TYLER, Texas — Reporters Note: At the request of Lexi Hill she prefers to be called "deaf" not "hard-of-hearing."
On the basketball court Robert E. Lee senior, Lexi Hill looks and plays just like any other player on the hardwood.
You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but Lexi is deaf.
"I was born to two deaf parents, deaf grandparents on my mother's side," signed Hill.
But that hasn't stopped her from playing the game she loves.
"My parents taught me that. The only thing you can't do is hear. So, I've never thought there's something that I can't do," says Hill. "When I was in the first grade, my parents put me in the Winter league, and since then I've been playing basketball."
What some people might say is a challenge or obstacle, Hill signs is a way of life.
"This is my life, I grew up with this way of living, I grew up in a deaf family, this is our normal," says Hill.
Not only is she ranked no. 7 in her graduating class, but come May Lexi will graduate and play basketball at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. with the highest earned scholarship the University gives.
Hill encourages parents to expose their children to American Sign Language (ASL) with hopes both those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and those who aren't can live in both worlds.
Hill shares some words of encouragement for deaf or hard-of-hearing athletes.
"Deaf kids out there who want to play sports. You can do it. There will always be away," says Hill.
