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Translator: Rhonda Jacobs
Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
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I'd like to tell you a story.
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When I was 24, I found myself living
in a small beach town
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by the name of Naples, Florida.
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I was looking for something new.
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I was 24.
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I'm 29 now.
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And in that small coastal town,
I was the only Deaf resident.
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In fact, the closest deaf person
was a few hours away by car.
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And all of the friends and acquaintances
that I had made could hear.
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I didn't mind though;
I wanted something new.
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Lucky for me, Naples, Florida
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is home to some of
the U.S. Olympics volleyball team,
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where they reside
and train through the year.
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So I had a fantastic opportunity
to play with them every day I could.
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And we'd hit the court all the time,
either indoors or out at the beach;
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it was great.
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Lucky for them, I happen
to be very good at volleyball.
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So one night after a great game,
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a friend and I pull up
some chairs by the water
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to watch the sun go down and chat.
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And he looks over at me
and he asks me a question
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that completely blew me away.
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To be honest, in 24 years of my life,
nobody had ever asked me.
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And his question was simple:
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"Have you ever wished you could hear?"
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I looked at him for a second and thought,
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Where did that come from?
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Then I took a moment and I realized
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while we had been sitting there,
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I could see waves coming in
and crashing on the beach.
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He could hear that.
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Obviously, I couldn't.
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My entire world is completely silent.
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To our left, people
had taken over the court
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and were playing volleyball,
cheering each other on.
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To our right, a mother
was playing and laughing with her baby.
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And behind us,
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cars and ATVs had passed by all day
without me even noticing.
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So, I was quick to answer:
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"No, of course not.
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I've never wished I could hear.
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I've never wished
that because I love who I am."
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And you may be wondering,
How do I love myself as a Deaf man?
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Well, first, I was born deaf.
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My deafness shaped my childhood,
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and it's all I've ever known.
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So my perspective on life
and my experience of the world
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is very different.
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My outlook and my life
has involved experiences
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that many of you have never
had to encounter as hearing people.
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My culture, something
I embody and cherish,
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has always been Deaf.
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My perspective on life
is completely different.
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The experiences I've had,
something I hold most dear,
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have taught me
to love myself as a Deaf man.
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To illustrate that point,
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if I were to walk into a job interview
with a panel of hearing peers,
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and if I were to approach that meeting
wishing that I could hear,
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wishing that I could speak like them,
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and focusing on that imbalance,
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do you think that I would do very well?
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Obviously not, right?
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Because in the back of my mind
I'm focusing on the negative,
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therefore creating a negative outcome,
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and I'm certain I wouldn't get that job.
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But, if instead, I use my difference
as an advantage and an asset,
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I know that as a Deaf man
I have so much to offer their company.
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My experiences growing up
are much different from theirs.
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And knowing that allows me
to approach the interview positive.
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I can go into that meeting
and confidently tell them
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how they will benefit
from hiring a Deaf man
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for a multitude of reasons.
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And I can walk out with that job
because it's all about mindset.
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So I say first and foremost
to love yourself.
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So as I mentioned, the first reason
I love myself is my upbringing.
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But many of you may not know
that I come from a rather large family.
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I have two brothers who are also Deaf
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along with my parents,
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my grandparents,
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and yes, even my
great-grandparents as well.
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I'm the fourth generation
in a beautiful family
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with over 25 Deaf members.
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Born to Deaf parents
who understood the Deaf experience,
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they knew exactly how to raise me.
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They knew how to provide me
with the best opportunities
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and to support me.
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From day one of my existence,
my parents gave me language,
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access to education,
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and love.
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Growing up, my life was perfect.
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Imagine, like many of you
born to hearing parents,
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I never noticed barriers
that simply weren't there.
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I'm sure many of you
felt your life was normal,
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the same way that I did.
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Coming from a Deaf family, my world,
in every way, was a utopia.
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When it came time for my parents
to enroll me in school,
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they already knew
that I would go to the Deaf school.
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I would learn in an environment
that was designed for me.
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At that time, all of my peers,
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and teachers,
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and even the superintendent was Deaf.
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So, I was still in my perfect world.
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I was in an environment where I could grow
and where I could thrive.
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And I had no problems;
it was perfect for me.
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And many people
don't believe that, but it's true.
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For me, the Deaf community, our world,
was the perfect world for me.
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And I remember in the summer
before fifth grade,
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I was ready to go back to school,
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and I asked my mom
to go to a public school.
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She thought I was crazy.
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She said, "What?! No!
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Public school, it's all hearing kids.
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The Deaf school is a perfect fit."
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And I said, "No, I want to learn
what those students are learning.
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I want to see what
their classrooms are like.
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What are public school teachers like?"
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So upon my insistence she enrolled me.
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And after two weeks of frustration,
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I came home pleading
to go back to the Deaf school.
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She listened very sympathetically
and told me, "Nope, too bad."
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I was floored.
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She told me I needed
to stick it out for a year
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because I needed to learn how
to interact with my hearing peers,
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and that if I gave it a little patience,
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I would learn so much
about the world around me.
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Because the reality is
the world is hearing.
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I was the only Deaf kid
in the entire school.
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Of course, I always had hearing friends,
but they could sign like me.
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So that year I gained a lot of insight.
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I couldn't be involved
in any of the school organizations.
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My friends never learned
enough sign to communicate.
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And every time I tried
to play a sport, I'd get benched.
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The basketball coach told me a Deaf kid
could never help the team win a game.
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And I was athletic.
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So after a year,
I went back to the Deaf school
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where I realized that's my home.
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That's my community.
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And my community is where I can thrive.
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I got involved in the classroom again,
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joined a bunch of school organizations,
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and got back on the basketball team,
where I helped win many games.
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So it's without hesitation that I can say
the Deaf community is in fact my home.
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After graduating high school,
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I was accepted into
the only Deaf university in the world:
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Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
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It was there I gained
my degree in mathematics
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with the intention
of becoming a better teacher
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than the ones I had growing up.
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Like many of you, I sat through
some math teachers who seriously sucked.
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(Laughter)
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I wanted to be a good math teacher.
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But I also wanted to be
a good role model for those students.
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So as time got closer to graduation,
of course I was nervous.
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I started questioning
if I had made the right decision.
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And I decided to get out -
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to get out of my comfort zone
and to travel the world.
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Since then, I've been
to over 43 countries.
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And the funny thing about when I travel
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is that I'm constantly meeting
hearing people who say,
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"Nyle, you are so brave.
How do you travel like this?
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Isn't it hard to be Deaf and travel?
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It looks impossible."
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And let me tell you,
traveling as a Deaf person, I think,
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is actually much easier
than traveling for hearing people.
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Because sign language is something
that gives me access
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to a much larger world.
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I'll tell you one of my favorite stories.
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A few years ago, I was in south Sicily
perusing a flea market,
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when I walked into a butcher shop,
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and standing there is an American tourist
trying to ask the butcher
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where the meat he was slicing
is sourced from.
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So the Sicilian man, speaking
no English, is gesturing, right?
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And you know Italians gesture.
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He's trying to explain
where the meat comes from,
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and it's going right
over the head of the tourist.
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So watching this very comical
breakdown in conversation,
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I'm understanding everything perfectly,
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so I pull out a paper and a pen,
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and I translate
what the butcher is saying,
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and I hand it over
to the tourist and explain,
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"This is what he's trying to tell you."
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So there I am, the Deaf person
translating for two hearing people.
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And in that situation,
they're the ones disabled, not me.
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(Laughter)
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While that story is ironic,
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it happens so many times
when I meet people in other countries.
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I'm always amazed
to meet locals in other countries,
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and their ability to gesticulate
and communicate with me,
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often quite easily.
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And I would always tell myself
to visit the local Deaf schools
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and to make time to meet Deaf locals.
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But with every new Deaf school that I saw,
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I was sad to see that their schools
were in terrible condition,
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and their education was greatly lacking.
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Often, I just couldn't believe my eyes.
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When I would meet Deaf adults,
I realized a common thread very quickly.
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They either didn't have
the same level of education I did
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or their language was incomplete,
making it hard to communicate.
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They'd often complain to me
that the system had failed them,
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and now they struggled to find work.
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And I kept asking myself,
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why is this happening,
and why is this happening so often?
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Why am I somehow more fortunate?
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Growing up, I thought every deaf person
in the world was like me
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and had the same opportunities that I did.
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So in returning to the United States,
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I decided to do
some research on the topic.
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And what I found shocked me.
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There are currently more
than 70 million deaf people in the world
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with only two percent of them having
access to education in sign languages.
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Which means millions
upon millions of deaf children
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not receiving the education they need,
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also known as education deprivation.
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I also learned that over
75 percent of hearing parents
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don't sign to communicate
with their deaf children.
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Which is astonishing.
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Again, imagine millions
and millions of deaf children
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without an education, without a language.
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Those children without language
and access to education
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exhibit signs of brain damage.
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In my research, I also found
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that I'm a part of an even smaller group.
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Ten percent of Deaf children
come from Deaf parents like mine.
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Only 10 percent.
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I'm incredibly lucky.
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I had access to language, an education,
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and I had parents who loved me
and put me on a path to success.
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I wouldn't be who I am today
without any of those things.
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So it was clear to me
that something needed to be done.
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I got to work in setting up
my own foundation -
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the Nyle DiMarco Foundation -
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with the goal of improving the lives
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of millions of deaf people
around the world.
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We've since partnered with another
Deaf organization in the United States
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to introduce legislation -
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a bill that requires all deaf children
have access to language
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between the ages of zero and five,
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setting up benchmarks for their success.
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Because before the age of five,
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children have the ability
to acquire a foundation in language,
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readying them for the classroom
and for a successful life.
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After the age of five, that critical
language acquisition window closes.
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I'm working to give every deaf child
in the world a future
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filled with a rich language
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and the opportunities
I was lucky enough to receive.
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But the Deaf community cannot do it alone;
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we need you to become our allies
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and join us in making
the world more knowledgeable.
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We need you to join us,
to fight with us and for us
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in the ongoing battle of affording
children what they need to thrive.
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So before I go, I want to teach you
two very simple but important signs.
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The first is "love."
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The second, "yourself."
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Follow me:
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Love
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yourself.
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Brilliant!
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A-plusses all around!
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Thank you.
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(Laughter)
