(waiter) What would you like to drink?
A Shirley Temple.
(waiter) OK.
(Marianne) Heather being implanted at nine years
of age to me was a gift, the greatest
I could have ever received.
Would I have liked it to have been
earlier? Yeah, I would've.
But you know what, she wasn't, and you
deal with that and you do the best you can
for her. In the short time that she's been
implanted, her speech has improved
tremendously, and since she went into
hearing school, it's made a tremendous
change altogether.
(teacher) Heather functions very well in class.
She's probably in the top ten of her class
and she scores very well in all of her
exams, and overall she's just
enthusiastic and energetic. She wants to
do well, and if she doesn't do well
she'll do it again.
(Italian teacher) Una tazza di te? (asks for translation)
She'd rather drink tea.
(teacher) A cup of tea. Una tazza di te.
Very good. Excellent. And [more Italian]?
[answers]
(teacher) Very good.
I don't think that Heather would even
perceive herself as being disabled.
If this was a silent movie, you would be
like, "Whoa, this kid is popular!"
(Heather giving presentation)
(principal) Most of the kids know her.
Not because of her disability. They know
her for her personality.
Now she's in an environment where the
rest of the world is, and she's thriving,
so we can assume that, y'know,
if everything remains constant, she'll be
very successful in the world as an adult.
And this is the type of world that Heather
now has opened up to her.
She can do whatever her talents will allow her to.
(volleyball coach) We are a tough [????]
and I'm sorry I have to decide here. We're
going to be cutting down from 23 to 16.
So what I'm looking for today is
coachability, attitude, people that listen
as well as their physical skills. OK? Go!
(sound of running, hitting balls)
You are on the team. I'm gonna tell you
now so that you can tell your parents
every day, here, 4:45. Got it? Every day.
I made the team!
(music)
(Marianne) Hello, you look familiar.
(Heather) I made the team!
Congratulations!
OK, so when's practice going to be?
(Heather) Every day, here.
(Marianne) Oh, it's going to be here? 4:45?
Yep.
(Marianne) And it's five days a week?
Oh, your poor grandmother.
(Marianne) I see her communicating, I see her
existing in the hearing world. To me,
she's a walking miracle.
What do we have to do? Read the directions.
Mix first --
Mix first what?
The first three in ...
- Ingredients. -Yeah, that.
No, you say it!
- Incredi -- - Ingredients.
Incredients.
Gimme your arm. Ingredients.
- Ingredients. - Better.
But it's actually a mixture --
What was the three? It was the
(speaking together) cream cheese, egg yolk,
and half a cup of sugar.
Is it a half, or a quarter? Half a cup.
Go in there and get one of the --
(something about sugar)
That's a mixture for something else.
Open the closet and see if there's a half cup.
Just find the one that says half.
(Heather) There's only full cups.
(Marianne) No, there's a half there, absolutely.
You know what's amazing, Heather?
- Do you know what's amazing about you? - What?
I'm able to stand over there and tell you
everything, and you're not even looking at me. You couldn't
have done that three years ago.
You have made -- what do you mean, shrug
your shoulder? -- You have made such
unbelievable strides. I'm so proud of you.
I love you to death. I mean,
three years ago, I'd have to -- this would
take twice as long because I'd have to
stop, make sure you're looking at me ...
Look at you now.
- Aren't you impressed with that? - Nope.
Why? Yes, you are! Yes, you are.
You like it.
(Italian music)
If we win today and tomorrow,
we might be in the playoffs.
Oh! Well, that's good. If you win today.
And tomorrow.
(Marianne) Oh, and tomorrow.
(Peter) I see that Heather is now part of both
the deaf and the hearing worlds.
Before, she was only in the deaf world.
But now, she has the opportunity to be
in both. So I understand what she wants.
I understand Heather's wishes.
And at first I was scared to let her go,
but I can see now, she navigates
between the two worlds easily.
I'm satisfied. I'm relieved.
My family is the same. We sign at home,
on the outside my kids talk. I don't care!
When they are with hearing people, that's
their life. They wanna talk and enjoy it,
that's fine. When we're together, we sign.
(Marianne) Now your father's doing serious business.
(Heather) Eating is one of his professions!
Tell Grandpa what you said.
Eating is one of his professions.
Eating is one of Peter's professions. (laughs)
Serious business.
(Peter) For me, the priority is to keep
the family together, for support, for
contact. Like my sister and her husband
have kids with cochlear implants too,
and they live right next door to us.
So between us --