She stared at her blank notepad while her batch mates were scribbling the instructor’s messages on their notepad to the brim. It was another trying clinical round for Dr Irma Isa, who is currently a Pharmacology lecturer and a cochlear implant (CI) user from Malaysia. She was a third-year medical student on a government scholarship at University College Dublin (UCD). She struggled to grasp her instructor during the clinical rounds. Her hearing level had dropped to the extent where hearing aids were of little help, especially in a bustling hospital environment. Receiving a cochlear implant at the end of her third year of medical school was a gift from God, Dr Irma shared in an interview via email correspondence.
CI as the Lifebuoy During Her Medical School Years
She received her cochlear implant in late 2018 under the National Cochlear Implant Programme by Malaysia’s Ministry of Health. It could not have been timelier. It was right before she entered the phase of bedside teaching (student and instructor attending the patient’s bedside to discuss or demonstrate a clinical procedure) and history-taking with patients (taking down a patient’s medical history).
She also received help from the Students Support Office at UCD. They had made special arrangements to accommodate her hearing needs, like arranging for her to examine a patient who did not require auscultation (examining a patient with a stethoscope). They had been instrumental in helping her finish her medical study in time.
Pivoting to the Academia (From the Hospital)
Though she found that hospital environments aren’t optimal for her to deliver her best. The lack of educated perception among the public (in Malaysia) towards medical professionals with disabilities and her hearing needs convinced her to build her career in the teaching field instead. She went on to complete her master’s degree (in Pharmacology and Toxicology) in the next two years and her PhD (in Human/Medical Genetics) in another five. She’s been a Pharmacology lecturer at a private university in Malaysia for close to four years.
First Detected with Hearing Loss at Age 15
Dr Irma’s hearing loss was first detected when she was 15. She failed to respond whenever her mother called her from behind (without facing her). She had since taken several hearing tests. About a year later, after a few rounds of hearing tests, she was diagnosed with bilateral progressive sensorineural hearing loss. It might have been due to genetic reasons. Both her mother and maternal grandmother have a similar pattern of hearing loss.
Having an immediate family member who is also hard-of-hearing (HOH) has helped build a fortress of self-esteem in Dr Irma. She finds solace in pouring out her feelings to her mother when feeling vulnerable due to her hearing condition.
Opening Up About Her Hearing Needs at the Workplace
Having an emotional safety net at home empowers Dr Irma to be open about her hearing needs in the workplace. She lets her employers know about her hearing condition upfront and has received encouraging responses. The interviewer for her current job, Professor Mike the faculty head from Ireland, was all the more impressed after learning about her hearing condition in the interview. She remembered Prof. Mike saying, “There is no reason to not consider and help you get this job.”
But it wasn’t all rosy. During her housemanship 10 years ago, she disclosed her hearing condition to her colleagues and received reactions that did not sit well with her. It took her time and courage to recover from that experience. This leads to Dr Irma realising the need for the public to understand that the deaf and HOH people could bring much value to the table when given the proper support.
Advocating for the HOH & Normalising Hearing Loss
She has since been more proactive in building such awareness within her sphere and capacity. Earlier this year, she co-wrote an open letter to Malaysia’s largest English daily paper to shed light on the communications barriers that the hard-of-hearing experience as we wear masks as part of the safety precautions against Covid-19. Her hope is that hearing difficulty will be normalised like how poor visual acuity is generally accepted and well accommodated.
Life Outside of Work
Besides being an academic, Dr Irma is a mother of four – three boys and one girl between 9 and 2 years old. She enjoys spending quality time with her family, cooking, reading and writing. She also appreciates being able to hear her children, with the help of an aqua kit, when playing with them in the water.
Dr Irma receiving a certificate of appreciation for her work.
Dr Irma is a mother of four.
You could find more cochlear implant user stories here.
CI Project collects cochlear implant user stories. I’d like to invite you to join the private Facebook group. You’ll receive an update of each new story (about once a month) and will get to interact with the characters of each story there. I’m also looking for more cochlear implant user stories. I’d appreciate it if you could nominate a cochlear implant user (including yourself) for me to write a story about!