Different people become famous for many different reasons. Whether individuals become famous for sports, music, movies, books, or inventions, everyone who becomes famous does so for a reason. Some of these people have disabilities, but they are just as great. Deaf people are quite well known in society, as there are quite a few of them. Examples include Thomas Edison and Ludwig van Beethoven. Today, one of these people in the entertainment industry is pro NFL (National Football League) football player Derrick Coleman.
Derrick Lamont Coleman Junior is an incredible fullback for the NFL football team, the Seattle Seahawks. He was born on October 18, 1990 in West Los Angeles, California. When Derrick was three years old, his parents took him to a media specialist and he told him that their little boy was deaf in his left ear due to genetic problems. Both of his parents are hearing, however each of them carried the gene. By the time he was in elementary school, the hearing in his right ear disappeared too. When Derrick went completely deaf he was given hearing aids. This helped him in two ways: he could hear again, and kids at school began to bully him. The kids called him names such as “Four Ears”. His method of dealing with the bullying as he got older was to let his anger out on his set of weights at home and to ignore the bullying.
Derrick joined his school football team in seventh grade. His mother, a nurse, was extremely hesitant because she did not want Coleman’s hearing to decrease again. However, his father wanted to let him play, claiming that it would be a great chance at normalcy and release from his aggression. After an MRI was completed and proved football would not harm his hearing worse, he was finally allowed to p...
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...he No Excuse Foundation following his motto. He also wrote a book released in June of 2015, titled “No Excuses”, about still being able to achieve his Super Bowl dreams with a disability.
This 2015-2016 season has been a busy one for fullback Derrick Coleman. The sixth seed Seahawks won ten regular season games, but lost the remaining six. They won the first playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings (11-5) with a score of ten to nine; however, the outstanding Carolina Panthers (15-1) knocked them out of the playoffs in the second round with a close score of twenty-four to thirty-one.
Having a disability does not mean one should miss out on the things they love. Derrick Coleman is just one example of this. He has never let his hearing ability stop him from doing what he loves. Through the bullying and the pain, he has managed to live his life to the very fullest.
went out for wide receiver and landed on the football after a catch and lost his breath. He
In 1972, he had a Passer Rating of 157.5 in a game. A rare perfect rating would be 158.3. In 1973, he had an amazing season where he brought the Broncos to their first ever winning season. That season he earned a First Team All-AFC, led the AFC in touchdown passes, and earned the Broncos offensive MVP. In 1974, he led the NFL in yards per pass attempt with 8.1 yards. In 1975, he played his final season and retired. He became the Broncos quarterback coach for the 1976 season, then retired from that right after. In 1977, the Broncos went to their first super bowl, the year after Charley Johnson retired. He ranks 7th in most touchdowns by a Broncos quarterback, and 9th in most yards. In 1986, Charley Johnson was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame.
Just like members of other minorities, such as Hispanics and African-Americans, Deaf people experience some of the same oppression and hardships. Although the attempts to "fix" members of and obliterate the DEAF-WORLD are not as highly publicized as problems with other minorities, they still exist. Throughout time, hearing people have been trying to destroy the DEAF-WORLD with the eugenics movement, the mainstreaming of Deaf children into public hearing schools, and cochlear implants.
At the snap of the ball a whole players world could come crashing down. The game of football holds a whooping 47% of all concussions reported in the world, while ice hockey and soccer trail behind. Football is America’s sport and its athletes become the world’s pride and joy, but what happens when an athlete is injured and is struggling to mentally get better. This topic hits close to home for me because it was the one sport my family praised and adored. My older brother who is now twenty five, played highschool football for the Laconia Sachems. Just the name Sachems is enough to make me get the chills. In 2007 the Laconia Sachems the only undefeated team to go on to win the New Hampshire state championship saw success, but my brother went
...Down and Inches: Concussions and Footballs Make or Break Moment. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publishing Group, 2013. Print.
A hearing loss can present many obstacles in one's life. I have faced many issues throughout my life, many of which affected me deeply. When I first realized that I was hearing-impaired, I didn't know what it meant. As I grew older, I came to understand why I was different from everyone. It was hard to like myself or feel good about myself because I was often teased. However, I started to change my attitude and see that wearing hearing aids was no different than people wearing glasses to see.
Nowinski, Christopher, and Jesse Ventura. Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues. East Bridgewater, MA: Drummond Pub. Group, 2007. Print.
The story gives examples and studies of NFL (National Football League) players, and how their lives react to brain injuries and concussions. “Despite all the money invested in the sport… Publicity about the long-term symptoms suffered by brain-injured football players has lowered participation in the sport…” (Burleigh 612) Football, no matter what you do to it, will forever be dangerous and the hotspot of concussions and problems of the brain. The added padding or penalties cannot stop a such a thing as a concussion, the only way to get rid of them is to get rid of the sport all together. There has been millions of dollars put in for researching to limit severe head trauma, which has seemed to lower the casualty rate of NFL players, but still there is cases of concussion-related
...ded. By the use of ear tube surgery, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and ASL children are allowed to develop in a relatively same manner as other children. Lack of senses (e.g., hearing, seeing) makes all of the developmental processes more difficult, but with the help of the assistance listed above children with hearing impairments are allowed to develop like without hearing impairments children. With these assistance hearing impaired children go through information processing theory, social-culture theory, or many more. I am so fortunate to have had the ear tube surgery and to have gotten the opportunity to develop socially and cognitively. I will always have a special place and interest in my heart for hearing impaired students. I hope that one day I can have the opportunity to teach hearing-impaired students and give back because of my unique interest.
In the United States today, approximately 4500 children are born deaf each year, and numerous other individuals suffer injuries or illnesses that can cause partial or total loss of hearing, making them the largest “disability” segment in the country. Although, those in the medical field focus solely on the medical aspects of hearing loss and deafness, members of the deaf community find this unwarranted focus limiting and restrictive; because of its failure to adequately delineate the sociological aspects and implications of the deaf and their culture. Present day members of deaf culture reject classifications such as “deaf mute” or “deaf and dumb”, as marginalizing them because of their allusions to a presumed disability. (Edwards, 2012, p. 26-30)
One of the earliest players to bring awareness to brain traumas was Mike Webster, a former Pittsburgh Steeler. In April of 1999, he claimed to be disabled with the NFL Retirement Board. He also had dementia which was a result of the brutal hits he endured during his football career. Webster ran into many problems at the e...
Good afternoon fellow classmates. My name is Justice Rogers. I have been playing football going on 7 years. I've played linebacker, defence of line, offence of line. I have attended a total of professional 13 games, and played in over 20 games . I love the sport, i have been watching football ever since i was 4. When i was little my mother brought me a a football and i carried it around all the time. Football has always been a passion. The reason i love football is because of the excitement and thrill of it . And one of the main icon i admires is Luke kuechly. He is well known for his aggressive plays , field smart and his aggression . According to Nfl statistics
...deaf since he was three years old. In the 2012 NFL draft Derrick was not picked. Despite that everyone told him he could never do it, he never gave up. Now he just won the 2014 NFL Super Bowl with the Seahawks. He had the true strength to overcome his weaknesses and show what his personal strengths were to the world.
So today, I have shared with you my journey in deafness. Being deaf can be hard, but it is not the end of the world. I can do what anyone else can do such as talk, play sports and hang out with friends. Every person’s journey is different. For me the key to success is perseverance.
My dream job in the future would be professional football player. I have loved the game of football since I was a little kid because it’s a good sport and you can tackle the player and catch and do anything in the sport as long as you follow the rules. The colleges that I’m looking forward to go to are UNC, Oregon, or Appalachian State.