Finally Home
A little Black girl in the eighties,
small hands reaching through silence,
eyes searching every room
for someone who looked like me,
moved like me,
understood the language beating inside me.
But the mirrors were empty.
No stories told of girls like me.
No faces on the screen.
No elders to whisper,
you belong here too.
So I learned to survive
in a hearing world
that praised my strength
while ignoring my struggle.
I smiled when I was tired.
Nodded when I was hurt.
Pretended I was whole
while pieces of me wandered lost.
I became a woman,
a healer,
a nurse practitioner
walking halls where few looked like me,
where fewer understood me.
A Black woman.
A Deaf woman.
A Hard of Hearing woman.
Too much for some.
Not enough for others.
I carried degrees in my hands
and barriers on my back.
I carried brilliance in my mind
and exhaustion in my bones.
I faced closed doors,
sideways glances,
questions about my worth
from people who never had to prove theirs.
I fought for accommodations
already promised by law,
yet handed out like favors.
I fought for my children.
I fought for my family.
I fought for myself.
And still—
beneath the titles,
beneath the battles,
beneath the brave face—
there was anger.
There was loneliness.
There was anxiety that sat heavy at night.
There was depression that whispered lies by day.
There was one aching question:
Where is my village?
Where are my people?
Then grace answered.
Richmond Virginia Black Deaf Advocates.
A name that felt like sunlight
after years of storm.
Built by Sheena Williams
a woman who knew the road,
who carried similar scars,
who chose courage over comfort,
calling over fear,
community over silence.
She built what many prayed for
but few dared to create.
A family.
A safe place.
A circle of understanding.
A room where no one asks you to explain.
A room where people already know.
And in that sacred space,
I laid down burdens
I had carried for decades.
I was not too much.
I was not broken.
I was not alone.
I was enough.
Just as I am.
So thank you, Shenna.
Thank you, RVABDA.
For the welcome.
For the healing.
For the mirror.
For the family.
For giving me what I searched for
my whole life.
I am finally accepted.
I finally belong.
I am home.