Watch Me When People Say Deaf And

I Have Always Resisted Putting Limitations On Myself, Both Professionally And Personally.

I'm A Proud Person Who Happens To Be Deaf. I Don't Want To Change It. I Don't Want To Wake Up And Suddenly Say, 'oh My God, I Can Hear.' That's Not My Dream. It's Not My Dream. I've Been Raised Deaf. I'm Used To The Way I Am. I Don't Want To Change It. Why Would I Ever Want To Change? Because I'm Used To This, I'm Happy.

I've Been Around Since I Was 19, I Won The Oscar When I Was 21, I've Had A Couple Of Tv Series. I've Continued To Work Despite The Predictions Of Some Naysayers.

Everybody's Got A Job To Do, And I Do Mine As Best I Can.

I Hope That Through My Example, Such As My Role On 'the West Wing,' I Can Help Change Attitudes On Deafness And Prove We Can Really Do Everything... Except Hear.