I was 21 years and 218 days old when I received the Academy Award for Best Actress. I had just stepped into an imaginary world that I'd seen at a distance for years.

It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using.

Living modestly in a suburban neighborhood while trying to support four children through private school is not extravagant or living large.

I guess not being able to hear just made me adventurous and daring. And in most cases, that didn't make my parents very happy with me.

Every one of us is different in some way, but for those of us who are more different, we have to put more effort into convincing the less different that we can do the same thing they can, just differently.

There are so many people, deaf or otherwise abled, who are so talented but overlooked or not given a chance to even get their foot in the door.

I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great.