Take a look at Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman, and it’s easy to see what makes him a winner on the field: strength, speed, and his impressive size helped drive the Seahawks to victory in the 2014 Superbowl. Photos of the star athlete show a man with a warm, easy smile, and it’s hard to imagine that he might have anything in common with a young child trying to make sense of the world without the full use of his hearing. Looks can be deceiving, however, and many fans were surprised to learn that Derrick Coleman, like an estimated 3 percent of school-age children, is hearing-impaired.
Coleman lost his hearing when he was a toddler. According to an article in the NY Daily News, he can hear only the deepest bass notes without hearing aids, and even with the assistive devices, his hearing isn’t at 100 percent. Derrick Coleman wasn’t about to let his hearing loss get in the way of success, though, and that’s a message he’s sharing with other young members of the deaf community. In a poignant commercial for Duracell batteries, Coleman talks about his childhood struggles. Determined to play professional football, the young man never let his detractors stand in his way: “They told me it was over,” Coleman says, “But I’ve been deaf since I was three, so I didn’t hear them.” In fact, Derrick Coleman kept right on going, all the way to the Superbowl. It’s a message that makes you want to stand up and cheer, whether you’re a football fan or not.
Derrick Coleman is living proof that having limitations doesn’t mean having to limit yourself. On the field, the only concession made for his deafness is that the quarterback looks straight at him while calling plays, so Coleman can read his lips. He goes out onto the field, he plays hard, he plays well, and he wins.
It doesn’t matter if your child dreams of playing football like Derrick Coleman, or wants to be an artist or an actor, a teacher or a doctor, a parent or the president: hearing loss doesn’t have to stand in the way of those dreams.
If you think your child might have any degree of hearing loss, the first step is to give us a call and schedule a free hearing screening so that we can assess his needs.The next step is to cheer him on and make sure he hears this important message loud and clear: You are a star, and nothing can stop you.
Sources: www.NYDailyNews.com & www.HearingLoss.org
Watch Derrick Coleman's video, click here.
Derrick Coleman Sends a Message of Hope to Deaf Children
-April Fox, Staff Writer
Carolina Pediatric Therapy © February 2014
