Hearing & speech impaired sports star from Villupuram seeks support to pursue higher education
VILLUPURAM: Scoring 238 marks out of 400 in class 10, Villupuram’s star athlete R Subashree (16) - a girl with disability - is on the search for technical support for continuing higher studies, as she is unable to comprehend conventional chalkboard teaching at her school - MRIC Municipal School in Villupuram.
Subashree was born with a disability to hear and speak, but was not put up in a special school due to the poor economic condition of her family, her father R Rajarathinam said. “She was admitted to a general school with other children and the teachers took extra care to make her understand the concepts,” he said.
Subashree is a star athlete who has won gold medals at state and national sports events. She aspires to compete in the Olympics. However, her aspirations are equally important in academics. “I need some gadgets and tech-aid to learn concepts better in classes 11 and 12. I can only understand if teachers take extra efforts to teach me,” she told TNIE through sign language.
Her mother G Poonkodi said, “We don’t have tuition centres for special kids. But there are plenty of materials available online to understand the lessons. So, some technical support from the government will be more useful for her higher education.”