Image Description: A watercolor painting on a textured, off-white background featuring a central bouquet of flowers and two small ducks in the lower right corner.
The bouquet is composed of stylized, pointed petals in earthy tones of deep red, muted orange, and soft purple, interspersed with green leaves and tall, thin blades of grass. The stems are gathered and tied at the bottom with a simple dark binding. Light splatters of paint surround the floral arrangement, giving it a whimsical feel.
To the right, two mallard-style ducks stand side-by-side, facing away from the viewer but looking back toward the flowers. One duck has brown plumage while the other is a bluish-grey, both featuring distinctive green heads. The overall style is minimalist and gentle.
Author Statement
How does it connect to the question: What would help you feel supported or empowered with your disability(s)?
As a person with hearing loss and ADHD, I have faced many struggles like academic struggles, social struggles, and confidence issues growing up. Sure, hearing loss starts off as a physical issue but can affect other aspects of life. The emotional impact hearing loss has on someone isn’t always seen. Throughout my life, hearing loss has caused a sense of isolation or feeling of disconnect from the world around me.
Growing up, I assumed every child struggled trying to follow conversations, missing words or phrases or misinterpreting speech, and felt lost when a group of people were talking. I was clueless in conversation, always having to rely on my parents or my sister to narrate conversations I couldn’t follow. I learned that this was my sense of normal, shaped by hearing loss.
All of these causes barriers of communication and led me feeling anxious as a child. Growing up I’ve learned to feel different and behind from my peers and because of that, left me drained and exhausted going to school everyday. I remember as a kid looking forward to coming home to my big sister who was always there ready with open arms to give me a big hug and love me wholly. That’s when I have felt most supported or empowered.
The reason why I picked the painting was actually because my sister Leah and I painted this together recently. I feel like it represents our story and how sometimes it may look messy and scattered but in the bigger picture it’s our beautiful story that we get to share. And the struggles we have experienced and overcome can turn into something messy and beautiful.
Leah is the person that gives me wisdom because she has taught me how to connect and empathize with people, to not only advocate for ourselves but to embrace our imperfections. I feel most supported having a role model I can always look up to, feeling like I am always loved unconditionally, being able to have such a great relationship with my family and to use them as tools to overcome the challenging stuff. The challenges are what makes the story become beautiful.
My sister has given me a sense of belonging and empowerment with my disability because she shows compassion, patience and understanding. Having people who are willing to slow down, repeat themselves and include me without making me feel like a burden makes a real difference.
The two ducks in my painting represent the companionship and the lack of isolation I’ve felt going through life with my sister. They reflect always having each other’s backs and it reminds me that both communication and life are ongoing journeys.
About the Author
Image Description: This is a headshot of Xin Dauterman with her sister. Xin is the one in the left who is wearing glasses and a grey shirt. She has short, dark brown hair. And Leah is the one in the right, who has long, blonde hair with a striped shirt.
Artist Bio
Xin Dauterman (she/her) is a biology student adopted from Jiangxi, China at the age of 2 and born with unilateral microtia and atresia; she wears a bone-anchored hearing aid every day. She draws on her lived experience of disability and ADHD to explore connection, accessibility, and compassion. She is currently learning American Sign Language (ASL) and minoring in it as a way to connect with her experiences with hearing loss. This watercolor piece was created by Xin and her sister, Leah Dauterman, an anesthesiology resident in the IU program. The painting is in honor of Leah and reflects the closeness of our relationship.