#deafcan

I want to share how Sign language changed my life.

I know who I am because of a language that a lot of people try rob me of. It's a language that not only I can speak, but I can also understand it when it is spoken back to me.

That language has opened me up to a whole new community that I can be myself and no one can judge me for not wearing my hearing aids, I can be involved with deep conversations between other people, not left on the sidelines and scowled at.

It is my world, a place that I fit into perfectly. I know I can say what I feel and understand things better. I have an identity, a sense of belonging in a world and community.

We understand each other.

This language that I am talking about is so visual that no sound is required. That is the reason for me not being tired when I use it. I am myself when I use this language.

Sign language isn't just a communication method or just a language...

It is a HUMAN RIGHT. And when you try and take it away from me, you're not just taking away a language, you're taking away my LANGUAGE, my IDENTITY, my WORLD where I can be MYSELF.

Where I can UNDERSTAND and be INCLUDED.