Sri Lanka’s first ever sign language journalist Suranga Udari made her debut recently with a report on the coastal region in Galle. Udari dealt with pollution, an issue that had affected the country in spite of promises made by successive governments to tackle it. It was Sri Lanka’s first ever sign language report.

Suranga Udari was born deaf, but loved journalism. She wanted to become a journalist from a very young age. She was nominated by her fellow employees at the Sri Lanka Central Federation of the Deaf to participate in a five-day intensive residential training camp conducted by Vibrant Voices; a programme dedicated to support organizations that work for marginalized communities. The programme supported Udari in realizing her dreams of becoming a journalist through its weekly news magazine “MediaCorps Watch.” The news magazine featured Udari’s first ever news report on the 1st of January 2021, following which she was extended an invitation to work as a journalist in one of the leading News organizations in Sri Lanka.

“I have five siblings, two of them are deaf. My parents can both hear so can my three other siblings. Growing up it was incredibly difficult for me to learn from a school that is equipped for hearing children. However, I was determined to learn, signed Suranga Udari who was assisted by a sign language interpreter at the Sri Lanka Central Federation of the Deaf, Janaka Ranasinghe. She signed “I sometimes had to copy notes from hearing children in order to learn a certain subject when I was in school, it wasn’t easy. But my parents took a major role in teaching and guiding me in my learning process”, she signed.

Suranga Udari, a resident of Ahangama, worked as a Graphic Designer for seven years after completing her formal education up to the G.C.E Ordinary Level at the Shariputhra College Ahangama, Galle, and completing a year-long diploma in Computer Software at Lake House. She signed that she was never the one to be discouraged by any of the challenges she had to face in life as she has always been inspired to become a journalist. Despite her passion and interest in the field of media and journalism, becoming a part of a media organization, let alone a journalist, was out of reach for Udari as she was never given an opportunity to pursue a career in journalism.

Stephanie Lazarus, Programme Coordinator, SDJF (Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum) told The Island the outfit was glad it was able to help Udari.

 As per the Department of Census and Statistics’ 2012 report – the latest report in the public domain – Sri Lanka has a deaf population of more than 400,000. The community faces many obstacles in having access to quality formal education, employment opportunities and obtaining a driving license to facilitate their own travel.

At a time when digital literacy is considered as one of the main tools needed to learn and communicate, people with disabilities, including the members of the deaf community, are not provided with the specialized technical support by any government or non-government organization to adapt to the new normal.

Join the conversation and let us know what you think about the current structures in place to help people with disabilities by sending us an email to:  mediacorpwatch@gmail.com.

For more information:  www.ldjf.org | Facebook : Facebook/ MediaCorps watch