Deaf Can

Since I was born with some hearing and able to pick up speech, I was able to fit in with the world of hearing. Sometimes, my identity of who I am was a constant struggle. Fitting in with the world that depended on voices to be heard was hard. I could hear a bit with the assistance of hearing aids. Since I was 2 years old, wearing hearing aids made me be able to grow up in the hearing world. Once my hearing beginto decline, I had to rely not on hearing the speech, but reading people's lips. This was a "guessing game" by how the words are formed on the people's lips when they talk to me. The hearing aids allowed me to hear only a small percentage of sounds, but with my being able to read lips helped a lot.
Now, I am able to fit in the hearing world, but still my struggle of identity came about when I joined CSDR -- and this was the beginning of my journey into the Deaf-World. It was at this world that I knew that my identity was that I am Deaf. Being able to communicate with both speech and ASL was to me a blessing. I was able to communicate with my friends from the Deaf-World and be able to communicate with my family and friends from the Hearing World. This path from CSDR to many things in my life, bridged the gap between these two worlds. Being at CSDR has allowed me to grow as a strong person, and be able to be successful in both worlds. Within the gates of CSDR, the knowledge of culture and language has allowed my identity as a human being to grow. I am blessed to know that these two worlds are actually a part of who I am. With my family I am able to speak, with my friends and others I am able to sign. Oftentimes, I find myself finding a comfortable environment at any place that is our world. Being with my family and friends I am able to communicate because I can hear a little bit. I am able to do sign language which to me is a beautiful language. But I always think to myself, what if I can't hear at all anymore? What if I can't hear the speech and what will happen to this "hearing world" that is not able to do sign language? Will my identity of who I am be gone? Not really.
I believe that being Deaf has allowed me to have a positive outlook in life and I am able to succeed in any place in the world. I am now attending UCI, and doing something I love. I enjoy going to school and being around various people -- this allowed me to be able to travel from one world to the next with the ability to speak and sign.
With the ideals of Deaf people in a Hearing world, they should always think they can do anything they put their hearts and minds to. To be successful in anything they dream of, is to have that positive outlook on everyone and everything in their life. I believe that I can do anything. Deaf can -- Deaf I am, and Deaf I always will be. But these two worlds I stand on the bridge between the two and in a way, I am content.
Further on in my Blogs, I will talk about the challenges and dreams that I have. I will talk about standing on that bridge between the Deaf-World and the Hearing World. I will talk about the many posiblities of living a life as a Deaf person, but with the many strengths and endeveors of being able to communicate in both ASL and speech. This is not a political blog, nor is it a blog that will shatter the barriers of the Hearing World and the Deaf-World, but rather it is a blog to connect my place in this world through the use of words. These worlds are beautiful, these worlds are a part of who I am, and these worlds are all around us. Come, take my hand and we begin the journey right on this very bridge between the two worlds --come and learn about language, culture, and about who I am: I am Deaf and I am part of two worlds that is connected through languages: ASL and English.