A Topic That Matters

I was born hearing. When I was ten days old, I became very sick and was overdosed on some medication that had been prescribed for me. My mother didn’t find out that I was deaf until I was nine months old. She was devastated, but unlike many mothers, she had faith in me. I went to a deaf and blind preschool but my mother wanted me to go to a hearing elementary school. There was a meeting between the Deaf preschool and the school district. The administrators at the Deaf preschool kept speaking negative things about me and about what I couldn’t do. One teacher stood up and said, “Let me tell you what Brooklyn CAN do.” She changed my mother’s life and mine. I went to a hearing school all through elementary, middle, and high school. I was a successful child growing up. I overcame all the negative words and attitudes towards me; I ignored people when they said that I can’t do this or that because I am deaf. I proved them wrong. I was the main female character, Ophelia in the play Hamlet in sixth grade. I was the president of the student council in sixth grade also. I was a point guard, three pointer, and MVP on the Championship Basketball team in middle school. When I wasn’t playing basketball, I was the school mascot, a falcon, for the other school sports teams. I was an exchange student in Taiwan and Student of the Year in Mandarin Chinese. I had a GPA of 4.0 through middle school and high school. Last year, I won a pageant and became the princess of my town, Miss Laverkin. Later, I was often asked to perform and be a motivational speaker down in the Southern Utah area. The reason why I am telling of my success is because I showed the Deaf community that they can do anything they set their mind to even though they are deaf. My goal is to help the deaf community be in a better position. I want to help mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents or anybody who has a deaf child to know that it not the end of the world. All they have to do is become informed, give guidance and opportunities, and show their child love and support.
Since I grew up in the hearing culture, I wanted to see the view of hearing mothers who just had a newly diagnosed deaf child. I want to give them hope through my own story, and the stories of other deaf people, that their child can be successful throughout their life. I also want to know what the deaf people’s point of view is in being successful in life. What are they against or not against in their culture? I know that we have more than a million deaf people across the world. I am going to interview deaf people and have them tell me their stories and experiences and what kind of impact the deafness had on their life. The deaf also need to see there are so many opportunities and they need to learn how to seize it rather then not do it. They also need to learn there are hearing people that are willing to help and they need to accept their offers. I’ve written a separate survey for the deaf and for the hearing. I want to know what the hearing think about the deaf and what the deaf think about the hearing. I’m going to interview some successful deaf people and how they overcame some things that hearing people said that they couldn’t do. I am going to ask them some ideas of how to make the deaf world a better place.
I believe that the problem is based on perception of how hearing people view deaf people and how the deaf people view themselves. I want people in the hearing culture to accept people with disabilities in their life. Everyone has a right to do anything they set their mind to. We should all be equal and treated the same. I want hearing people to accept and support their deaf child. I interviewed a director from the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. Her name is Marilyn Madsen and she helped me expand more ideas of what I can do to make the deaf world a better place. I want to stand up for my Deaf culture and show people that we are equal and that we need be treated the same. And I want to continue to show hearing parents of deaf children that with their guidance and support their child can have a full and successful life.