At first glance, Wang Yitong seems to be a shy and excited girl typical of new comers to the university campus. But people notice some slight difference when talking with her. She listens to you with unusual attentiveness and when she speaks, you can discern some pronunciations that are not completely accurate.
Wang Yitong from Tianjin University’s Class of 2027 is a freshman in the Intelligent Manufacturing and Construction program. She has been dealing with hearing impairment since she was 14 months old and has overcome many challenges to fulfill her dream of going to college.
She started wearing hearing aids at the age of 4. In eighth grade, she almost completely lost her hearing. She received a cochlear implant in her right ear and continued to wear a hearing aid in her left ear as support. Despite these measures, her hearing can only reach 40% of what a normal person can hear. Her world consists of only two options: noise or silence.
“To speak fluently, I had to practice lip exercises for over an hour every day.” By relying on both listening and lip-reading, Wang successfully completed elementary school and junior high school and gained admission to Dalian No. 24 High School, one of the top high schools in her hometown of Dalian, Liaoning Province. However, the pandemic dealt her a heavy blow on her journey to higher education.
“We had to wear masks to stop virus spreading and the school switched to online classes for quite a while. These factors made it very hard for me to learn in class.” Facing the challenges, Wang Yitong didn’t back off.
She recorded the online classes and spent twice as much time as others in learning the lessons. “I listened again and again until I got the full meaning.” Hard work paid off. Wang Yitong ultimately achieved an excellent score of 648 in the college entrance examination, fulfilling her dream of studying mechanical engineering in her dream university -- Tianjin University.
“My interests in mechanical engineering started with a lecture given by Professor Chen Yan from Tianjin University’s School of Mechanical Engineering in high school. What a cool thing that I can study it!” Wang exclaimed. she chose 111 majors related to manufacturing out of the 112 majors listed for college application to make sure of the admission, and she succeeded.
The brand new college life has filled Wang Yitong with anticipation for the future. Her dream is to become an aerospace engineer or an intelligent manufacturing engineer. However, she does have some small concerns at the moment. For example, she worries about not being able to secure a front-row seat in class or being unable to hear the teacher clearly. She is also concerned about communication barriers that may hinder her interactions with classmates, as her hearing cannot adapt well to group discussions and team activities.
Yitong’s anxiety was soothed to a certain extent by the support of her new classmates and teachers. “I’m surrounded by a community of caring people. My roommates will wake me up in the morning because I can’t hear alarm clocks as I have to remove my hearing devices at night. My teachers are always ready to provide help to the best of their abilities in terms of accommodation and other aspects,” Wang said in an affectionate manner.
Wang Yitong also has a wide range of interests, including drawing, swimming, and playing badminton. “To do cool things in college” is her motto.
By Eva Yin
