freeSpeech: LaToya Plummer

My mother, who can hear, inspired me to challenge the world. When I was young she told me that I had three strikes against me: I am black, deaf, and female. I could either count myself out of the game of life, or I could change the rules.

So I changed the rules. I'm very competitive. I love sports. I used played basketball at Gallaudet University.

Maybe you heard about my university and that we are protesting, but maybe you don't understand why this is happening. Some people think we are saying that the new President isn't deaf enough. That's not true at all. It's that our deaf leadership is being deaf to our concerns.

There are diverse groups within the campus community are not being heard. This is important and worth fighting for.

You would think that the obstacles of being a black, deaf person would
make my life full of frustration and misery. It's really like this: My life is richer. I know it might be hard for people who can hear to understand that.

I have many goals I want to achieve, and one is to become an attorney. Another is to have children and pass my values onto them. One day those things will happen. But first of all, I must lay the groundwork for the future.