Tony Anderson is 15 and, like most
people his age, he spends a lot of
time on his computer and smartphone,
but his parents aren’t complaining. In
fact, they’re pleased. This is because Tony
was born deaf, but now, thanks to technology and social
media, his life has completely changed. Young deaf people
have attended the same schools as other children for a
long time, but in the past they found it difficult to make
friends. Most deaf people could only communicate using
sign language, and so their classmates couldn’t talk to
them. And if you can’t communicate, you won’t be able to
take part in social activities with other teenagers. So deaf
teenagers felt isolated and bored, didn’t have a social life,
and often suffered from low self-esteem.
Then along came the technological revolution, with
computers, the Internet and mobile phones. Teenagers
began to communicate more and more by text message and
go on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. For deaf
teenagers, the Internet is an ideal way to communicate,
because it doesn’t need hearing or speaking. More
importantly, everyone uses it, not just deaf people. As Tony
explains, ‘Now, if you’re a deaf teenager, no-one will know
you’re different. It’s incredible! I can post on chat forums or
social networks and the other people probably won’t know
I’m deaf, so they treat me like everyone else. It’s made me
a lot more relaxed and con dent.’
The other thing Tony enjoys is being able to connect up
with other teenagers who are deaf. ‘We’ve all had similar
experiences in life, so we understand each other. I’ve made
some good friends online, and sometimes we meet up,
too. One day soon, deaf teenagers might be able to have a
totally normal social life because of the Internet!’