Shiranee Joseph de Saram was a pioneering Speech Therapist and indefatigable advocate for people with special needs in Sri lanka. In her, many people with special needs and their families found their first chance at being understood and their first opportunity for hope.
She received her education at the National Hospitals College of Speech Sciences, University College, London and trained at St. Mary’s, Northwick Park, St. Bartholomew’s and The Royal Free hospitals in London. Upon returning to Sri Lanka in the 1980s, she set up the first speech therapy clinics and assessment centers for those with special needs at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children and the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (General Hospital). She was instrumental in building awareness of communication disorders and special needs through exhibitions and the media events regionally and nationally. In 1991, she set up the first Stroke Unit at the National Hospital in Colombo and went on to found the RCCI as a dedicated space for children and adults with special needs in 1993. Shiranee served as a consultant to the National Institute of Education from 1988 to 2000 and was appointed a consultant on Early Child Care and Special Education to the Ministry of Education in 2001.
She was a teacher and mentor to the vast majority of professionals working with those with special needs in Sri Lanka today, through her over 40 years of work lecturing and training doctors, health professionals, medical students, teachers (special needs and mainstream), parents/ caregivers and social workers.