I am a deaf single mum, I use both speech and sign and I have two children aged 15 and 13. My son is the oldest and my daughter is the youngest. They’re both hearing but they communicate really well with me, they’re really aware and patient and supportive. They’ve also picked up sign language naturally from me.
It was hard when I divorced my husband a couple of years ago as I found myself very alone. I was in an abusive marriage so I found myself living in the middle of nowhere without any friends and no choice about what I was doing with my life.
When I got divorced I moved back to where I grew up and took my children with me. My children had to move schools unfortunately, another hard challenge for them but they took it really well and were happy at first to make new friends.