The teacher confirmed that her educational and professional experience represents a qualitative shift in empowering the deaf within the educational field, noting that her journey was full of challenges that she overcame with determination and faith in the ability to learn and achieve.
She explained in her interview that she seeks to be a positive role model for future generations of deaf students, and a living message that disability is not an obstacle, but a different path towards excellence.
Who is she?
I am a deaf teacher from the Eastern Province, married to a deaf man, and we have two hearing sons named Saad and Ziyad.
I belong to a proud deaf family; both my parents are deaf, and I am the second of four siblings: my older brother is deaf like me, while my younger brother and sister are hearing.
I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education – Hearing Impairment track – from King Saud University in Riyadh, through the Higher Education Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and graduated with first-class honors.
I currently work at the Amal Institute for the Deaf in Dammam, teaching Mathematics and Arabic to upper grades.
How did your educational and professional journey begin until you became the first deaf teacher in the Ministry of Education?
My educational journey began in my childhood thanks to the insistence of my parents and my grandmother – may God have mercy on her – who believed in my ability to learn and succeed like any hearing student.
My father was keen on me attending early intervention centers in the morning, and taking me to speech and language therapy sessions in the evening to learn speech and lip-reading.
I often wondered: “Why does my father tire me with all these intensive trainings?” But when I grew up, I realized that he saw the future clearly, and understood the magnitude of the challenges faced by the deaf, so he did not want me to suffer from them as others had suffered.
As for my mother, she taught me religion using simple and creative methods despite her limited language skills. She would put up weekly cards about prayer and remembrances and reward us for memorization, instilling in us values and faith before words.
And my grandmother – may God have mercy on her – had the decisive word in my life, as she rejected the idea of enrolling me in special institutes, and insisted that I learn in public education schools, saying:
“Let her be with the hearing girls, she is the granddaughter of Fatima, and she can learn like them, God willing.”
