What’s a Coda?
Same. I never thought my life was different… until people told me so. Actually I thought I was rather normal…until people started asking questions. The questions began to repeat, year after year.
My entire life is filled with the same questions. It’s almost like a script. I say “my parents are Deaf” and you say either, “both of them?” or you say “death, oh I’m so sorry”.
Between answering the same questions and trying to educate people about my parents abilities despite being Deaf people I found out about coda. Technically I’m an acronym, but by choice. It is a hard label to explain and while I understand that a four letter word cannot define me, I proudly exclaim that I am a coda.
A coda stands for child of deaf adults. Basically – me a hearing gal, that was raised with Deaf parents. I totally identify to the others I met that have Deaf parents. While we have a similar bond, I know that coda does not define me, but merely is another characteristic of me.
I could go on and talk about the similarities of codas, but I don’t dare define them as only coda. I used to say .. “oh she is a coda, like me”, however through my journey, I have learned to say “she is a coda”. Our similarity is we have experience with living in a Deaf household.
While on my journey, I find connection in many things such as woman, wife, parent, mother, sister, friend and much more. These are found in the Deaf community too. Despite our physical/mental challenges (I really can not see a design of a room in my brain, I must have it physically laid out) we are the same.
We are human, we are all on a journey, and we all have a story. Same. Which is what my logo means. I embrace and share my journey and story in hopes to inspire you with yours.
