Just Deaf

"People looked at me funny when I said I didn't think it was sad to be deaf at all."

Van Kampen-Bolier Family

"We've never decided not to do something because they're deaf. The audiologist told us: you can grow up to be old and happy with it."

"My parents were fine with my deafness because of our Islamic faith."

"If you can't hear, you're deaf. I think 'very severely hearing impaired' is very weird."

"Deafness used to not be quite as well known, my mother would explain what it was to the other children."

"Meeting deaf adults gave our parents a positive attitude towards deaf children."

"I have felt like we were missing help from within the deaf community. You mostly see hearing professionals."

"As a child I didn't know putting something down on a table made a sound."

"Society makes us handicapped."

"It wasn't until later that we realized: not being able to hear, that's actually kind of complicated."

"Some deaf children think it's something to grow out of."

"My third child was hearing, which was new to me."

"A CI can be useful if you get it when you're still young, but it's no use to me."

"Five days after his birth he was already getting hearing tests done."

"Will he be able to enjoy music?"

"I really wonder how he's going to experience it later on."

"We can tell friends and family something about his development, but his ears won't change."

"My parents could ask our deaf babysitter all kinds of questions about deaf people."

"His hearing loss quickly became less important."

"The youngest is now two years old, I don't know if they're gonna use a hearing aid."