Disabled woman uses tongue to explore world via Internet

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Nursamawati using her tongue to check her own Facebook status in Kampung Gelong Gajah, Tobiar. — Bernama photo

PENDANG: Being a person with deformed hand and foot does not prevent a 30-year-old woman in Kampung Gelong Gajah, Tobiar, here, from exploring the outside world using the Internet.

Using her tongue to type or access information on her smart phone and lap top, Nursamawati Mahmud, wishes to use her ‘newfound ability’ to promote soy sauce and vinegar produced by her mother for the past 10 years.

“I want to use the Internet to expand my mother’s business… so far, her product had been marketed around here and around Pendang dan Pokok Sena,” the eldest daughter among five siblings told reporters at her home, here.

Nursamawatis’ perseverance has attracted a telecommunication company, Clixster Mobile Sdn Bhd (Clixter Mobile) to come forward to help by donating a smartphone and sponsoring lifelong internet package to her.

Clixter Mobile Brand Chief Communications and Media officer, Hazran Mohamed, said they hoped the contribution would be useful for Nursamawati.

Nursamawati said she started to use the Internet in 2010 and planned to create a blog to tell her life story as a disabled person since she was one-year-old and how she learned to use gadgets to access Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Wechat.

“Because of my disabilities, I have become  a shy person. But using the social network, I can befriend people who accept me as their friends and always encourage me to be more positive,” she said, adding that currently she had about 1,400 friends on Facebook.

Her mother Saudah Shaari, 52, said Nursamawati required more attention from her since her daughter was not able to eat, bathe or wear clothes on her own. — Bernama