Pretty lady becomes first black deaf person to receive a Ph.D. in Canada

Jenelle Rouse has achieved roaring success as the first black deaf person to receive a Ph.D. in Canada.

A Canadian applied linguistics researcher and body-movement dance artist, Rouse made history in 2020 bagging a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario.

Before her Ph.D. in 2020, Rouse got her Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics in Education from the University of Western Ontario in 2016.

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She also completed the Deaf and Hard Hearing Teacher Education Program at York University in Canada in 2008.

Rouse has for over a decade been an educator at a bilingual school for the deaf in Ontario.

As an applied linguistics researcher and a body-movement dance artist, she tells stories through contemporary body movements.

Newsonyx reports that beyond her advocacy for deaf children to learn sign language, she is also encouraging more people to learn.

She also passionately takes sign language in theater performances she participates in.

Rouse joins an elite league of extraordinary Black Deaf scholars with doctorate degrees, including; Dr. Alesia Allen, Dr. Opeoluwa Sotonwa, Dr. Onudeah Nicolarakis, Dr. Rezenet Moges-Riedel, and Dr. Slemo Warigon.

There are about 20 Black deaf scholars, according to Described and Captioned Media Program.

As per Newsonyx, the first Shirley Allen is the first Black Deaf woman in the U.S. to earn her doctorate.

She did so in 1992 with a Ph.D. in education from the University of Rochester.

She earned her Master’s degree at Howard University and a Bachelor’s degree from Gallaudet University.

37-year-old mother of four returns to classroom

In another news, a 37-year-old woman has defied all odds and returned to the classroom despite having four children already.

The woman, Precious Chioma Ugokwe, returned to junior secondary school in 2018 to be in the same class as her daughter.

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Her firm resolve finally paid off after she eventually graduated from senior secondary school, and she now wants to proceed to study law.