Nyle DiMarco is a model, activist, dancer, and actor. If you look at this man, you will see nothing "wrong." In fact, you will see a very good looking man and what I mean good looking is that this man is drop-dead gorgeous. But little do people know that Nyle is deaf and has been deaf since birth. Also, Nyle's family is deaf too. Nyle grew up in a deaf home and surrounded himself with deaf culture. He also went to schools that were specifically for children that are deaf. After many years of schooling, he went to Gallaudet University and earned a degree in Mathematics.
After completing college, he got an amazing opportunity to be a contestant on this show called "America's Next Top Model". After the show, he was able to be on the show called "Dancing with the Stars." Nyle was the first deaf contestant on both shows and did very well. He even won the season on Dancing with the Stars!
During Dancing with the Stars, Nyle gained a lot of fame. He did many interviews and one of the interviews he did, an interviewer asked him how can he communicate with people with people that don't know sign language and what he thinks about deaf people using other ways to communicate. Nyle responds that many deaf children are being deprived of their own language. He believes that deaf children and adults should use sign language as their main form of communication. This answer caused a lot of controversy within the communities of people that use cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a device that is implanted into the ear to create sound for someone who is severely hard of hearing or deaf.
Doing a ton of research on Nyle and going to his presentation at my school, Nyle has been someone to always help deaf children and making sure they have the resources to communicate with others. A majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents. Many hearing parents may not have time and resources to learn a whole new language just to speak to their child. However, there are cochlear implants which can help a person hear and speak a spoken language. It also gives the child an opportunity to be part of the hearing world and there are unique opportunities in my opinion in the hearing world.
If cochlear implants help children communicate with others, then why there should be an issue? My only hope for the future is that people that are part of the deaf community and people that choose to be part of the hearing world will come together and there will be peace among the communities.
I highly respect Nyle and I think what he is doing is amazing. I hope that Nyle knows that cochlear implants are one of the many ways that deaf people can communicate with other people and that it is not a barrier.
