My life is anything but muted, says woman married to hearing-impaired man

Though her husband is hearing impaired, Suriati Mohd Shukor and their three children see him as someone special and remarkable.

Suriati met Madatul Akma Jusoh, 43, 14 years ago. At that time, the 45-year-old worked as a sign language interpreter for the national hearing-impaired football team.

Madatul was part of the team and they were taking part in the Asia Pacific Hearing Impaired Football Championship.

She was then studying for a diploma course in sign interpretation at a university under government scholarship.

"We are all the same. For me if someone chooses to be with 'someone special' then that is nothing out of the ordinary. Madatul completes me and I cannot imagine my life without him. My husband is very patient, tolerant and understanding where my job, my career is concerned. My life is anything but muted," she said.

Suriati said when she was 13, she wanted to learn sign language because she wanted to communicate better with her friends who are also hearing impaired.

"For me, sign language is similar as other languages, if we use it a lot and really learn then it becomes easy even though initially it was difficult to understand," added Suriati.