I've been around since I was 19, I won the Oscar when I was 21, I've had a couple of TV series. I've continued to work despite the predictions of some naysayers.

I hope I inspire people who hear. Hearing people have the ability to remove barriers that prevent deaf people from achieving their dreams.

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.

When you're up for an award at the Oscars, try as you might, it's hard to concentrate on the show.

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've been around since I was 19, I won the Oscar when I was 21, I've had a couple of TV series. I've continued to work despite the predictions of some naysayers.

The handicap of deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind.