Leah Coleman

Leah was born profoundly deaf. No infant hearing screenings were performed at the hospital during December of 1996, so Leah's deafness was not discovered until the age of 14 months. At first, the family was devastated, but they soon decided to view the situation from Leah's perspective: nothing had changed; nothing was wrong. Leah's parents began learning American Sign Language to provide an environment of visual communication. Leah excelled and was soon surpassing most hearing peers in the ability to communicate.