During a visit to California, when a friend of my grandmother's told my parents that I must be deaf because I was not responding to sounds, my father was absolutely convinced that I was simply being stubborn.

I am writing my second novel for children for Simon and Schuster.

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

I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers.

I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I cant compare hearing aids to normal hearing.

I have always resisted putting limitations on myself, both professionally and personally.

Hollywood embraced me in the late '80s because there was a good project I was in and it was different. Nowadays, it's about corporate mentality, box office, youth.