National Black Deaf Advocates

Journey of a Black, Deaf Woman
By Deborah Broadus
I said, “I’m Black and Beautiful.”
“They” said, “You’re Deaf!”

Thus effectively restricting me, isolating me
Outside their silent voiced boundaries.

I withdrew, camouflaged,
A self-designed mantle of invisibility.

Wounded, rejected, I in turn rejected; not to wither,
But to shelter and protect that which was fragile.

I fought my way through the silent pandemonium of “their” voices;
On a quiet quest;

To reunite my fragmented self, splintered by
Voiceless opinions spoken with harsh eyes.

My goal: a whole soul, indivisible.
Whole and strong, unwounded by “their” disdainful ignorance.

I grew without the irrigation/irritation of “their” loud, voiceless disapproval.
They beheld as I grew; face to the sun.

Battling constantly not to shatter and become this image “they” assigned to me.
That broken by misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

Lost in the lexis written on pages in books contained by binders,
I understood the unspoken, thus became that which I strove to attain.

I found myself within these expressions.
Words; visible, vain, terminology helped to heal the shattered image.

No longer invisible, I stand Black and Deaf;
And “they?” Now “they” say,

“You’re Black and Beautiful!”