Let your deafness no longer be a secret - even in art.
If someone says: "I don't want to have a cochlear implant, because I want my child to grow up with a rich sense of deaf culture," he must acknowledge that the deaf culture that exists in the world today has a different scale than the deaf culture that's likely to exist in the world 50 years from now.
I'm happy being deaf. I'm happy with my life and my family.
There are two worlds: the deaf world and the hearing world. There are some people in the deaf community that feel that hearing people look down on us.
In the deaf community, there is exactly that - a community. It's like nothing I see in the hearing world. It's old fashioned, I guess, and beautiful.
I'm ready to take the world by storm and have them look at me and say, 'Deaf people can dance.'
Own your identity. Love who you are in the world. Love your deafness.
Seriously, I don't find not being able to hear an obstacle or a boundary. For me, and for many of us, it is an advantage, and it's a part of my identity, in fact. It's a huge part of who I am.
Raising awareness about the Deaf culture is a huge cause that I advocate. Because both of my parents are deaf, I am passionate about it in an entirely different way.
It was intimidating to play a deaf character. There's a whole culture in the deaf community and I really wanted to know a lot about that and honor it in the work.
We have our own culture, our own community. A lot of people don't realize that. They just assume that deaf people are very unfortunate, very disabled, but no.
My message to my deaf community is that we can redefine anything however we want. Anything is re-definable only if we believe and work hard for it.
The deaf community is hungry to see itself in the most positive way.
Since I knew my deaf identity since birth, it wasn't hard for me to be comfortable, confident, and independent in a hearing world.
I've been involved in the deaf community for years, and my friends in the community that are actors or performers get very frustrated when they see hearing people portraying a deaf role.
You [the Gallaudet students] have brought the deaf community together.... You are my heroes.
I'm a proud person who happens to be deaf. I don't want to change it. I don't want to wake up and suddenly say, 'Oh my God, I can hear.' That's not my dream. It's not my dream. I've been raised deaf. I'm used to the way I am. I don't want to change it. Why would I ever want to change? Because I'm used to this, I'm happy.
