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.
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.
During his time at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow was known as one of the greatest college football players ever. He won two National Championships and a Heisman trophy, which is the award given to the best player in college football. During this time period in college footbal,l players such as Reggie Bush and others were involved with investigations regarding illegal benefits being given to players by agents and boosters. Needless to say, Tim was never associated or involved in these investigations or crimes.
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
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...
...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
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)
...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.
The documentary of “Through Deaf Eyes” has open my eyes to the deaf culture. The movie has made it “click” that deaf people are just that people and individuals like me. Deaf community has its struggles just like everyone else. They struggle with growing into who they are as a person, harmful situations, and feeling a sense of belonging. They just speak a different language like Italians and Hispanics. Communicating with a different language does not make them lesser than a hearing person. When able to learn to communicate, the deaf are able to learn and gain knowledge just like a hearing person. The only difference is they have to learn more and work harder to achieve their goals and gain knowledge, which a hearing person learns just by hearing their surroundings.
Hearing people can have a place in the Deaf community. Each minority group tends to welcome genuine allies and the Deaf community is no exception. But it is important for people who hear to remember our role as allies. We join the community to show our support, not to lead. We can help educate other hearing people, but we are not missionaries to bring Deaf people into the mainstream. Deaf people are the appropriate leaders of their own civil rights movement and teachers of their children. Our role is not to give Deaf people a voice; it is to make sure that the voice already present is heard. And we can do that. We can teach other hearing people to listen.
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
Imagine seeing people speaking, moving their mouths and not being able to hear anything. Welcome to the world of deafness. The journey for someone who is deaf can be challenging, but those challenges can be overcome with perseverance. Today I am going to share with you the story of my journey with deafness and see that if I am my disability. It is an experience that has shaped my life through body, mind, and spiritual matter.
...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.