By coincidence, on the way up Unger and Lehmann met only the second Deaf person to reach the top – Malaysian national Muhammad Hawari Hashim – who scaled the peak on May 18 and was seen grinning proudly while holding the Malaysian flag in an image shared on social media.

That three Deaf people climbed the world’s highest mountain within days of each other – just a few years after a ban on disabled climbers was overturned by the Nepali supreme court – sent waves of pride through the global Deaf community.

The World Federation of the Deaf estimates that there are 70 million Deaf people in the world, using more than 300 different signed languages.

Deaf climbers on the rise

Until this year, only one Deaf person had ever summited Everest – Japanese climber Satoshi Tamura, an alpine skier who succeeded on his third attempt in 2016.

The following year, Nepal announced that it would no longer issue climbing permits to people with disabilities, which included Deafness, with some claiming that it would create more work for Sherpas on the mountain to accommodate them.

The decision enraged climbers with disabilities, including Hari Budha Magar, a Nepal-born Gurkha soldier who became a double amputee when he stepped on an IED while serving in Afghanistan.

He was one of a coalition of disabled Nepalis who fought the ban in Nepal’s Supreme Court, and in 2018 it was repealed.

Magar successfully summited Everest on May 19 this year, becoming the first double above-the-knee amputee to complete the ascent.

According to nbc-2.com. Source of photos: internet