: Wired to think differently: How determination can turn disability into an asset #IndiaNEWS #Social <br>In the dreary month of February 1990, Mahitas parents were told by doctors that their 19-month-old

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Wired to think differently: How determination can turn disability into an asset #IndiaNEWS #Social
<br>In the dreary month of February 1990, Mahitas parents were told by doctors that their 19-month-old daughter had profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss a condition in which the vibration sensing hair cells in the ear are damaged.
They were told that without specialised hearing aids or a cochlear implant surgery a fairly new and experimental technique in 1990 Mahita will not be able to hear anything.
Desperate to hear Mahita talk, they took her to multiple doctors, audiologists and speech therapists, but were disappointed to see how children with difficulties in hearing were nowhere close to speaking fluently.
One day, a neighbour came dashing into the house and told them about Dr S R Chandrasekhar Institute of Speech and Hearing in Bengaluru. They travelled from Hyderabad to visit the institute and were redirected to Balavidyalaya The School for Young Deaf Children, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. That marked the turning point in Mahitas journey.
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At that time, Balavidyalaya was one of the very few schools in India practising early intervention to help develop speech in children with hearing loss. Their method was rooted in making a child wear the hearing aid throughout their waking hours and exposing them to as much verbal stimuli as humanly possible, and as early as possible, to try and forge the auditory-speech pathways during the crucial years of growth.
But it came at the cost of Mahitas mother tongue Telugu, as the technique worked best if only one language was used to communicate, in a bid to limit confusion. Mahitas parents chose English, which was not only new to her but also her mother.
Every day, Mahita and her mother would go to school, learn new words and sentences in English and progress together. At home, from dawn to dusk, Mahita was at the receiving end of a constant running commentary of the most mundane to the most interesting activities of the day.
Around five months after starting at Balavidyalaya, Mahitas parents finally heard the most precious sound in the whole world. She opened her tiny lips and said amma and nanna.
Five years went by in a flash and the teachers at Balavidyalaya said Mahita was ready to join a mainstream school. Wishing to be closer to their extended family, Mahitas family went back to Hyderabad, and got her enrolled in Class 2 at Sherwood Public School. The 11 years Mahita spent there were critical in developing her confidence and drive to pursue goals deemed unattainable for her.
I was never treated differently, and the teachers were very compassionate, patient, empathetic and supportive. I was never left out and was encouraged to participate in all extracurricular activities, Mahita recalled.

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