Alejandro
Don’t call my name…Alejandro.
Amazingly, I don’t even get irritated when I hear that anymore because I now had colleagues who annoyed me in new ways.
Meeting a woman was never a goal for me. I’d be expected to communicate, and it was more than enough just dealing with the guys at work every day.
But then I met a woman who went against all of that, one I’d give anything just to hear her talk at all. That’s why I used the sign language I’d learned in high school for my best friend to engage in conversation—willingly. Now we had our own private conversations.
Ones I even initiated.
Vail
Being deaf didn’t define me—being me defined me. I wanted to be seen for who I was inside and outside, but how do you do that when people have already made up their minds based on a disability?
Moving away from my friends and family was a risk, but it was one I was willing to take. Plus, I had my best friend with me, so I wasn’t completely alone.
I just didn’t expect people to be as friendly and helpful as they were here. Within an hour, I had a place to work, and people I felt could end up being good friends. Even the cranky cop I almost knocked over didn’t treat me differently. He was just the same as he was to everyone, except he did it with sign language.
But everyone meets people at some point who make them want to take a risk they’d never considered before.
Don’t call my name…Alejandro.
Amazingly, I don’t even get irritated when I hear that anymore because I now had colleagues who annoyed me in new ways.
Meeting a woman was never a goal for me. I’d be expected to communicate, and it was more than enough just dealing with the guys at work every day.
But then I met a woman who went against all of that, one I’d give anything just to hear her talk at all. That’s why I used the sign language I’d learned in high school for my best friend to engage in conversation—willingly. Now we had our own private conversations.
Ones I even initiated.
Vail
Being deaf didn’t define me—being me defined me. I wanted to be seen for who I was inside and outside, but how do you do that when people have already made up their minds based on a disability?
Moving away from my friends and family was a risk, but it was one I was willing to take. Plus, I had my best friend with me, so I wasn’t completely alone.
I just didn’t expect people to be as friendly and helpful as they were here. Within an hour, I had a place to work, and people I felt could end up being good friends. Even the cranky cop I almost knocked over didn’t treat me differently. He was just the same as he was to everyone, except he did it with sign language.
But everyone meets people at some point who make them want to take a risk they’d never considered before.
Other books by Mary B. Moore
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