Sierra Leonean Scientist, Amie Fornah Sankoh has become the first deaf black woman in the United States to graduate with a PhD in Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics.

Sankoh graduated from the University of Tennessee (UT) with a PhD in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology.

“There has been no easy path to this achievement, especially being disabled.

“I am considered disabled not because I am deaf but because of a society that treats deaf individuals a s unequal to hearing individuals,” Dr. Sankoh said.

Deaf and other people in Sierra Leone often complain of being treated unequal but Sankoh’s achievement is said to set the pace for other disabled people in the country.

The country has a single deaf school located close to the Military Headquarters on Wilkinson.

Most pupils at the school end up attending other public secondary schools not meant for kids with special needs.