Rick Gunn/Nevada Appeal Caitlin Mattice, 15, signs in Carson High School on Friday afternoon. As someone who is hard of hearing, she urges her peers to be more accepting of differences.
Everybody is different in their own way, but I am different in many ways. I am hard of hearing.
The most frustrating thing that I have to go through is when no one understands me. Yes, I am deaf. But that doesn't mean I'm stupid.
Some of my friends don't even know what I have to go through, but they still stand by my side.
Sometimes when my hearing aid battery goes dead, they think I am ignoring them but I'm not. I just couldn't hear them.
Sometimes it bugs me that teachers and students have to have me sit up front and have all the attention. I am not that special.
If someone has asked me to repeat something, I repeat it. But when I asked them to repeat, they wouldn't. They just say, never mind.
That's another thing that bugs me.
Being a part of the deaf and hard-of-hearing culture is very different, but if I were to choose any style of life, this would be it.
I meet so many new people in the world who know exactly what I am going through and we share our stories of going through hard times.
Although I am hard of hearing, I also have a language. It's called sign language.
It is unique. It's miming with your hands and having to act out what you're trying to say. It's more like painting a picture in the air and putting it into body language and speaking all at the same time.
Sign language is my first and helps me in many ways.
Communicating with my friends, family and teachers is very important to me. So, if you are talking and I ask you to repeat, please don't say never mind.
And please be the good person I know you are.
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