Sophie's Spotlight: Carson

Sophie loves shining a spotlight on amazing kids with hearing loss around the world. To shine a spotlight on someone you know, write to us at info@hearingourway.com!

Carson, age 16, is a high school junior from South Hill, Virginia who has one cochlear implant. She loves to spend time with friends and family and has a passion for sports.

She plays travel softball every weekend and hopes to earn a college scholarship.

Carson used to wear her hair down so people wouldn’t stare at her device, but playing sports has made her more confident about wearing her hair up and showing her cochlear implant to others. She can even laugh about her hearing loss now, like the time when she had the bottom locker, and as she knelt down at her locker, the magnet in her head pulled her towards the locker—ouch! Carson has shared a special relationship with her teacher of the deaf, Elsa Gardner, whom she has worked with since she was 3-years-old. Ms. Gardner says, “Carson is one of a kind. She excels in school and sports, works above and beyond

to achieve everything she has gotten, and is a caring, compassionate person who always does the right thing.”

Carson has faced struggles and fears because of her hearing loss, but she never lets it stop her from dreaming big. She hasn’t seen Division 1 athletes with hearing loss and hasn’t met any audiologists with cochlear implants, yet these are her two dreams— to play softball in a Division 1 college and to become an audiologist. She wants to inspire kids like her and watch them hear for the first time. People with hearing loss can do ANYTHING as long as they chase their dreams and don’t let anything stop them, which is exactly what Carson plans to do.

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