C.J. Jones
Presented by Anya H.
Charles J. Jones was born hearing to a family who was mostly deaf in St. Louis, Missouri. He has four hearing brothers and two sisters, but he grew up knowing both how to speak and how to sign. One foot in the hearing world and another in the Deaf, that is until he lost his hearing to spinal meningitis when he was 7.
He is an actor, best known for his role in See What I'm Saying, and his stand up comedy. But he's also a director, producer, writer, and the CEO of sign world media.
"Love for who you are makes life really great."
"It's all about knowledge, about the heart, it's about ablilities, about doing something you want and getting what you want out of life."
He calls himself the "double whammy," because not only is he deaf, but grew up in pre-civil rights Missouri as an African American, and now uses the obstacles he had overcome to inspire those of not only the deaf and African American communities, but everyone who faces adversity.