“I lost my hearing when I was younger. That changed my life. I'm different from the people around me. I have to have different accommodations, my life is different, how I grew up is different from everybody. Despite my disability, I don’t let it affect me. During elementary school and middle school, I did feel different. It's like when everybody is growing up and starts comparing themselves to other people. I think during those times I started feeling different. During high school, I really owned it. This is something I have to live with the rest of my life and I have to get used to it. I had a wonderful teacher, my hard-of-hearing deaf teacher. She was wonderful and helped me get back into the groove and my life with cochlear implants, her name was Mrs. Shollenberger. I've been with her all the way through high school and I still connect with her. She made me feel like I wasn’t different.”
(Parsippany, NJ).

Interviewed By: Krishna Limbachia