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Hi Everyone! Can you hear me well? Yeah? Okay. My name is Heather Artinian and I am really
excited to be here in front of you all today. I want to start off with a question? What
world do you belong to? Because that's a question that I get all the time. My answer -- is always:
"The Heather world." Today, I want to tell you about how I got to the Heather World and
I hope that what I'm about to say today will help you understand better why you should
build bridges between the worlds of your own lives. I was born profoundly deaf, which means
I could not hear anything but an atomic bomb, which would be useful, I'm thankful for that.
Otherwise, I get a peaceful night sleep every night without fail, which is awesome. My family
is deaf, my parents are deaf, they're also culturally deaf, which means, they communicate
using sign language, they went to deaf schools, they have deaf friends, they are just totally
immersed in that world. I have two younger deaf brothers, who are the same way. But,
I also have hearing grandparents, hearing uncles, deaf aunts, deaf cousins. So my family
is just a giant mix of hearing and deafness, which I love, it's my favorite part of my
family. When I was five years old, I was standing on a bridge. And, to my left, were my deaf
parents and the deaf world. And, to my right, were my hearing grandparents, and the hearing
world. I was just five years old at the time and I desperately wanted to be included in
both worlds. And that's how the controversy started. The documentary came about because
I decided that I wanted a cochlear implant, which is a device that helps me hear. And,
my deaf parents, and the deaf world were very critical because they felt like I was saying
that the deaf world's not good enough for me; that I was rejecting my parent's whole
life, which was not the case. But then, we got criticism from the hearing world as well,
because they looked at my parents, saying, "why wouldn't you give your child the opportunity
to hear?" Complicated question, right? And, that's how it started. At the end of the movie,
after all the fighting, my parents ultimately decided that it was the best choice at the
time for me not to get the cochlear implant. So, I was once before in the middle of the
bridge, but now I was totally immersed in the left side, the deaf world. We moved to
Maryland, which is a huge deaf community compared to where I was living before in New York.
You went to the Blockbusters, or restaurants, the grocery stores, it was easy because they
were very aware of the deaf world, they knew how to interact. I remember being back home
in New York where my parents would sit in a restaurant -- it was such a struggle just
to order drinks. There would be a lot of "what's," "huhs," pointing - "oh, no, no, no, I didn't order
this." But in Maryland the servers knew what to do and my brothers and I went to deaf schools.
My parents were visibly happy. But then, we lived there for about three and a half years and
my mom got really sick so we had to move back to New York, and, I became like, I was put
in front of the hearing world again. Kids on my block, they all spoke, they all didn't
sign and I remember looking at them like I wanted to communicate with them I wanted to
play with them. I was nine years old at the time. And for a while, I did not want the
cochlear implant. I desperately wanted to move back to Maryland, move back to that comfort
world that I'd known my whole life. But after a while, and especially after my dad got passed
over for a promotion at work because he was deaf and could not communicate, I realized
I did not want that for myself, I just didn't. And I really wanted to be able to communicate
with just anybody. So, I decided at ten years old, I was going to get the cochlear implant.
And my parents said, okay. My doctor told me that the results I would get would be very
minimal because I was ten years old and that was past the language learning stage. That
I probably would not learn how to speak or hear very well but I wanted to try. Who knows
right? Maybe it would work. And I think that today, it did. I've gotten better at hearing,
better at speaking. Right from the beginning, I went to a hearing school. And I had no speech
skills, no listening skills. People could not understand me, they would just sit there
and nod like "uh huh." I have no idea what you're saying. But that's okay. And, throughout
that time I was still going to speech therapy. Then, I got to high school and I realized
that my speech and hearing was getting better. People were starting to understand me and
I was starting to understand them. And, I also played sports which was my way in, because
people saw past the hearing or the lack thereof, they saw me and they thought I was good at
sports, so they wanted to be my friend. That was my first opportunity that I saw to bridge
gaps. What I would do is I would go to school, then I would go to my clubs and activities.
Then I would go to my practice, my second practice, I would come home at nine o'clock
at night, go straight to speech therapy, and then after that I would do my homework, and
I did that every day, right up until I graduated. It was a lot of work, a lot of dedication,
but I was willing to put in the work.And I saw the results. I did not do all this myself,
you know, I had a lot of help. I had speech therapists who put up with me night after
night, I had interpreters in the classroom who helped me when I couldn't understand.
I had a wonderful family, who, supported me through all of this. When I was sixteen, my
parents and my brothers moved to Rochester, New York, which has a large deaf community,
just like Maryland. I stayed behind and I lived with my grandparents, because that was
the best decision for me at the time, because, I wanted to keep on doing what I had been
doing all along -- going to speech and just, building the bridges with people. And this
is more pictures of my family, you have my uncle and my aunt, my wonderful grandparents,
and my other uncle and cousins. I fast-forward to today. I am a junior at Georgetown University.
I'm majoring in government, minoring in justice and peace studies I'm at my dream school.
I have dreams of going to law school. And, hopefully, like everyone else at Georgetown,
becoming a Supreme Court Justice. Who knows? Maybe, maybe. Thank you. After high school
I realized one thing, I didn't have to be in the hearing world, I didn't have to be
in the deaf world. I could just stand in the middle and be my own world, the Heather
World, which is a mixture of all kinds of experience I've had- being deaf, living in
the hearing world, having cochlear implants. I have two now, by the way, I forgot to mention.
Which brings me to my idea. I really strongly believe that we all should grab the opportunity
to bridge the worlds within out lives. Whether your experiences are small or big, you can
do it. I've learned through my experiences that when people seem mean or they seem standoffish,
its not because they don't like you. Most of the time it's because they're scared or
they don't understand. Most of the time, all they see is the deaf, they don't see the Heather.
So, it's my job and it's your job to reach out -- try to build a bridge over that. So what
I'll do is introduce myself and say, "hey I'm Heather, I'm deaf, I know. But, I have
cochlear implants and we communicate just fine. If you don't understand me, I'm happy
to repeat myself and trust me, my roommates do it all the time." And, you'll see the difference
-- people start realizing oh, she's normal, you know, I can just have a conversation with
her like everyone else. They become more comfortable, which is the key: people are uncomfortable
when they see new things, and I think it's our job as human beings to reach out. And
this idea can be applied to a variety of different things: race, gender, disability, politics,
access to education. Reach out, and you'll be surprised. I really believe that all of
us have experiences.
Regardless of how big or small, it will make an impact. Just by
me reaching out to one other person about my deafness, that person will probably become
more comfortable around other deaf people. And those people will probably become more comfortable
around other things because they've tired new things. And, I really feel like, once
you bridge and you open yourself up, you help them understand why you're worth building
a bridge over. You are, we all are. But when you open yourself up, they understand, and
they will try, most of the time. I met my best friend
in high school and in middle school
I was really shy, I didn't reach out to anybody. I would just stand in the corner and say nothing.
But, when I got my confidence in my speech, I started reaching out to people. And, just
by me reaching out to this one person, she is now studying sign language -- she's fluent,
almost fluent, studying speech pathology and she hopes to serve the deaf community after
just meeting me. So you can do that too just by you reaching out about your experiences,
you can make a change in someone else's life.
But sometimes, people don't understand.
I remember talking to this one person and he would say to me, "So, where are you from?"
I said, "Oh, I'm from New York." He's like, "No, no, no, no, really, where are you
from?" I went, "New York." He's like, "No, no, no, no I can hear the accent. Where are
you from?" And I was like "Oh, I'm deaf." And they were like, "No way, you're speaking
right now. Where are you frommmm?" I said, "Okay, okay, you're right, I'm from Africa. That's
where I'm from, that's where I get my accent." So sometimes, it takes more effort than you
think. But that's okay, that's okay. But other than that, you will also get negative reactions.
Building a bridge is not one sided, you need the other person to be willing to come to
you. And I've come across many situations where people say to me, "Heather, why even
bother going to law school? How are you even going to communicate in the court room?" Or
I've had people laugh at me and disregard my opinion because they think I'm deaf and dumb.
Or people will look at me and all they see is the cost of an interpreter. But, here's
what I say to those people. It's okay, its part of human nature, people will have their
beliefs. But what's important is that the bridges that you do make with people will
make up for those. Those bridges that you make will move society forward and as you
build bridges, those numbers will grow. And the numbers of those who didn't believe
in you will grow smaller, and I'm telling you. When I get my diploma from law school,
I've kept a list of all the people, I'm going to email them my diplomas, and they will be
sorry. They will be sorry.
This is an example of a bridge I made in college.
My roommates are the best people I've ever met and I would have never met them if I didn't have the courage
to reach out and that was just my little shout out to the most awesome people I know. Shout out.
So my conclusion is, I'm standing in the middle of the bridge. I'm understanding
really that I don't have to chose what world I'm in. I can be in the Heather World, and
so can you if you have your own world, who cares what anybody says? I think that we all
should reach out, build bridges, be your own ripple effect in the world, and I think that
you will be very surprised at what you will find at the other end of the bridge. So reach
out, allow other people in, try to understand different experiences, allow other to understand
yours. No matter what your experiences are, positive or negative, you will make an impact.
Thank you.