Rachel Shenton Quotes

I know a little bit about deaf culture because a friend of mine has been in the deaf culture for awhile. Over the course of 25 years, she and I have talked about many of the issues and concerns for deaf people and deaf culture.

The late Président de Montesquieu told me that he knew how to be blind--he had been so for such a long time--but I swear that I do not know how to be deaf: I cannot get used to it, and I am as humiliated and distressed by it today as I was during the first week. No philosophy in the world can palliate deafness.

In the deaf community, in order to play a role of someone with a hearing loss... you have to have hearing loss.

I always say deafness is a silent disability: you can't see, and it's not life-threatening, so it has to touch your life in some way in order for it to be on your radar.

We have over 25 deaf individuals in my family.

You must speak loud to those who are hard of hearing.

Technology is helping more and more deaf people hear, but here at Gallaudet, we focus on learning and achieving-not on listening. So I would still say deaf people can do anything, except hear.

Say what you want about the deaf.

[On being deaf:] We must struggle for whatever may be had, without encroaching on the comfort of others.

I am fourth-generation deaf, which means everyone in my immediate family is deaf. So I grew up always having 100 percent accessibility to language and communication, which was wonderful and something so many deaf people don't have.

Most profoundly deaf people have speech that is very difficult to understand.

I live my life like everyone else; everyone has their own obstacles. Mine is deafness.

At Gallaudet, deafness isn't an issue. You don't even think about it. Students can pay attention to accounting or psychology or journalism. But when a deaf person goes to another college, no matter how supportive it is, that person doesn't get the same access.

The deaf community and the hearing community, there's not always a ton of interaction.

I became deaf when I was 18 months old. And I learned to sign when I was 5 years old.

I think the biggest misconception is that people think deaf people are not able to do things.

I was born deaf. Sound never existed in my life, and this is completely normal to me.

I have my own foundation, Nyle DiMarco Foundation, and it focuses on bettering deaf youths' lives.

I grew up with deaf teachers, and I thought all deaf children should have exposure to deaf educators.

I don't know that hearing people have ever felt that experience of truly being left out. They have easy communication, while deaf people can't join in. It takes more time to communicate with us.

[On being deaf:] How much less pain there is in calmly estimating the enjoyments from which we must separate ourselves, of bravely saying, for once and for ever, 'Let them go,' than in feeling them waste and dwindle, till their very shadows escape from our grasp!

I'm almost completely deaf anyway. So I'm worried. I'm very worried.

Deaf people can do anything, except hear.

How many deaf people do you know in real life? Unless they live in a cave, or are 14, which seems to be true for most people in this business, what could I possibly tell them that they don't already know?

I was born deaf. I was raised in a hearing world and in a deaf world at the same time. I can't say that I like one better than I like the other. I like them both. I speak pretty well; I gesture. If I don't understand something, you know, pen and paper, texting. I use it all.