[Applause]
imagine your life without sound now I’ve
been able to hear and understand the TV
or the telephone or music not being able
to communicate and connect with their
family and your friends
imagine how much different your life
would be without sound
for you it might take some imagination
but for me I’ve lived it I was born with
a severe to profound hearing loss which
means when I take these hearing aids out
I can’t hear anything and then after two
years they diagnose me at what time they
put on these bulky
hardware devices and for the first time
I heard my mom voice I heard my dog bark
and my all-time favorite I could hear
the toilet flush and now that I can hear
that doesn’t mean that my life got any
easier you see not having a hearing aid
for the food two years of my life it put
me way behind my peers so my parent put
me on this intense schedule where I had
to have 12 years of speech therapy
reading sessions and many hours of music
lessons I remember looking outside and
watching my sibling play while I had
extra lessons with my mom I simply had
to work harder than most kids and then
every night my parents would read me a
bedtime story and the one that I always
remember was the little engine that
could you see my amazing parents they
wanted me to learn that if I go the
extra mile never give up and of course
that famous line I think I can I’ll be
able to reach the top of my Mountain one
of the biggest mountains in my life was
being born into the musical Osmond
family and not been able to hear and
understand their music I remember one
time watching my family perform to a
sold-out crowd at the New York Madison
Square Garden with screaming fans and
flashing lights and songs blasted over
the sound system I could feel the
vibration of the drum
but I could not understand the words at
the lead singer at the Iseman my own dad
it was a strangest thing because in the
middle of a crowd I felt alone I felt
disconnected it’s one of the worst
feeling in the world I’m sure many of
you have had those similar feelings
I’m feeling lonely frustrated
discouraged disconnected in your own
life but we do not overcome hopelessness
by removing the optical in our lives we
conquer adversity by not letting it
owners controllers or overcomers and
today I would like to share with you my
personal model that had carried me
throughout my life I may have a hearing
loss but my hearing loss did not have me
that doesn’t mean that I hate being deaf
I love it it’s believed me who I am
today and I am so proud of it I remember
when I was a young boy playing soccer
and my hearing aid quit working which
mean that I couldn’t hear my coach or I
couldn’t communicate with my teammates
and I have to rely on lip-reading and
body language no pressure
but then I still discovered they’ve to
be somewhat of a bluffing because I
couldn’t hear all the noise and the
screaming and the yelling and all the
distraction and I was able to focus in
on the game one time I scored a goal and
I was so excited I do my happy dance
and I spun around to celebrate with my
teammates but no one was celebrating I
was so embarrassed I look at the referee
and I found out that he’d been blowing
the whistle because I was offside that
hard one goal did not count all because
I couldn’t hear the whistle but
sometimes in life we just have to tune
out all that noise and all that
distraction and go for it because in
life it always counts in junior high and
high school I was bullied on a regular
basis because of my hearing loss are you
stacked myself why would I get beaten up
for being different thank goodness I had
an older brother who was an all-star
linebacker for the football team who
always looked after me but despite
getting beat up I was determined not to
be defeated and a comma to be more
compassionate and accepting of others
even though bullying and judgment had
continued throughout my life it taught
me perspectives that we can control the
quality of our lives just by how we
think and act towards those challenges
I’m not sharing this with you to feel
sorry for me but to let you see how my
loss has become my greatest advantage
I’ve learned to embrace my hearing
disability and then allow it to empower
me instead of holding me back doing
things that we don’t want to do but we
do them anyway is what defines us and
makes us who we are
people often
I mean how bad is your hearing loss well
back in the day when I was a teenager we
had a break-in and with the house alarm
going off and all the commotion my whole
family was up all night and with my
hearing aids out I slept right through
it and found out about it the next
morning
I was so bummed that I missed out on all
that excitement and action but a Lisa
had a good night’s sleep college was one
of the hardest things I’ve ever done as
you can see on the survey only one-third
of deaf student graduated from high
school and then those that go on to
college only one-fifth of them complete
that academic study I was very lucky and
I managed to get through and get my
bathroom degree but not without a fight
and then I was scared to death
well my younger brother challenged me to
do a master’s degree program with him
despite feelings of inadequacy I would
let them lean accepted the challenge and
to make a long story short after the
two-year course was over I had to
continue for another whole year and then
I had to take the final exam five times
talk about feeling like a failure but I
challenge my limits I never gave up and
I eventually passed and one of the
proudest moments of my life was when my
younger brother waited a whole year for
me so that we could walk across ice cave
together at our graduation and then he
and my family cheered me on as I gave
the commencement speech
the goal that we work how to fall in
life are the one that we appreciate the
most
I remember socially feeling insecure
because of my deaf accent and wishing
that I could sound normal like everyone
else but then it dawned on me why do I
want to sound like everyone else and why
do I want to even sound like Donnie or
Marie I want to sound like me my deaf
accent and my unique voice that’s who I
am why should it matter what other
people think of me and as soon as I
separate myself for who I was and not
what I was I was so much happier
sometimes when people hear my deaf
accent they think I’m from some other
country or they respond by yelling or
using oh boo exaggerated mouth movements
thinking that that would help me
understand but just so you know that
doesn’t help but it does give me some
entertainment
today I still rely on closed caption
when I watch movies I prefer music
without words
I still struggle and noisy environments
and loud restaurants and sometimes I
just like to turn my hearing aids off
and have a nice quiet conversation with
my wife using sign language and group
conversation they can be quite comical
like when someone makes a funny comment
and I have absolutely no idea what they
just said but I still smile and laugh
I’ll admit I have the disability
advantage you see I can hear whenever I
want to I can also turn them off
whenever I want here
it’s like when I’m on a noisy airplane
and I just want my peace and quiet well
out the idea with a misconception that
my deafness is an impairment because
it’s an advantage it’s not a curse but a
blessing it’s not a penalty but an
opportunity this mentality has helped me
to defy the odds of doing things Howard
told I could never do I now play the
violin that Bo loved the piano and the
drum I was the spokesperson for the
Starkey Hearing Foundation and
participated in many of the hearing
missions worldwide I wrote a book and
then I’ve started my own charity in
honor of my sweet grandmother to help
more deaf children with the gift of
hearing and once I was voted the sighted
kid in high school but now I love
conquering my fears and been able to
give back as a motivational speaker even
with the deaf accent I was told that I
could never play a musical instrument
because my ears were broken and even
though I came from a musical family
I’m sure many of you out there today
have been told that you couldn’t do
something but I would determined to find
a way and to master this impossible
challenge so a practice day in and day
out and then I experienced a miracle
I turned my hearing aids off and that I
placed this on my cheek and all of a
sudden I could hear the music not by
hearing it but by filling it through the
conductive by waving as their sentiment
at that moment I knew I could accomplish
anything my heart desired I just had to
find a way
[Music]
all of our dreams all of your dreams are
just a heartbeat away and the answers
all up to us when we find an excuse or
will we embrace our limitations and move
those mountain and find a way we all
have limitations but we’ve also got
potential and with one we embrace will
determine the outcome and quality of our
lives thank you very much
[Applause]
imagine your life without sound now I’ve
been able to hear and understand the TV
or the telephone or music not being able
to communicate and connect with their
family and your friends
imagine how much different your life
would be without sound
for you it might take some imagination
but for me I’ve lived it I was born with
a severe to profound hearing loss which
means when I take these hearing aids out
I can’t hear anything and then after two
years they diagnose me at what time they
put on these bulky
hardware devices and for the first time
I heard my mom voice I heard my dog bark
and my all-time favorite I could hear
the toilet flush and now that I can hear
that doesn’t mean that my life got any
easier you see not having a hearing aid
for the food two years of my life it put
me way behind my peers so my parent put
me on this intense schedule where I had
to have 12 years of speech therapy
reading sessions and many hours of music
lessons I remember looking outside and
watching my sibling play while I had
extra lessons with my mom I simply had
to work harder than most kids and then
every night my parents would read me a
bedtime story and the one that I always
remember was the little engine that
could you see my amazing parents they
wanted me to learn that if I go the
extra mile never give up and of course
that famous line I think I can I’ll be
able to reach the top of my Mountain one
of the biggest mountains in my life was
being born into the musical Osmond
family and not been able to hear and
understand their music I remember one
time watching my family perform to a
sold-out crowd at the New York Madison
Square Garden with screaming fans and
flashing lights and songs blasted over
the sound system I could feel the
vibration of the drum
but I could not understand the words at
the lead singer at the Iseman my own dad
it was a strangest thing because in the
middle of a crowd I felt alone I felt
disconnected it’s one of the worst
feeling in the world I’m sure many of
you have had those similar feelings
I’m feeling lonely frustrated
discouraged disconnected in your own
life but we do not overcome hopelessness
by removing the optical in our lives we
conquer adversity by not letting it
owners controllers or overcomers and
today I would like to share with you my
personal model that had carried me
throughout my life I may have a hearing
loss but my hearing loss did not have me
that doesn’t mean that I hate being deaf
I love it it’s believed me who I am
today and I am so proud of it I remember
when I was a young boy playing soccer
and my hearing aid quit working which
mean that I couldn’t hear my coach or I
couldn’t communicate with my teammates
and I have to rely on lip-reading and
body language no pressure
but then I still discovered they’ve to
be somewhat of a bluffing because I
couldn’t hear all the noise and the
screaming and the yelling and all the
distraction and I was able to focus in
on the game one time I scored a goal and
I was so excited I do my happy dance
and I spun around to celebrate with my
teammates but no one was celebrating I
was so embarrassed I look at the referee
and I found out that he’d been blowing
the whistle because I was offside that
hard one goal did not count all because
I couldn’t hear the whistle but
sometimes in life we just have to tune
out all that noise and all that
distraction and go for it because in
life it always counts in junior high and
high school I was bullied on a regular
basis because of my hearing loss are you
stacked myself why would I get beaten up
for being different thank goodness I had
an older brother who was an all-star
linebacker for the football team who
always looked after me but despite
getting beat up I was determined not to
be defeated and a comma to be more
compassionate and accepting of others
even though bullying and judgment had
continued throughout my life it taught
me perspectives that we can control the
quality of our lives just by how we
think and act towards those challenges
I’m not sharing this with you to feel
sorry for me but to let you see how my
loss has become my greatest advantage
I’ve learned to embrace my hearing
disability and then allow it to empower
me instead of holding me back doing
things that we don’t want to do but we
do them anyway is what defines us and
makes us who we are
people often
I mean how bad is your hearing loss well
back in the day when I was a teenager we
had a break-in and with the house alarm
going off and all the commotion my whole
family was up all night and with my
hearing aids out I slept right through
it and found out about it the next
morning
I was so bummed that I missed out on all
that excitement and action but a Lisa
had a good night’s sleep college was one
of the hardest things I’ve ever done as
you can see on the survey only one-third
of deaf student graduated from high
school and then those that go on to
college only one-fifth of them complete
that academic study I was very lucky and
I managed to get through and get my
bathroom degree but not without a fight
and then I was scared to death
well my younger brother challenged me to
do a master’s degree program with him
despite feelings of inadequacy I would
let them lean accepted the challenge and
to make a long story short after the
two-year course was over I had to
continue for another whole year and then
I had to take the final exam five times
talk about feeling like a failure but I
challenge my limits I never gave up and
I eventually passed and one of the
proudest moments of my life was when my
younger brother waited a whole year for
me so that we could walk across ice cave
together at our graduation and then he
and my family cheered me on as I gave
the commencement speech
the goal that we work how to fall in
life are the one that we appreciate the
most
I remember socially feeling insecure
because of my deaf accent and wishing
that I could sound normal like everyone
else but then it dawned on me why do I
want to sound like everyone else and why
do I want to even sound like Donnie or
Marie I want to sound like me my deaf
accent and my unique voice that’s who I
am why should it matter what other
people think of me and as soon as I
separate myself for who I was and not
what I was I was so much happier
sometimes when people hear my deaf
accent they think I’m from some other
country or they respond by yelling or
using oh boo exaggerated mouth movements
thinking that that would help me
understand but just so you know that
doesn’t help but it does give me some
entertainment
today I still rely on closed caption
when I watch movies I prefer music
without words
I still struggle and noisy environments
and loud restaurants and sometimes I
just like to turn my hearing aids off
and have a nice quiet conversation with
my wife using sign language and group
conversation they can be quite comical
like when someone makes a funny comment
and I have absolutely no idea what they
just said but I still smile and laugh
I’ll admit I have the disability
advantage you see I can hear whenever I
want to I can also turn them off
whenever I want here
it’s like when I’m on a noisy airplane
and I just want my peace and quiet well
out the idea with a misconception that
my deafness is an impairment because
it’s an advantage it’s not a curse but a
blessing it’s not a penalty but an
opportunity this mentality has helped me
to defy the odds of doing things Howard
told I could never do I now play the
violin that Bo loved the piano and the
drum I was the spokesperson for the
Starkey Hearing Foundation and
participated in many of the hearing
missions worldwide I wrote a book and
then I’ve started my own charity in
honor of my sweet grandmother to help
more deaf children with the gift of
hearing and once I was voted the sighted
kid in high school but now I love
conquering my fears and been able to
give back as a motivational speaker even
with the deaf accent I was told that I
could never play a musical instrument
because my ears were broken and even
though I came from a musical family
I’m sure many of you out there today
have been told that you couldn’t do
something but I would determined to find
a way and to master this impossible
challenge so a practice day in and day
out and then I experienced a miracle
I turned my hearing aids off and that I
placed this on my cheek and all of a
sudden I could hear the music not by
hearing it but by filling it through the
conductive by waving as their sentiment
at that moment I knew I could accomplish
anything my heart desired I just had to
find a way
[Music]
all of our dreams all of your dreams are
just a heartbeat away and the answers
all up to us when we find an excuse or
will we embrace our limitations and move
those mountain and find a way we all
have limitations but we’ve also got
potential and with one we embrace will
determine the outcome and quality of our
lives thank you very much
[Applause]
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