Christy Keane
Christy Keane is an registered NICU nurse and content creator who became passionate about sharing her journey as a hearing parent of a Deaf child after a video of her daughter, Charly, hearing for the first time got national and international attention.
“I had never met a Deaf person before my daughter and had zero idea what to expect. I didn’t know about Deaf culture and I also didn’t know cochlear implants existed. Truly, I didn’t even realize there was a spectrum of hearing loss levels- I was just so confused and overwhelmed. This was before TikTok and a time where there weren’t very many other mom’s sharing their emotions and experiences on public forums. I made it my goal to be the UNBIASED support I wish I had in those early moments and to spread the message that “as long as you’re giving your child love and language, you are doing a GREAT job!!”
Christy and her family practice total communication but ultimately honor a child-led approach to language and communication. Charly attends a speech-focused preschool for children who are d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing with an AMAZING team of educators and therapists specialize in working with children who use hearing technology.
“While we embrace ASL and Deaf culture, we also recognize Charly’s unique “cochlear culture” and preference for listening and spoken language. She loves her “ears”, and also loves being able to interact with both her listening and ASL peers.”
Christy is a military spouse and veteran who lives with her family in Virginia Beach. When she’s not catching babies at work, you can probably catch her enjoying a family day outside at a local brewery! You can find Christy on social media @christykeanecan.
Beth Leipholtz
Beth Leipholtz is an inclusion and accessibility advocate who believes in creating a more accepting world for our children. As the hearing mother of a deaf child, Beth is raising her son, Coop, bilingually in both hearing and Deaf cultures.
When Cooper was born in September 2019, he referred on his newborn hearing screening twice. She and her husband were told this wasn’t abnormal and to bring him back to retest. During this time, they learned of Waardenburg Syndrome and started researching. Much of what they read aligned with Cooper. On October 18, 2019, they learned Cooper was profoundly deaf and a winding journey began to unfold.
"At the beginning, I was so scared that Cooper's future would someone be less than. I didn't know how beautiful the Deaf community was, or even that such a thing existed. I'm so grateful every day that we chose a total communication approach, meaning we use ASL and spoken language, and expose Cooper to both communities. I know I will never, ever regret giving him numerous options."
While the journey to here and now hasn't been linear, Beth truly wouldn't change it for anything. She believes in the beauty of sharing the raw, vulnerable, real moments.
Beth shares her parenting journey on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, where she has built a community of more than 1 million people around disability inclusion. She lives with her family in Minnesota. In addition to spending time with her family, Beth enjoys Minnesota summers, photography, iced Americanos, CrossFit, and a good old-fashioned book. You can follow her online at @beth_and_coop.