Perseverance helps student overcome deafness

“I was born bilaterally and profoundly deaf, which basically means that I cannot hear at all in either ear. The only reason I’m able to do this (interview) is because of a special hearing aid. If I took it out, I could not hear anything. Not even if I sat next to a jet taking off.

“My biggest challenge is probably being in crowded environments when there are a lot of noises overlapping. If someone tries to talk to me, it’s so hard to make out what they’re saying. And it’s difficult for me to talk when it’s like that.

“Also, I don’t know if it’s the disability itself or just my personality, but I find it hard to socialize with people my age because I know I’m different. Very different. So I’ve never been the most outgoing person. Walking up to random people and starting conversations, I cannot.

“I don’t know the whole story. I was little, and we don’t talk much about it. But I got my first hearing aid just before I turned 1. It used to be kind of big. I would have to wear this big box on my chest for batteries or something. But it got smaller and smaller through the years, like phones did before they recently started getting bigger again.

“My parents worked with me a lot when I was a little kid. We read together often, and they never gave up on me. I think their perseverance helped make me into who I am today.”

— Madilyn Lawrence

Related

• Young author mixes magic, Japanese culture