Meet the avid black deaf vlogger.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Teresa Pegram, the RuralVaLady. I was born and raised in a small farming community in Amelia County, Virginia. Even though I enjoy the small-town lifestyle, I also know what city life is all about. Over the years, I have lived in several cities, including Northern Virginia, Washington D.C., Richmond, Virginia, Miami, Florida, and visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I was born with the ability to hear, but I got an ear infection when I was just 18 months old. The doctor prescribed the wrong dosage of medication to alleviate my ear infection, which caused damage to both nervous systems connected to each ear’s cochlear. When I was about 2, my parents realized that I couldn’t hear anymore. Even when they called my name or honked their car horn loudly to get my attention while playing outside, I didn’t respond. They promptly took me to the hospital, and after getting checked out by an ENT specialist, the doctor found that I was indeed deaf.

In case you were wondering, yes, I do wear hearing aids, but that does not mean that I can hear perfectly. Growing up, I never learned to sign until I was 11 years old.

However, I was taught cued speech and SEE (Signing Exact English), which are not the same as American Sign Language (ASL). During preschool and elementary school, I learned to read lips and speak. These days, my primary form of communication is ASL.