Solomon Elusoji
Adeyinka Adegbenro wasn’t born deaf. She was 20, a fresh university graduate when she developed a swelling along the right side of her face. The swelling subsided but, one morning, she woke up and the world was silent.
Since she had already acquired language proficiency, it wasn’t too difficult for her to start lip-reading when people speak. But it’s difficult being a deaf person in Nigeria, as she was soon about to find out.
For a start, Adeyinka lives in Lagos, a city with one of the most chaotic transport systems in the world. “Leaving the house and going out is usually very stressful, especially when I am visiting a place for the first time,” she wrote in a 2018 blog post. At the bus-stop, she can’t hear what the bus conductors are saying. And when there is a rush for buses, as is common in Lagos, especially during peak traffic hours, she is almost always the last to leave the bus-stop.
Adeyinka Adegbenro wasn’t born deaf. She was 20, a fresh university graduate when she developed a swelling along the right side of her face. The swelling subsided but, one morning, she woke up and the world was silent.
Since she had already acquired language proficiency, it wasn’t too difficult for her to start lip-reading when people speak. But it’s difficult being a deaf person in Nigeria, as she was soon about to find out.
For a start, Adeyinka lives in Lagos, a city with one of the most chaotic transport systems in the world. “Leaving the house and going out is usually very stressful, especially when I am visiting a place for the first time,” she wrote in a 2018 blog post. At the bus-stop, she can’t hear what the bus conductors are saying. And when there is a rush for buses, as is common in Lagos, especially during peak traffic hours, she is almost always the last to leave the bus-stop.