The casual references to eugenics laced throughout research about deafness didn’t stop me from trawling through scientific databases. Every so often, there was a direct quote from a research subject. As they described their deaf body, their Deaf life, I couldn’t help writing in the margins—Yes! Yes! I feel this too! ‘I don’t want to be labelled…’ said one subject.

‘I don’t want people to be like, that’s the deaf girl. I don’t want to have that label. I want people to see me apart from that.’ When asked would she take ‘normal’ hearing if it were ‘magically offered’ to her, she replied: ‘Deafness is part of who I am…It’s made me who I am. And if anything, it makes me a more well-rounded person. So, I think I’d say no.’