No problem without a solution can exist. Ece’s Grade 6 teacher
That’s the motto that Turkish cochlear implant (CI) user Ece (pronounced as “Ai-jeh”) Saygi lives by. Ece’s life journey is characterised by a series of problem-solving, even at times ground-breaking, events. She was the first child to receive a cochlear implant in Turkey. She got herself into one of the top universities in Turkey. She secured a student employment role at the Cochlear global headquarters in Sydney while on an exchange programme. She currently resides and works in Switzerland, where she encounters a whole new environment and culture.
The First Child in Turkey to Receive A CI
Born in 1991, Ece was born hearing but experienced profound hearing loss due to a fever when she was 1. The cochlear implant was then largely unheard of (since the FDA only approved the use of CI in children in 1990). Her mother, who was an air stewardess with Turkish Airlines, learned about CI on a work trip to South Africa. However, CI was not yet available in Turkey. And there was not yet a surgeon who had been trained for the implantation in the country. It was after a series of special arrangements that Ece was implanted at age 4 in her right ear.
A German CI surgeon made a special trip to Istanbul, where Ece was in, to perform the surgery. The surgery, the first-ever done on a child in Turkey, was watched by Turkish ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctors who were then being trained to perform CI surgeries. Ece’s trailblazing CI surgery has helped inspire support by the Turkish government to CI candidates in the country. For instance, cochlear implant users in Turkey receive a free speech processor upgrade every seven years.
Putting in the Hours to Catch Up on Lost Learning Time
Upon receiving the CI, Ece continued the disciplined speech training she had had since age 1. Her training was laser-focused on helping her catch up in terms of skills development. She never played with conventional toys like Barbie dolls. Instead, she mostly played spatial games involving numbers and pictures. The stringent training set her up for a successful transition to a mainstream school in Grade 1.
Speaking Out for Her Hearing Needs in the Classroom
In primary school, Ece’s parents made it a point to inform all her teachers about her CI and that she would need to do some lip-reading. Ece picked up this example and practised it in her high school years. She would request her teachers to try to only give instructions when facing the class, especially when particular teachers had the habit of talking while writing on the whiteboard. These were all to make sure that she got the most out of each class. Her hard work paid off when she got admitted to the Electrical & Electronic Engineering programme at Koç University, one of the most competitive universities in Turkey.
Going the Extra Mile at University Classes
At Koç University, the environment was more challenging due to the larger size of the lecture theatres and the lack of optimal acoustic setup then. Ece oftentimes struggled to keep up with the fast-paced classes. Like in any other situation, the problem-solver Ece focused on the solution. She would request each lecturer for additional learning hours with them outside the class hours. Some of them complied. She would also ask for notes from her classmates and commit to a rigorous self-study routine.
Carving A Work Opportunity for Herself While on An Exchange Programme
In her third year of university, Ece joined an exchange programme in Sydney. She spent a semester at Macquarie University, which neighbours Cochlear’s global headquarters (HQ). She reached out to Cochlear for an internship opportunity. Although there was no existing internship opportunity for a student like her then, the Cochlear HQ agreed to create a student employment role for her. For four months, she worked at Cochlear HQ while attending classes at Macquarie University. This opportunity also led to a one-month engineering internship in Cochlear Technology Centre in Belgium upon her return from the exchange programme.
Advocating Disability Support Programme at Her Home University
At Macquarie University, Ece experienced what a comprehensive disability support programme is like. The university provided her with assistive devices like speech-to-text software and an FM system and made sure the lecturers were informed of her hearing needs – all free-of-charge. The experience deeply impressed Ece and convinced her that her university back at home should be providing similar support too.
Upon her return from the exchange programme in Australia, Ece shared with her university about the disability support services that were made available to her at Macquarie University. She requested that the university also follow suit. Though the request was not materialised, Ece found herself a private sponsor who would cover her assistive devices expenses for the rest of her university years.
Making A Switch in Her Career Path
Upon graduation from university, Ece realised that she was not inclined to take on engineering jobs. She preferred something more dynamic and people-facing. Thus, she got her first job in the wind services support capacity with a large American power company in Istanbul. The problem-solver Ece relished the fresh challenges that this job presented each day.
She stayed with the company for over two years before relocating to Switzerland to join a Switzerland-based international energy and infrastructure company, in early 2020. She currently takes on a Business Services Specialist role there. Since moving to Switzerland, she has been diligently working on her German language, which she needs to use at her workplace and in her new living environment.
Making Social Life Work for Her
Ece is also very solution-centred in social settings. In noisy environments, she would make sure that the person(s) she speaks with are aware of her hearing needs. She would request that they speak more slowly and not face away from her so that she could read their lips. She has found that being transparent about her needs helps others to help her.
Ece is a living example of what a can-do spirit is like. The cochlear implant technology has opened the door to the hearing world that was once closed to her. But it is the strong family support and the palpable can-do spirit that has seen her go such a long way.
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!