"Hello, what’s your name?"

"I’m 7."

"Wow, you’re 7? What’s your name?"

"I’m deaf and I’m short."

If you were to meet my oldest daughter, this would be the typical conversation. She thinks everyone needs to know her age, next most important is knowing that she is deaf and short. Deaf being obviously that she can’t hear with the exception of her cochlear implant, and short being that she is an achondroplastic dwarf. Seven years old and three feet tall. Three feet of fire ball!

God has blessed her with an incredible personality full of determination, gumption, and curiosity. From the day she was born she had this independence about her. During her infant months she refused to be cuddled while sleeping, she wanted to be alone! Now she still insists on doing everything alone. Just watch the child climb a tree, or ride a bike, or cook a meal, or hang laundry. The list goes on.

Before I go any further I have to describe her bike riding. We recently bought her a small bike, just her size, but due to her inability to ‘tread where others tread’ she has had two flat tires since getting the bike. This left her wanting to ride a bike but only having her brothers bigger bike available. So off she goes. The funny thing is she can’t reach the petals as they rotate around, so she pushes on one petal and waits for the other one to hit her other foot. As soon as that petal comes up she pushes on it, going faster and faster. It is quite a site.

She is very curious and thinks she needs to know everything going on around her, so she is very good at asking questions. This comes in handy for a deaf child, but can be very annoying to the one being asked. As a good parent I try to answer all her questions, but sometimes it’s just not her business. Feeling guilty at this point, I reason with myself. My son, age 5, also is quite the little question man and thinks he also needs to know all phone conversations. Again, there are some things that are just not his business! All this to say, my son can hear all the conversation around him, regardless if it’s his business or not. My daughter knows there is conversation around her, but not able to figure out what it is all about.

As a homeschool mom, I am very involved with my children’s education. I research ways to teach and learning styles. I am very curious on how to teach them better and how they receive information. Using the above example I can demonstrate what my son has gained from surrounding conversations and what my daughter has missed out on. For example, if my son heard that I told his grammee that we would meet them at the zoo Saturday, he would be excited. My daughter wouldn’t have a clue. Granted we would have told her this information before arriving at the zoo. But if my son overheard that tornados are predicted in the upcoming storm, he would want to know what a tornado was. My daughter doesn’t receive this extra input of information unless it is visually given to her.

My son has shocked me many times with knowledge of things he shouldn’t have known.

My point is that knowledge is built upon, it doesn’t just happen through school books and pitiful phonic readers. The world needs to be accessible visually for a deaf child to gain common knowledge and become a functioning adult. Sure they could slip by and grow up to become a well-rounded person, but I want my child to understand the world she lives in, not just tolerate it. As a Christian I hope that my children will grow in Christ and understand their battles ahead, my deaf child is no exception!

As parents we desire the best for our children, all of our children. Not just the "gifted" ones or the "normal" ones, but all our children and all their differences. As parents of these precious special gifts from God, we desire and work hard to give them what they need to succeed. And all of our definitions of success are quite different, but we work diligently at reaching those goals with our children. With our children, not for our children. We can’t do it for them, they need the "want to" for themselves to reach high. Focus on things High and our children will find their purpose in this crazy world, they will find the reason God created them just like they are, and they will find God in everything they do.

Accomplishing the feat of riding that big bike encourages my daughter to keep trying and not give up just because she is shorter than everyone around her (including her 3yr old sister) and reminds me that she can do anything she sets her heart to. It reminds me not to limit her, rather let her bloom just as she is. And next time she tells someone that "I’m deaf and I’m short" with a proud grin, I can be assured that she does have something to be proud about: proud of the fact that she is a beautiful daughter of God made just the way He likes her.