Assistive Technology and Hearing Impairments Success Stories

Jawaher is a 25 years old Qatari woman
with hearing hardness, she is a high school
graduate from deaf school from 2006
and since then she was attending training
courses and events at The Qatari Center of
Social Cultural for the Deaf. Aisha is a 20
years old Qatari young woman also with
hearing hardness, she is also a high school
graduate from Audio Education Complex.
She is a friendly and sociable person who
strives to work hard and develop her skills.
They both joined Mada’s employment program
on October 2017 to benefit from the
special and individualized training program
offered by certified trainers and specialists
with help of the necessary assistive technology
in order for them to become able to
get a job and realize their aspirations.
Aisha and Jawaher were both committed to
training hours and very enthusiastic about
developing their computer, customer service
and communication skills. Their needs
for assistive technology were initially assessed
by MADA experts who recommended
the use of FM system, phone amplifier,
pebble watch and Mada Reader/Writer.
These technological solutions provided by
the Mada Center have had a significant impact
on Aisha and Jawaher. These solutions
enabled them to identify different sounds,
such as the sound of the phone ringing
and made them feel more secure as they
can recognize emergency alarm in buildings.
Some devices provided them with the
ability to amplify and eliminate noise from
different sounds which made it possible for
them to communicate with others without
having to use a sign language interpreter.
Moreover, Mada Writer/Reader gave them
the ability to write texts and reports without
misspellings as well as to read various
texts.
Using this technology and with the support
of the sign language interpreters, trainers
and the Mada councilors, Jawaher was able
to benefit greatly from the training program
and her engagement during the sessions
was perfect. Now Jawaher is more confident
and optimistic about her future. She said:
“This program has changed my life, now I
have excellent work skills and job ready”.
Aisha was able to gain newfound knowledge
and skills on this program, as she
saw this training as a real opportunity to
improve her life. She set her personal goals
about what she would achieve on this program
and she succeeded in every aspect
of the program. “She is a pleasure to work
with and has a promising future ahead”, the
program team said.