Deaf Doesn't Define

“If I take my hearing aids off, I'm fully deaf. Depending on how moody I am is how much I wear my hearing aids. I have a microphone for people to wear that helps me hear [more] clearly called an EDU. I went to KSD (Kansas School of the Deaf) from second grade until halfway through seventh grade. I moved to Clay Center after I was adopted at age 4. I don’t remember my biological parents. I have 4 adopted brothers and 3 adopted sisters in my family. About the only thing they do differently than other families is they talk louder to me.

I lived in Clay Center when I went over to KSD, which is a three-and-a-half hour drive. I'd sleep in dorms Sunday night through Thursday, leave on Friday and come back on Sunday.

At KSD, three girls would stay in each dorm. You have to walk from the dorms to the high school, [it is a] five minute walk to a different building. I was homesick and sad a lot because I missed my family. They wouldn’t let us have our phones. We talked to our families on Skype instead. It was hard to make the drive so much and I missed my parents, so I decided to come to public school here in Clay Center.

KSD has lights that would go different colors if something were to happen. Fire was red, a tornado was blue, and an intruder was yellow. Sign language was all you could use during school, nobody could talk. If you were to burp, fart, or talk you would get detention. We learned at a third grade level and that’s why I can't read books as well as other students here.

We had an indoor pool at the school and would swim until 10:00 every night. We made bracelets, hung out with friends, and played volleyball in the gym. It made me feel included when I was a student there because the people I was with pushed me to get involved.

My favorite thing about my old school was playing sports. We didn't have a volleyball team one year, so we played football. We would sign to the coaches and each other. We always won because people didn't know what play we were doing. I’ve also done wrestling since I was just a little kid, played volleyball for four and a half years, basketball for six years, and football for one year. Now I do cross country, wrestling, and track. Wrestling is my favorite because I’m used to it. When I get older I want to be a deaf teacher. The biggest struggle I have had to overcome being deaf would be hearing people and getting bullied because of it. I want to help other kids understand being deaf doesn't define them and it will get better.”