Marlee Matlin Quotes

You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Look out for kids, help them dream and be inspired. We teach calculus in schools, but I believe the most important formula is courage plus dreams equals success.

The hearing aids are very helpful for speech reading. Without the hearing aids, my voice becomes very loud, and I cannot control the quality of my voice.

I did my first series lead back in 1991 on a show called ‘Reasonable Doubts’ and have done many shows with other actors who are deaf. But ‘Switched at Birth’ is the first TV show where there is more than one actor who is deaf or hard of hearing and who are series regulars.

When I was 11, I knew that I wanted to write a kid’s book and tell the world what it was like being deaf.

I hope I inspire people who hear. Hearing people have the ability to remove barriers that prevent deaf people from achieving their dreams.

I became deaf when I was 18 months old. And I learned to sign when I was 5 years old.

Differences are scarier now. The dollar isn’t so guaranteed if you don’t follow what they see as the norm. But I don’t moan about it. I just keep working.

I’ve always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn’t all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations.

I’m different, and my manner invites questions. I’m never afraid to answer.

The best feeling in the world is when you child just comes up to you and lays their head in your lap, for no other reason but just because.

I like to say that the greatest handicap of deafness does not lie in the ear, it lies in the mind. I hope that through my example, such as my role on ‘The West Wing,’ I can help change attitudes on deafness and prove we can really do everything… except hear.

Watch me when people say deaf and dumb, or deaf mute, and I give them a look like you might get if you called Denzel Washington the wrong name.

At the end of the day, ‘My Deaf Family’ is about a typical family that all of us can identify with but told from an unusual and what I believe will be a fascinating perspective.

When I was 13, I told Henry Winkler I wanted to act. He said, Do it and don’t let anyone stand in your way. His validation just made it all the more true. I haven’t stopped thanking him since.

I want roles without anger and feistiness. I want to show weakness and sadness, some love, some happiness.

Everybody’s got a job to do, and I do mine as best I can.

I’m the only one in my family who is deaf, and there are still conversations that go around me that I miss out on. And I ask what’s going on, and I have to ask to be included. But I’m not going to be sad about it. I don’t live in sad isolation. It’s just a situation I’m used to.

It seems we’re always in transition and that it’s more about trends than it is about what’s meaningful.

It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I’m not crazy about using.

I learned a long time ago from when I did ‘Seinfeld’ never to take anything seriously, and to be part of the joke is the best way to show what a good sport I was.

There are so many people, deaf or otherwise abled, who are so talented but overlooked or not given a chance to even get their foot in the door.

I have a great husband, great parents and in-laws, and I have help with a nanny. It’s not easy, but there are others who do it every day and don’t have a high-profile job as I do.

I hope that through my example, such as my role on ‘The West Wing,’ I can help change attitudes on deafness and prove we can really do everything… except hear.

By the time I was a teenager, my desire to be daring and taste everything got me in trouble. Too often, I was in the company of kids my parents would call ‘wild.’

The only thing I can’t do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure.

I know what it’s like to be growing up, called ‘deaf and mute’ and ‘deaf and dumb.’ They’re words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It’s almost… it’s almost libelous, if you want to say that.

I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great.

Google, as usual, is one step ahead of everyone and provided the means where all videos on YouTube can be automatically captioned through voice-recognition technology without having to be told that it’s the responsible thing to do.

When I was young I knew I was deaf. I couldn’t accept it.

I would love to do a talk show. Naturally, I would love to do more films. I’d love to be able to see casting directors more willing to put in a character who happens to be deaf. I’m not talking about doing deaf storylines, but putting in deaf characters. I’d love to be able to do Broadway.

I’m tired of seeing listings of programs I want to watch that aren’t closed captioned. And I’m tired of looking for the symbol on the side of the video package.

It was my father who instilled the ‘never say no’ attitude I carry around with me today, and who instilled in me a sense of wonder, always taking us on adventures in the car, never telling us the destination.

In the deaf community, there are different types of people who have different philosophies. Some believe that they should only sign. Some believe they should only speak. Some people say you should use cued speech. Some say you should use cochlear implants. Some say you shouldn’t sign. Some people say you should sign.

Humor comes in all forms, and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh. But the day we censor humor is a sad one for sure.

When it comes down to it, it’s about who you know, and who’s a fan. It’s about whether you’re the right age, whether you’re hot or not, whether the studio is into you or not.

There is nothing better than being a parent. It is the most challenging job one could ever ask for. I love being a mom and I love being a friend to my children as well.

I find the mantle of, she works hard for the money, or, she’s overcome so many obstacles a bit overused.

I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers.

I can hear you and I can watch your mouth move, and then I put together the sounds and the visual image, and I can understand the words as I integrate the two signals.

I live my life like everyone else; everyone has their own obstacles. Mine is deafness.