--Performed In ASL--
Isn’t it funny how you don’t understand me?
It’s funny because I’m speaking English.
A little weird maybe?
Words coming from my hands and not my mouth?
Can you hear me?
No?
That’s not my problem.
You expect me to change to fit in your world.
You want me to get a hearing aid.
You want me to change to help YOU understand.
But what about me?
What about the way I want things?
How can you just leave when someone is still here?
Someone is just like you…
You don’t care?
Why should I?
That’s not my problem.
I’m not sorry for being deaf.
I’m sorry that you will never really understand me.

--Performed Speaking--
WHY CAN’T YOU HEAR ME?
I’M TALKING TO YOU!
WHY DOES NOBODY UNDERSTAND ME?
I’m the deaf one!?
You’re the one not understanding English!
I can’t hear your voice
But with your working ears you don’t understand mine
I listen with my eyes and talk with my hands.
So what?
In Spanish, you know where the Baño is and Como estas
And you can speak Spanish, French, Chinese, and Latin
But when it comes to talking silently,
You just can’t do it.
You can’t sign the basics like good, bad, yes, no, sick, doctor, medicine, hospital, help, thank you
I’m sorry
Why?
I learned to talk to you.
I read your lips, got a hearing aid, and read your chicken scratch writing
Just to make your life easier.
But what if you needed the translator?
What if people figured you couldn’t function alone?
DON’T TALK TO THE INTERPRETER! I’M OVER HERE!
What if you were shipped away at the age of three
Sent to a boarding school to be taught to stay secluded?
Taught the fourth most commonly used language,
But the one that no one uses to speak to you?
What if you were one of the 6.6 million people that heard nothing?
You can’t hear the voices of 6.6 million people.
But I’m deaf?
I’m the one who needs to change? Modify? Adapt?

--Performed Both Speaking and ASL--
Isn’t if funny how I said the same thing 2 minutes ago?
But only now can you understand me?

(This isn't part of the poem but I have a video however it won't let me upload it... I don't know where else to tell you guys this... sorry)