The Heather world | Heather Artinian | TEDxGeorgetown

Hi Everyone! Can you hear me well? Yeah? Okay.
My name is Heather Artinian and I am really

excited to be here in front of you all today.
I want to start off with a question? What

world do you belong to? Because that's a question
that I get all the time. My answer -- is always:

"The Heather world." Today, I want to tell
you about how I got to the Heather World and

I hope that what I'm about to say today will
help you understand better why you should

build bridges between the worlds of your own
lives. I was born profoundly deaf, which means

I could not hear anything but an atomic bomb,
which would be useful, I'm thankful for that.

Otherwise, I get a peaceful night sleep every
night without fail, which is awesome. My family

is deaf, my parents are deaf, they're also
culturally deaf, which means, they communicate

using sign language, they went to deaf schools,
they have deaf friends, they are just totally

immersed in that world. I have two younger
deaf brothers, who are the same way. But,

I also have hearing grandparents, hearing
uncles, deaf aunts, deaf cousins. So my family

is just a giant mix of hearing and deafness,
which I love, it's my favorite part of my

family. When I was five years old, I was standing
on a bridge. And, to my left, were my deaf

parents and the deaf world. And, to my right,
were my hearing grandparents, and the hearing

world. I was just five years old at the time
and I desperately wanted to be included in

both worlds. And that's how the controversy
started. The documentary came about because

I decided that I wanted a cochlear implant,
which is a device that helps me hear. And,

my deaf parents, and the deaf world were very
critical because they felt like I was saying

that the deaf world's not good enough for
me; that I was rejecting my parent's whole

life, which was not the case. But then, we
got criticism from the hearing world as well,

because they looked at my parents, saying,
"why wouldn't you give your child the opportunity

to hear?" Complicated question, right? And,
that's how it started. At the end of the movie,

after all the fighting, my parents ultimately
decided that it was the best choice at the

time for me not to get the cochlear implant.
So, I was once before in the middle of the

bridge, but now I was totally immersed in
the left side, the deaf world. We moved to

Maryland, which is a huge deaf community compared
to where I was living before in New York.

You went to the Blockbusters, or restaurants,
the grocery stores, it was easy because they

were very aware of the deaf world, they knew
how to interact. I remember being back home

in New York where my parents would sit in
a restaurant -- it was such a struggle just

to order drinks. There would be a lot of "what's,"
"huhs," pointing - "oh, no, no, no, I didn't order

this." But in Maryland the servers knew what to do
and my brothers and I went to deaf schools.

My parents were visibly happy. But then, we
lived there for about three and a half years and

my mom got really sick so we had to move back
to New York, and, I became like, I was put

in front of the hearing world again. Kids
on my block, they all spoke, they all didn't

sign and I remember looking at them like I
wanted to communicate with them I wanted to

play with them. I was nine years old at the
time. And for a while, I did not want the

cochlear implant. I desperately wanted to
move back to Maryland, move back to that comfort

world that I'd known my whole life. But after
a while, and especially after my dad got passed

over for a promotion at work because he was
deaf and could not communicate, I realized

I did not want that for myself, I just didn't.
And I really wanted to be able to communicate

with just anybody. So, I decided at ten years
old, I was going to get the cochlear implant.

And my parents said, okay. My doctor told
me that the results I would get would be very

minimal because I was ten years old and that
was past the language learning stage. That

I probably would not learn how to speak or
hear very well but I wanted to try. Who knows

right? Maybe it would work. And I think that
today, it did. I've gotten better at hearing,

better at speaking. Right from the beginning,
I went to a hearing school. And I had no speech

skills, no listening skills. People could
not understand me, they would just sit there

and nod like "uh huh." I have no idea what
you're saying. But that's okay. And, throughout

that time I was still going to speech therapy.
Then, I got to high school and I realized

that my speech and hearing was getting better.
People were starting to understand me and

I was starting to understand them. And, I
also played sports which was my way in, because

people saw past the hearing or the lack thereof,
they saw me and they thought I was good at

sports, so they wanted to be my friend. That
was my first opportunity that I saw to bridge

gaps. What I would do is I would go to school,
then I would go to my clubs and activities.

Then I would go to my practice, my second
practice, I would come home at nine o'clock

at night, go straight to speech therapy, and
then after that I would do my homework, and

I did that every day, right up until I graduated.
It was a lot of work, a lot of dedication,

but I was willing to put in the work.And I saw
the results. I did not do all this myself,

you know, I had a lot of help. I had speech
therapists who put up with me night after

night, I had interpreters in the classroom
who helped me when I couldn't understand.

I had a wonderful family, who, supported me
through all of this. When I was sixteen, my

parents and my brothers moved to Rochester,
New York, which has a large deaf community,

just like Maryland. I stayed behind and I
lived with my grandparents, because that was

the best decision for me at the time, because,
I wanted to keep on doing what I had been

doing all along -- going to speech and just,
building the bridges with people. And this

is more pictures of my family, you have my
uncle and my aunt, my wonderful grandparents,

and my other uncle and cousins. I fast-forward
to today. I am a junior at Georgetown University.

I'm majoring in government, minoring in justice
and peace studies I'm at my dream school.

I have dreams of going to law school. And,
hopefully, like everyone else at Georgetown,

becoming a Supreme Court Justice. Who knows?
Maybe, maybe. Thank you. After high school

I realized one thing, I didn't have to be
in the hearing world, I didn't have to be

in the deaf world. I could just stand in
the middle and be my own world, the Heather

World, which is a mixture of all kinds of
experience I've had- being deaf, living in

the hearing world, having cochlear implants.
I have two now, by the way, I forgot to mention.

Which brings me to my idea. I really strongly
believe that we all should grab the opportunity

to bridge the worlds within out lives. Whether
your experiences are small or big, you can

do it. I've learned through my experiences
that when people seem mean or they seem standoffish,

its not because they don't like you. Most
of the time it's because they're scared or

they don't understand. Most of the time, all
they see is the deaf, they don't see the Heather.

So, it's my job and it's your job to reach out
-- try to build a bridge over that. So what

I'll do is introduce myself and say, "hey
I'm Heather, I'm deaf, I know. But, I have

cochlear implants and we communicate just
fine. If you don't understand me, I'm happy

to repeat myself and trust me, my roommates
do it all the time." And, you'll see the difference

-- people start realizing oh, she's normal,
you know, I can just have a conversation with

her like everyone else. They become more comfortable,
which is the key: people are uncomfortable

when they see new things, and I think it's
our job as human beings to reach out. And

this idea can be applied to a variety of different
things: race, gender, disability, politics,

access to education. Reach out, and you'll
be surprised. I really believe that all of

us have experiences.

Regardless of how big
or small, it will make an impact. Just by

me reaching out to one other person about
my deafness, that person will probably become

more comfortable around other deaf people.
And those people will probably become more comfortable

around other things because they've tired
new things. And, I really feel like, once

you bridge and you open yourself up, you help
them understand why you're worth building

a bridge over. You are, we all are. But when
you open yourself up, they understand, and

they will try, most of the time. I met my
best friend

in high school and in middle school

I was really shy, I didn't reach out to anybody.
I would just stand in the corner and say nothing.

But, when I got my confidence in my speech,
I started reaching out to people. And, just

by me reaching out to this one person, she
is now studying sign language -- she's fluent,

almost fluent, studying speech pathology and
she hopes to serve the deaf community after

just meeting me. So you can do that too just
by you reaching out about your experiences,

you can make a change in someone else's life.

But sometimes, people don't understand.

I remember talking to this one person and
he would say to me, "So, where are you from?"

I said, "Oh, I'm from New York." He's like,
"No, no, no, no, really, where are you

from?" I went, "New York." He's like, "No,
no, no, no I can hear the accent. Where are

you from?" And I was like "Oh, I'm deaf."
And they were like, "No way, you're speaking

right now. Where are you frommmm?" I said,
"Okay, okay, you're right, I'm from Africa. That's

where I'm from, that's where I get my accent."
So sometimes, it takes more effort than you

think. But that's okay, that's okay. But other
than that, you will also get negative reactions.

Building a bridge is not one sided, you need
the other person to be willing to come to

you. And I've come across many situations
where people say to me, "Heather, why even

bother going to law school? How are you even
going to communicate in the court room?" Or

I've had people laugh at me and disregard
my opinion because they think I'm deaf and dumb.

Or people will look at me and all they
see is the cost of an interpreter. But, here's

what I say to those people. It's okay, its
part of human nature, people will have their

beliefs. But what's important is that the
bridges that you do make with people will

make up for those. Those bridges that you
make will move society forward and as you

build bridges, those numbers will grow.
And the numbers of those who didn't believe

in you will grow smaller, and I'm telling
you. When I get my diploma from law school,

I've kept a list of all the people, I'm going
to email them my diplomas, and they will be

sorry. They will be sorry.

This is an example
of a bridge I made in college.

My roommates are the best people I've ever met and I would
have never met them if I didn't have the courage

to reach out and that was just my little shout
out to the most awesome people I know. Shout out.

So my conclusion is, I'm standing in
the middle of the bridge. I'm understanding

really that I don't have to chose what world
I'm in. I can be in the Heather World, and

so can you if you have your own world, who
cares what anybody says? I think that we all

should reach out, build bridges, be your own
ripple effect in the world, and I think that

you will be very surprised at what you will
find at the other end of the bridge. So reach

out, allow other people in, try to understand
different experiences, allow other to understand

yours. No matter what your experiences are,
positive or negative, you will make an impact.

Thank you.