One of a kind

Shirley Lee is one of a kind; she’s the only known practising counselling psychologist in Jamaica able to deal with the challenges of the deaf while being deaf herself.

And for her, it’s a dream come true.

“Ever since childhood, I have this passion for helping people, especially those who are considered social misfits, outcasts, homeless, mentally ill, sick and vulnerable,” Lee said in a written response to AW queries.

“I guess my own experiences of being mistreated at times helped to mould me into a compassionate person. I enjoy listening with my heart to people whom others might not have the patience and time for,” she added.

According to Lee, she is often appalled and at times literally shaken by the impatience, abuse, stereotyping and negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities — particularly those with disabilities that make communication difficult.

“Such attitudes are at times displayed by some people who are deemed ‘intelligent professionals’, trained to know and to do better,” she said. “I wanted to initiate the attitude change process by becoming a good example worthy of emulation.”

Lee said she has always been concerned about the fact that courses on effectively counselling the deaf and hard-of-hearing persons, and those with developmental disabilities were not offered as part of the requirement for psychology degrees.

“It is as if we’re not humans too with emotional, psychological and spiritual needs like other people,” she said.

Lee added that there is also the mistaken belief that deaf people are always paranoid or unduly suspicious.

“The label is sometimes used to divert attention from the real problems,” the psychologist noted. “Who would want to believe a deaf person’s complaints if he/she is considered paranoid?”

Lee said that persons often do not take the time and patience to understand, empathise and gain interesting insight about the pertinent issues that impact the lives of the deaf.

“Molestation, rape, emotional and mental abuse, battered person syndrome, suicidal ideation, false accusations should not be swept under the carpet just because the person is deaf,” she said.

“Deaf people need counsellors and other mental health professionals with sign language skills and cross-cultural sensitivity to work with them,” she added.

It is against this background, she said, that her being deaf has proven such a big plus in her job. Lee said that she is able to relate to and to understand the deaf in ways that the hearing/non-deaf people cannot and perhaps will never be able to.

“You have to be deaf yourself to understand certain kinds of deaf experiences,” she said. “Sometimes I get encouraging feedback that say: ‘Shirley, nobody else I spoke with understands what I am going through better than you do. Thank you so much for helping me’ or ‘No other professionals have really taken the time to understand why my deaf child is behaving like this’.”

But Lee said her road to becoming a psychologist was as challenging as it was interesting. For one thing, she had to sit in classrooms where she could not hear the non-deaf lecturers or students while putting in extra time to study and make deadline on assignments.

“I had to read a lot more for the master of arts degree in counselling psychology. The wealth of information gleaned from many books and handouts, plus my determination to succeed helped to contribute to good grades. My English language proficiency plus my level of intelligence was indeed a tremendous blessing, especially in the absence of interpretation services,” said Lee, who earned her master’s in counselling psychology from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and her first degree in education, also from UWI.

“I learnt since basic school that information that cannot be heard clearly is almost always visually available in printed forms, pictures, maps, and diagrams. Analogies are sometimes used to help me understand certain abstract concepts,” she added.

But today, Lee said, more and more tertiary institutions in Jamaica are becoming disabled friendly.

“The ones I attended so far no doubt learnt valuable lessons from me about accessible education,” she said.

Lee, who started practising as a trained counselling psychologist after receiving her degree in 2004, said she could have graduated and received it three years earlier if she was not deaf.

“There were challenges finding suitable places for practicum,” she explained.

Still, Lee is happy to have overcome the many challenges and to now effectively reach the many deaf persons who go to her weekly for counselling.

She noted that the main issues with which she is confronted are coping with unemployment and problems with communication access. Lee said that as a result of the lack of employment many deaf persons are stressed.

“A lot of deaf are stressed from not being able to get a job,” she told AW from the offices of her ears nose and throat specialist Dr Aye Hnin Thwin in Seymour Park two weeks ago.

“This leads to domestic violence. We see a lot of domestic violence taking place. It is really, really rough sometimes,” Lee added.

It was in Thwin’s office that AW learnt that Lee, who was born with cerebral palsy which affected her hearing, had a cochlear implant installed six years ago, allowing her to hear for the very first time in 40 years.

“The first day I went to the bathroom and turned on the pipe and I heard the water running, I was so frightened,” Lee said, using sign language.

“Now I can hear so much. I can hear the cat meow. I heard my nephew for the first time,” she said excitedly.

Thwin explained that the cochlear implant is an electronic device that is surgically implanted to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing, thus making persons able to hear themselves speak resulting in an improvement in their own speech.

Thwin said this surgery is the only one of its kind done in Jamaica. However, she was unsure if the cost was a deterrent set as it is at US$50,000 to US$60,000 or more than J$3.5 million.

However, Lee received the device as a gift from the makers overseas. Dr Howard Francis flew down from overseas to join Thwin and Dr Ediel Brown, senior medical officer at the Spanish Town Hospital, to perform the surgery at the Kingston Public Hospital.

“Those who are born deaf, a cochlear implant makes them able to hear,” Thwin said.

“So even if a child is born totally deaf, cochlear implant can make them grow up hearing and talking normally,” the doctor added.

But, she said, cochlear implant is a last resort since a hole has to be drilled in the skull behind the ear and the device pushed inside, thus damaging some of the nerves in the process. As a result, it is only recommended in extreme cases.

For Lee, it is one of the best things that has happened to her.

“It helps to build my confidence in some communication situation as there is lesser risk of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of information,” Lee said. “It has wonderful psychological benefits and fewer tendencies to withdraw in a shell of silence. There is a tremendous improvement in voice and speech quality.”

“Shirley is mentally very strong,” Thwin said. “She fights a lot; she has a very strong spirit.”

Lee laughed as she told of how she can now hear her own footsteps and the sound of raindrops and aeroplanes.

At the same time, she paid homage to all those who had encouraged her on her journey.

“I am forever grateful to my teachers and relatives who consistently encouraged me to read and write ever since my deafness was discovered,” Lee said.

She recalled with pleasure the “standing ovation and big bear hug” received from the chancellor at her graduation at the university.

“I successfully completed the requirements for the special education degree course in spite of some unexpected challenges encountered as a student with multiple disabilities,” Lee said.

Today, reading is her favourite hobby.

Lee also does inspirational public speaking and grasps every opportunity to speak at functions, churches, graduations, etc. Her sole objective, she said, is “helping needy people”.