Thriving as a Deaf chemistry PhD student

I was born profoundly Deaf to Deaf parents who moved from Pakistan to America before my birth. My sister is also Deaf. As a family we all speak Pakistani Sign Language, which I am fluent in as well as American Sign Language (ASL).

Growing up attending a Deaf school in Massachusetts I had no interest in science until middle school. There, a Deaf science teacher taught me in sign language. Chemistry was very visual, and that’s when it became clear that I was passionate about science. Later, at a mainstream high school with hearing peers, there were more opportunities to dive into chemistry, including organic chemistry, which for me was fascinating and intuitive.