I am 22 years old, a teacher in Arizona working in an elementary classroom as a special educator. I was born profoundly deaf and at the age of 13 months I was implanted with a cochlear implant in my right ear, then my left ear at 6 years old. My deaf journey has been full of adventure and never lacks a dull moment! I am passionate about sharing my journey with others to help them through their own. Over the years I have learned so much about being deaf, everything from how to educate others on what my cochlear implants are to finding my place as a deaf person in the hearing world and discovering my complex deaf identity. There is no one way of being deaf in the hearing world, we all have our own experiences which are unique to us. It's my goal that through this website and through my blog, I can share my own experiences to educate my hearing peers and to connect with my cochlear implant and deaf community.
As someone who is deaf in the hearing world, I believe in my role to educate my hearing peers on what it's like for me to be deaf in their world. The lack of education in the hearing world around us leads to a divide between the two communities, communities that have no reason to be segregated. We can proactively educate and teach our children to be knowledgeable of diversity in our society, including the diversity of those who are deaf. We can proactively choose to make the world around us - the hearing world, everyone's world. Not the hearing world or the deaf world, but simply our world.
Find your people who will help you to celebrate the good moments within your deafness and encourage you through the tough ones. But also find someone who will cherish the moments without deafness. Because being deaf is a part of your life, but it's not everything. Don't lose sight of that as you go through each moment worth sharing.
