Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Christie.
Hi Michelle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
No Limits began 30 years ago in my one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, with a belief that deaf children deserved the same opportunities to dream as their hearing peers.
I am a teacher of the deaf, and early in my career, I met a young boy named John who was extremely shy, had limited language, and was falling behind in school. It was not because he lacked potential, but because he needed opportunities to build his confidence and apply what he was learning.
I knew there had to be a way to give children like John a place where they could practice their communication skills, build confidence, and discover what they were capable of achieving through high expectations, love and support.
So I created the first after-school theater program of its kind for deaf children, giving them the opportunity to perform in professional theaters. I began in Los Angeles and was soon asked to bring the program to other states across the country.
I didn’t have funding when I started. I put everything on my credit card because I believed so strongly that these children deserved this opportunity.
Then something happened two years later that I will never forget. We received our first grant from the Oberkotter Foundation. I still have a copy of that first check hanging on my wall today. To me, it represents so much more than funding.It represents someone believing in a dream when it was still just beginning. Their support allowed that dream to grow, and I will always be grateful to them and to every individual, foundation, and organization that has believed in our mission and provided the resources to help turn that dream into a reality.
But the moment that truly defined our mission happened during one of our first theater rehearsals. I asked the children a question adults ask children all the time: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
The children with hearing loss looked at me and didn’t know how to answer. I rephrased the question, but it was silent.
Then one child told me something I have never forgotten: no one had ever asked them before.
That moment changed me. I realized this was happening to other children with special needs. Some parents shared their fears with me. They worried that if their children dreamed about careers that might not come true, they would be disappointed. They wanted to protect them.
I completely understood their fears. More than 93% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, many of whom have never met a deaf person before their own child is diagnosed. Suddenly, these parents are entering a world they never expected to navigate—trying to understand hearing loss, communication options, hearing aids or cochlear implants, therapy, education, and what the future might hold for their child.
That is why supporting parents has always been just as important to me as supporting the child. When we empower parents with knowledge, resources, and a community that understands what they are experiencing, they become some of their children’s greatest advocates.
Hearing loss also touches far more families than many people realize. More than 50 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, approximately 1 in 7 people in the United States. Yet despite how common hearing loss is, families can still feel incredibly alone when their child is first diagnosed.
I understood the parents’ desire to protect their children, but I also knew that if we didn’t talk with these children about their futures, how would they ever discover what they were capable of or learn to believe in themselves?
That became an important part of No Limits.
At our theater bows, graduations, and productions, our children proudly share their dreams: “I can be a doctor.” “I can be a teacher.” “I can be a pilot.” Recently, one student proudly announced, “I can be the CEO of No Limits.” I was overjoyed.
And guess what? Today, our alumni are teachers, audiologists, pilots, lawyers, advocates, and so much more. The list continues to grow.
It wasn’t enough to teach children how to communicate. We needed to help them believe that they had something important to say. We needed to give them the language, education, confidence, and opportunities to imagine a future and then the tools to pursue it.
Theater became an extraordinary stage for them to thrive.
I began writing original plays specifically for our children, incorporating their experiences, challenges, humor, and triumphs. Over the past 30 years, No Limits children have participated in more than 300 productions, sharing their talents and stories with audiences across America.
I later created a national theatrical documentary which later became two books, called Silent NO MORE, creating another platform for individuals with hearing loss to share their personal stories. Through humor, honesty, and powerful storytelling, the performers share their struggles and triumphs and give audiences a deeper understanding of what it means to navigate the world with hearing loss.
No Limits performers have taken the stage at Carnegie Hall and theaters throughout the country, receiving standing ovations in sold-out houses while sharing the triumphs, challenges, and journeys of living with hearing loss.
Over the years, the stories and talents of our children have reached audiences far beyond the theater. No Limits and our children have been featured on The Simpsons, OPRAH, CNN Hero, The Learning Channel, and other national media.
While those moments have brought important national attention to our mission, what matters most to me is that they have given deaf children and their families greater visibility and a platform to show the world what is possible.
As the theater program grew, I realized our children needed much more support offstage. They also needed ongoing, intensive language intervention, literacy and academic support, hearing services, mentoring, mental wellness programs, teen leadership opportunities, and parents who knew how to advocate for them.
So No Limits grew with them.
Today, No Limits provides comprehensive services through our educational centers in Los Angeles and Oxnard, our theater program, community outreach, and 65 No Limits Pop-Ups satellite locations across the country. We also help families internationally and worked closely with families from Vietnam, Africa, Mexico and more.
Thirty years later, I am still asking our children: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
But today, something is beautifully different. Now I can introduce them to No Limits alumni who have walked the path before them and can serve as role models and mentors. The connection between a deaf adult and a deaf child can be incredibly powerful. A child isn’t simply hearing someone say, “You can do it.” They are looking at someone who once sat where they are sitting and actually did it.
Our children can see what is possible.
They know they have the potential to make their dreams come true because the alumni who came before them have helped pave the road and now those alumni are reaching back to help the next generation travel even farther.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road has not always been smooth, and there have been some bumps along the way, but it has been an incredible and meaningful journey. Every challenge has taught me something, and often the hardest moments have led to opportunities I never could have imagined.
When you start a nonprofit and put the expenses on your own credit card, you don’t have a roadmap or guaranteed funding. You simply see a need in front of you and know in your heart that nothing is going to stop you. I was a teacher, not a nonprofit leader, so I had a lot to learn along the way.
What I did know was that these children needed vital programs and resources to help them communicate confidently, discover their strengths, dream about their futures, and reach their full potential.
For a deaf child, early and intensive intervention, along with parent involvement, can be key to their success. Yet specialized therapy is expensive, and many families simply cannot afford the amount of intervention their child needs.
I have met parents who would do absolutely anything for their children but simply don’t have the financial resources to provide all the services their deaf child needs. I never wanted a parent to have to choose between paying their bills and providing their child with critical intervention.
I understand financial hardship personally. I grew up with a single mother in poverty, where extra money simply wasn’t available, so I understand firsthand how difficult it can be for families when their child needs critical services they simply cannot afford.
Now imagine being a parent who has never met a deaf person before having a deaf child. Suddenly, you are trying to understand hearing loss, hearing technology, therapy, education, and what the future may hold for your child. It can be overwhelming emotionally, and then you discover how overwhelming it can be financially as well.
I wanted No Limits to be a place where families could walk through our doors and know that finances would never determine their child’s access to opportunities or how much we believed in their potential.
That is why No Limits made a commitment that remains at the heart of our organization today: families attending our Educational Centers receive our comprehensive programming at no cost. That includes individualized speech and language therapy, literacy, STEM and academic support, theater arts, online resources, public speaking, and weekly parent education classes. We even have a Cooking Academy where children develop language and life skills while having fun in the kitchen and creating their own cooking shows.
Over the years, there have been sleepless nights wondering how we would find enough funding to serve another child, hire another specialist, or keep a program going. But there have also been extraordinary individuals and foundations who stepped forward and believed in what we were building. Their generosity has allowed us to keep moving forward, one child and one family at a time.
Those are the moments that make every bump in the road worthwhile.
For me, there is something incredibly powerful about watching a child who once struggled to communicate stand confidently before a room full of people, tell us about their dreams, and then, years later, see them achieve those dreams.
Every challenge has reinforced the same belief I had when I began:
Never place a limit on a child’s future. Give them the tools, the opportunity, and someone who believes in them, and they may just show you that there are no limits to what they can achieve.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am the founder of the nonprofit No Limits for deaf children and families, and an educator, teacher of the deaf, writer, playwright and fearless advocate. My life’s work has been helping deaf children and their families develop the language, literacy, academic, communication and self-advocacy skills they need to reach their full potential.
No Limits was the first and only to develop a professional after-school theater program of its kind for deaf children, featuring original productions, performed by deaf children.
Watching a deaf child discover what they are capable of onstage is a true gift to witness. But theater is only one part of what we do today. We have two Educational Centers in Los Angeles and Oxnard, California, along with 63 satellite sites nationwide.
We are not a cookie-cutter program. We meet the individual needs of each child with hearing loss and their family. We serve deaf children from birth through age 21 and involve the entire family. No Limits is often described as a “one-stop shop” because a family may come through our doors with one need, and we often discover there are many other ways we can support them.
A family may initially come to us because their deaf child needs speech and language intervention, but we may discover that the child is also struggling to read, falling behind academically, feeling isolated at school, or afraid to advocate for what they need. Their parents may be overwhelmed trying to understand hearing technology, navigate school services, or advocate within an educational system they have never encountered before.
We are there for them every step of the way.
We surround the entire family with support and provide vital intervention to underserved, at-risk deaf children and their families. There is no program in the country to provide the comprehensive afterschool programs offered at no cost.
Creativity has also been a huge part of my professional journey. I write our original theater productions because it allows me to create and adapt each child’s lines based on their individual language development and auditory needs. The stage becomes another classroom, but one where children can take risks, find their confidence, make people laugh, tell their stories and discover the power of their own voices. I also have written curriculum, two books, and present and mentor across the world.
I also created Silent NO MORE, a grassroots theatrical documentary movement featuring a powerful series of monologues performed by individuals with hearing loss. We have taken the production to stages throughout the country, giving individuals with hearing loss the opportunity to tell their own stories from the funny moments and struggles to their families, dreams and, ultimately, their incredible triumphs.
At the heart of Silent NO MORE is a desire to educate the public about both the talents and the needs of people with hearing loss while giving them the opportunity to tell their stories in their own voices. It is one of the most inspiring productions I have ever been part of, and I am deeply humbled every time I witness the courage and honesty of our alumni who step onto that stage.
Through youth theater and Silent NO MORE productions, I have watched our performers step onto stages across America, including Carnegie Hall twice, and share their stories with audiences who may have known very little about hearing loss before walking into the theater.
Seeing our casts receive standing ovations in sold-out theaters is unforgettable. But most meaningful is what happens after the applause. We hold a Q&A after our performances, giving audiences the opportunity to engage directly with our performers, ask questions about hearing loss and better understand their experiences. Theater becomes more than entertainment, it becomes a way to educate, connect and change perceptions.
But what I am most proud of is that so many of the students we once taught have grown up and come back to help lead the next generation.
Our alumni volunteer and help run our teen leadership program. Former students return to direct our plays. Our students lead graduation ceremonies, stand before families and younger children, and proudly share what they want to become. Alumni mentor younger deaf children who may be facing many of the same fears and challenges they once faced themselves.
There is something incredibly powerful about a young deaf child looking at an alumnus and thinking:
“If they did it, maybe I can too.”
Thirty years ago, I was trying to give deaf children role models and a reason to believe in their futures. Today, they have become the role models. That, to me, is what it truly means to have no limits and what sets us apart from others.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
One of the most important lessons I have learned is that when you’re willing to share your dream with others, it can become bigger than anything you could ever accomplish alone.
No Limits began as my dream. Then something remarkable happened. Other people began to believe in the dream too.
The Oberkotter Foundation gave us our first grant and helped that dream grow. Families trusted us with their children. Teachers and therapists dedicated themselves to the mission. Volunteers gave their time. Donors and foundations invested in deaf children they might never personally meet. Communities welcomed us.
And eventually, the children themselves grew up and began carrying the dream forward.
That may be the greatest lesson: a dream becomes a movement when other people begin to see themselves as part of it.
Today, there are people across the country and around the world fighting alongside us to make sure deaf children and their families have access to the education, language, resources and opportunities they so desperately need.
And now our alumni are leading the way. They are mentoring younger children. They are helping run our teen program. They are directing plays. They are leading graduations. They are showing the next generation, through their own lives, what is possible.
That is when I learned: the dream was never supposed to remain mine. The goal was always for others to carry it forward.
Perhaps the greatest lesson our children have taught me is that when you truly believe in them, they can exceed even the highest expectations you have for them.
That is how change becomes lasting. One person’s dream can begin something, but when others make that dream their own, together we can change generations.
No one can build or sustain a nonprofit alone. No Limits has grown because of the kindness, generosity and dedication of so many extraordinary people who chose to join this journey and make the dream their own. There are simply no words to express how grateful I am to each and every one of them.
As Helen Keller so beautifully said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Pricing:
- All programming is at no cost.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nolimits.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nolimitsspeaks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoLimitsfordeafchildren/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-limits-for-deaf-children/
