Last night Sweet Nothing in my Ear was on TV. Watching this show and learning more about deaf culture in class makes me realize that I am really grateful for my parents. I am really glad my parents were open to choices and let me choose for myself as I got older.

My parents placed me in a private school in Seattle that use Signed Exact English (SEE) and we had to sign and speak at the same time. I was there until 8th grade then mainstreamed at my local middle school with an interpreter. When I was in 8th and 9th grade I started meeting more deaf people that used American Sign Language (ASL) and were involved in the deaf community. My best friend, Haley, and I attended deaf camps and after that we realized we wanted more exposure to deaf culture. Our parents did not want us attending the deaf school because of the education there. Our parents finally let us go there for experience but the deal was only for 1 year. After my sophomore year in high school, we moved to Arizona and I was going to mainstream at the high school that had a deaf program. I immediately disliked it and it brought back old memories from middle school. I switched over to the deaf school in Phoenix. The education there sucked but I was so much happier there with friends and playing sports. I didn’t even stay the whole year at the deaf school because I felt like I was not learning anything and not challenging myself. I decided to go back to the high school I originally started at. I went through a lot growing up with different schools and teaching methods. I do not regret one bit of it. I am proud to say I got a taste of everything.

I grew up using hearing aids. I am grateful that it has helped me hear and that I can hear very well with them on. I am also grateful that I have good speech and can be understood by hearing people. A lot of my college friends now have cochlear implants and seeing how well they can hear with it and learning more about it. I approached my parents with my decision of wanting to get a cochlear implant. My parents were 100% supportive of my decision and were there for me throughout my journey of getting a cochlear implant and activation. Now I wear both my hearing aid (right ear) and cochlear implant (left ear) and am satisfied. I am proud to say I use both – hearing aid & cochlear implant and do not regret getting a cochlear implant at all.

When I think about my identity… I am biculturally deaf. I like both the hearing world and the deaf world. I accept myself in both world, I can sign with deaf people and I can talk with hearing people.

I am deaf and proud of it.