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Q & A with
Marlene Valle Content Creator , Travel Blogger and Travel Photographer
She ' s pssionate , adventurous , and creative
Q . Share with us a bit about your childhood / background . A . I was born in Los Angeles
as a first generation Mexican- American , and I ' m the only deaf child in my family . Since the age of 2 , I learned American Sign Language ( ASL ) and grew up in both worlds : the deaf world and the hearing world ( hearing refers to people who are not deaf , hard of hearing or have any hearing loss ). I am now a content creator , travel blogger and travel photographer behind deafinitelywanderlust . com
Q . What influenced your decision to travel and share your experiences with the world ? A . Growing up , I ' ve always
been proud to be Deaf , yet I ' ve also internalized some ableism and fears from other people , such as questioning whether it ' s possible for me to travel ( even traveling with another deaf person ). During my every childhood year , I visited Mexico along with my family and always wanted to explore out on my own . I was curious about everything , but my family were fearful due to different reasons ( including due being deaf ). When I was 18 , I visited Hawai ' i with my family - and it was just surreal . I ' d never thought I ' d be almost the other side of the world ... to see a different walk of life , people living there , different nature and everything . It was the start of a wanderlust - I wanted to see more .
Fast-forward to after graduating as an undergrad , I decided to jump into my desire to see the world ( along with another deaf person ). I researched a lot through different travel blogs , there are a little to no information about traveling while deaf . I cannot just relate to abled and hearing travel bloggers about my fears , communication strategies , etc . Eventually , I came to realize that I could share my experiences with the world , including the deaf communities .
Q . What impact do you hope to have on your audience ? A . While there are so many
reasons , it ' s ultimately because I wanted to start living my own life . I ' ve grown up living for others , as well as internalizing others ' fears - especially as a Deaf woman . Ever since I started traveling , I became so passionate into sharing with the world about the people I meet , the communication tools that I use to navigate - there is just not enough information about it online , nor do I really see someone that represent me in the travel industry . With my platform , I hope that deaf people are inspired and