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Texans rookie Barwin inspires deaf students | Bleacher Report
High school senior Shaina Carthon is unlikely to
ever step onto a football field.
Still, Carthon, who is deaf, realized she shouldn’t limit her
dreams after hearing Houston Texans rookie Connor Barwin share
his story of making it to the NFL despite being born almost
completely deaf.
“He inspired me,” she said through an interpreter. “I always
thought that being deaf I can’t do this and this and this, but I
see that he plays football. Deaf people can do a lot of these
things. They can do a lot of things that hearing people can do.”
Barwin spent more than an hour with about 50 deaf and
hard-of-hearing students at Barbara Jordan High School in
Houston this week. The program is the only one for deaf high
school students in the state’s largest school district.
The defensive end told students he was deaf until he was between
2 and 3 years old and doctors realized there was a problem.
After the discovery, Barwin underwent almost a half dozen
surgeries to repair his hearing and gained hearing in his right
ear.
He remains completely deaf in his left ear despite the many
surgeries, including one where his ear had to be cut open and
flipped back because they’d already done too many procedures to
enter it through the canal.
Barwin never learned to sign, but said he read lips when he was
younger. Several sign language interpreters relayed his speech
and helped students ask him questions.
It was Barwin’s first experience in talking with deaf students
about his hearing loss. He spent years avoiding the subject
altogether because he felt so lucky to be able to hear.
“I thought sharing my story … would make kids that weren’t as
lucky as me kind of upset and angry that they didn’t have
operations or surgeries to regain a lot of their hearing,” he
said. “Then I realized that it’s not how people are going to
look at it. They’re going to look at it as a story about getting
through adversity and finding a way to not think that you have a
handicap and just figure out a way to get through it.”
Tim Thorn, who teaches in the deaf program, said it’s important
for his students to meet a person with a hearing loss in a
position like Barwin’s.
“It’s great for the students to see someone who has overcome a
hurdle and to see that you can be successful, that you should
not allow your disability to hinder you,” Thorn said.
Houston coach Gary Kubiak said what Barwin has accomplished is
impressive.
“It’s never been an issue here,” Kubiak said. “He has no
problems. You can tell that he’s always paying special attention
to what’s going on, whether it’s from growing up that way I
don’t know, but he’s very attentive and does not make mistakes.”
Barwin was a second-round draft pick of the Texans this year
after a college career at Cincinnati. He’s done well this
season, appearing in each game for Houston and getting two
sacks. He’s come a long way from a time a few years ago when he
wondered if he’d make it this far in his career.
Barwin was a tight end when he started college and ran into
trouble when he had to line up to the right of the quarterback.
He couldn’t hear the call in the noise of a college stadium and
would routinely come off the line late.
After a meeting with his coach and some practice he learned to
watch the ball out of the corner of his eye to avoid the
slowdown. He told the students that it was the first time his
hearing loss became a major problem.
“I thought, ’I’m not going to be able to keep playing, I might
not be able to go to the NFL because of the way I was born and
this isn’t my fault,”’ he said. “It was adversity that I just
had to figure out a way to get around. I taught myself how to
use my eyes so I didn’t have to use my ears. I think it made me
a better player in the end.”
He moved to defense as a senior and found that not hearing the
quarterback was beneficial.
“All I do is watch the ball and look for the snap and go as fast
as I can,” he said. “Some people look at it and say the fact
that you’re hearing impaired almost helps you play defensive
line because I’m reacting solely on what I see and not what I
hear.”
John Martinez, who can hear out of one ear, enjoyed listening to
Barwin’s story, but it reinforced his belief that his goal of
playing quarterback probably won’t happen.
“I really want to be a quarterback but as a quarterback you have
to have two ears that hear very well,” he said. “It’s hard for
me.”
Though football is probably out for Martinez, seeing what Barwin
overcame to reach the NFL made him more determined to succeed in
wrestling.
After the reaction he received from the class this week, Barwin
hopes to spend more time with deaf students in the future. He
loved their interest and had fun answering the dozens of
questions he was peppered with.
“Knowing that I can help some kids and tell my story and they
can somewhat get inspired by it and encouraged by it, makes me
feel really good about it,” he said.
Carthon, who asked several questions during Barwin’s talk, said
his story was eye-opening and she plans to share it with
friends.
“He can play football and he is deaf,” Carthon said. “I didn’t
know that we could have people with hearing loss playing pro
football. I have deaf friends that want to play football but
they think they can’t do it and I will tell them yes they can.”
High school senior Shaina Carthon is unlikely to
ever step onto a football field.
Still, Carthon, who is deaf, realized she shouldn’t limit her
dreams after hearing Houston Texans rookie Connor Barwin share
his story of making it to the NFL despite being born almost
completely deaf.
“He inspired me,” she said through an interpreter. “I always
thought that being deaf I can’t do this and this and this, but I
see that he plays football. Deaf people can do a lot of these
things. They can do a lot of things that hearing people can do.”
Barwin spent more than an hour with about 50 deaf and
hard-of-hearing students at Barbara Jordan High School in
Houston this week. The program is the only one for deaf high
school students in the state’s largest school district.
The defensive end told students he was deaf until he was between
2 and 3 years old and doctors realized there was a problem.
After the discovery, Barwin underwent almost a half dozen
surgeries to repair his hearing and gained hearing in his right
ear.
He remains completely deaf in his left ear despite the many
surgeries, including one where his ear had to be cut open and
flipped back because they’d already done too many procedures to
enter it through the canal.
Barwin never learned to sign, but said he read lips when he was
younger. Several sign language interpreters relayed his speech
and helped students ask him questions.
It was Barwin’s first experience in talking with deaf students
about his hearing loss. He spent years avoiding the subject
altogether because he felt so lucky to be able to hear.
“I thought sharing my story … would make kids that weren’t as
lucky as me kind of upset and angry that they didn’t have
operations or surgeries to regain a lot of their hearing,” he
said. “Then I realized that it’s not how people are going to
look at it. They’re going to look at it as a story about getting
through adversity and finding a way to not think that you have a
handicap and just figure out a way to get through it.”
Tim Thorn, who teaches in the deaf program, said it’s important
for his students to meet a person with a hearing loss in a
position like Barwin’s.
“It’s great for the students to see someone who has overcome a
hurdle and to see that you can be successful, that you should
not allow your disability to hinder you,” Thorn said.
Houston coach Gary Kubiak said what Barwin has accomplished is
impressive.
“It’s never been an issue here,” Kubiak said. “He has no
problems. You can tell that he’s always paying special attention
to what’s going on, whether it’s from growing up that way I
don’t know, but he’s very attentive and does not make mistakes.”
Barwin was a second-round draft pick of the Texans this year
after a college career at Cincinnati. He’s done well this
season, appearing in each game for Houston and getting two
sacks. He’s come a long way from a time a few years ago when he
wondered if he’d make it this far in his career.
Barwin was a tight end when he started college and ran into
trouble when he had to line up to the right of the quarterback.
He couldn’t hear the call in the noise of a college stadium and
would routinely come off the line late.
After a meeting with his coach and some practice he learned to
watch the ball out of the corner of his eye to avoid the
slowdown. He told the students that it was the first time his
hearing loss became a major problem.
“I thought, ’I’m not going to be able to keep playing, I might
not be able to go to the NFL because of the way I was born and
this isn’t my fault,”’ he said. “It was adversity that I just
had to figure out a way to get around. I taught myself how to
use my eyes so I didn’t have to use my ears. I think it made me
a better player in the end.”
He moved to defense as a senior and found that not hearing the
quarterback was beneficial.
“All I do is watch the ball and look for the snap and go as fast
as I can,” he said. “Some people look at it and say the fact
that you’re hearing impaired almost helps you play defensive
line because I’m reacting solely on what I see and not what I
hear.”
John Martinez, who can hear out of one ear, enjoyed listening to
Barwin’s story, but it reinforced his belief that his goal of
playing quarterback probably won’t happen.
“I really want to be a quarterback but as a quarterback you have
to have two ears that hear very well,” he said. “It’s hard for
me.”
Though football is probably out for Martinez, seeing what Barwin
overcame to reach the NFL made him more determined to succeed in
wrestling.
After the reaction he received from the class this week, Barwin
hopes to spend more time with deaf students in the future. He
loved their interest and had fun answering the dozens of
questions he was peppered with.
“Knowing that I can help some kids and tell my story and they
can somewhat get inspired by it and encouraged by it, makes me
feel really good about it,” he said.
Carthon, who asked several questions during Barwin’s talk, said
his story was eye-opening and she plans to share it with
friends.
“He can play football and he is deaf,” Carthon said. “I didn’t
know that we could have people with hearing loss playing pro
football. I have deaf friends that want to play football but
they think they can’t do it and I will tell them yes they can.”