Hearing impaired UWC student overcomes tragedy to achieve Masters

Pippa Hudson speaks to Carla Wilkinson, a young woman who graduated with a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and her mother Farina Wilkinson.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

Carla Wilkinson was born deaf but has not let this stop her from academically excelling.

She faced a number of challenges when going through school, such as teachers turning their back while teaching, making it impossible to lip read.

By matric, she began to focus on self-study which helped her pass her final year of high school.

Ahead of her Master’s degree graduation, her mother shared a heart-warming letter to her daughter, expressing how proud she is.

Farina says that they initially did not know what was wrong with Carla, but after her diagnosis she was accepted to Carel Du Toit Centre in Parow.

“I just cannot explain how grateful we are for them, where they teach the deaf to speak.”

– Farina Wilkinson

Farina says she could not be prouder of how well her daughter has done despite numerous challenges.

Carla lost her sister and her husband due to Covid, which was extremely traumatic.

Despite all this pain and trauma, she kept pushing herself and has managed to succeed.

“I knew they were shouting down for me to finish this.”

- Carla Wilkinson, Master’s graduate

In addition to succeeding academically, she can also play the piano beautifully despite not being able to hear.

“Music is one of my passions.”

- Carla Wilkinson, Master’s graduate

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.