Defying all impediments,Asha remains a hope

Alpana Aktar Asha, 16, an intermediate first year student of Kahaloo Women’s Degree College, continues her study defying hearing and speech impairment.
Eldest of three children of Shah Alam, a small trader of Nalgharia village in Kahaloo upazila under Bogra district, Asha passed the SSC examinations in 2013 with GPA-3.44 (B grade) from Panchpir Girls’ High School in the same upazila.
She can learn fast by reading the lessons in her books and write the answers well although she cannot hear instructions in the class, said her classmates, teachers and parents.
Shahnaj Sharmin, English teacher of the college, said, “I have found Asha good at learning. She can write after reading a lesson although she can neither speak nor hear the instructions in the class.”
“My daughter is regular in study and homework and she can be taught to do different works through instructions with signals,” said her mother Salma Begum.
“A few days after she was born, she showed some problematic symptoms, often crying long hours. Three months later, she received treatment from a doctor of a private clinic in Bogra town and got cured.
“A local health worker detected Asha’s hearing and speech impairment when she was one and a half years old. She was treated in Bogra and Naogaon towns where doctors suggested us to arrange her treatment in the capital. But we could not do it due to financial problem,” she said.
Salma urged the affluent and benevolent people of the society to help for early treatment of her daughter.
Dr Rafiqul Islam, assistant professor of child department of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital, suggested consulting with an ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist soon for diagnosis and treatment of Asha.