We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda McDonough a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My book “Ready to be Heard: How I Lost My Hearing and Found My Voice” is the most meaningful project I have ever worked on because penning those pages was a therapeutic journey. During the writing process I had to be very introspective; unveiling and explaining how my hearing loss really affected me physically, mentally, and emotionally at all stages of my life.

I grew up hard of hearing and progressively lost my hearing until I became deaf. When I was a child, I could not find any hard of hearing role models in the mainstream media. The more I grew, the more desperately I longed to see other people out there with hearing loss succeeding at their chosen fields. When I didn’t see hard of hearing or deaf people like me on tv, in magazines, as the subject of books, in articles, or on the news I began to fear that my hearing loss would prevent me from having a happy and fulfilling future. So, as an adult, I wrote my memoir to ensure that no more children living with hearing loss would ever need to feel alone, like I did.

I put myself out there in my writing, my speaking, and my acting so that the next generation of children have someone in the mainstream media saying “I am Deaf. I am proud. I have the ability to achieve my dreams and, if I can do it, then so can you.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was not born Deaf, I became Deaf. When I was 4 years old, I was diagnosed with hearing loss. As I grew older my hearing gradually declined. By age 7, I needed hearing aids in both ears. Doctors were never able to tell me why I was losing my hearing or if I would ever stop losing it. So, I hid my hearing loss from everyone outside of my immediate family, hoping it would stabilize eventually. Yet, as I grew, I continued to lose my hearing. Then, during the summer between my junior and senior year of college, I awoke to discover 100% of my hearing in both ears was gone, I could no longer deny that I was officially deaf.

I had a decision to make: I could feel sorry for myself and give up or I could learn to navigate this new soundless world and fight for my dreams. I chose the latter.

I taught myself to speak again, taught myself to lip-read, and graduated from college on time with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration: double majoring in International Business and Marketing Management with an emphasis in Entertainment Marketing. Then, I went searching for other deaf people like me. I found them on the set of a popular TV show. I got hired as an actress working on the show and in between takes is where I learned American Sign Language, about Deaf culture, and new ways of doing everyday things without relying on hearing. I began to thrive and wanted to share all that I was learning with others who might also benefit from it. So, I started making YouTube videos to spread information and awareness. Then, I began speaking at schools and organizations about my experiences. Finally, I decided I could reach more people by writing my memoir. In 2018, “Ready to be Heard: How I Lost My Hearing and Found My Voice,” was released, detailing my self-acceptance journey, as a strong, educated, Deaf woman.

I have not slowed down since. My speaking credits now include a TEDx talk on “Becoming Your Own Hero,” resilience training for the US Airforce, diversity and inclusion training for dozens of organizations and motivational speeches all over the USA! My acting credits now include many popular tv studio and streaming shows, a “Best Actress” nomination at EDFC, and one of my short films showed at Cannes Film Festival in France. I have even expanded my writing to include screenplays and wrote for a well-known large studio in Hollywood, winning awards for my work ethic and leadership skills.

*** Due to the ongoing SAG/AFTRA and WGA strikes I, as a union member, cannot promote struck work. Therefore, the summary of my work has been purposely written to exclude the names of struck projects and companies.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Roughly a year or two after becoming Deaf I finally realized that I am not alone. It is estimated that about 1.5 billion people worldwide are affected by hearing loss in at least one ear and that many more go undiagnosed and untreated. I hid my hearing loss for the first 18 years of my life out of fear of  being different, being bullied, and being treated as lesser than. I decided that I did not want that to be the fate of the next generation.

My goal with all my work: my book “Ready to be Heard,” my work as a speaker, and my acting work is to make sure that people living with hearing loss, and the people who love them, know that they are not alone. I work to give them hope for their future and to give them access to tools, community, and resources they can use to thrive in a world that is built for those who can hear.

I am driven to become the role model I needed as a young person living with the uncertainty of hearing loss. I did not pick an easy career path, but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Many people assume that my deafness is the greatest obstacle I face as I navigate a world and industries that are very hearing based, but it is not. My hearing loss has made me a stronger person and I am very proud of my identity as a Deaf woman, my languages (ASL & English), and my community.

The biggest barrier I am forced to overcome regularly is: other people’s assumptions about what I can and cannot do as a Deaf person. For example, when I am submitting a proposal for a speaking engagement or an audition for an acting role it is not unusual for me to encounter doubt about my ability to perform. It is not unusual for me to be removed from the running because others assume that it will be “too hard,” “too complicated,” or “too uncomfortable” to work with a disabled person.
I must work ten times harder to ensure that people feel comfortable around me and confident in my ability to do the job. It can be exhausting and discouraging to constantly need to go above and beyond to even be considered for a position. Yet, I slowly hack away at the stigmas, biases, and stereotypes I encounter with education. I try to approach every opportunity I receive as an occasion to be helpful, to teach, to learn and to grow.

Over the years, I have proven to myself and others, time and time again, that I can achieve anything I put my mind to. I’ve overcome every barrier that life has thrown at me, and I have no intention of giving up now.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.amanda-mcdonough.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanda_mcdonough/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialamandamcdonough/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-mcdonough-8404852a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ActingAmanda
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBERhpWcbrcDEsM0A0D36rg
• Other: http://www.readytobeheard.com http://www.amandamcdonoughspeaker.com

Image Credits
Tashaface Photography