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Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice – An Award-Winning Exploration of Language, Humanity, and Accessibility
Named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews
Named a Notable Book of 2025 by the Washington Post
A deaf writer’s exploration of language, communication, and what it means to be articulate—and her journey to reclaim her voice
Rachel Kolb was born profoundly deaf the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and she grew up as part of the first generation of deaf people with legal rights to accessibility services. Still, from a young age, she contorted herself to expectations set by a world that prioritizes hearing people. So even while she found clarity and meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) and written literature, she learned to speak through speech therapy and to piece together missing sounds through lipreading and an eventual cochlear implant.
Now, in Articulate, Kolb blends personal narrative with commentary to explore the different layers of deafness, language, and voice. She tells the story of how, over time, she came to realize that clear or articulate self-expression isn’t just a static pinnacle to reach, a set of words to pronounce correctly, but rather a living and breathing process that happens between individual human beings. In chronicling her own voice and the many ways she’s come to understand it, Kolb illuminates the stakes and complexities of finding mutual and reciprocal forms of communication.
Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Articulate details a life lived among words in varied sensory forms and considers why and how those words matter. Told through rich storytelling, analysis, and humor, this is a linguistic coming-of-age in both Deaf and hearing worlds, challenging us to consider how language expresses our humanity—and offering more ways we might exist together.
Named a Notable Book of 2025 by the Washington Post
A deaf writer’s exploration of language, communication, and what it means to be articulate—and her journey to reclaim her voice
Rachel Kolb was born profoundly deaf the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and she grew up as part of the first generation of deaf people with legal rights to accessibility services. Still, from a young age, she contorted herself to expectations set by a world that prioritizes hearing people. So even while she found clarity and meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) and written literature, she learned to speak through speech therapy and to piece together missing sounds through lipreading and an eventual cochlear implant.
Now, in Articulate, Kolb blends personal narrative with commentary to explore the different layers of deafness, language, and voice. She tells the story of how, over time, she came to realize that clear or articulate self-expression isn’t just a static pinnacle to reach, a set of words to pronounce correctly, but rather a living and breathing process that happens between individual human beings. In chronicling her own voice and the many ways she’s come to understand it, Kolb illuminates the stakes and complexities of finding mutual and reciprocal forms of communication.
Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Articulate details a life lived among words in varied sensory forms and considers why and how those words matter. Told through rich storytelling, analysis, and humor, this is a linguistic coming-of-age in both Deaf and hearing worlds, challenging us to consider how language expresses our humanity—and offering more ways we might exist together.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 16, 2025
83 people are currently reading
4634 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
November 2, 2025
Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice by Rachel Kolb is both her life story, but also an excavation of language itself. Kolb, born deaf the same year the ADA was passed, writes with striking precision about what it means to live in a world built for hearing people. Her reflections move between personal experience and cultural critique, revealing how “voice” is so much more than sound. Through vivid storytelling, she describes learning to speak through speech therapy, navigating the murky art of lipreading, and finding both solace and identity in ASL. It’s part memoir, part linguistic inquiry, and absolutely absorbing.
What I found most fascinating was how Kolb peels apart the assumptions hearing people attach to being “articulate.” Her writing both recounts her life and interrogates the very framework of communication, exposing how much of our world’s definition of competence is bound up in sound. There’s also deep meaning in how she writes about language as a shared human act rather than an individual achievement. This book made me consider that fluency may not just be how clearly you speak, but how honestly you connect.
Kolb’s discussion of Deaf culture is equally enlightening. I thought I understood the basics of sign language, but Articulate taught me how layered and diverse it truly is—how ASL differs from SEE or PSE, and how regional dialects shape expression just as accents do in spoken English. Her story underscores that access isn’t just about physical accommodations—it’s about full inclusion in the shared spaces of meaning. Yes, this book will teach you things about deafness, but it will also challenge you to rethink how you listen.
The audiobook, narrated by Anna Caputo, is also very well done. Caputo delivers Kolb’s words with a tone that mirrors the memoir’s introspection. Her pacing feels deliberate, her tone warm, matching Kolb’s prose without ever overpowering it. You can hear the care in her delivery—the pauses, the inflection, the way she lets Kolb’s insights breathe.
Articulate stays with you long after it ends—not just because of Kolb’s experiences, but because of how she reframes what communication and understanding can be. Her story refuses easy binaries between sound and silence, ability and disability, speaking and signing. Instead, she invites readers to see language as something fluid, collective, and deeply human. Whether you read or listen, this memoir will shift the way you think about expression itself—and maybe even make you more mindful of the spaces where your own voice meets someone else’s.
What I found most fascinating was how Kolb peels apart the assumptions hearing people attach to being “articulate.” Her writing both recounts her life and interrogates the very framework of communication, exposing how much of our world’s definition of competence is bound up in sound. There’s also deep meaning in how she writes about language as a shared human act rather than an individual achievement. This book made me consider that fluency may not just be how clearly you speak, but how honestly you connect.
Kolb’s discussion of Deaf culture is equally enlightening. I thought I understood the basics of sign language, but Articulate taught me how layered and diverse it truly is—how ASL differs from SEE or PSE, and how regional dialects shape expression just as accents do in spoken English. Her story underscores that access isn’t just about physical accommodations—it’s about full inclusion in the shared spaces of meaning. Yes, this book will teach you things about deafness, but it will also challenge you to rethink how you listen.
The audiobook, narrated by Anna Caputo, is also very well done. Caputo delivers Kolb’s words with a tone that mirrors the memoir’s introspection. Her pacing feels deliberate, her tone warm, matching Kolb’s prose without ever overpowering it. You can hear the care in her delivery—the pauses, the inflection, the way she lets Kolb’s insights breathe.
Articulate stays with you long after it ends—not just because of Kolb’s experiences, but because of how she reframes what communication and understanding can be. Her story refuses easy binaries between sound and silence, ability and disability, speaking and signing. Instead, she invites readers to see language as something fluid, collective, and deeply human. Whether you read or listen, this memoir will shift the way you think about expression itself—and maybe even make you more mindful of the spaces where your own voice meets someone else’s.
July 8, 2025
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Rarely do we get to learn what life is like day to day in someone’s shoes that is deaf so this book is very unique. I have a much better understanding of what life can be like for those that have to speak and hear differently. I’m left with a feeling of compassion for those people and I have to credit it to this book. This is a must read for everyone whether you can relate to the author or not. Truly an eye opening read!
October 23, 2025
To preface, I have been profoundly deaf since I was a baby. I got my cochlear implant at age 2. Just to get that out of the way before some d/Deaf folk come in here complaining about a "hearing" person rating a Deaf author's book low. I'm also a white girl, which will make sense later.
Okay, let's move on.
I will say Kolb did a great job of explaining the speech therapy sessions, breaking down how they worked and how it was just part of her life. She did a great job in explaining numerous aspects of a d/Deaf person's life, from lip-reading to being excluded from events.
My biggest issue is that a lot of these explanations were sporadically thrown in at random parts of the book instead of slowly given at the beginning to help paint a bigger picture of what d/Deaf people deal with. Lip-reading explanations were given around 80% of the book, which is crazy to me considering that's the biggest skill the d/Deaf cultivate early on.
So...I had a lot of issues with this book and how it was presented.
Kolb didn't really explain her family situation all that well. We had to fill in the gaps--the fact that her mom could afford to quit her job and be a stay at home mom and help her daughter out at school for field trips and etc...Kolb also owned a horse, which is not a typical "toy" to own, lol. From the little bit of information gleaned, I feel like I can confidently say Kolb came from a place of wealth and privilege. She was going to all the fanciest colleges in the world--Stanford, which had an "excellent" equestrian program that she noted in the book--as well as Oxford. Sure, she could've gotten some scholarships, that's fair, considering a deaf white woman would be appealing to a college's diversity checkmark list. (Speaking from experience here, also as a deaf white woman!)
Why does the privilege matter? I felt it jumping out at the pages in certain sections:
- She mentioned Harry Potter at least 10 times in this book. That seems unimportant, but considering the author's extremely negative views of the LGBTQ+ community, it felt strange to keep bringing it up throughout the book. She mentions at least 3 other random books, such as Redwall, but HP kept being brought up. It was a great series for me to read as a kid, but since JKR's BS I've just completely disavowed them. She never brings them up as part of her understanding of disability because there were NO disabled characters in these books. Even if there were, they would've been named something awful like Cho Chang. To me, bringing up a book series that is not disability-friendly, nor explaining how the series helped her find herself, just feels like privilege. She is clearly not LGBTQ+ or friends with any because it would be rather rude to bring them up.
- Horses. Again, she glossed over her childhood but she did keep bringing up going out riding on horses and going to horse events. This is not a typical hobby because I've seen the stuff the "horse girl" stereotype pay for. It's a VERY expensive hobby that's out of range for most people. Again, I wouldn't have minded it if it was a cumulative part of her childhood but she just mentions it sporadically.
- COMPARING DEAF SCHOOLS TO THE INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE? BRO? This really pissed me off. Deaf schools trying to teach kids to speak English is not erasing a culture. The Indigenous Peoples' kids were literally ripped away from their parents, shipped to god knows where, and forced to completely forget their LANGUAGE and CULTURE. d/Deaf people still signed ASL just outside of school. They were still part of their culture and surrounded by d/Deaf people. These indigenous kids were trapped in another world and forced to assimilate. That's incredibly tone deaf (ha) to state in a book. If anyone's like "nah, she didn't say that!" here's the excerpt:
"The old oralists, not unlike the white instructors who established Native American boarding schools during the same period in America, embraced "standard" English as their primary route toward cultural assimilation. In doing so, these oralists tended to draw sharp lines through the ways human beings interact and express themselves. Speech or sign. Assimilation or isolation."
Privileged much?
Oh, if that's not enough, she also got pissed off at Huck Finn's mocking of deafness. A book from 1884. One particular line pissed her off in 10th grade: "How are you on the deef and dumb, Bilgewater?" The two characters go "goo-goo" and pretend they're deaf.
This shocked her so much, apparently. The portrayal of deafness...the book is literally satire, nothing in this book is serious. Not to mention it's 141 years old. She goes on to say:
"Then my hand darted into the air. 'I don't think we should be talking about deaf people this way,' I said, in my own deaf speech. I felt the entire class stop and look at me, not unkindly, then shift their gazes to the corner of the room.
Our class had already discussed the novel's racial politics. We'd examined the stark illustrations from the book's first published edition in which Jim, a fully grown Black man, kneels and begs for his life before the white rascal boy Huck, who tilts back on his heels with a rifle in his hands. How much this image had to say about America. Now with the duke's goo-goo-gooing, I saw the stakes of representation expand even further."
It's not like the book was meant to be perfect--it's perfectly imperfect in every which way. I would say oh, this is just a typical 10th grader getting pissed off at something they don't understand (I've done the same), but she STILL keeps bringing up throughout the rest of the book how this changed her. Again, it's ironic for her to hate this book but be totally fine with HP not having a single disabled character. Oh wait, I do remember now. Neville's parents were trapped in a mental asylum because of some awful magic done to them. The mental asylum was a typical 1950s horror asylum and soooo poorly done. Sorry JKR I forgot you did include disability in the worst possible way! :D (sarcastic)
Okay another thing--she claims "There's an adage that you can tell a deaf person by their eyes." I have literally never heard of this in my entire life, pun intended. Do I have DEAF eyes? Do my DEAF eyes just hone in on the nearest DEAF person in the room? Wtf was this made up "adage"!!!
I'm frankly not sure why she even got the cochlear implant in the first place, considering she got it, was amazed by sounds, and then decided to just never speak again anyway. She insists on having ASL interpreters everywhere despite being able to hear. I just don't quite understand the rationale and it feels like she explains it by saying it's just a Deaf thing. I personally know a little sign and rely more on hearing and I find ASL interpreters too slow to keep up with dialogue. Anyway, I didn't really like her line of thinking about the cochlear implant being an invasive creature set to destroy her life. She really needs to see a therapist for that. It's a tool to restore some shred of hearing and I love it so much--it made me discover amazing music all around the world!
I also didn't like how she painted herself as a victim during one flashback. During her Deaf camp escapades, some Deaf kids were bullying the HELL out of this cochlear implant kid and were trying to rip it off and she just sat there and watched and I was so pissed off! I think Kolb is a very passive person who doesn't like to cause "trouble" which I get, but that was extreme. I had to deal with Deaf kids bullying as a kid and I didn't take shit from them.
Often times Kolb laments outings with friends where she feels left out. So don't go out with friends who can't be bothered to make basic accommodations work for their FRIEND. I straight up say, "No, I can't go there, it's not accessible," and a friend and I just figure something else out. It feels like Kolb was being mopey but also did not want to be a downer, but you are DISABLED. You cannot be expected to "have fun" at restaurants where the party is too large! I guess she didn't want to be labeled as a "bitch" or something, but it just felt like she created some of these problems on her own. At least later on in life she is more proactive about making sure reasonable accommodations are made for her, so I think she did learn eventually, but her mopey college life was pissing me off.
Yeah, so, I wasn't a fan of this book. Her privilege just bleeds through and kind of ruins it for me. Her voice in this book is extremely condescending and superior and it feels like any nice parts that were added were added because of the editor's suggestions.
I'm sorry to rate this so long, but there's just a myriad of problems with the presentation and info in this memoir that I can't really recommend it.
Okay, let's move on.
I will say Kolb did a great job of explaining the speech therapy sessions, breaking down how they worked and how it was just part of her life. She did a great job in explaining numerous aspects of a d/Deaf person's life, from lip-reading to being excluded from events.
My biggest issue is that a lot of these explanations were sporadically thrown in at random parts of the book instead of slowly given at the beginning to help paint a bigger picture of what d/Deaf people deal with. Lip-reading explanations were given around 80% of the book, which is crazy to me considering that's the biggest skill the d/Deaf cultivate early on.
So...I had a lot of issues with this book and how it was presented.
Kolb didn't really explain her family situation all that well. We had to fill in the gaps--the fact that her mom could afford to quit her job and be a stay at home mom and help her daughter out at school for field trips and etc...Kolb also owned a horse, which is not a typical "toy" to own, lol. From the little bit of information gleaned, I feel like I can confidently say Kolb came from a place of wealth and privilege. She was going to all the fanciest colleges in the world--Stanford, which had an "excellent" equestrian program that she noted in the book--as well as Oxford. Sure, she could've gotten some scholarships, that's fair, considering a deaf white woman would be appealing to a college's diversity checkmark list. (Speaking from experience here, also as a deaf white woman!)
Why does the privilege matter? I felt it jumping out at the pages in certain sections:
- She mentioned Harry Potter at least 10 times in this book. That seems unimportant, but considering the author's extremely negative views of the LGBTQ+ community, it felt strange to keep bringing it up throughout the book. She mentions at least 3 other random books, such as Redwall, but HP kept being brought up. It was a great series for me to read as a kid, but since JKR's BS I've just completely disavowed them. She never brings them up as part of her understanding of disability because there were NO disabled characters in these books. Even if there were, they would've been named something awful like Cho Chang. To me, bringing up a book series that is not disability-friendly, nor explaining how the series helped her find herself, just feels like privilege. She is clearly not LGBTQ+ or friends with any because it would be rather rude to bring them up.
- Horses. Again, she glossed over her childhood but she did keep bringing up going out riding on horses and going to horse events. This is not a typical hobby because I've seen the stuff the "horse girl" stereotype pay for. It's a VERY expensive hobby that's out of range for most people. Again, I wouldn't have minded it if it was a cumulative part of her childhood but she just mentions it sporadically.
- COMPARING DEAF SCHOOLS TO THE INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE? BRO? This really pissed me off. Deaf schools trying to teach kids to speak English is not erasing a culture. The Indigenous Peoples' kids were literally ripped away from their parents, shipped to god knows where, and forced to completely forget their LANGUAGE and CULTURE. d/Deaf people still signed ASL just outside of school. They were still part of their culture and surrounded by d/Deaf people. These indigenous kids were trapped in another world and forced to assimilate. That's incredibly tone deaf (ha) to state in a book. If anyone's like "nah, she didn't say that!" here's the excerpt:
"The old oralists, not unlike the white instructors who established Native American boarding schools during the same period in America, embraced "standard" English as their primary route toward cultural assimilation. In doing so, these oralists tended to draw sharp lines through the ways human beings interact and express themselves. Speech or sign. Assimilation or isolation."
Privileged much?
Oh, if that's not enough, she also got pissed off at Huck Finn's mocking of deafness. A book from 1884. One particular line pissed her off in 10th grade: "How are you on the deef and dumb, Bilgewater?" The two characters go "goo-goo" and pretend they're deaf.
This shocked her so much, apparently. The portrayal of deafness...the book is literally satire, nothing in this book is serious. Not to mention it's 141 years old. She goes on to say:
"Then my hand darted into the air. 'I don't think we should be talking about deaf people this way,' I said, in my own deaf speech. I felt the entire class stop and look at me, not unkindly, then shift their gazes to the corner of the room.
Our class had already discussed the novel's racial politics. We'd examined the stark illustrations from the book's first published edition in which Jim, a fully grown Black man, kneels and begs for his life before the white rascal boy Huck, who tilts back on his heels with a rifle in his hands. How much this image had to say about America. Now with the duke's goo-goo-gooing, I saw the stakes of representation expand even further."
It's not like the book was meant to be perfect--it's perfectly imperfect in every which way. I would say oh, this is just a typical 10th grader getting pissed off at something they don't understand (I've done the same), but she STILL keeps bringing up throughout the rest of the book how this changed her. Again, it's ironic for her to hate this book but be totally fine with HP not having a single disabled character. Oh wait, I do remember now. Neville's parents were trapped in a mental asylum because of some awful magic done to them. The mental asylum was a typical 1950s horror asylum and soooo poorly done. Sorry JKR I forgot you did include disability in the worst possible way! :D (sarcastic)
Okay another thing--she claims "There's an adage that you can tell a deaf person by their eyes." I have literally never heard of this in my entire life, pun intended. Do I have DEAF eyes? Do my DEAF eyes just hone in on the nearest DEAF person in the room? Wtf was this made up "adage"!!!
I'm frankly not sure why she even got the cochlear implant in the first place, considering she got it, was amazed by sounds, and then decided to just never speak again anyway. She insists on having ASL interpreters everywhere despite being able to hear. I just don't quite understand the rationale and it feels like she explains it by saying it's just a Deaf thing. I personally know a little sign and rely more on hearing and I find ASL interpreters too slow to keep up with dialogue. Anyway, I didn't really like her line of thinking about the cochlear implant being an invasive creature set to destroy her life. She really needs to see a therapist for that. It's a tool to restore some shred of hearing and I love it so much--it made me discover amazing music all around the world!
I also didn't like how she painted herself as a victim during one flashback. During her Deaf camp escapades, some Deaf kids were bullying the HELL out of this cochlear implant kid and were trying to rip it off and she just sat there and watched and I was so pissed off! I think Kolb is a very passive person who doesn't like to cause "trouble" which I get, but that was extreme. I had to deal with Deaf kids bullying as a kid and I didn't take shit from them.
Often times Kolb laments outings with friends where she feels left out. So don't go out with friends who can't be bothered to make basic accommodations work for their FRIEND. I straight up say, "No, I can't go there, it's not accessible," and a friend and I just figure something else out. It feels like Kolb was being mopey but also did not want to be a downer, but you are DISABLED. You cannot be expected to "have fun" at restaurants where the party is too large! I guess she didn't want to be labeled as a "bitch" or something, but it just felt like she created some of these problems on her own. At least later on in life she is more proactive about making sure reasonable accommodations are made for her, so I think she did learn eventually, but her mopey college life was pissing me off.
Yeah, so, I wasn't a fan of this book. Her privilege just bleeds through and kind of ruins it for me. Her voice in this book is extremely condescending and superior and it feels like any nice parts that were added were added because of the editor's suggestions.
I'm sorry to rate this so long, but there's just a myriad of problems with the presentation and info in this memoir that I can't really recommend it.
January 18, 2026
A shining 5 stars! Rachel Kolb’s memoir is the book I’ve always needed. A Deaf activist and academic, Kolb skilfully combines memoir with analysis of certain aspects of Deaf culture, such as sign language, the politics of choosing to speak or sign and the lack of educational options historically available to deaf communities. Kolb is refreshingly aware of her own privilege, acknowledging several times that growing up in an era where the rights protections of ADA were available created more opportunities for her. She also mentions that as a white woman from a well to do family, more options and accommodations were open to her. She is also very willing to explore how advocating for her accessibility needs (closed captioning and sign language interpreters) can be consuming and exhausting.
As someone from a similar racial and economic background who was born with a mobility disability, I identified with much of Kolb’s experience, especially her reflections on self-advocacy and the huge amount of energy it takes to live in a world that is not designed for a body like mine. I absolutely loved Kolb’s writing and appreciated her thoughtful analysis. Unfortunately books like this are still relatively rare in disability discourse. I urge readers to pick this book up. It is both an example of high quality cultural education and an authoritative and important voice. This book will definitely earn a spot on my 2026 favourites.It is one of the most valuable books I’ve ever read.
As someone from a similar racial and economic background who was born with a mobility disability, I identified with much of Kolb’s experience, especially her reflections on self-advocacy and the huge amount of energy it takes to live in a world that is not designed for a body like mine. I absolutely loved Kolb’s writing and appreciated her thoughtful analysis. Unfortunately books like this are still relatively rare in disability discourse. I urge readers to pick this book up. It is both an example of high quality cultural education and an authoritative and important voice. This book will definitely earn a spot on my 2026 favourites.It is one of the most valuable books I’ve ever read.
January 2, 2026
Rachel Kolb's memoir is her story of growing up as a person who is deaf. Born in 1990, during the first year of the ADA, she navigated not only the social barriers, but also the physical and academic ones, despite the move toward more equity. Parts of this book really made me think about how much of our assumptions about language and where it lives ostracizes people who have different abilities or preferences. I appreciated the blend of her memoir with more critical and informative sections, which for the most part was blended well into the narrative, but could have been a bit more organized. While I did see the parallels between discrimination against disability (and specifically deafness), there were parts of the book that felt as if there was some equivalency attempting to be made that felt a little off putting, especially coming from a place of privilege. But I definitely think this is a great memoir that could be used in a classroom setting to encourage conversations about our language, assumptions, and expectations of others.
August 13, 2025
I will start by saying I am hearing, but I can relatively comfortably converse in ASL.
I ended up DNFing this book. I felt immediately that the author was talking down to me. It felt almost like she was talking down to her parents for not being deaf and therefore not understanding her struggle.
I can’t even pretend like I know what it is or feels like to be deaf. I have participated in Deaf events, and everyone has always been wonderful. However, I do not want to be treated like the enemy when I’m just here to learn. I think the author has unique perspectives and a story to tell, but I wish it came from a place of education and community rather than haughtiness.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
I ended up DNFing this book. I felt immediately that the author was talking down to me. It felt almost like she was talking down to her parents for not being deaf and therefore not understanding her struggle.
I can’t even pretend like I know what it is or feels like to be deaf. I have participated in Deaf events, and everyone has always been wonderful. However, I do not want to be treated like the enemy when I’m just here to learn. I think the author has unique perspectives and a story to tell, but I wish it came from a place of education and community rather than haughtiness.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
August 18, 2025
This was so well done and I learned so much. The complexities of speech, language, and syntax; the debate within the deaf community between signing and lipreading/speaking/Cochlear implants; the additional burdens and hoops a deaf person must jump through to schedule interpreters for college classes; the challenge that COVID presented with masks--inability to read lips and muffled speech. Even though I don't currently have any deaf people in my circle, I've downloaded two apps in an attempt to learn at least some ASL.
An excellent read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
Publishes September 16, 2025.
An excellent read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
Publishes September 16, 2025.
September 21, 2025
Rachel story is often about access. Access to the accommodations she needed and needs to navigate a world that with all its claims of being tolerant still doesn’t understand having hearing differences.
I Love this book!
As a CODA (child of Deaf adults) a lot of this book resonates with me as having part of me in both worlds- the worlds of the hearing and the Deaf. Raised with Deaf parents I have navigated a dual role. For a time I sought to separate myself only to become an ASL interpreter in an educational setting. Later to get a master’s degree as a teacher of the Deaf and hard of hearing. My place now is as an advocate for children with hearing loss. I would love all my parents and teachers to read this book. It illuminates a lot of myths around access and hearing devices.
I did not read an advance copy - I knew about Rachel because I have shared “Can You Read My Lips” video with parents and during in-services for college students and teachers. I couldn’t wait for the book so listened to the audiobook on Spotify- which I did find ironic.
I Love this book!
As a CODA (child of Deaf adults) a lot of this book resonates with me as having part of me in both worlds- the worlds of the hearing and the Deaf. Raised with Deaf parents I have navigated a dual role. For a time I sought to separate myself only to become an ASL interpreter in an educational setting. Later to get a master’s degree as a teacher of the Deaf and hard of hearing. My place now is as an advocate for children with hearing loss. I would love all my parents and teachers to read this book. It illuminates a lot of myths around access and hearing devices.
I did not read an advance copy - I knew about Rachel because I have shared “Can You Read My Lips” video with parents and during in-services for college students and teachers. I couldn’t wait for the book so listened to the audiobook on Spotify- which I did find ironic.
December 2, 2025
This was a beautifully written, inspiring and engaging book. This is a book any hearing person who has a deaf person in their life should read (or for that matter EVERY hearing person should read). I did find it a bit emotionally difficult at times as it brought up a lot of feelings and memories of my sister Judy, who died at this time last year. But many of the feelings and even the tears were happy and / or healing. Thank you Rachel Kolb for sharing your story and insights.
September 20, 2025
Articulate tells us Rachel Kolb's experience growing up deaf in America and what it was like navigating school, friends, and academics growing up in the 90s and 2000s as a deaf child.
Kolb acknowledges that her parents and sister learning and using ASL every day contributed to her ability to succeed and adapt as well as she did and it's always surprising to be reminded that so many parents who have deaf children do not learn and utilize sign. Kolb also spoke extensively about her experiences requesting accommodations both in academic settings but also when visiting museums and concerts with her friends.
Kolb seems to have an incredibly supportive community around her, including several large groups of friends who have learned to sign, and I think that, plus a privileged and supportive family have really enabled her to use her voice in this way.
This book highlights a number of obstacles that still need to be addressed to support the deaf community. Kolb speaks about her decision to receive a cochlear implant later in life and some of the controversies surrounding that decision within the deaf community.
Overall, this was a really informative read.
This was published September 16, 2025 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
Kolb acknowledges that her parents and sister learning and using ASL every day contributed to her ability to succeed and adapt as well as she did and it's always surprising to be reminded that so many parents who have deaf children do not learn and utilize sign. Kolb also spoke extensively about her experiences requesting accommodations both in academic settings but also when visiting museums and concerts with her friends.
Kolb seems to have an incredibly supportive community around her, including several large groups of friends who have learned to sign, and I think that, plus a privileged and supportive family have really enabled her to use her voice in this way.
This book highlights a number of obstacles that still need to be addressed to support the deaf community. Kolb speaks about her decision to receive a cochlear implant later in life and some of the controversies surrounding that decision within the deaf community.
Overall, this was a really informative read.
This was published September 16, 2025 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
September 27, 2025
Definitely for people that are unaware of deafness/language.
October 10, 2025
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 - 𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴."
I don’t normally rate nonfiction, especially memoirs, as everyone’s unique story is their own and everyone has their own voice, be it verbal, written, or signed, but this - 5 stars! I have a small background with ASL and the deaf community but there was SO much more that I learned from this. Immediately I was tabbing and making comments in my notes app. Huge thank yous to Ecco Books for sending me an advanced readers copy and an audiobook through Netgalley, which Kolb gives a spoken author’s note, and I agree with her about the irony of it: 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.
Kolb reminds us of the power of our voice and the various methods of communications; the power those methods have for so many. She chronicles her life story, the environments she grew up in, learned at, how the ADA impacted these. She talks about accessibility and ableism, identity, potential and limitations, both the nuances and complexities of language, how far society has come and yet how far it still has to go with embracing and accommodating with equality those with disability (be they visible or not), and so much more! She is straightforward, honest, humble, and gracious.
She addresses Deaf culture and perception and as a hearer there was so much that Kolb wrote that made me stop and reflect. There were things she said I recognized from my own brief time studying ASL and engaging with deaf individuals personally or at work, and it made me even more eager to continue learning ASL and find ways to connect with those local to me.
Personally, I find ASL an amazing and beautiful language. It is so intentional and perceptive, something that verbal language often forgets/neglects. Not to mention, deaf people are funny. They are very engaging and it’s as if nothing is off limits in conversation (or so that has been my experience). The beauty in this book, in Kolb’s story and perspective, is how differently she sees and engages with the world; how she views language and communication. That difference is a true gift. HIGHLY recommend!! and have tabs/markers/pens/pencils and a notebook ready.
I don’t normally rate nonfiction, especially memoirs, as everyone’s unique story is their own and everyone has their own voice, be it verbal, written, or signed, but this - 5 stars! I have a small background with ASL and the deaf community but there was SO much more that I learned from this. Immediately I was tabbing and making comments in my notes app. Huge thank yous to Ecco Books for sending me an advanced readers copy and an audiobook through Netgalley, which Kolb gives a spoken author’s note, and I agree with her about the irony of it: 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.
Kolb reminds us of the power of our voice and the various methods of communications; the power those methods have for so many. She chronicles her life story, the environments she grew up in, learned at, how the ADA impacted these. She talks about accessibility and ableism, identity, potential and limitations, both the nuances and complexities of language, how far society has come and yet how far it still has to go with embracing and accommodating with equality those with disability (be they visible or not), and so much more! She is straightforward, honest, humble, and gracious.
She addresses Deaf culture and perception and as a hearer there was so much that Kolb wrote that made me stop and reflect. There were things she said I recognized from my own brief time studying ASL and engaging with deaf individuals personally or at work, and it made me even more eager to continue learning ASL and find ways to connect with those local to me.
Personally, I find ASL an amazing and beautiful language. It is so intentional and perceptive, something that verbal language often forgets/neglects. Not to mention, deaf people are funny. They are very engaging and it’s as if nothing is off limits in conversation (or so that has been my experience). The beauty in this book, in Kolb’s story and perspective, is how differently she sees and engages with the world; how she views language and communication. That difference is a true gift. HIGHLY recommend!! and have tabs/markers/pens/pencils and a notebook ready.
November 13, 2025
I thought that this book was incredibly interesting. Rachel is born deaf into a hearing family, and ignoring the wisdom of the time decide that they will as a family learn to sign as well as speaking to her. Born at the same time as the ADA was passed, opening the way to better help for deaf people she has advantages earlier generations did not. Yet she is still forced to spend an incredible amount of time making sure she gets the accommodations she needs. This aspect of deafness was something I had never really thought about. I became deaf late in life and the accommodations I need are usually in place, or I just don't bother. The thing I found most fascinating was her the continual push/pull she felt between signing and speaking. She learns to speak, well, well enough to give a TED talk, but keeps coming back to the ease of signing, and the feeling of how much more expressive she can be in that medium. She straddles the speaking deaf world and the Deaf world, but ultimately seems to lean more towards the latter.
November 20, 2025
To say this book was "WELL-EXPRESSED" seems redundant based on the title, but it truly was expressed in a way that was insightful, thoughtful, and inspiring. I enjoyed the reflection on the expression of language and finding one's "voice", whatever form that may take. I also loved reading about the author's experience growing up in ABQ!
December 4, 2025
A good read, lots of insights into the deaf experience that apply to other disabilities and identities. My only criticism is that it felt less like a cohesive story from beginning to end, than a series of stories from the author’s life, albeit an interesting one.
January 10, 2026
Great story, and content, but story-telling was very sporadic and hard to follow sometimes.
October 31, 2025
A decent memoir. Memoirs aren't usually my choice of reading material, but this is the best I've read. Good examples of language, cultural and societal development.
October 23, 2025
‘Too deaf to be hearing, too hearing to be Deaf.’ Such is the sentiment that Rachel Kolb wrestles with. But take a look at that second ‘deaf’: It’s capital-D Deaf. She is profoundly deaf, but she is also too immersed in the speaking world as a participant to convince many of her non-hearing peers of her credibility.
Kolb was born deaf in 1990, the same year the ADA became the law of the land. Her parents enthusiastically learned to sign, albeit imperfectly; Rachel, for her part, learned to speak sounds she could not hear. Even though she attends the school for the deaf for a time, much of her living is as a participant in hearing rather than Deaf culture. (Only during her annual trip to ‘Deaf Camp’ does she feel free, then literally code switches once her parents reappear at the end of the summer.)
Fitting to the academic that she is, ‘Articulate’ is a methodical, step-by-step meditation on identity and growing up and becoming a fully independent adult, hearing or not. What does it mean to move through the world (‘Ear’th) when one does not hear but see (‘Eye’th)? Kolb learns iambic pentameter by stomping Shakespeare, cadence by riding a horse. She attempts to fill in the blank spaces left by speaking and hearing peers with her knowledge of written words, but it can take her only so far. Eventually, she takes the controversial step of getting a cochlear implant—a decision anathema to membership in Deaf culture. She fills in more blank spaces. It is almost harrowing to read. Ultimately, she decides she is not hard of hearing but a deaf person who happens to be able to hear. It is a relief to see.
Despite her less than perfect language acquisition, Kolb goes to Stanford and even becomes a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where now the BSL–ASL difference—not to mention the heavily class-coded constellation of accents from around Britain—makes her unintelligible to her hosts and vice versa. (‘I was now one of the many who had some sort of accent,’ she slyly observes.)
Kolb, ever more comfortable signing in her native ASL, embraces Deaf culture—and it goes on to pursue a Ph.D. in English literature. Amidst all this, she visits the Helen Keller House in Alabama, where she observes, as I have read before, how inaccessible it is. Given my interests, her chapter on accessibility was among my favorites. She campaigns—no, fights—for access at Emory. (I appreciated her challenge, as I fought for years to make a supposedly social-justice-minded college accessible as well, only for them to publicly congratulate themselves on creating a web overlay when the ADA/Kolb turned 33. Only in Kolb’s case, her reasoning could not have gotten any more personal.)
‘Articulate’ is about shapeshifting—shifting one’s shape to adapt, but also adapting and shaping one’s environment. Like the word itself, it has the feeling of always being freely in flux. Choosing to articulate using any medium you wish.
Kolb was born deaf in 1990, the same year the ADA became the law of the land. Her parents enthusiastically learned to sign, albeit imperfectly; Rachel, for her part, learned to speak sounds she could not hear. Even though she attends the school for the deaf for a time, much of her living is as a participant in hearing rather than Deaf culture. (Only during her annual trip to ‘Deaf Camp’ does she feel free, then literally code switches once her parents reappear at the end of the summer.)
Fitting to the academic that she is, ‘Articulate’ is a methodical, step-by-step meditation on identity and growing up and becoming a fully independent adult, hearing or not. What does it mean to move through the world (‘Ear’th) when one does not hear but see (‘Eye’th)? Kolb learns iambic pentameter by stomping Shakespeare, cadence by riding a horse. She attempts to fill in the blank spaces left by speaking and hearing peers with her knowledge of written words, but it can take her only so far. Eventually, she takes the controversial step of getting a cochlear implant—a decision anathema to membership in Deaf culture. She fills in more blank spaces. It is almost harrowing to read. Ultimately, she decides she is not hard of hearing but a deaf person who happens to be able to hear. It is a relief to see.
Despite her less than perfect language acquisition, Kolb goes to Stanford and even becomes a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where now the BSL–ASL difference—not to mention the heavily class-coded constellation of accents from around Britain—makes her unintelligible to her hosts and vice versa. (‘I was now one of the many who had some sort of accent,’ she slyly observes.)
Kolb, ever more comfortable signing in her native ASL, embraces Deaf culture—and it goes on to pursue a Ph.D. in English literature. Amidst all this, she visits the Helen Keller House in Alabama, where she observes, as I have read before, how inaccessible it is. Given my interests, her chapter on accessibility was among my favorites. She campaigns—no, fights—for access at Emory. (I appreciated her challenge, as I fought for years to make a supposedly social-justice-minded college accessible as well, only for them to publicly congratulate themselves on creating a web overlay when the ADA/Kolb turned 33. Only in Kolb’s case, her reasoning could not have gotten any more personal.)
‘Articulate’ is about shapeshifting—shifting one’s shape to adapt, but also adapting and shaping one’s environment. Like the word itself, it has the feeling of always being freely in flux. Choosing to articulate using any medium you wish.
October 14, 2025
I've read a few excellent books about deaf people and I always learn more about not only being deaf, but also being seen as disabled. Rachel Kolb's 2025 book, Articulate: A Deaf Memoir in Voice, continues my education seamlessly. I'm mulling over her written words, having being made aware that, unlike her, most deaf people aren't too interested in the written word. This is because they prefer sign language with their hands. As Kolb explains, deaf people embody language with creativity and flexibility rather than fitting words within a limiting structure.
Kolb grew up with hearing parents and a sister who decided to learn American Sign Language (ASL) and give her a mainstream education so she'd learn to speak well, too. Most hearing parents of deaf children do not actually learn ASL, unfortunately, and the children may not be exposed to ASL until they're out on their own.
Kolb lucked out and yet was led to believe that speaking, oralism, was much more important for her success in life. We live in a very speech-centric world. Kolb tells a fable about the planet Eyeth where people only sign and communicate with their eyes instead of ears like on Earth.
As Kolb journeyed through summer camps, higher education, travel opportunities across the U.S., the U.K, and Europe, and teaching jobs, she kept asking herself if she really wanted to speak or just sign and realized she could choose both, as well as combining them, using gestures and facial expression and touch, even writing on a pad or screen, with or without interpreters, inventing language.
Another thing she struggled with is accepting herself as part of the disability community. When she gave a TED talk a decade or so ago, where she spoke it and had a person signing, she argued that she wasn't disabled because she thought she'd only be accepted for her strengths. Now she understands that she's a human being with strengths and weaknesses, that we all need each other and this makes life worth living, Besides, she'd probably add with a grin, aren't we all disabled in some way?
I love the way she thinks and writes, too, but for me it's going to be a struggle because I have an incomplete spinal cord injury that someday will be greatly improved, not a genetic disorder or incurable disease. I'll be getting a new kind of bionic clothing for my leg that will retrain my damaged central nervous system. Yaay!!
Highly recommended!
Kolb grew up with hearing parents and a sister who decided to learn American Sign Language (ASL) and give her a mainstream education so she'd learn to speak well, too. Most hearing parents of deaf children do not actually learn ASL, unfortunately, and the children may not be exposed to ASL until they're out on their own.
Kolb lucked out and yet was led to believe that speaking, oralism, was much more important for her success in life. We live in a very speech-centric world. Kolb tells a fable about the planet Eyeth where people only sign and communicate with their eyes instead of ears like on Earth.
As Kolb journeyed through summer camps, higher education, travel opportunities across the U.S., the U.K, and Europe, and teaching jobs, she kept asking herself if she really wanted to speak or just sign and realized she could choose both, as well as combining them, using gestures and facial expression and touch, even writing on a pad or screen, with or without interpreters, inventing language.
Another thing she struggled with is accepting herself as part of the disability community. When she gave a TED talk a decade or so ago, where she spoke it and had a person signing, she argued that she wasn't disabled because she thought she'd only be accepted for her strengths. Now she understands that she's a human being with strengths and weaknesses, that we all need each other and this makes life worth living, Besides, she'd probably add with a grin, aren't we all disabled in some way?
I love the way she thinks and writes, too, but for me it's going to be a struggle because I have an incomplete spinal cord injury that someday will be greatly improved, not a genetic disorder or incurable disease. I'll be getting a new kind of bionic clothing for my leg that will retrain my damaged central nervous system. Yaay!!
Highly recommended!
September 21, 2025
Articulate is Rachel Kolb's journey of self discovery from childhood to a PHD graduate as a signing deaf person. I listened to the audiobook and was hooked from the start -and yes I get the irony of listening to the audiobook of this specific book. But let me tell you, listening to Rachel narrating the opening herself and then hearing her sign her story in the background as the main narrator reads the book, was something I've never experienced before and I highly recommend it.
I learned a lot from this book thanks to Rachel's vulnerability, knowledge and writing skills. Being curious about languages, I was amazed to learn so much about ASL which is not just a visual English, it's its own full language. As an immigrant and ESL speaker, I could relate to many concepts on a different level. When learning a second language, you have to learn to make sounds that you are not familiar with, intonations that sound foreign and sentence structures that are totally new. I was fascinated to read that Rachel experienced this when she moved to the UK and faced difficulties learning BSL (British Sign Language) or as a child, when she struggled to transition from SEE (Signed Exact English) to ASL (American Sign Language) in a summer camp.
She speaks openly about the awkwardness of receiving compliments about how successful she is "despite" having a disability, and how it made her guilty to feel happy receiving these compliments. In this world, success usually gets measured against the person's ability to communicate in the language of where they're located, not based on them as a person with accomplishments of their own.
Rachel is the same age as me, with a totally different story to tell due to her disability and where she is born. She is a self aware privileged woman with a supportive family who have gone above and beyond for her. I couldn't help thinking about kids born to poor families or less fortunate countries, while reading her memoir.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
I learned a lot from this book thanks to Rachel's vulnerability, knowledge and writing skills. Being curious about languages, I was amazed to learn so much about ASL which is not just a visual English, it's its own full language. As an immigrant and ESL speaker, I could relate to many concepts on a different level. When learning a second language, you have to learn to make sounds that you are not familiar with, intonations that sound foreign and sentence structures that are totally new. I was fascinated to read that Rachel experienced this when she moved to the UK and faced difficulties learning BSL (British Sign Language) or as a child, when she struggled to transition from SEE (Signed Exact English) to ASL (American Sign Language) in a summer camp.
She speaks openly about the awkwardness of receiving compliments about how successful she is "despite" having a disability, and how it made her guilty to feel happy receiving these compliments. In this world, success usually gets measured against the person's ability to communicate in the language of where they're located, not based on them as a person with accomplishments of their own.
Rachel is the same age as me, with a totally different story to tell due to her disability and where she is born. She is a self aware privileged woman with a supportive family who have gone above and beyond for her. I couldn't help thinking about kids born to poor families or less fortunate countries, while reading her memoir.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
October 27, 2025
Rachel Kolb is a deaf woman, activist, and scholar who has long wrestled with her places in the hearing and deaf worlds. As a "hearing" outsider, it's easy for me to think that you either are or aren't deaf - I didn't really conceive of how much of a middle ground there can be. But Kolb dives into all the complexities of this world: being deaf but learning how to speak or not, growing up in a signing vs. non-signing family, getting a Cochlear implant or not, lip reading or not, and so much more.
Kolb finds herself in the gray area of many of these spaces. She grew up in a hearing family, and her parents learned ASL (although more in the SEE method - learning how to literally sign the syntax of spoken English rather than the looser syntax of ASL). But she still went to a speech pathologist for basically her whole young life to learn to speak aloud. She attended deaf camps and felt isolated for choosing to speak sometimes, while still feeling the most free and herself that she had ever felt, being in a space entirely for deaf kids. She attended Stanford instead of a deaf college and immersed herself, despite frequent discomfort and fatigue, in the world of hearing adults. She chose to get a Cochlear implant, a procedure that many deaf people are strongly against.
Kolb talks at length about the difficulties of speaking English, lip reading, conversation, signing, translation, and inclusivity that most hearing people take for granted - everything from the esoteric sound of an "S" in a word to the art of accurate translation by an interpreter to the lack of basic accessibility measures in most hearing spaces. With my dad being severely hard of hearing, I thought I was already somewhat aware of accessibility and the interpersonal challenges of deafness, but turns out my knowledge was barely scratching the surface - there is so much more for me to learn. Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in inclusivity, disability, and the lived perspective of a deaf person.
Kolb finds herself in the gray area of many of these spaces. She grew up in a hearing family, and her parents learned ASL (although more in the SEE method - learning how to literally sign the syntax of spoken English rather than the looser syntax of ASL). But she still went to a speech pathologist for basically her whole young life to learn to speak aloud. She attended deaf camps and felt isolated for choosing to speak sometimes, while still feeling the most free and herself that she had ever felt, being in a space entirely for deaf kids. She attended Stanford instead of a deaf college and immersed herself, despite frequent discomfort and fatigue, in the world of hearing adults. She chose to get a Cochlear implant, a procedure that many deaf people are strongly against.
Kolb talks at length about the difficulties of speaking English, lip reading, conversation, signing, translation, and inclusivity that most hearing people take for granted - everything from the esoteric sound of an "S" in a word to the art of accurate translation by an interpreter to the lack of basic accessibility measures in most hearing spaces. With my dad being severely hard of hearing, I thought I was already somewhat aware of accessibility and the interpersonal challenges of deafness, but turns out my knowledge was barely scratching the surface - there is so much more for me to learn. Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in inclusivity, disability, and the lived perspective of a deaf person.
October 17, 2025
Thank you Ecco for the gifted ARC book.
Wow! Kolb packs so many of her experiences as well as contextual disability history into only 300 pages to share what it was like growing up deaf in a world that is designed for and favors hearing people. This is an incredibly informative read that explores d/Deaf identity, Deaf culture, and social commentary on disability access and ableism.
Kolb is forthcoming about her family support. Her parents used Signing Exact English (SEE) and started American Sign Language (ASL) classes to begin signing to her within months of learning she was deaf. Throughout the book, she’s cognizant of and acknowledges her privilege. Most deaf children (90%) have hearing parents and the majority of those parents never learn to sign. Kolb’s parents prioritized giving her as many forms of communication as possible. They chose not to pursue a cochlear implant for her as a child given the gravity of the decision. It was important to allow her autonomy in that choice as an adult.
Kolb is candid about internalized ableism, struggles with speech therapy, and the challenges of seeking disability access accommodations.
Something that sticks out to me is the trust required when partnering with ASL interpreters. If you’re not familiar with ASL, the language differs in grammar and structure from English, incorporating facial and body expressions in addition to hand movements. Because of this, interpretation is not a direct word-for-word translation. The interpreter needs to capture the tone and inflection of the speaker while also conveying their message accurately. When this doesn’t happen, ASL speakers are misrepresented and/or receive inaccurate information. The nuance within the language and need for interpreters to understand the Deaf culture of the community they are serving is so important. It has me thinking of the well-deserved excitement over the movie Sinners having a streaming option with Black American Sign Language (BASL) interpretation. This representation for the Black Deaf community is necessary.
Altogether a fantastic read. A lot to think about when it comes to how we express ourselves through language in all its forms.
Wow! Kolb packs so many of her experiences as well as contextual disability history into only 300 pages to share what it was like growing up deaf in a world that is designed for and favors hearing people. This is an incredibly informative read that explores d/Deaf identity, Deaf culture, and social commentary on disability access and ableism.
Kolb is forthcoming about her family support. Her parents used Signing Exact English (SEE) and started American Sign Language (ASL) classes to begin signing to her within months of learning she was deaf. Throughout the book, she’s cognizant of and acknowledges her privilege. Most deaf children (90%) have hearing parents and the majority of those parents never learn to sign. Kolb’s parents prioritized giving her as many forms of communication as possible. They chose not to pursue a cochlear implant for her as a child given the gravity of the decision. It was important to allow her autonomy in that choice as an adult.
Kolb is candid about internalized ableism, struggles with speech therapy, and the challenges of seeking disability access accommodations.
Something that sticks out to me is the trust required when partnering with ASL interpreters. If you’re not familiar with ASL, the language differs in grammar and structure from English, incorporating facial and body expressions in addition to hand movements. Because of this, interpretation is not a direct word-for-word translation. The interpreter needs to capture the tone and inflection of the speaker while also conveying their message accurately. When this doesn’t happen, ASL speakers are misrepresented and/or receive inaccurate information. The nuance within the language and need for interpreters to understand the Deaf culture of the community they are serving is so important. It has me thinking of the well-deserved excitement over the movie Sinners having a streaming option with Black American Sign Language (BASL) interpretation. This representation for the Black Deaf community is necessary.
Altogether a fantastic read. A lot to think about when it comes to how we express ourselves through language in all its forms.
November 5, 2025
Rachel Kolb was born profoundly deaf the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and she grew up as part of the first generation of deaf people with legal rights to accessibility services. Still, from a young age, she contorted herself to expectations set by a world that prioritizes hearing people. So even while she found clarity and meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) and written literature, she learned to speak through speech therapy and to piece together missing sounds through lipreading and an eventual cochlear implant.
Now, in Articulate, Kolb blends personal narrative with commentary to explore the different layers of deafness, language, and voice. She tells the story of how, over time, she came to realize that clear or articulate self-expression isn’t just a static pinnacle to reach, a set of words to pronounce correctly, but rather a living and breathing process that happens between individual human beings. In chronicling her own voice and the many ways she’s come to understand it, Kolb illuminates the stakes and complexities of finding mutual and reciprocal forms of communication.
Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Articulate details a life lived among words in varied sensory forms and considers why and how those words matter. Told through rich storytelling, analysis, and humor, this is a linguistic coming-of-age in both Deaf and hearing worlds, challenging us to consider how language expresses our humanity—and offering more ways we might exist together."
I enjoyed the first part, but the second part was more repetitive of what she said in the first part. I think it could’ve been a shorter story, but nevertheless, it was very interesting to read about how she coped with being deaf. She was determined and also brilliant. At the end, she does give credit to her parents who I think for instrumental and her having these choices.
Now, in Articulate, Kolb blends personal narrative with commentary to explore the different layers of deafness, language, and voice. She tells the story of how, over time, she came to realize that clear or articulate self-expression isn’t just a static pinnacle to reach, a set of words to pronounce correctly, but rather a living and breathing process that happens between individual human beings. In chronicling her own voice and the many ways she’s come to understand it, Kolb illuminates the stakes and complexities of finding mutual and reciprocal forms of communication.
Part memoir, part cultural exploration, Articulate details a life lived among words in varied sensory forms and considers why and how those words matter. Told through rich storytelling, analysis, and humor, this is a linguistic coming-of-age in both Deaf and hearing worlds, challenging us to consider how language expresses our humanity—and offering more ways we might exist together."
I enjoyed the first part, but the second part was more repetitive of what she said in the first part. I think it could’ve been a shorter story, but nevertheless, it was very interesting to read about how she coped with being deaf. She was determined and also brilliant. At the end, she does give credit to her parents who I think for instrumental and her having these choices.
January 6, 2026
Rating 3.8. I won this book from a giveaway. It was interesting to learn about various perspectives from other DHH people. I noticed that the author is one year younger than me, and we had some similar experiences growing up, at the same time, some totally different experiences. For example, being bored with conversations with hearing people, family, friends etc in various situations. However, reading several chapters, I zoned out when she was describing speech therapy. I don't remember my speech therapy, as I stopped going when I was 5 or 6 years old. There's a lot involved that I wasn't aware of. I think that maybe my family isn't too concerned about it compared to the author's family. I also zoned out in several chapters when she was describing where a certain word came from and its meanings. Generally, I love learning about various languages, but this aspect was unnecessary for this book- meaning that the author went off topic sometimes. However, I liked that she discussed the struggles with the interpreting process. I can relate to it in several ways: I want to use certain words with the audience, and interpreters not understanding my signs because I am a DeafPlus individual. Lastly, the author brought up an ASL book club- what a neat idea. I'm going to Google it! Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who has some questions about the general DHH community.
September 17, 2025
AS someone who is visually impaired, I find memoirs of persons with all types of disabilities instructive and comforting.
When I first started listening to the audiobook, I was a little concerned that I would not be able to relate to Rachel's story. She seemed to be a superwoman, graduating from Stanford and then winning a Rhodes Scholarship. But I could not be more wrong. She is an everywoman, very relatable and communicates her story well.
Growing up in New Mexico with supportive parents who learned ASL (I learned that not all parents of deaf children do), she is part of the "oralisom" movement as well as signing. This is a bit of a
controversial topic in the deaf community I learned. She well describes her experiences mainstreamed in public school and at deaf camps.
I felt as though she was sharing her life story with me and I learned a lot about a world I know little if. Anna Caputo, the narrator, was terrific, sounding intelligent and informative and a great performer.
When I first started listening to the audiobook, I was a little concerned that I would not be able to relate to Rachel's story. She seemed to be a superwoman, graduating from Stanford and then winning a Rhodes Scholarship. But I could not be more wrong. She is an everywoman, very relatable and communicates her story well.
Growing up in New Mexico with supportive parents who learned ASL (I learned that not all parents of deaf children do), she is part of the "oralisom" movement as well as signing. This is a bit of a
controversial topic in the deaf community I learned. She well describes her experiences mainstreamed in public school and at deaf camps.
I felt as though she was sharing her life story with me and I learned a lot about a world I know little if. Anna Caputo, the narrator, was terrific, sounding intelligent and informative and a great performer.
September 20, 2025
A memoir about language, communication, and the life experience of a woman who was born deaf the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Well-written and articulated in a way that made me think about life and how we communicate and understand, as someone who is essentially hearing, in a world that is all about noise and sounds and spoken language. I always hear my own voice in my head when I read silently, and frequently read aloud, and so the section where she talked about reading was especially interesting to me, among other topics that I had never really considered before, or if I had I did not delve further into my curiosities. Sign language, speech therapy, lip reading, implant surgery, accessibility, interpreting and some history about how the deaf have been viewed and recieved over time are among the topics discussed in this book, along with a list of books for further reading at the end.
This review is of an advance uncorrected proof I won in a Goodreads giveaway.
This review is of an advance uncorrected proof I won in a Goodreads giveaway.
October 4, 2025
Found myself nodding along with a lot of this book- especially when it came to the language around accessibility and how it can look different for everyone and can be different even at different times of the same day. I also appreciated the representation around some of my experiences (even though I became deaf as an adult) This quote in particular really got me-
‘I still try to leave space for the things I do not know, even while I think about how different all our lives could be, if we lived in a society that already recognized sign language as equal. That saw disability as part of the human experience. That promoted more widespread measures of visual access such as captioning. That recognized the challenges of background noise and overlapping chatter and general haste and impatience.’
I hope that my friends of all hearing levels read this book and we can chat about it and perhaps it brings some insight- although it’s one person’s lived experience it resonated with me on many levels.
‘I still try to leave space for the things I do not know, even while I think about how different all our lives could be, if we lived in a society that already recognized sign language as equal. That saw disability as part of the human experience. That promoted more widespread measures of visual access such as captioning. That recognized the challenges of background noise and overlapping chatter and general haste and impatience.’
I hope that my friends of all hearing levels read this book and we can chat about it and perhaps it brings some insight- although it’s one person’s lived experience it resonated with me on many levels.
December 15, 2025
This was an incredibly smart and articulate discussion of the author's experience being born Deaf, deciding to get a cochlear implant (CI) and her struggles learning to communicate so others could better understand her. Her parents were extremely supportive from the start, prioritizing her ASL learning and learning ASL themselves. They also left the decision to get a CI to Rachel.
Beyond her personal story, Kolb also discusses her language studies, time in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, the larger Deaf/HOH community and history and how things have changed thanks to the 1990 ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) but how there is still room for improvement.
With an introduction narrated by the author and the rest of the book read by Anna Caputo, this was really well done as an audiobook and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to better understand Deaf culture and fans of books like The quiet ear or Deaf utopia. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!
Beyond her personal story, Kolb also discusses her language studies, time in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, the larger Deaf/HOH community and history and how things have changed thanks to the 1990 ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) but how there is still room for improvement.
With an introduction narrated by the author and the rest of the book read by Anna Caputo, this was really well done as an audiobook and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to better understand Deaf culture and fans of books like The quiet ear or Deaf utopia. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!
October 23, 2025
An interesting memoir, beautifully written. I was able to attend the first stop of her book tour, and the hosting bookstore was packed and sold out quickly. Some of my favorite lines:
"When I write, right here in black and white, I choose my words by hand, chiseling their edges until they snuggle like stones in a custom fireplace."
"My eyes darted over the other kids' faces as they chattered, not unlike birdwatching. Yet I had learned long ago that discussions didn't consist of just one bird that flew obediently between people as they spoke. The feathery little thing would splinter off into three, then five, then--there--a burst of laughter, which snapped attention to one side of the table, coalesced the flying plumage into one bird again."
"Before long, the fatigue would kick in, the vertigo that hit whenever I threw myself against this stationary wall of sound and tried to get it to move."
"When I write, right here in black and white, I choose my words by hand, chiseling their edges until they snuggle like stones in a custom fireplace."
"My eyes darted over the other kids' faces as they chattered, not unlike birdwatching. Yet I had learned long ago that discussions didn't consist of just one bird that flew obediently between people as they spoke. The feathery little thing would splinter off into three, then five, then--there--a burst of laughter, which snapped attention to one side of the table, coalesced the flying plumage into one bird again."
"Before long, the fatigue would kick in, the vertigo that hit whenever I threw myself against this stationary wall of sound and tried to get it to move."
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September 27, 2025Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice
I really enjoyed this book and found it so interesting.
Kolb's writing is so impressive and inspirational.
When reading this book, I learned so much about the tension between the identities of the hearing world and the non-hearing, and the bridge between - in both the forms of ASL and cochelar implants.
Kolb's hard work to bridge these gaps in her life has been really impressive, and this book encouraged me to look more into her work, and I found a really inspiring TED talk she gave. I highly recommend checking it out.
All in all, this book encourages hearing readers to reconsider their biases about speech, sound, and communication. Also really profound in this book, was the concept of prompting empathy rather than pity.
I really enjoyed this book, and would very much recommend it.
4.4/5
I really enjoyed this book and found it so interesting.
Kolb's writing is so impressive and inspirational.
When reading this book, I learned so much about the tension between the identities of the hearing world and the non-hearing, and the bridge between - in both the forms of ASL and cochelar implants.
Kolb's hard work to bridge these gaps in her life has been really impressive, and this book encouraged me to look more into her work, and I found a really inspiring TED talk she gave. I highly recommend checking it out.
All in all, this book encourages hearing readers to reconsider their biases about speech, sound, and communication. Also really profound in this book, was the concept of prompting empathy rather than pity.
I really enjoyed this book, and would very much recommend it.
4.4/5
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