I realised I was Deaf when I was four years old. I started to wonder about being Deaf, I was looking around, I was frustrated, so I asked my Mum why I couldn’t hear things.
Mum said, 'that's because you're Deaf'. At that moment I realised I was Deaf. From that moment on, yes from when I was four, I accepted that I was Deaf.
As I grew up I involved with a lot of Deaf people, I felt connected with Deaf people and I looked up to a lot of Deaf Adults. Growing up, I was fascinated by them.
So sign language, Deaf identity and cultural values, I learnt about these when I went to Newlands College. Really, I learnt about these things from Year 9 on. If I think about identity, I know I was thinking and learning about my identity before then but going to Newlands College gave me the chance to really accept my identity and understand who I am. Yes, that happened at Newlands College from Year 9 on.
When I finished at Newlands College I then went onto Victoria University to do the Deaf Studies course. That really opened things up more deeply, I learnt more about Deaf Culture, values, sign language linguistics, that really helped me to create a picture to help me understand who I am.
