Mary Stuart Masterson Quotes

In my normal life, I do not speak with an accent. It's harder for people to realize my hearing loss in everyday life.

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

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

Am I complaining about my deafness? No, I am not.

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.

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

There are people who are born deaf and grow up deaf who don't speak at all, and some of them have told me that they resent a little bit that I do speak. But, you know, I have to be myself. I have to do what I'm comfortable doing.

Dumbness comes from the fact that a child is born deaf and that it consequently never learns how to articulate, for it is by the medium of hearing that such instruction is acquired.

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

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

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.

I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I can't compare hearing aids to normal hearing.

But people who think they can project themselves into deafness are mistaken because you can't. And I'm not talking about imagining what a deaf person's whole life is like I even mean just realizing what it is like for an instant.

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

I'm hard of hearing. I miss a lot. It's really tough.

I was born deaf, and I gained my hearing back when I was six months old - it was a miraculous event.

There is no relation to sound for deaf people. It is a totally different mental process.

I know what it's like to be growing up, called 'deaf and mute' and 'deaf and dumb.' They're words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It's almost... it's almost libelous, if you want to say that.

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

When I was 11, I knew that I wanted to write a kid's book and tell the world what it was like being deaf.

Close to birth... I lost, like, 80 percent of my hearing, and I had difficulty speaking.

Although I'm deaf in only my left ear, when there is noise all around, I'm unable to distinguish sounds and can't hear anything.

I was very shy. I didn't really hang around with hearing people very much. Mostly I had deaf friends.

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.

I'm happy being deaf. I'm happy with my life and my family.