Ally Prasitdamrong has just begun her university studies, albeit virtually, and she’s inspired to be a speech and language therapist because of the help she received.
“Growing up, I learned to appreciate all the opportunities presented to me, made possible by the different people in my life. Notwithstanding my parents, they are the itinerant teachers of the deaf, speech language therapists and audiologists, to name a few,” Ally says.
“Collectively, they have made it possible for me to achieve some of my goals to date and they are the inspiration for me to pay it forward by giving back to those in need regardless of circumstances. “Listening to my mother retell one of the many stories of sessions I had with my speech and language therapist when I was two and how they persevered with me to produce one ‘sound’ inspired me to pursue this qualification,” Ally says.
She accepted a place on the four year honours course of Bachelor of Speech and Language Therapy at the Massey University Albany campus. When Covid-19 permits, probably for the second semester, Ally looks forward to moving into the hall of residence at her university campus in Auckland where she hopes to meet lots of new people.
In the meantime, she’s studying online from home in Palmerston North. Ally’s keen on the clinical practice and placements in the community that will come later in her course. She was born and raised in Palmerston North, loving her years at Palmerston North Girls High School and enjoying being a busy teenager. Ally had the opportunity to experience school leadership, giving back and serving the school community.
In her final year, she was elected as the Board of Trustees student representative and the social sciences prefect. Ally was also selected to be the leader of the makeup team for the annual combined school musical production between Palmerston North Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools. Ally started music lessons from the age of five, playing the piano and the violin. Though she prefers the piano, nothing beats her passion for dance.
Ally Prasitdamrong
“My mom got me into ballet lessons at four to improve my balance due to my other medical condition at birth, but that sparked my love and passion for dance. Hence, I’ve been dancing since. In the last two years I’ve been coaching and choreographing dance at school for the annual DanceNZMade competitions.”
Ally had her first cochlear implant surgery when she was 21 months old and her second one when she was 24 months old. She was born profoundly deaf and also had another medical condition called delayed myelination which meant she had delayed milestones for walking and speech development.
The challenges Ally overcame as a child with the help of physical therapy and speech therapy did not hold her back. “I really enjoyed high school. It was a fun time in my life. What made it even better was my friends that were there with me and supported me,” she says.
Ally has experienced some prejudice relating to her cochlear implants. A relieving teacher once mistook them for earbud headphones and said she didn’t need them and to take them off. A customer in a shop where she was employed noticed the implants and told her that if she couldn’t hear his request, she had no business working there.
She decided to channel her anger and frustration to focus on raising awareness of cochlear implants and is now working on designing a website to help others. “I’m working on a project where I’d like to create a service for the hearing impaired, children or adults all around New Zealand so they have a platform to ask questions or just share their experiences and give advice to others.
“I do think it’s really important to continue to raise awareness about cochlear implants because I don’t think many New Zealanders actually know what they are,” Ally says. “So I think that’s a mission for myself to raise more awareness about it. I’m slowly working through it and all going well, I hope to publish my website sometime this year.” She has tentatively called the platform Hear Me. “Bad memories teach me lessons, especially how to be resilient. You have to kind of keep on moving because life and the world doesn’t stop for you.”
Ally was awarded the 2022 Southern Hearing Charitable Trust Scholarship for tertiary education.
Each year the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust Scholarship for tertiary education worth $5,000 is awarded. It is proudly sponsored by Forsyth Barr. To be eligible, applicants must have permanent hearing loss using a cochlear implant or hearing aids and be enrolled in a NZQA endorsed course or trades training qualification.
Ally Prasitdamrong