POCATELLO — Bethany Hundley used to wonder if she had any skills that could benefit her later on in life.

    Hundley, a graduate student studying deaf education at Idaho State University, is 80 percent deaf, and her deafness has gradually worsened over the years.

    “Until recently, I wasn’t sure what my skills were, or whether or not I would have anything to offer,” she said. “My time studying deaf education and literacy at Idaho State University has helped me figure out what I can and want to do with my life.”

    Hundley, who is slated to finish graduate school this summer, has been awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship. The prestigious award will allow her to travel to Nepal to conduct a study of deafness there.

    The trip to Nepal will be split into two parts. The first phase will have her travel to a deaf school outside Kathmandu and reside in the Nepal capital from August to December. The second phase, which runs from January to May of next year, will send her to a rural village in Nepal.

    Hundley, 25, said the purpose of her study is to learn about the way in which literacy is taught to deaf students in Nepal’s urban and rural schools.

    “When I found the Fulbright and read more about Nepal, I was so excited,” she said, “because it seemed that maybe this was what I had been looking for all of my life and didn’t know until now.”

    While Hundley is excited about her upcoming trip, she is well aware of the challenges she will have to overcome before and after she arrives in Nepal.

    Hundley, who is fluent in American sign language, is studying Nepalese and plans to take an intensive course in that language when she arrives in Nepal. She has also begun studying Nepalese sign language and will further study it while working at the deaf school in Nepal.

    “I’m not nervous about meeting the people (in Nepal) because I’m sure they’ll be wonderful,’ she said. “I am, however, very concerned about the communication barriers, as my hearing makes this very difficult.”

    Hundley hopes to learn Nepalese to the point where she won’t have to face too many communication difficulties.

    “I don’t feel that the cultural barriers will be insurmountable,” she said, “but I’m worried that I’ll make an innocent remark, or accidentally do something that will offend my hosts. For me, the oral language will be my biggest challenge, and certainly the one I’m most nervous about.”

    Another challenge that Hundley might have to overcome is the reported perception that some Nepalese have about persons with physical impairments.

    Hundley said she’s heard that some residents in rural Nepal interpret physical disabilities as a sign of evil spirits or a form of punishment from God. She said the Rose International Fund for Children, which she will be working with, is currently making efforts to change negative perceptions of physical disabilities.

    “I hope to help demonstrate that a disability does not mean that the person is not extremely abled in other ways, and that they are certainly no less than anyone without a similar challenge,” she said.

    While acknowledging that it is a difficult disability to live with, Hundley believes her deafness has made some positive impacts on her life.

    “While difficult, this has proved to me that I can do anything with a bit of determination and hard work,” she said. “(The disability) has given me empathy for others in similar situations.”

    After returning from Nepal next year, Hundley plans on teaching students who are either deaf or hard-of-hearing.

    “Until I student-taught at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind this year, I was planning on coming back and immediately entering into a doctoral program in deaf education or literacy,” she said. “However, after falling in love with teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students, I may pursue that for a while prior to obtaining my doctorate.”