Young black woman becomes the first person of special needs to bag a PhD in Canada

Jenelle Rouse, a young black lady made history by becoming the first person of special needs to receive a PhD in Canada.

Canadian university Western Ontario awarded Jennelle Rouse a doctorate in philosophy.

The lady who is the first person of special needs finished the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Teacher Education Programme at York University in Canada, which marked the beginning of her academic career.

After receiving her Ph.D. in 2020, Jenelle went on to pursue a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics in Education from the University of Western Ontario in 2016.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she spent more than ten years working as a school teacher while still continuing her education there.

She instructs classes for various grades using the American Sign Language Curriculum and Ontario subject matter.

Jennele is a deaf dancer who uses movement to convey narratives.

In addition to numerous independent live performances, she appeared in the 2015 dance film Perceptions.

She has also worked in a variety of art-related fields in Ontario as a facilitator, co-researcher, artist, and consultant in addition to managing her own side project, Multi-Lens.

Every deaf child should have sign language as a foundation, according to Jennele, who said that her research has a transformative focus on accessibility to resources that support and recognise the sign language acquisition of young deaf children.