Jiang Mengnan, a beautiful girl born in Mangshan, Yizhang County, Hunan Province, lost her hearing in both ears when she was half a year old, but she had to go to school with normal children. Over the years, she has overcome the obstacles caused by deafness and worked hard with perseverance beyond ordinary people. In May 2018, after being admitted as a doctoral candidate by the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University, she continued to work to popularize the concept of accessibility to teachers, students and the public inside and outside the university, and to promote the construction of a barrier-free environment...
On March 3, 2022, Jiang Mengnan was honorably elected as the "2021 Moving China Person of the Year"!
"Moving China's 2021 Person of the Year" Jiang Mengnan
She was able to miraculously do all this because she was fortunate to have a pair of teacher parents who never gave up, especially her mother Jiang Wenge, an ordinary and unusually tough rural teacher. After the cuckoo's blood-like pain, she fed her daughter like a swallow and raised her daughter with deep maternal love. She not only taught her daughter to read lip language, but also taught her to speak, and what is more valuable is that she trained her daughter to be self-reliant from an early age, to step on the road in the thorns, and finally achieved extraordinary results! The power of maternal love is indestructible, and with her, the stone can sing and the iron tree can blossom!
01
Unwillingly, the elf fell into a silent world
In the summer of 1992, in Yizhang County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, in the vast Yao Nationality Township of Mangshan Mountain, a loud baby cry broke through the air, bringing infinite surprises to Zhao Changjun, a teacher at Mangshan NationalIties Middle School, and Jiang Wenge and his wife, who gave their daughter a poetic name: Jiang Mengnan.
Before Jiang Mengnan was half a year old, whenever the bell rang between classes, she danced with her hands and feet, and her mouth emitted a cry of joy. She is a favorite elf of teachers and students. Zhao Changjun said to his wife that Mengnan's movements are so coordinated, and he will become a dancer in the future. Jiang Wenge said, no, she will become a singer! The couple happily carried the bar. In fact, they all believe in their hearts that their daughter's safe and healthy growth is the greatest blessing. But fate played a cruel joke on them.
When Xiao Mengnan was half a year old, her parents happened to go to Chenzhou to take care of her sick grandfather, so they asked her grandmother to take care of her on her behalf. Who knows, Xiao Mengnan has a high fever of 39 ° C, and her grandmother took her to the rural clinic for more than ten days of hanging needles. After the daughter's fever subsided, the careful Jiang Wenge found that her daughter was wrong, and she took the enamel basin and knocked her daughter's ear, and Xiao Mengnan did not respond. Fear gripped Jiang Wenge's heart tightly. Zhao Changjun had heard of cases of deafness caused by drugs, and he was also anxious to have no master.
In the summer of 1993, Zhao Changjun and his wife carried Xiao Mengnan to the city hospital for examination, and the doctor gave a unanimous diagnosis: the child has hearing impairment! Zhao Changjun held his daughter in one hand and his wife in the other, and walked out of the hospital in a daze, he comforted his wife: "Let's go to the province, the big hospital will always have a way." ”
Subsequently, they came to Changsha Xiangya Hospital and Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital. The doctor once again gave a definitive diagnosis: Mengnan did not elicit a reaction wave of 135 decibels, which is extremely severe neuropathic deafness, and the current medical technology is powerless against this deafness! Jiang Wenge immediately collapsed on the ground, and when she came back, her daughter was stroking her face with her small hand. After hugging his daughter, Jiang Wenge cried silently.
At the Provincial Children's Hospital, they wanted to buy a hearing aid for their daughter, and the doctor kindly dissuaded: Mengnan did not elicit a reaction wave on 135 decibels, and the hearing aid did not mean much to her. But Zhao Changjun and his wife insisted on spending two months' salary to buy a domestic hearing aid. Jiang Wenge stuffed the hearing aid into his daughter's ear, and before long, the tender skin around her ear was worn out. Fortunately, soon Xiao Mengnan adapted and no longer moved. Jiang Wenge used a tape recorder to play various sounds, but Xiao Mengnan still did not react at all.
In order to understand their daughter's condition, the couple bought a large number of relevant books to study carefully, hoping to find a way out of it. They kept talking in front of their daughter every day, constantly making her shout "Daddy, Mommy", but Xiao Mengnan opened her ignorant eyes and was overwhelmed. At that time, "Qigong" therapy was popular, and Zhao Changjun invited one "Qigong master" to treat his daughter, but it had no effect. Subsequently, they asked the "famous teacher" to do acupuncture therapy for her daughter, and Xiao Mengnan was pierced with unbearable pain and sweating. Mother and daughter connected their hearts, and Jiang Wenge felt that his heart was crushed again and again, and he was stitched together again and again.
During the winter vacation of 1994, a family of three came to Beijing with their bags. They did not expect that the winter in Beijing was so cold, and the three of them put on all the clothes they had brought, still trembling. What makes them even more chilling is that the most authoritative PLA General Hospital, Union Hospital, Tongren Hospital and China-Japan Friendship Hospital in the industry have all concluded to Xiao Mengnan that organ development is normal, chromosomes are normal, and extremely severe neurotic deafness caused by high fever cannot be treated. The cold wind whistled outside, and Zhao Changjun and his wife silently packed their bags and prepared to go home. Xiao Mengnan played with herself on the edge of the bed, and her ball rolled into the distance.
At this time, a vague voice for help came from her mouth, clearly calling "Mother". Zhao Changjun and Jiang Wenge were stunned, and Jiang Wenge hurriedly crouched down and said to his daughter, "Call Mom, Mom!" Xiao Mengnan looked at her mother in shock. Jiang Wenge put his daughter's small hand on his throat as usual, making her feel the vibration of her vocal cords and saying "Mother" over and over again. "Ma-Ma-Ma-", vague but so pleasant, as if the stone broke the sky, like the loud baby cry in the mountains two years ago, Xiao Mengnan shouted out the first "Mother" that was the most important in her life!
Jiang Wengeqiang suppressed tears and guided his daughter to shout to herself again. Xiao Mengnan seemed to be trying to make her mother happy, "Mom! Mom! "Shout louder than ever!" Zhao Changjun forgot to pack his luggage and looked at his ecstatic wife and happy daughter with tears in his eyes, he crouched down and hugged his wife and daughter. After their daughter fell ill, in the cold of more than 20 degrees below zero in Beijing, they felt the spring of life for the first time.
"Mother", which is the only word common in the world, comes out of Xiao Mengnan's mouth, but it has an extraordinary meaning. On this day, Zhao Changjun and his wife's hearts surged with infinite reverie - the daughter who grew up sweetly called out to her parents and revealed the fragrance of human language.
This is both a luxury and a hope. Heaven forbid! Xiao Mengnan's deafness treatment is hopeless, but there is hope for speech rehabilitation!
02
Seeing your voice, the fragrance of maternal love between your lips and teeth is overflowing
After returning to his home at Mangshan National Middle School, Zhao Changjun and his wife agreed to take their daughter with them no matter how busy they were. They read a lot of educational and medical materials and understand that their daughter's enlightenment period is crucial and must not be missed.
Most children have done a "wow wow" mini-game with their parents – slapping their open mouths with their palms and making a "wah-wah" sound. Xiao Mengnan is no exception, but she always only has the action of clapping her mouth, and she cannot make any sound in her mouth.
Jiang Wenge was heartbroken, she put on a hearing aid for her daughter, and while demonstrating to her daughter, she put her daughter's hand on her throat, so that her daughter could feel the trembling of her vocal cords, so that her daughter could understand that only when the vocal cords vibrated could she make a sound. She repeated the "wow wow" action over and over again, one day, two days, three days... Finally, Xiao Mengnan's throat made an "aaaah" sound.
Jiang Wenge excitedly picked up his daughter and rushed to her husband's office, shouting: "Mengnan will play wow wow!" Several colleagues applauded. Xiao Mengnan "played wow wow" even more vigorously. Mr. and Mrs. Jiang Wenge realized that the training of their daughter must be repeated and encouraged appropriately.
Every day when they return home from work, Zhao Changjun and his wife divide labor and cooperate, he is responsible for cooking, and Jiang Wenge is responsible for taking his daughter. Jiang Wenge hugged his daughter and let her sit on her legs with her back to her chest, and the two faced a large mirror in front of them, so that Xiao Mengnan could clearly see the shape of her mother's mouth in the mirror. Jiang Wenge took the book and slowly read it to his daughter word by word, so that she could see the lip shape of her mother's pronunciation of each word.
In fact, Jiang Wenge himself did not know whether it was useful to do so. This is a "protracted battle" with no chance of winning, and "persistence" is their only weapon. Sometimes after an hour or two, Jiang Wenge's voice was dumb and he didn't want to say another word, but his daughter was still full of interest, she could only make a lip shape without making a sound, and Xiao Mengnan could also understand it.
Jiang Wenge held her daughter when she had time, and when she was outdoors, she said anything to her when she saw it, hating that she couldn't give her daughter the rhyme of the whole world, just so that Xiao Mengnan could open her mouth and say a few words. Cold and summer, Xiao Mengnan slowly got used to her mother's "lip language", the mother's love flowing between the lips and teeth, the fragrance overflowed, nourishing her all the time, wrapping her.
A miracle finally came. Under the unremitting efforts of her mother, Xiao Mengnan constantly tried and made mistakes, constantly corrected her pronunciation with the encouragement of her parents, and she spoke almost synchronously like a normal child. Although she said "flower" as "haha" and "rain" as "ha five", to her parents, every small sound of hers was like a natural sound.
When he was a child, Jiang Mengnan was with his parents
One day in the summer of 1995, Jiang Wenge taught his daughter to spell the "P" in front of a mirror. For a long time, they have been worried about Xiao Mengnan's inaccurate pronunciation, because if the pronunciation is not accurate, there is no meaning in speaking. Later they found that learning pinyin was the best way. But the pronunciation of this "P" has been learned for a whole month, and my daughter still can't pronounce it correctly. Jiang Wenge did not give up, teaching his daughter over and over again.
Suddenly, Xiao Mengnan's body was crooked and he fell into Jiang Wenge's arms. Jiang Wenge hurriedly picked up his daughter, and the couple took her to the hospital overnight, only to learn that the daughter was suffering from otitis media and was accompanied by dizziness. Jiang Wenge felt sorry for his daughter, beat himself on the head, and cried loudly. Zhao Changjun took his wife into his arms and humorously comforted her: "Wife, in fact, you are the most responsible mother in the world, if there is a Nobel Mother Prize, it is none other than you." Only then did Jiang Wenge's mood stabilize.
When carrying his wife on his back, Zhao Changjun shed tears, he was distressed by his wife's fatigue, and he was even more distressed about his daughter's condition. Xiao Mengnan's symptoms of otitis media and vertigo continued to recur, until the end of 1995, a family of three came to the Institute of Otology of Beijing Tongren Hospital, and after expert consultation, it was completely cured.
Rural teachers have a meager income, and in the past few years, the cost of running and treating their daughters has been huge, and Zhao Changjun and his wife are worried about money all the time, and they have tried all kinds of ways to open up and reduce expenditure, but they still owe a lot of foreign debt. In this case, in the summer of 1997, they still rushed to Beijing with their daughter and purchased a pair of imported hearing aids for her for 4,000 yuan.
Once, there was no rice in the house, and Jiang Wenge, who only had 2 yuan in his pocket, was embarrassed to tell the boss who sold rice, and she had a clever move and said to the boss: "I will buy two yuan of rice to go back and try it, and then buy a bag when it is delicious." In order to survive, Zhao Changjun had to put down his face again to borrow money from his friends. Chinese New Year's Eve approaching, in order not to disappoint his mother who lives in the countryside, Zhao Changjun had to find a friend to borrow 100 yuan to send to his mother.
In those years, in order to save money, Zhao Changjun never went to a barbershop, and it was Jiang Wenge who gave him a haircut. One day, Jiang Wenge shed tears while cutting her husband's hair. Zhao Changjun asked his wife what was wrong, and Jiang Wenge choked up and said, "People in their thirties, so many white hair..." Zhao Changjun quipped: "Doesn't this just show that Teacher Zhao is knowledgeable?" Jiang Wenge cried even more. For many days and nights, Zhao Changjun held his daughter, carried his bags, and crossed the mountains and mountains to see a doctor. At home, he toiled hard to take care of the housework, and before dawn, he carried a hoe to the vegetable field to grow vegetables, just to save money to buy vegetables.
Poverty did not crush Zhao Changjun and his wife, and their spiritual world was incomparably rich. The house was full of books, and Xiao Mengnan could get them at his fingertips. Because in the future, the daughter will not be able to hear the teacher's voice in the classroom, in order to let the daughter enroll like a normal child, the couple will focus on cultivating her self-learning ability.
While training their daughter's ability to "read lips", they worked hard to cultivate her habit of self-taught reading. To train their daughters to recognize changes in other people's lips, they regularly let their daughters watch TV shows with subtitles every day. Slowly, Xiao Mengnan was able to read her parents' lips and communicate with her parents freely; although it was very slow to "talk" with others, if she could see the lip shape and the other party spoke slowly, there was not much obstacle.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Mengnan was 6 years old, and Zhao Changjun and his wife took their daughter to the local primary school with a nervous mood and wanted to let their daughter enroll. Based on Xiao Mengnan's hearing condition, almost all the teachers present suggested that they postpone their coming back for a year, and the couple also thought it made sense. When Xiao Mengnan went again at the age of 7, the teachers still had concerns, because the student's grades were linked to the teacher's assessment, so Xiao Mengnan was required to study as an auditor, and her test results were not counted in the class results.
What was surprising was that Xiao Mengnan actually took the first place in the exam every time, and the teachers felt incredible. They did not know that in order to keep up with the progress of her daughter's studies, Jiang Wenge borrowed primary school textbooks and helped her daughter prepare over and over again, and the few words she said most to her daughter were: "Stupid birds fly first" and "Early birds have insects to eat"...
In this way, he insisted on it for three years, and Xiao Mengnan was the first in the annual examination. When his daughter entered the fourth grade, Jiang Wenge asked the school to convert her daughter into a regular student. But Teacher Ke Ren said that the fourth grade was a turning point, and he was afraid that Jiang Mengnan would not be able to keep up. Jiang Wenge's eyes were red, and she leaned down and asked her daughter, "Are you confident that you will continue to be the first?" Xiao Mengnan wanted to become a formal student too much, she nodded vigorously, and said incoherently but firmly: "I have confidence!" Soon, Xiao Mengnan took the first place again and successfully transferred to a regular student. After finishing the fourth grade, she jumped straight to the sixth grade, and her grades were still at the top.
In order to exercise his daughter's writing ability, Jiang Wenge often "pen chats" with his daughter. A family of three sits around a table while writing jokes on paper to see who writes the fastest and funniest. In this way, Xiao Mengnan can accurately convey emotions with words, and write quickly and well. The ability to express herself in words gave her a pair of athletic wings and allowed her to soar freely in the silent world.
Soon to graduate from primary school, Zhao Changjun and his wife want to leave their daughter around to attend junior high school so that it is easy to take care of. Xiao Mengnan wanted to take the exam. Jiang Wenge has confidence in her daughter's learning ability, but her daughter can't hear it, and it is obviously difficult to adapt to the life of leaving her parents, and she is more worried about her daughter's travel safety. Xiao Mengnan said: "Mom, I don't want to stay here forever, because there is no scenery in a familiar place." "You left your parents, who took care of you?" "I can take care of myself, let me give it a try." Jiang Wenge consulted with her husband, and Zhao Changjun said: "She has her own ideas, which is very valuable." After all, the child has to live independently, and we can't care for her for a lifetime. ”
Jiang Wenge cried, and her dedication to her daughter was ten million times more than that of the mother of a normal child! She also thought that her daughter would one day travel alone, and every time she thought about it, her heart was like a pain. But growing up is inherently painful, the daughter is growing, and the mother should grow. Late at night, Jiang Wenge went to his daughter's bed and said softly to her sleeping daughter: "Child, go fly, your mother will not leave you, you belong to the wider world." ”
03
Folding wings also has to fly, and the scenery from above is so magnificent
In August 2004, Xiao Mengnan was admitted to Chenzhou City Key Junior High School - Chenzhou No. 6 Middle School foreign selection examination second place. At 5 a.m. one day at the end of August, the family of three carried their bags to the county seat and then transferred to the city. They walked through the wild mountains in the morning light. In the past years, in order to treat my daughter's illness, how many times did I rush to the road like this, covered with dew...
After Jiang Mengnan entered junior high school, the "lip reading" ability and self-study habits formed in previous years made her study not difficult. In the first few days of school, Jiang Wenge did not return home, secretly hiding in the corner of the campus, observing his daughter's every move from a distance. Jiang Mengnan seemed to sense her mother's presence, and she suddenly turned her head to find her mother looking at herself behind the green belt.
Jiang Mengnan ran over excitedly and pounced into his mother's arms. Jiang Wenge's eyes were red and he stroked his daughter's shoulder. Jiang Mengnan said mischievously: "Mother, don't you want me to be?" Don't cry your nose. Jiang Wenge wiped his tears with embarrassment: "Mother will look at you and you will leave." Jiang Mengnan squeezed his mother's hand like a little adult: "I went to class, you go home, pay attention to safety on the road, don't let me worry." ”
On the bus home, Jiang Wenge's eyes were wet all the time. This time, the daughter really set off alone, and her parents could only silently gaze at her fading back, from then on the mountain was far away, only love followed.
In junior high school, the school stipulated that students could not bring mobile phones, but gave Jiang Mengnan a "green light" to allow her to use them. Every day, she had to text her mother, talking about what she had seen at school, about her studies, and her little secrets. Jiang Wenge found that her daughter had a problem learning English, because she had never learned English when she was in elementary school in Mangshan, but her classmates in Chenzhou Sixth Middle School had learned it, so she had a hard time learning, especially spoken Language. She was so strong that she did not want the teacher to see her embarrassment, desperately taught herself English, and asked her classmates for advice and pondered English pronunciation.
Jiang Wenge found the class teacher, grateful for Jiang Mengnan's tenacity, the class teacher arranged the front seat for her, so that she could clearly see the teacher's mouth shape, and often reminded other teachers to try to be within Jiang Mengnan's line of sight when walking around in class, and not to unconsciously cover her mouth with a book so that she could read her lips. During the English speaking test, the teacher reads it to her alone. In this way, Jiang Mengnan's English scores finally caught up.
In June 2007, Jiang Mengnan was facing the middle school entrance examination, and in the English oral examination, the school set up a love examination room for her alone. CCTV and other media have reported on the matter. Facing the cameras of the reporters, Jiang Mengnan was focused and calm. In the end, she was admitted to several key middle schools in Chenzhou City with a grade of 7 A.S. Subsequently, as a special student, she chose Chenzhou Star School to study.
In the high school stage, Jiang Mengnan's self-reliance has also been praised by teachers, and the teachers took care of her lip reading during lectures, and Jiang Mengnan did not pull down a single lesson. In June 2010, when Jiang Mengnan took the college entrance examination and wrote an essay on the language test, she wrote about the hardships of her parents taking her to treat the disease, and she was excited and tearful, and the result was that the essay ran off topic, and the language test failed, with a total score of 573 points, although it exceeded a line of 2 points, but it did not reach her expected goal. Jiang Mengnan, who was so strong, made the decision to re-read.
Jiang Wenge was distressed by his daughter. Normal children experience a college entrance examination is "broken bones", not to mention Jiang Mengnan, who has no hearing. She said to her daughter: "Child, I don't want you to live too hard, and now you can't go to college..." Jiang Mengnan said seriously: "I can't choose a healthy body, but in the matter of going to college, I want to have more choices." Rest assured, Dad, Mom, your ugly duckling has turned into a cygnet, and I will fly higher! Jiang Wenge smiled tearfully. My daughter really grew up, she knew how to make trade-offs, she knew how to retreat into progress, and she could indeed fly higher.
In June 2011, Jiang Mengnan took the college entrance examination for the second time, scored a high score of 615 points, and was admitted to the School of Pharmacy of Jilin University. She told her parents: "I was poisoned by drugs since I was a child and became deaf, and I want to learn pharmacy well so that more children will not be able to repeat my tragedy." ”
Mom and Dad, I love you guys!
After entering Jilin University, Jiang Mengnan won the university-level scholarship for three consecutive years, the Dongrong Scholarship for two consecutive years, and also won the honorary titles of "Bethune Medical" Scholarship, 2015 Self-Reliance College Pacesetter, and Outstanding University Graduate. After that, Jiang Mengnan was admitted to his alma mater, Jilin University, as a graduate student, majoring in computer-aided drug design.
Jiang Mengnan is grateful for the care of her alma mater and works harder. In May 2018, an exciting news came: Jiang Mengnan was admitted as a doctoral student by the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University! The campus of Jilin University boiled, mangshan mountain thousands of miles away boiled, and Zhao Changjun and his wife cried with joy!
At the end of 2018, Jiang Mengnan, as a student representative of Tsinghua University, participated in the International Academic Conference on Barrier-free Development and delivered a speech.
In 2019, she went to remote areas to participate in education public welfare projects, answering questions and helping local students.
In 2020, she was elected as the president of tsinghua university student accessibility development research association, and as one of the core members, she drafted and released the "Ambassador Initiative of "Barrier-free World". During her presidency, she did not stop for a moment, organized and participated in accessibility forums, held accessibility concept experience activities, and popularized accessibility concepts to the public...
Zhao Changjun and his wife sighed with emotion, this way, they used the unimaginable persistence and love of ordinary people, little by little to pry open the frozen soil of their daughter's fate, and the little seedlings finally blossomed into a proud flower, shining with her own beauty.
Wait for the flowers to bloom in the silent place, and look forward to the future in the unhindered place.
In an exclusive interview with Tu Yun, editor and reporter of Zhiyin, Jiang Wenge said that the number of hearing-impaired people in the country has reached more than 30 million, and in people's minds, letting deaf children speak is like letting a thousand-year-old iron tree blossom. Is it really that tough? As long as parents have confidence, perseverance, patience and love, master some rehabilitation skills, and put them into long-term practice, language rehabilitation for deaf children is completely achievable, and they can also achieve extraordinary results!
Interview, Author, Editor: Tu Jun