Dorianne Callus was born profoundly deaf. Her parents realised this when she was eight months old. But she is bilingual and can communicate by speaking or by signing.
Her speech is not always clear; she mispronounces some words since she cannot hear them. And she can only speech-read from speakers’ lips and body language.
The lives of an estimated 200 deaf people in Malta have improved substantially as a result of technology and the introduction of a number of services over the years, mainly sign language interpreting, which started in 2000.
Another 200 deaf people, however, have not learnt sign language.
Callus, who is an active member of the Deaf Association, says that education of deaf children in Malta is still poor.
“Many of them are not being exposed to sign language and practically all the teachers supporting these children are not professionally trained in this area.”
With the support of her parents and a teacher of the deaf who used to visit her twice a week, she has always attended mainstream schools and been able to live as normally as possible.
But even with a good standard of education, she has always faced limitations in her studies and career – mostly because…
