Suranga Udari

Suranga Udari is a Sri Lankan graphic designer, journalist, news reporter and environmental activist. She is widely regarded as the first ever Sri Lankan female deaf journalist.

Biography She was born in a family of five children and two of her siblings were reportedly born with hearing impairments. She completed her primary and secondary education up to the Ordinary Level Education at the Sri Shariputhra Maha Vidyalaya, Ahangama, Galle District, Southern Province. She lives in Ahangama.

Career Udari initially pursued her career as a graphic designer and received diploma in Computer Software at the Lake House. She worked as a graphic designer at a private firm for about eight years and she was fired from the job due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. She went onto pursue interest in the field of journalism after being sacked from the job of graphic designing. She faced constraints and barriers to find suitable job opportunities in the field of media as all of the prominent media houses in Sri Lanka refused to provide her job opportunity due to her hearing disability. Her news report about the impact of disposal of face masks was published in January 2021 via MediaCorps Watch, which is a weekly news program organised by Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum.

She became popular for reporting the environmental issues caused by face masks through using sign language and mobile journalism techniques. Udari also subsequently received a job offer from the Sirasa TV following her first news report which was published on MediaCorps Watch.