Born and raised in northern India, I moved to the USA in my early 20s for graduate school, always assuming I would return home ‘soon’. After six years in Washington DC and a subsequent move to California, marriage, a professional career, and two kids have made the USA my home for over a decade.

Our family includes a beautiful three-year-old daughter, who is hearing, and a wonderful 18-month-old son, who is deaf. Since my son’s birth, I’ve frequently encountered two common statements: more than 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and the first deaf person most people meet is their own child. Both statements apply to us. Although I have a cousin who is hard of hearing (whom I have never met), I never imagined this reality for my own life.

My son, Shrey, failed the newborn hearing screening mandated in most US states. Two months after his birth, he was diagnosed with severe to profound hearing loss attributed to recessive mutations in the connexin-26 gene which are the most common causes of inherited human deafness.. Among the many changes that occurred overnight, the idea of moving back to India disappeared. 

Over the past year and a half, I have come to believe that life carves out its own path. Why were my husband and I destined to find each other? Quick internet search shows that perhaps 1 in every 30 people is a connexin 26 recessive gene carrier, making us one of 900 couples where both partners are carriers. Why did I spend six years in Washington DC, home to Gallaudet University, the only higher education institution globally designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing students? Why have I remained in the US, always envisioning a life back in India?

One person told me that a positive aspect of her hearing loss is that the purpose of her life is never lost on her. I now believe in the process of life finding its purpose. I wouldn’t change anything and wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s our story for now, and I write more about the motivation behind this website here.