you can see this picture is divided into
two sections one side is colorful while
the other side is just black and white
what do you think this means well
perhaps you are thinking of confusion
light versus dark happiness versus
sadness positivity versus negativity and
who might the goal be in this painting
well it’s me this is my self-portrait I
was born imperfect I was born with
profound hearing loss
I got fitted with hearing aids at the
age of nine months old however it wasn’t
beneficial for me at all eventually my
parents made the decision to get
cochlear implants for me at the age of
18 months old and here are two pictures
of me at that particular age the
petrodollar was taken right before I had
to cut my hair shaved in preparation for
the operation and the picture on the
right was taken a day after the
operation and a cochlear implant is
basically an electronic device that is
worn on the ear and replaces the
function of the damaged hair cells in
the cochlea organ to send sound signals
to the brain now this was a very brief
decision on my parents part at the time
considering that the technology was
still considered very new and not many
people were using it however they still
decided to go through with this brief
decision for my sake and what they
learned from that is we have to believe
Mick’s decision then we can see the
result not the other way around
which is the conventional wisdom seeing
is believing
so if it wasn’t for my parents making
this brief decision at the time I
wouldn’t be Who I am today so I am very
grateful to them
in fact you could say that I have the
best of both worlds I had the choice of
living in a world of silence or a world
of hearing which is shown in my
self-portrait and if you ask me which
one I prefer of course I would
definitely choose the world of sound so
what I enjoy about the world of sound is
being able to listen to music fully
experience movies and have proper
conversations with people now let’s look
at movies as an example what constitutes
the best movie experience you think of
movies like Jaws Titanic Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings Star Wars and many
others what are the different elements
that means you enjoy those particular
films it is not just the action and its
cinematography that make up a movie but
one of the most important things in a
movie is also the sound now how would
you feel if you were unable to hear let
me walk you through my experience in a
unique way which I think has never been
done before and that is through my
artworks with this I hope he will give
you a much clearer picture more
appreciation as well as be able to
connect with me on a more emotional
level on the journey that I am going
through the first phase is confusion so
this watercolor pencil painting the pits
confusion so here the focal point is the
boy who is standing in the middle of a
cloud and he stands out because he is
colored in black and white for the rest
of the cloud is colorful he also has an
expression and gesture of confusion and
this shows that without being able to
hear he is unable to comprehend what is
going on in his environment hence
leading
confusion then the next piece is
frustration so this second artwork
depicts frustration and clearly the boy
has an expression of frustration on his
face and even his hands are covering his
ears
there are also hands surrounding him and
pulling at him from all different
directions
this represents society’s expectations
in the background there’s also typically
seen silence all over it and even
creeping up along the boys clothes and
this also emphasizes further on his
toughness and naturally we have
isolation so here the boy is trapped in
the center of a spiral that is shaped
like a cochlea
there are also piano keys lining the
cochlea and this represents sound and
the boy being curled up in the center
and this cochlea shows just how isolated
he is from the sound surrounding him can
you feel the sadness emanating from this
painting
that’s exactly how it would feel if we
are without hearing now the process for
me to get to where I am today and be
able to talk to you all today was
definitely not an easy one so it may
seem natural and easy for normal hearing
people like you are for instance when
you were very young and just starting to
process sound and everything you are
able to automatically and easily recover
language well that’s not the case for me
in fact going through a cochlear implant
is right here in a very robotic sound
and this is an example of where the word
can anyone hear what this is yes of
course you can hear it but do you
understand it no right now this is the
original sentence the boy did a
handstand the boy did a handstand the
boy did a handstand so as you can see a
person with cochlear implant who will
not be able to actually hear right away
and it takes time and effort to be able
to learn to properly process and
comprehend the sentence now let me play
so clearly the process of learning to
turn this robotic sound into normal
sounds takes years of auditory verbal
habilitation starting from
identification of the sound vowels words
vocabularies sentences eventually
leading to communication so now I am
able to naturally and automatically
process
speech and sound since I’ve been wearing
cochlear implants for a very long time I
do not hear this robotic sound anymore
because my brain has a doctorate well to
it in addition I also use up our not
more brain power when it comes to
conversation with other people as it
requires extra focus and attention
however this has also become my
intrinsic advantage since I am able to
have a better concentration which leads
to me having a much longer attention
span as well as allowing me to build up
on a natural perseverance in the end I
was lucky enough to ask my mom who is
trained in special education guided me
throughout this whole process now what I
described can be summed up in this
painting so this piece shows the result
if we have hearing and don’t have
hearing so on the top part we have
hearing and verbal communication through
cochlear implants and on the bottom part
we have
language so with hearing and verbal
communication through cochlear implants
the possibilities are endless and that
is symbolized by the bird on the top
part but without hearing obviously sign
language would have to be the solution
however it has its own limitations since
not everyone knows sign language this
next piece shows the achievement of
attaining hearing and verbal
communication through cochlear implants
so it shows the boy running along a
music path with a galaxy in the
background and the cloud she symbolizes
unlimited possibilities in fact the sky
is only the beginning and the universe
is the limit so ultimately this painting
displays the endless possibilities that
can be achieved through hearing and
formal communication through cochlear
implants that is why I named this
painting you rivers you are the universe
so long story short today I am able to
turn my imperfection into a gift of
hearing with which I can help inspire
and give hope to the hearing impaired
community in Indonesia and beyond so my
role now is to be the advocate of
hearing employed individuals that can
live a life with a sense of purpose and
be a contributor to the family community
society nation and to the globe without
being a burden so I closed this talk
with my self-portrait which again has
given me the best of both worlds even
though I was born imperfect through this
I was able to connect with many
different people from all walks of life
such as parents of hearing-impaired
children doctors NGOs government
institutions even media exposure such as
magazines
TV interviews so I hope I’ve inspired
you today if I can do it so can you and
remember the sky is only the beginning
thank you very much [Applause]