About

About DEAFTEENS.ORG

This website is built to help connect deaf teens and their families and share stories about deafness, hearing aids and/or Cochlear Implants.

David Cluff – Founder of deafteens.org – David Cluff has bilateral cochlear implants. He received his first implant at the age of six due to progressive hearing loss from the CMV virus with which he was born. In 2007, he got his second cochlear Implant at the age of 14.   He has been volunteering to lead the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Cochlear Implant Teen Support Group since 2008. Dr. Timothy Hullar, a cochlear implant surgeon inspired David to build this website as his Eagle Scout Project.  “I never thought that this website would have a big impact until the word got out,” says David, “I got an email from a teen saying that it was their dream to have a website like this…” Now he is building upon dreams.

Besides David who has been working on the website, teens from around the world joined in to help him. David states, “we make an awesome team”.  Team members include JoEllen from Tennessee, Lesley from Texas, Josh from Missouri and Lissa from United Kingdom. All of them are deaf and use cochlear implants and/or other hearing devices.  David says that he could never have done it without their support.  They did not only build this website together, but also formed friendships. David said he was thrilled to see that there are more deaf teens than he imagined, and the deaf teens are eager to network with other deaf teens for support.

How did they meet despite many miles apart?

It was a challenge at first according to David, but they manage to use all the resources they had including Facebook.  Because David and his team wanted to have a conversation at the same time while living thousands of miles apart, they utilized Skype.  David says “The first time we had our meeting, all five of us deaf teens enjoyed some great laughs.”  This team was not only a help to David but also an inspiration to him. David says “They inspired me in so many ways. I learned that when you have a goal and you’re surrounded by people that want to help, anything is possible; and we learned that with deafteens.org.”

David also received other amazing support from the St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis Deaf Teen Club, Rachel Chaikof (founder of www.cochlearimplantonline.com), Sophie’s Tales, Boy Scout Troop 864, Ms. Toby Weiss, Mr. Keith Slater and many other amazing people who help support David.

Thanks to Ms. Toby Weiss and Mr. Keith Slater who volunteered their time to help with getting the website designed and running. They both work at Mosby Building Arts, a remodeling/construction company. They are amazing and helped David tremendously. David adds “I learned it is best to not try to do everything yourself”

Thank you for visiting deafteens.org. Each day we are building upon dreams.