I’d like to tell you a story when I was
24 I found myself living in a small
beach town by the name of Naples Florida
I was looking for something new I was 24
I’m 29 now and in that small coastal
town I was the only deaf resident in
fact the closest deaf person was a few
hours away by car and all of the friends
and acquaintances that I had made could
hear
I didn’t mind though I wanted something
new
lucky for me Naples Florida is home to
some of the u.s. Olympics volleyball
team where they reside and train through
the year so I had a fantastic
opportunity to play with them every day
I could and we’d hit the court all the
time either indoors or out at the beach
it was great
lucky for them I happen to be very good
at volleyball so one night after a great
game a friend and I pull up some chairs
by the water to watch the Sun go down
and Chad and he looks over at me and he
asks me question that completely blew me
away to be honest in 24 years of my life
nobody had ever asked me and his
question was simple have you ever wished
you could hear I looked at him for a
second and thought where did that come
from
then I took a moment and I realized
while we had been sitting there I could
see the waves coming in and crashing on
the beach he could hear that obviously I
couldn’t my entire world is completely
silent to our left people had taken over
the court and were playing volleyball
cheering each other on to our right a
mother was playing and laughing with her
baby and behind us cars than ATVs had
passed by all day
without me even noticing so I was quick
to answer no of course not
I’ve never wished I could hear I’ve
never wished that because I love Who I
am and you may be wondering how do I
love myself as a deaf man well first I
was born deaf my deafness shaped my
childhood and it’s all I’ve ever known
so my perspective on life and my
experience of the world is very
different
my outlook and my life has involved
experiences that many of you have never
had to encounter as hearing people my
culture something I embody and cherish
has always been deaf my perspective on
life is completely different the
experiences I’ve had something I hold
most dear
have taught me to love myself as a deaf
man to illustrate that point if I were
to walk into a job interview with a
panel of hearing peers and if I were to
approach that meaning wishing that I
could hear wishing that I could speak
like them and focusing on that imbalance
do you think I would do very well
obviously not right because in the back
of my mind I’m focusing on the negative
therefore creating a negative outcome
and I’m certain I wouldn’t get that job
but if instead I use my difference as an
advantage and an asset I know that is a
deaf man I have so much to offer their
company my experiences growing up are
much different from theirs and knowing
that allows me to approach the interview
positive I can go into that meeting and
confidently tell them how they will
benefit from hiring a deaf man for a
multitude of reasons and I can walk out
with that job because it’s all about
mindset so I say first and foremost to
love yourself so as I mentioned the
first reason I love myself is my
upbringing but many of you may not know
that I
come from a rather large family I have
two brothers who are also deaf along
with my parents my grandparents and yes
even my great-grandparents as well I’m
the fourth generation in a beautiful
family with over 25 deaf members born to
deaf parents who understood the Deaf
experience they knew exactly how to
raise me they knew how to provide me
with the best opportunities and to
support me from day one of my existence
my parents gave me language access to
education and love growing up my life
was perfect imagine like many of you
born to hearing parents I never noticed
barriers that simply weren’t there I’m
sure many of you felt your life was
normal the same way that I did
coming from a deaf family my world in
when it came time for my parents to
enroll me in school they already knew
that I would go to the deaf school I
would learn in an environment that was
designed for me at that time all of my
peers and teachers and even the
superintendent was deaf so I was still
in my perfect world I was in an
environment where I could grow and where
I could thrive and I had no problems it
was perfect for me and many people don’t
believe that but it’s true for me the
deaf community our world was the perfect
world for me and I remember in this
summer before fifth grade I was ready to
go back to school and I asked my mom to
go to a public school she thought I was
crazy
she said what no public school it’s all
hearing kids the deaf school is a
perfect fit and I said no I want to
learn what those students are learning I
want to see what their classrooms are
like what our public school teachers
like soap on my insistence she enrolled
me and after two weeks of frustration I
came home pleading to go back to the
deaf school she listened very
sympathetically and told me nope too bad
I was floored she told me that I needed
to stick it out for a year because I
needed to learn how to interact with my
hearing peers and that if I gave it a
little patience I would learn so much
about the world around me because the
reality is the world is hearing I was
the only deaf kid in the entire school
of course I always had hearing friends
but they could sign like me so that year
I gained a lot of insight I couldn’t be
involved in any of the school
organizations my friends never learn
enough sign to communicate and every
time I try to play a sport I’d get
benched the basketball coach told me a
deaf kid could never help the team win a
game and I was athletic so after a year
I went back to the deaf school where I
realized that’s my home that’s my
community and my community is where I
can thrive I got involved in the
classroom again joined a bunch of school
organizations and got back in the
basketball team where I helped win many
so it’s without hesitation that I can
say the deaf community is in fact my
home after graduating high school I was
accepted into the only deaf University
in the world Gallaudet University in
Washington DC it was there I gained my
degree in mathematics with the intention
of becoming a better teacher than the
ones I had growing up like many of you i
sat through some math teachers who
seriously sucked I wanted to be a good
math teacher but I also wanted to be a
good role model for those students so as
time got closer to graduation of course
I was nervous I started questioning if I
had made the right decision and I
decided to get out to get out of my
comfort zone and to travel the world
since then I’ve been to over 43
countries and the funny thing about when
I travel is that I’m constantly meeting
hearing people who say nyle you are so
brave how do you travel like this it’s
been hard to be deaf and travel it looks
impossible and let me tell you traveling
as a deaf person I think is actually
much easier than traveling for hearing
people because sign language is
something that gives me access to a much
larger world I’ll tell you one of my
favorite stories a few years ago I was
in South Sicily perusing a flea market
when I walked into a butcher shop and
standing there is an American tourist
trying to ask the butcher where the meat
he was slicing is sourced from so the
Sicilian man speaking no English is
gesturing right and you know Italians
Chester he’s trying to explain where the
meat comes from and it’s going right
over the head of the tourists so
watching this very comical breakdown in
conversation I’m understanding
everything perfectly so I pull out a
paper and a pen and I translate what the
butcher is saying and I hand it over to
the tourists and explain this is what
he’s trying to tell you so there I am
the deaf person translating for two
hearing people
and in that situation they’re the ones
disabled not me well that story is
ironic it happens so many times when I
meet people in other countries I’m
always amazed to meet locals in other
countries and their ability to
gesticulate and communicate with me
often quite easily and I would always
tell myself to visit the local deaf
schools and to make time to meet deaf
locals but with every new deaf school
that I saw I was sad to see that their
schools were in terrible condition and
their education was greatly lacking
often I just couldn’t believe my eyes
when I would meet deaf adults I realized
a common thread very quickly they either
didn’t have the same level of education
I did or their language was incomplete
making it hard to communicate they’d
often complain to me that the system had
failed them and now they struggled to
find work and I kept asking myself why
is this happening and why is this
happening so often why am I somehow more
fortunate growing up I thought every
deaf person in the world was like me and
have the same opportunities that I did
so in returning to the United States I
decided to do some research on the topic
and what I found shocked me there are
currently more than 70 million deaf
people in the world with only 2% of them
having access to education in sign
languages which means millions upon
millions of deaf children not receiving
the education they need
also known as education deprivation I
also learned that over 75% of hearing
parents don’t sign to communicate with
their deaf children which is astonishing
again imagine millions and millions of
deaf children without an education
without a language those children
without language and access to education
exhibit signs of brain damage in my
research I also found that I’m a part of
an even smaller group 10% of deaf
children come from deaf parents like
only 10% I’m incredibly lucky I had
access to language and education and I
had parents who loved me and put me on a
path to success I wouldn’t be Who I am
today without any of those things so it
was clear to me that something needed to
be done I got to work in setting up my
own foundation the nyle dimarco
foundation with the goal of improving
the lives of millions of deaf people
around the world we’ve since partnered
with another deaf organization in the
United States to introduce legislation a
bill there requires all deaf children
have access to language between the ages
of 0 and 5 setting up benchmarks for
their success because before the age of
five children have the ability to
acquire a foundation and language
reading them for the classroom and for a
successful life after the age of five
that critical language acquisition
window closes I’m working to give every
deaf child in the world a future filled
with a rich language and the
opportunities that I was lucky enough to
receive but the deaf community cannot do
it alone we need you to become our
allies and join us in making the world
more knowledgeable we need you to join
us to fight with us and for us in the
ongoing battle of affording children
what they need to thrive so before I go
I want to teach you two very simple but
important signs the first is love the
second yourself follow me
love yourself brilliant a pluses all around thank you
24 I found myself living in a small
beach town by the name of Naples Florida
I was looking for something new I was 24
I’m 29 now and in that small coastal
town I was the only deaf resident in
fact the closest deaf person was a few
hours away by car and all of the friends
and acquaintances that I had made could
hear
I didn’t mind though I wanted something
new
lucky for me Naples Florida is home to
some of the u.s. Olympics volleyball
team where they reside and train through
the year so I had a fantastic
opportunity to play with them every day
I could and we’d hit the court all the
time either indoors or out at the beach
it was great
lucky for them I happen to be very good
at volleyball so one night after a great
game a friend and I pull up some chairs
by the water to watch the Sun go down
and Chad and he looks over at me and he
asks me question that completely blew me
away to be honest in 24 years of my life
nobody had ever asked me and his
question was simple have you ever wished
you could hear I looked at him for a
second and thought where did that come
from
then I took a moment and I realized
while we had been sitting there I could
see the waves coming in and crashing on
the beach he could hear that obviously I
couldn’t my entire world is completely
silent to our left people had taken over
the court and were playing volleyball
cheering each other on to our right a
mother was playing and laughing with her
baby and behind us cars than ATVs had
passed by all day
without me even noticing so I was quick
to answer no of course not
I’ve never wished I could hear I’ve
never wished that because I love Who I
am and you may be wondering how do I
love myself as a deaf man well first I
was born deaf my deafness shaped my
childhood and it’s all I’ve ever known
so my perspective on life and my
experience of the world is very
different
my outlook and my life has involved
experiences that many of you have never
had to encounter as hearing people my
culture something I embody and cherish
has always been deaf my perspective on
life is completely different the
experiences I’ve had something I hold
most dear
have taught me to love myself as a deaf
man to illustrate that point if I were
to walk into a job interview with a
panel of hearing peers and if I were to
approach that meaning wishing that I
could hear wishing that I could speak
like them and focusing on that imbalance
do you think I would do very well
obviously not right because in the back
of my mind I’m focusing on the negative
therefore creating a negative outcome
and I’m certain I wouldn’t get that job
but if instead I use my difference as an
advantage and an asset I know that is a
deaf man I have so much to offer their
company my experiences growing up are
much different from theirs and knowing
that allows me to approach the interview
positive I can go into that meeting and
confidently tell them how they will
benefit from hiring a deaf man for a
multitude of reasons and I can walk out
with that job because it’s all about
mindset so I say first and foremost to
love yourself so as I mentioned the
first reason I love myself is my
upbringing but many of you may not know
that I
come from a rather large family I have
two brothers who are also deaf along
with my parents my grandparents and yes
even my great-grandparents as well I’m
the fourth generation in a beautiful
family with over 25 deaf members born to
deaf parents who understood the Deaf
experience they knew exactly how to
raise me they knew how to provide me
with the best opportunities and to
support me from day one of my existence
my parents gave me language access to
education and love growing up my life
was perfect imagine like many of you
born to hearing parents I never noticed
barriers that simply weren’t there I’m
sure many of you felt your life was
normal the same way that I did
coming from a deaf family my world in
when it came time for my parents to
enroll me in school they already knew
that I would go to the deaf school I
would learn in an environment that was
designed for me at that time all of my
peers and teachers and even the
superintendent was deaf so I was still
in my perfect world I was in an
environment where I could grow and where
I could thrive and I had no problems it
was perfect for me and many people don’t
believe that but it’s true for me the
deaf community our world was the perfect
world for me and I remember in this
summer before fifth grade I was ready to
go back to school and I asked my mom to
go to a public school she thought I was
crazy
she said what no public school it’s all
hearing kids the deaf school is a
perfect fit and I said no I want to
learn what those students are learning I
want to see what their classrooms are
like what our public school teachers
like soap on my insistence she enrolled
me and after two weeks of frustration I
came home pleading to go back to the
deaf school she listened very
sympathetically and told me nope too bad
I was floored she told me that I needed
to stick it out for a year because I
needed to learn how to interact with my
hearing peers and that if I gave it a
little patience I would learn so much
about the world around me because the
reality is the world is hearing I was
the only deaf kid in the entire school
of course I always had hearing friends
but they could sign like me so that year
I gained a lot of insight I couldn’t be
involved in any of the school
organizations my friends never learn
enough sign to communicate and every
time I try to play a sport I’d get
benched the basketball coach told me a
deaf kid could never help the team win a
game and I was athletic so after a year
I went back to the deaf school where I
realized that’s my home that’s my
community and my community is where I
can thrive I got involved in the
classroom again joined a bunch of school
organizations and got back in the
basketball team where I helped win many
so it’s without hesitation that I can
say the deaf community is in fact my
home after graduating high school I was
accepted into the only deaf University
in the world Gallaudet University in
Washington DC it was there I gained my
degree in mathematics with the intention
of becoming a better teacher than the
ones I had growing up like many of you i
sat through some math teachers who
seriously sucked I wanted to be a good
math teacher but I also wanted to be a
good role model for those students so as
time got closer to graduation of course
I was nervous I started questioning if I
had made the right decision and I
decided to get out to get out of my
comfort zone and to travel the world
since then I’ve been to over 43
countries and the funny thing about when
I travel is that I’m constantly meeting
hearing people who say nyle you are so
brave how do you travel like this it’s
been hard to be deaf and travel it looks
impossible and let me tell you traveling
as a deaf person I think is actually
much easier than traveling for hearing
people because sign language is
something that gives me access to a much
larger world I’ll tell you one of my
favorite stories a few years ago I was
in South Sicily perusing a flea market
when I walked into a butcher shop and
standing there is an American tourist
trying to ask the butcher where the meat
he was slicing is sourced from so the
Sicilian man speaking no English is
gesturing right and you know Italians
Chester he’s trying to explain where the
meat comes from and it’s going right
over the head of the tourists so
watching this very comical breakdown in
conversation I’m understanding
everything perfectly so I pull out a
paper and a pen and I translate what the
butcher is saying and I hand it over to
the tourists and explain this is what
he’s trying to tell you so there I am
the deaf person translating for two
hearing people
and in that situation they’re the ones
disabled not me well that story is
ironic it happens so many times when I
meet people in other countries I’m
always amazed to meet locals in other
countries and their ability to
gesticulate and communicate with me
often quite easily and I would always
tell myself to visit the local deaf
schools and to make time to meet deaf
locals but with every new deaf school
that I saw I was sad to see that their
schools were in terrible condition and
their education was greatly lacking
often I just couldn’t believe my eyes
when I would meet deaf adults I realized
a common thread very quickly they either
didn’t have the same level of education
I did or their language was incomplete
making it hard to communicate they’d
often complain to me that the system had
failed them and now they struggled to
find work and I kept asking myself why
is this happening and why is this
happening so often why am I somehow more
fortunate growing up I thought every
deaf person in the world was like me and
have the same opportunities that I did
so in returning to the United States I
decided to do some research on the topic
and what I found shocked me there are
currently more than 70 million deaf
people in the world with only 2% of them
having access to education in sign
languages which means millions upon
millions of deaf children not receiving
the education they need
also known as education deprivation I
also learned that over 75% of hearing
parents don’t sign to communicate with
their deaf children which is astonishing
again imagine millions and millions of
deaf children without an education
without a language those children
without language and access to education
exhibit signs of brain damage in my
research I also found that I’m a part of
an even smaller group 10% of deaf
children come from deaf parents like
only 10% I’m incredibly lucky I had
access to language and education and I
had parents who loved me and put me on a
path to success I wouldn’t be Who I am
today without any of those things so it
was clear to me that something needed to
be done I got to work in setting up my
own foundation the nyle dimarco
foundation with the goal of improving
the lives of millions of deaf people
around the world we’ve since partnered
with another deaf organization in the
United States to introduce legislation a
bill there requires all deaf children
have access to language between the ages
of 0 and 5 setting up benchmarks for
their success because before the age of
five children have the ability to
acquire a foundation and language
reading them for the classroom and for a
successful life after the age of five
that critical language acquisition
window closes I’m working to give every
deaf child in the world a future filled
with a rich language and the
opportunities that I was lucky enough to
receive but the deaf community cannot do
it alone we need you to become our
allies and join us in making the world
more knowledgeable we need you to join
us to fight with us and for us in the
ongoing battle of affording children
what they need to thrive so before I go
I want to teach you two very simple but
important signs the first is love the
second yourself follow me
love yourself brilliant a pluses all around thank you
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