TikTok has taken over some parts of our lives over the course of this ongoing pandemic, and it’s safe to say that this social media platform is more than meets the eye. Sure, if you scroll through your feed, you’d see teenagers happily dancing in a school bathroom; or a guy doing some sick parkour moves. However, TikTok is also an educational platform that teaches us more than what the education system offers.
You can basically learn anything from TikTok, as it has proven to be not just a space to have fun – although, that’s also a bonus. There are so many diverse groups of people that have become part of TikTok, who share and educate their audience, and this includes the hearing-impaired community, which allows us, the viewers, to get a glimpse into and be part of their world.
This year’s International Women’s Month theme #BreakTheBias calls on the general populace to imagine a world where diversity is valued and commemorated, and Anissa Jalani, better known as Cik Nis, devotes her platform to working towards a world free of bias, preconceptions, and discrimination by educating audiences on how to sign and interact with those using Malaysian Sign Language, also known as Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia.
Cik Nis, who saw TikTok as an opportunity to make communication between the hearing and hearing-challenged a breeze, first taught basic greetings, salutations, and verbs. After Cik Nis’ TikTok community grew accustomed to acquiring simple phrases, people began approaching her to have her educate them on more difficult words and sentences based on their daily lives.
“My dream has always been to be able to communicate freely with everyone despite my hearing impairment. I’m glad that TikTok has become an avenue for me to express myself through my content and enabled me to engage with various generations of users and share my knowledge on BIM. I hope that with more people aware of BIM, the hearing-impaired community will be more understood and included in society and in turn have better job opportunities and a better future” – Cik Nis
Celebrate International Women’s Month by learning more about Cik Nis and other female role models by downloading TikTok. Take a look at some of Cik Nis’ TikTok videos on how to sign in BMI!
@anissa.jailani Balas kepada @pachew_gaming ❤️
@anissa.jailani #jawapan kepada @lemonree83 Siapa nama awak?
@anissa.jailani Sapa suka makan ni?
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