards while at MMU — first place in an interface design competition organised by telecommunications company Telenor, and the Dean’s Award two years running. She graduated in 2008.

“Now there are about five hearing impaired students at MMU,” says Selina with pride. “I’d like to think I inspired them at this seminar, where I talked about how the deaf can have a better future.”

The geek

While at MMU, one of Selina’s biggest challenge was writing. Learning purely in the Malay medium (through sign language) throughout her school years, she was at a disadvantage at the tertiary level where assignments and exams were mainly in English.

“Initially, I failed many times in my exams because I was very weak in writing. That was why I started to blog in 2006, to practise my writing. Through my blog Selina Wing (http://www.selinawing.com), I learnt to express myself. I enjoyed it immensely. Those in the deaf community in Malaysia began to recognise me as Deaf Blogger. In fact, they call me the Geek.” Selina grins.

Not quite a geek, in her own opinion, Selina says she probably got the moniker because she was writing about gadgets and games, giving tips and tutorials on Facebook, and also writing movie reviews.

Another blog Deaf Boleh! Malaysia (http://deafboleh.blogspot.com) was initiated two years ago by Selina as a channel to increase awareness of the Sign Language and deaf culture among Malaysians, with or without hearing impairments.

“Learning sign language is really fun. Once you get the hang of it, you will enjoy spending time with a deaf friend,” she says.

However, Selina relates, it wasn’t easy to attract the deaf community to read the blog.

“I had to promote it to the hard of hearing via social media, and meet friends; also register my blog in deaf portal websites, use instant messaging and email. Before this, I created the Deaf

Cafè Coffee forum as a platform for deaf people to discuss, and share their feelings, but it was not successful as many who are deaf are weak at writing and are not confident enough about expressing themselves in public.”

Always one to persevere, Selina shared her own experiences as a deaf person and showed how others can also work hard to reach their goals.

“On the blog, we share useful information and tutorials related to the deaf and hearing-impaired so they can gain more knowledge about education, technology, sports and more. Through these, the deaf become interested in the activities and events organised by NGOs and Deaf Associations.

“A few companies asked me to help advertise job vacancies for the deaf. So I started to research and give tips on how to write resumes and attend interviews.”

In addition, Selina also created her own group, Deaf Boleh! Malaysia on Facebook that also welcomes all to share information, make new friends and post their thoughts.

She believes it has brought greater awareness of the deaf community in Malaysia.

“My blog has received much positive feedback from not only deaf Malaysians but also those from around the world. Others who are interested in Deaf Culture also enjoy reading it! Some deaf people were so inspired that they too began blogging about their personal lives,” Selina says with a beaming smile.

Future

Selina considers herself extremely lucky to have been in a positive environment that enabled her to realise her potential. And for her, this includes the availability of technology.

“In my office, there are colleagues who love to joke with me via sign language. We also spell out words and use simple signs that they remember easily. At other times we communicate via paper and pen, email and chat via MSN when they want to discuss work with me. They understand my hearing impairment and I certainly appreciate their encouraging me to learn as much as I can,” she says.

Technology is able to bridge the divide between the hearing impaired and the rest, says Selina.

“A few decades ago, people like me did not have many career choices as there was a barrier in terms of communication. But now, many doors are open because of deaf technology such as the closed captioning (subtitles) on Youtube videos, SMS (text messaging), relay video interpreter, email, instant messaging (eg. MSN, Skye), deaf alarm vibration clock, light-bell door and many more.

Deaf people especially enjoy “chatting” with friends via 3G video call on their smartphones.”

For Selina, such progress has enabled deaf people to pursue a broader education and career options. “And it has changed our lives for the better.”

Personally, Selina hopes to further promote deaf culture and greater awareness through her blogs.

“Awareness will allow others to understand how being deaf affects an individual and how to react to it. With this, I hope more deaf people can get greater job opportunities. As for myself, I want to become a better blogger, and increase my skills in design and IT in my never-ending quest for self-improvement!”