Deaf girl, 22, lands dream job

From: Gulf Daily News, Bahrain - Oct 12, 2003

By TARIQ KHONJI

A DEAF and mute Bahraini girl has found a job doing what she likes best - working with computers, after a call for help through the GDN's letters page.

Eman Ahmed, 22, has begun work full-time at Mohammed Jalal Catering's accounts department, checking figures and inputting them into a computer.

The former Shaikhan Al Farisi Centre for Total Communication student had been looking for a job since she graduated a year ago.

She was brought to the company's attention following an appeal her cousin Hana made, which was published in the GDN on September 6.

Personnel assistant Yousif Ahmed said that Eman was very hard working and has proven herself useful within just two weeks of joining the company.

"We decided to give her a computer-related job since she expressed interest in the area," he said.

"It's important to make people with special needs like Eman feel they have a role to play in society, which is no less important than anyone else's. We have hired employees with similar problems in the past."

Although Eman is not totally deaf and can also lip-read, communication can be a challenge since no-one at the company speaks sign language.

Her colleagues sometimes send her messages in writing.

For her part, Eman says she is comfortable with her job and her workmates.

Her father Yousif said she was very depressed sitting at home and was always asking him to find her work.

"My sons and I approached many companies on her behalf. They never said no, but they never got back to us either," he said.

Eman learned to use computers at the Shaikhan Al Farisi Centre and to encourage her, her father bought one for the family.

"She loves the computer and is always on it at home. "This is an ideal job for her. When she got the job, her face beamed with happiness," he said.

Copyright © 2002, Gulf Daily News