‘It wasn’t about marks, it was about perseverance’

For King David Victory Park (KDVP) matriculant Teghan Shaer, finishing matric was like summiting a challenging climb. Navigating noisy classrooms, social misunderstandings, and hearing difficulties tested his resilience, but with determination and supportive teachers, he persevered. 

Shaer, who has autism and one cochlear implant and a hearing aid, went to the Speech and Hearing Unit to learn how to listen and hear when he was a young child. He then attended Craiglands Remedial School in Craighall and arrived at KDVP in Grade 8. 

“Starting at KDVP was difficult because it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and everyone was wearing masks. Not being able to lip-read made communication extremely difficult for me,” he said. “There were many times when I wanted to leave and go to another school, but I didn’t. That was mainly because of the support department and because of certain teachers who really helped me. I also realised that I just had to put in the effort. It wasn’t really about the marks, it was about the effort. I learnt resilience, independence, and perseverance.” 

He said that when he started high school, he was antisocial because he didn’t understand the system of a mainstream school. 

For Shaer, the most difficult part of school was the noise, which was often overwhelming. “Classrooms are very noisy – background chatter; people talking; chairs moving; and general background noise. It made it hard for me to focus. It wasn’t something I could fix, and it wasn’t always something the teachers could fix either,” he said. 

It led to a lot of Shaer’s time being devoted to self-study as he missed a lot of vital information. 

Similarly, as a result of his cochlear implant, he developed Bell’s Palsy, a medical condition that causes sudden, temporary weakness or paralysis of the muscles on one side of the face. 

“We believe the nerve may be damaged, and as a result, the cochlear implant has stopped working properly. I really struggle with that cochlear and will be spending this year trying to retrain myself to try to hear with it again,” he said. 

To combat this, he used assistive equipment like a microphone pen, which he gave to many of his teachers. “Not all teachers used it in the same way, but many of them were supportive. One teacher in particular was very thoughtful. When she played videos, she placed the microphone near the speaker so I could hear better,” he said. 

He said some people would deliberately mess with his autism or try to trick him because they didn’t understand how his brain worked. “Not all the students understood my autistic challenges, and not everyone was interested in learning or understanding. To cope with that, I mostly ignored the rude people. That’s one of the reasons I was quite antisocial for the first two years. This makes my world feel very small at times, and it affects my ability to focus and cope with changes. When the school changed timetables, I would become lost and confused. Many people didn’t understand how difficult these things were for me.” 

The highlight of his school career was being exposed to Judaism and a school environment he had never experienced before. “It wasn’t one specific thing, it was more the overall system and what it exposed me to. The rabbi was definitely part of that experience,” he said. 

Over the next year, Shaer wants to rebuild his mental health as he was deeply affected by the pressure of the school system. 

“Many schools prioritise academics and results over mental health because education has become a business. In the long term, that harms students. Not everyone is academic – some people are creative – and the system doesn’t always allow that creativity to come through,” he said. 

He wants to explore job shadowing opportunities in fields that he is interested in including computers, animation, and copywriting.