My life story is like a one-of-a-kind patchwork quilt. As a little girl, I never crawled, I scooted and I chronically nodded my head. I received Early Intervention services in physical and occupational therapy and spent years in speech trying to conquer the sound of the letter "R". Building colorful wooden blocks may seem like child's play, but to the trained eye of my occupational therapist it was about having me "cross the mid-line" with the blocks rather than transfer them from hand to hand. She knew these cross-lateralization skills were important for my brain development. Apparently, that cute scooting of mine was an additional synaptic hindrance because crawling helps integrate the hemispheres of the brain. Simple but significant OT and PT exercises became part of my daily play routine. The techniques implemented by my therapists helped me replicate vital movements that come naturally to most people; little did we know I would one day repeat them in warm-ups as a classically trained ballerina.

While the vestiges of my early enigmas are entertaining to watch on our home videos, they will also forever be the seedlings of who I would become. At age fourteen I was diagnosed with late-onset progressive hearing loss and I have since worn purple hearing aids every day as if they have become a part of my body. While I could make my reliance on hearing aids and my countless visits to the audiologist a great big star right in the middle of my quilt, I chose not to.

Each patch, pieced together to create a whole quilt, is what gives it character and beauty. The combination of all of my passions, quirks and challenges allow me to become my best self. While I had to train like an Ironman to build blocks, pseudo-crawl and master the art of human speak, I have also always been an avid reader. As a child I escaped into a magical world of books and my passion for reading has never waned. I have been recognized with the Renaissance Reader award every year throughout high school. My own words also take flight, dancing through my mind to gracefully land on the parchment below my ink stained fingers. My disability inspires me to write and poetry is my outlet. My original piece, "The Silence Around Me", earned second place in a citywide competition and was published in my school's literary journal. This passion will be waltzing with me through college as I pursue an English Degree with a focus on creative writing; aspiring to one day become an English Professor.

There was a day when I wanted to rip to shreds some of the patches of my quilt. Being different is frustrating, admitting you have a disability is even harder, feeling sorry for yourself can become easy. Instead of destroying those darker patches, I chose to add lightness to my quilt. After being diagnosed with my hearing disability, I volunteered at St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children. I fell in love with these inspiring children who radiate the most simple joy. Focusing on making a difference in their lives rescued me from dwelling on my own disability. I started Crowns for a Cause and have spent countless hours over the years handcrafting flower crowns, selling them at craft shows and donating hundreds of dollars to St Mary's. This year I was selected as a club president for my school's empowering EMPACT club and now involve my peers in the creation and sales of even more crowns.

I cherish my undone quilt for it tells the story of the young woman I am today; I choose for my disability to comprise only one small patch of it. I have grown to love myself because of my differences rather than despite them; they are the birthplace of my desire to make a difference in the world. I have been inspired and I hope one day to inspire; whether it is the young ballerinas who I have taught, looking in awe while I pique-turn across the stage as the Senior dancer, or as a future professor to the students I envision teaching in English 101.

Essay: Hearing aid device

Critical to anyone suffering from hearing loss is the need for hearing aids. Having been diagnosed with late on-set progressive hearing loss as a young teenager, functioning in a world of muffled sounds and muted voices is debilitating not just physically but socially, emotionally, and intellectually as well. Depending on the type and severity of the hearing loss, hearing aids are primarily used as either over the ear devices or as implanted mechanisms. Having accessibility to over the ear hearing aids was critical for me during a very formative time in my academic life. My grades were suffering because I could not hear or understand my teachers, my peers would laugh at me because I was always either misunderstanding them or just plain couldn't hear them, even my parents would get annoyed with me, thinking I was ignoring them.

The role of an audiologist is important to the success of hearing aids operating optimally as a medical device. Fluctuations due to the nature of progressive hearing loss may easily be adjusted through computerized integration during regular audio screenings. Though hearing aids as used by the hearing impaired are considered medical devices by the FDA, most insurance companies do not cover the cost of them. Furthermore, hearing aids are as cost prohibitive as an unaided hearing disability is debilitating. In my situation, my audiologist was able to arrange for the Hearing Aid Loan Bank to lend me hearing aids while my family saved the $5000.00 to afford me mine. Far more valuable than a piece of jewelry, my hearing aids are even insured.

Five years later, I still own the same purple hearing aids and am able to pair them up via a Bluetooth-capable companion microphone device; thus my hearing aids are able to provide me with connectivity to my iPhone, my computer, the tv and even my teachers voice in a classroom. While my hearing aids don't include all of the recent advances in nano-technology, whereby the Bluetooth is integrated directly into the hearing aid, I am so incredibly grateful for them. My hearing aids have allowed me to continue my education in a mainstream academic environment, maintain my long term collegiate goals and be a "normal teenager". Perhaps the biggest difference that these devices offer the hearing impaired is that they allow us to be not so different after all!