I was born in England with perfect hearing. In 1990, when I was five, my family moved to the United States. I started getting ear __1__ every three months or so. We didn’t have health __2__ at the time and when I got a third infection, my parents couldn’t pay for the __3__. I went deaf in my right ear and was left with 50 percent hearing in my left. Over time, my remaining hearing dropped to 20 percent, where it is today. My doctors__4__ that I would be completely deaf by now, so I think I’m doing pretty well. There was always music on in my house when I was little. I loved listening to Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson. My dad was a DJ, so he played disco,__5__ , dance, rock, and music from other countries. For my 18th birthday, my dad asked me to deejay at the restaurant he owned. After doing that for a few weeks, I was__6__. I wanted to learn more. I e-mailed DJ Shiftee, a well-known New York City DJ, when I was 25: “I know you like a__7__. How about teaching a deaf person to deejay?” He wrote back the next day: “Challenge accepted.” He __8__ me twice a week for two years, helping me develop correct technique. I practiced four hours a day. Now when I’m__9__, muscle memory takes over. p.p1%20%7Bmargin%3A%200.0px%200.0px%200.0px%200.0px%3B%20text-align%3A%20justify%3B%20font%3A%2010.5px%20%26%2339%3BTrebuchet%20MS%26%2339%3B%3B%20color%3A%20%23000000%7D%0Aspan.s1%20%7Bfont-kerning%3A%20none%7D When I started deejaying at clubs, I wouldn’t tell the managers I was deaf. I would just show up, introduce myself, and start playing music. At the end of the night, someone would say, “Oh, here’s the check.” And I’d say, “What? Oh, I can’t hear.” They were always so surprised. Sometimes I would bring doctor’s notes because they wouldn’t believe me. It was __10__ that they were giving me jobs because I was good, not out of__11__. Eventually people started calling me “that Deaf DJ,” and the name stuck.