I was born with hip dysplasia and I became deaf shortly after my birth due to my mother being only 16 when I was born, and due to my being 6 to 8 weeks premature and getting sick with chicken pox as a baby which caused my hearing loss, so I reached my milestones rather late.
I had two separate surgeries to correct my hip dysplasia, and had to be in a body cast after both surgeries. My first surgery was when I was a older baby, and again when I was around two. Therefore, I did not walk until I was 4. I can remember having to be carried around a lot, and I remember being in the second body cast. Even after my body cast was removed, I had to have a lot of physical therapy for a long time to learn how to walk, as all my muscles in my legs and hips had gone to pudding and I lost all strength from being in both body casts for very long periods of time (6 months for both body casts). I still remember my bus driver having to carry me into the apartment building and then knocking on my parents' apartment door and then handing me over to my dad when he opened the door after school because I could not walk at all.
I was sent to a deaf private school that had ASL for a little while, but not long enough to learn anything because the school closed due to lack of funding. I was then transferred to a public school with an oral DHH program (they did not have any ASL/signing kindergarten or preschool classes in the city, they only had signing classes for 1st grade up to 12th grade, but none before that). So, I learned nothing. I went there for two years. I was supposed to go to another public school with a signing program when I became 6 years old, but since I had almost no ASL skills and absolutely NO English skills, my mom had to send me to the state school for the deaf to get me up to speed because when my mom took me to the other public school, I had much difficulty participating in the class (it was a "trial" day at the end of the school year for all deaf kindergarteners who was supposed to go into the 1st grade the following year) and they saw that I would not survive there at all. So my mom sent me to the state school for the deaf, and I was placed in the preschool classroom even though I was 6 years old. But when I went there, I did so well, learned ASL so fast, and they saw that I was not retarded at all or anything because I was able to recognize simple things such as opposites, colors, etc, and the teacher was impressed with my intelligence even though I had lack of language skills. I ended up being put into the 1st grade after two weeks of school, and that was when I began having much difficulty learning English as it was introduced to me in that class (I knew NONE until I was placed in the 1st grade class, and the preschool was mostly teaching ASL and simple things that I have mentioned above). I learned a lot in the 1st grade class, and after one year my mom transferred me back to the Milwaukee school where I was then sent to an elementary school that had a signing DHH program, and I was put into the 2nd grade class. I still struggled with English and finally began to get the hang of it in the 5th grade when I realized what "poem" meant. At the beginning of the 5th grade year, I had NO idea what "poem" meant, the teacher tried to explain it to me, and the other students tried to help me, but I was still confused. It took a month, but one day a light bulb went on in my head and I realized what a poem was, and the English language began to be much easier for me after that point. I began doing so well that when I entered middle school, I began to be mainstreamed part-time, and by the 8th grade, I was mainstreamed full-time, with NO time in the deaf classroom. I did switch back and forth between the public school and WSD throughout the years simply because I missed my friends, and then when I graduated middle school, I was sent to another school (really a children's home) because my dad and his wife had given me up to the state, and the children's home REFUSED to provide an interpreter for me and everything, I had NO access, etc. I had to go to court and everything in order to get them to provide an interpreter, and that was after two years of fighting for one. Then when I was 16 1/2, my case was turned over to the private foster care agency, and the social worker from there rescued me from that hellhole and put me in a deaf foster home 4 blocks from the state school for the deaf and sent me back to the state school for the deaf, and I spent the remainder of my high school years there, except for a brief 6-week stint at a Milwaukee public high school with a signing DHH program because I was moving around between temporary foster homes and my social worker was trying to figure out what to do with my schooling and foster care, and then I was placed into another permanent deaf foster home back in Milwaukee (I wanted to stay in Milwaukee on the weekends, as I am a city girl and I was quite bored in Delavan), and then was sent back to the state school for the deaf and I spent the remainder of my senior year at the state school for the deaf. Being in the children's home really put me back big time, and thanks to that, I now have a lot of difficulties in college. When I went to my university, I had no fucking idea how to write a paper properly. I sat there and wondered how to do it. No one taught me how to in high school. The children's home was operated more like an orphanage, and therefore they did not give a damn about our schooling, and so all our schoolwork during the school day was all at a 3rd grade level. I learned NOTHING there. Because everything was not up to my level, I refused to do anything except read books most of the time. Why bother? I was already at a 8th grade level, so why do 3rd grade level work? Most of the children there were low-functioning. The children's home was horrible, and I hated it there. The only reason I was able to pass everything at the state school for the deaf after being rescued from the children's home was because all I ever did there was read, read, read, and read! I read everything on every subject, and so I learned things on my own. The teachers at the state school for the deaf expected me to fail all my classes even though they put did me back 1 grade when I came back to the state school for the deaf (I was supposed to go into the 11th grade, but they placed me into the 10th grade due to practically no education at the children's home) and I passed ALL my classes except math with flying colors because of ALL the reading I did while at the children's home. My teachers were amazed, and after 1 month, they had an IEP-like meeting with me involved (I insisted on being involved) and then they put me into the 11th grade. The only other reason I did well at the state school for the deaf was because, well of course, the state school for the deaf's education is not up to the same level as it would be in a hearing school and being completely mainstreamed. I think if I had gone to a hearing school and was completely mainstreamed after leaving the children's home, I would probably have failed everything. Everything except math was easy at the state school for the deaf. Most everything was taught at about a 9th grade level even when I was in 11th grade, except for math, which was up to par with public schools. That was the only class I had much difficulty. I had to tell my foster dad that the math class I was placed in was too hard (it was geometry or something, I can't remember) and I had no fucking idea how to do my math in that class. I sat there bewildered and had no fucking idea what my geometry teacher was talking about. So my foster dad, who was also a math and science teacher at the school (he was deaf and he passed away in 2005) made arrangements with the school so that I could be placed in his class so he could bring me back to speed on math, and all I could was some 5th grade math (I have ALWAYS been bad at math ALL my life, and I suspect I have a math learning disability). I struggled so much with my math that I simply remained in his class for the rest of my high school years, which was fine with me as I did not care much for math. I did excellent in everything else in school at the state school for the deaf.
When I entered college, I chose to go to SCSU (Saint Cloud State University), as I did not like Gallaudet. I went to Gallaudet for a summer program between my junior and senior years of high school, and the students there were the rudest I have ever encountered, and the only students that would give me the time of the day and would talk with me and would socialize with me were, guess what, the ORAL students. I do not know why, but I always get along better with oral deaf students than I usually do with ASL deaf students. Maybe I should have gone to NTID instead, but I did not even think NTID was an option, as it was hammered into my head that Gallaudet was "the best deaf college in the world" and that NTID was NOT accessible at all. I should have done research, because now I know that NTID is also with RIT, so I could have gotten interpreters for the hearing classes I had there. I did not even think of that. Oh well. I did not want to move all the way to NY for NTID (and I still don't want to...too cold, anyway)...I had just gotten out of foster care, so I was afraid to go far, and wanted to stay close to Milwaukee because that was where my safety net was at the time. But now I do not have a safety net there anymore, so it does not matter anymore. It's only when I came to San Antonio that I began to be able to socialize with ASL deaf people here, because this is the first time in my life that I have really encountered
NICE ASL deaf people, who were very friendly and very accepting of me, and that I was actually able to socialize with them.
Hopefully soon, in a year or so, I will be able to go to SAC (San Antonio College) and major in Graphic Design, and finally finish college. I have no desire to go back to Gallaudet. College here is FREE for the deaf (our entire tuition are waived by the state of Texas).

We only have to worry about our school supplies, which is no problem as we can also get Financial Aid...they give us PLENTY. Enough for a new computer...I plan to buy a laptop with FA when I go back to school.

I chose Graphic Design because it does not require any language skills, and I am good at art and enjoy it very much. I have PhotoShop and I do some art on it as a hobby right now. That is how I make all my signatures, except for the GIF one on the right (the religion fear one), I did not create that one. I found it on another website.
And here I am today.