This artwork was the sketch for an etching piece for my grade 11 art class. The purpose of this assignment was to represent the struggles that the students faced in their everyday lives. I chose to represent my hearing loss because being a hard of hearing student/person is my everyday reality, which certainly has its challenges. The greatest challenge is not having many others around who experience the D/dhh lifestyle. I’m very connected to music and so I sketched a woman with hearing aids, listening to music. She’s crying, which represents my emotions and also my gratitude that my hearing aids allow me to hear the world and what’s around me.