Nguyen Ngoc Thai

Place Vietnam

Project NBD

Gender Male

Thai was born deaf. His mother discovered his disability when he was 2 years old. Thai was sent to many different places for treatment but the problem still remained the same. His family was left feeling hopeless. Thai and his parents lived next to the school and would watch children going to study and learn daily. His parents were often concerned about how Thai’s future and how they would understand and share with him. They were afraid that he would be sad because of having no friends. Initially, his parents sent him to a public school to try to integrate Thai with hearing children. He studied up to grade 3 but there was not teacher for the deaf. Like so many deaf children, Thai went to school and wrote like the other children but he didn’t understand what he was writing. Now Thai is happy, cheerful, and learning a great deal. He is good at math and helps his friends. He is learning to keep things clean and tidy. Thai likes arm wrestling and watching Superman and Kung Fu movies. His parents are farmers and they often plant watermelon to sale. Thai loves coming to school and is a good student.