Could your child study law? Coach tennis? Mentor teens to help them pursue their dreams? Or all of the above? Be inspired by John Lui’s story who has never let deafness become a barrier to his potential.
Could your child study law? Coach tennis? Mentor teens to help them pursue their dreams? Or all of the above?
Be inspired by John Lui’s story who has never let deafness become a barrier to his potential. John is Australia’s first cochlear implantee to become a qualified Club Professional Coach and has been represented NSW and Australia in Deaf Tennis since 2003. He also has a Bachelor of Social Sciences & a Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University.
In addition to coaching, John is the National Manager of Hear For You, a non-profit organisation that runs mentoring workshops and programs for deaf and hard of hearing teens.
We know you’re a modern-day hero in your own right. But if you were to dress up in a HERO costume who would you be and why? I have so many heroes from all the comic books I read as a kid. To pick only one, it would be Superman as he’s got all the powers you could ever want. It’s almost unfair to the other superheroes!
Please share your childhood story and diagnosis. I was one when I was diagnosed. We were living in Holland at the time. My mother had to challenge the doctors to get this diagnosis confirmed because they didn’t take her concerns seriously enough.
What was your school experience like? I had a multinational upbringing born in Sydney and then living in lots of different countries – Brunei, Holland, Hong Kong, and the USA before returning home to Sydney at the end of 2000.
Though I went to many different schools, my teachers and classmates were pretty welcoming, accepting me for who I was. I was never really marked out as someone to be treated differently because of my deafness. My friends did have to be more accommodating in social situations but it was hardly ever in a negative light for which I am very grateful.
Attending international schools for both primary and high school in Hong Kong may have helped. Everyone has a point of difference because they come from all over the world. It may have been a different story if all my schooling from Year 1 to Year 12 had been in Australia.
How important was family support in your deaf journey? My mother was a fierce advocate and she made sure I had everything I needed to gain the most from my school experience. I received speech therapy, itinerant teacher support, and the best environment to help me thrive. This wasn’t just in Australia but also in two different countries, Brunei and Hong Kong! My dad was the quiet one but gave his full support to everything my mother did on her journey to raising a deaf child. There’s no doubt that my sister and brother were impacted by growing up with a deaf sibling. The wonderful part is that they have never held onto any resentment caused by my deafness over the years.
It sounds like you had a mainstream upbringing. When did you start identifying more with the deaf community? It wasn’t until the end of high school and into university that I began to really delve into questions around my deaf and hearing identity, having grown up in the mainstream hearing world. Those questions came about when I started meeting d/Deaf people through Deaf Tennis who either spoke like me or used Auslan, or both!
What keeps you busy today? I’m currently a professional tennis coach, the first-ever cochlear implantee to attain the qualified Club Professional coaching qualifications through Tennis Australia.
I have recently become the National Manager of Hear For You. I’m looking forward to this new career journey but I will still be coaching tennis! It has been through my work at Hear For You, that I’ve continued to explore the impact and role of deafness in my life and in the person I am today.
Do you have a favourite quote that you’d be willing to share with us? The one that changed my outlook on modern life forever was the Dalai Lama when asked what surprised him most about humanity –
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
Or simply put – “We only live once” Wrong! “We only die once. We live every day.”
That will be thought-provoking for anyone reading this post. What has been the highlight of your life so far? Getting married and being the father of two little girls.
Looking ahead, what are your dreams for the future? To be able to keep my girls safe and to watch them grow up into happy, healthy, resilient, kind people.
Is there one more thing you’d like to share with a young person who is deaf or hard of hearing? There are people out there who have similar life experiences to you. So I urge you to be courageous enough to find your tribe. To be able to share your story where you feel accepted without deafness being a point of difference or limitation is seriously life-changing.
To hear more from John Lui, watch his videohere.