by Yusuf Mohammed Lawan, Gombe
10th August, 2025g
The immediate past National President of Nigerian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) Hon. Dr. Chidi Topaz Olujie has deeply reflected on his journey into Deafhood life, his funny experience as a Deaf corp member in Minna, Niger State, as well as what life as a Deaf corper has taught him as a person.
The former NNAD's top-notch leader recalled how Providence has brought him deeply into an unusual kind of confrontations with his fellow corp members and some of the soldiers attached as their trainers in the NYSC orientation camp he attended after his first degree programme.
He wrote,"Let me say this clearly: I'm completely fine with people knowing I'm Deaf. No pity. No awkwardness. No helpunless I ask. It's simple. I can't hear well, and that's all there is to it"
Delving further into his funny NYSC campexperience, Dr. Olujie narrated how he unsuccessfully made several bold attempts to let the whole world to appreciate his unique nature as a Deaf and his being equal with everyone around him as an undisputed human being like anyone else.
Henoted, "I wanted to prove myself first, to march like everyone else before revealing my deafness"
"But when corpers called me and I didn't respond (because I couldn't heart hem), they thought I was being rude"
"I made many enemies without saying a word" he lamented groughly.
He added, "during drills, I did well in the front row, lipreading the soldier's commands. But when one soldier yelled from behind me and I didn't respond correctly, he thought I was being stubborn. Just as he was about to punish me, a classmate from another platoons poke up:"He's Deaf. He can't hear you."
And Then It All Ends Well:
Being the only Deaf corper in a camp that housed over a thousand souls is not something one can easily contend with without facing an unbearable challenges, and so Dr. Chidi paid the same price and embrace the same treatment anyone else in his position could face. Fortunately for him the bitter pills eventually turns out to be sweet pizza in the sense that the soldiers who initially had no idea how to deal with their strange friend eventually "started communicating differently"
"The corpers who had given me unfriendly looks came to apologize" he recalled
"I not only made it to the final march, I even shook hands with the Niger State Governor"the triumphant Dr.Chidi added.
Learning A Life-Changing Lessons that count:
For Dr. Chidi, the experience garnered in the Minna NYSC Camp had definitely taught him great life-changing lessons he could not forget in his entire life journey on earth.
According to him , he learned that "Deafness is invisible until communication happens. Hiding it causes problems. Accepting it helps people understand"
He also come to term up with the unadulterated fact that being called with the word"Deaf "isn't a bad word or name".It simply defines someone who can not hear well, and that'sall there is to" he concluded.
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