Recently, the 39-year-old made waves on social media after he shared news about his latest academic milestone – he was conferred a doctoral degree (PhD) in anthropology and sociology from Universiti Malaya (UM). Chong is the varsity’s first deaf doctorate recipient who communicates using Malaysian Sign Language (BIM) instead of speech. He also shared that pursuing his PhD studies, while holding a full-time job as an administrative officer and being actively involved in the deaf community, could be overwhelming for him sometimes. “This is to raise awareness and eliminate misconceptions that sign language is universal,” he said, adding that British Sign Language and American Sign Language have been introduced to the education system, further widening the communication gap between the old and the younger generation of deaf people. “It is time to reform deaf community policies and shift misconceptions, especially those revolving around BIM,” he said.

Source: The Star August 01, 2021 01:41 UTC