Early on in their marriage, Scott and Lori Featherstone describe themselves as being "dirt poor" — it took years before they fully furnished their home. The reason for this, Scott Featherstone explained, was because every spare dime they had went toward buying new hearing aids.
Three of the Featherstone’s six sons were born deaf.
But Joseph, Zach and Ben Featherstone want to set the record straight: They are just like everybody else.
"We want you to feel like you can treat us as your equal. Because we are your equal," Ben Featherstone told the Church News.
"I've been in settings when everyone accepted my deafness and didn't treat me as a deaf person, but as an ordinary person and it's wonderful," Zach Featherstone agreed. “But when I'm in a setting when someone sees me as 'deaf' person … that becomes hard because they allow my outer challenges to define who I am, when I would rather have them judge me on my inner person.”
"I don't think we are any different from other families besides the fact that we sign," Joseph Featherstone said.