To make reading clearer and more comprehensible, I’ve color-coded the characters according to their mode of expression: oral French or Langue des Signes Française (LSF).

I’m deaf and understanding spoken word has always been a challenge for me. To follow a discussion, I have to scrutinize every detail: moving lips, gestures, facial expressions… but also the context. For example, if someone is talking about a book on the table behind me, I have to keep moving my eyes back and forth between their face and the object they’re talking about.

The result? I lose a lot of information and my understanding of spoken French is imprecise and fragmented. Often, it’s onlyat the end of a conversation that I manage to understand the whole subject. That’s why I’ve set up another code:

Today, if I’m able to tell my story, it’s thanks to all the pieces of the puzzle of my life that I’ve been able to gather little by little, by asking my mother and those around me.

This book is my story. All the facts and characters are real, but some names
have been changed to avoid any inconvenience.