New running kaki

Got an unexpected guest to join Moi for run yesterday. I have not meet Ariel for a long time because she was pursuing her degree in Australia and only came back 4 months ago. Hahahaha. How times flies. The little girl is back already. With a tiny frame and sweet face, she can still pass off as a teenager of as most 17yo. Kekeke! Guys, she is cute. =P

Ariel did well during her polytechnic and University IT studies. In fact, I recall she received an award in her polytechnic (Ngee Ann) for her outstanding results. She also has a good working attitude. But after back for 4 months, she is still doing free-lancing and not able to land herself a full-time job. Discrimination, misconception and non-accomodating are the reasons. Ariel has severe hearing loss in both her ears. Though she can articulate rather well, her funny accent might be a little difficult for comprehension for the hearing world. It might be a little difficult to talk to Ariel as you need to stand facing her so she can try to lip-read you and at times she might require you to put your words down on paper. She signs but it might be too much to ask the company to learn signing to accomodate her. But with today's technology advancement, face to face communication is not necesssary at many times. We can use email, msn, sms to chat and transfer information. Dumbers always think that Deaf people cant talk, they are mute and they are dumb. Most Deaf people can talk or articulate sounds. It's not clear and more difficult for them to pick up speech due to their inability to hear. Cover your ears and learn a new lanaguage and you know what i mean. Ariel is a university graduate. I got other friends with hearing loss who are lecturers, lawyers, copywriters, engineers. I definitely wont call them DUMB. But only few got matching jobs to their abilities. Only few companies are willing to make slight accomodations to allow them to work and to allow them to be on par.

The RUN is for creating awareness among Employers that Deaf can work and we hope society can accept and accomodate them. Well, Ariel did a good clocking for her first attempt at about 55minutes for 3-ish km. Kekeke! Better than Moi lah. And we are pairing up to go jogging more often from now. Hoooooooooo!! Ya...I am so F-I-T. ^_-)

Run Run Run...