“They pulled out my eardrums. ‘You’ll be permanently deaf by 30.’ I was devastated.”
‘You can’t be THAT deaf. You can speak to me.’ My disability was always up for debate.’: Advocate urges ‘there’s no right or wrong way to be deaf’
‘I can’t hear youuuu, I’m deaf!’ Kids mocked me. I started to realize the world wasn’t so kind.’: Deaf woman advocates for change, ‘I’m just as human as you are’
“Some thought they should speak loud and slow, as if I was dumb and incapable. ‘Young lady, I want a cappuccino, you know COFFEE with FOAM?!’ Others tipped me too much and said things like, ‘I admire your strength and positivity.’”
‘Have you ever considered the label of deaf?’ I was riddled with anxiety. For the first time, I wasn’t the odd one out.’: Woman advocates for hearing loss, ‘Someday, we won’t need to fight’
“I was too ashamed of my differences to accept my hearing aids. I hid them behind my hair and tried my best to fit in. When I couldn’t, I’d ‘forget’ them at home. I didn’t want to be ‘hearing impaired.’ I wanted to be normal.”
‘You need to tie your hair up.’ I ran home in tears. My hair was my shield. Without it, I felt lost and defenseless.’: Woman with hearing loss becomes advocate, ‘I no longer want to hide’
“I deliberately chose brown hearing aids to match my hair. ‘I want them to be invisible to everyone.’ I made sure my hair was always covering my ears. This became the perfect disguise.”
‘Did you HEAR that, Amanda? Are you getting all of this? You need to listen.’ I was constantly taken out of the classroom.’: Deaf woman turned dental hygienist urges ‘fight for what you stand for’
“I was the only deaf student. The truth is, it killed me inside. When you are young and your peers see your hearing aids, they can be cruel as heck.”
‘My 2-year-old became lethargic overnight. His balance was off and his features started to droop. I wanted to take back every decision.’: Mom details hearing impaired son’s journey with cochlear implant
“’Everything went perfectly! He’s done.’ If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it was. His balance was off and his features drooped. Nothing could have prepared me. Our story was not the one I’d hoped for, but it was incredible to watch.”
‘If you’re there, I need you to wake up. Your boys need you. Tell God you’re not ready.’ His eyelids fluttered. I blinked back tears.’: Woman says her husband is ‘truly is a walking miracle’ after motorcycle accident
“He had blood-soaked gauze around his head. ‘Is that a bone sticking out of his arm?’ Sean had been in a motorcycle accident. I sat beside his bed listening to the ventilator push air through his body. I need you. Your boys need you. I know you’re in there, but you have to show these doctors that. I’m going to go home. When I get back in the morning, you need to wake up.'”
‘Your son is deaf.’ We were praying it was a huge mistake. They wheeled him out. I lost it.’: Mom shocked by newborn’s severe hearing loss, ‘we had no family history’
“Beckett hadn’t heard for the first 13 months of his life and BAM. He was suddenly hearing. I cried on the way home, if I’m being honest. I received nasty, angry messages. I was ‘playing God’ by wanting to give him the gift of sound. Wanting our son to be able to hear us tell him ‘I love you’ was NOT a selfish thing.”
‘What do we do with the remaining embryos?’ We signed away the parental rights. I was in for one more shock: TWINS!’: Couple donates extra embryos to family battling infertility, ‘They were put in our path for a reason!’
“We decided we were done having children, but still had 6 embryos frozen. I created a Facebook profile in hopes of finding a deserving family. I didn’t expect much. Within hours, we had EIGHT families interested. Kate and Seth were put in our path for a reason.”
‘You will never become anything,’ my doctor said. I was going stone-cold deaf. ‘What now?’: Woman loses hearing to infection, vows ‘deafness will not define me’
“As a young girl, there were signs. I literally danced to my own beat, mispronounced words. I spent years humiliated, called to stand up in front of classmates and speak the language I couldn’t hear. On one test in particular, I completely bombed the oral exam, tears streaming down. ‘I thought you didn’t want to be labeled as different,’ my teacher said. That was the final straw.”
