When I was child, I remember seeing two people “shaking” their hands and asked my mother what they did. She answered that they were deaf and that’s why they used their hands “to talk”. It was a great discovery for me and I always wanted to learn. I could do it and I have met great deaf people.

Being a deaf person has not been any impediment to develop my university career, my professional work and my life as a mother. I needed the help of my parents, relatives and friends in many occasions but always from affection and with a desire to learn and improve.

How is it to live with a deaf person? I have always had a clear answer, wonderfully special. Our biggest game was always speaking without sound so that nobody understood us (after 26 years, we still do it!). Few people have listened to me throughout my life as much as she has.

Approaching disability from the job office has been a social and human experience that I would not change for anything.

When my deaf children were born, the first thing I felt was a great sadness … The second a challenge that has been the engine of my life and the third a great happiness to see how they have responded and the fruit they have borne.

Greater visual contact to achieve understanding = companionship = effort and desire to excel. People who have formed and had to work double to be where others arrived with half effort = admiration.

Whenever we talk about any disability, whether physical or mental, we have many preconceived ideas of what it can be to have a close relationship with that person. I grew up with a deaf person who always listened to me.

Having a deaf friend throughout these years has taught me that barriers are put by oneself. Seeing how disadvantages can be turned into strengths is one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned.

My deaf friends made me feel one more of the group as soon as they met me. I’ve had great times with them. Communication has never been a problem thanks to their efforts, expressiveness and sympathy. I wish everyone was lucky enough to meet people like them.