Giuliana Albanese discusses her experience growing up deaf and being a local business owner.
As able-bodied people, we might not consider all the different ways people speak, whether it’s navigating to understand the different accents or dialects or vocabulary people use and how it prevents us from being able to communicate with others.
For hearing impaired people, it’s not language or accents, but rather it’s reading the ways in which people’s lips move when pronouncing everyday words, and that’s just one of the challenges a deaf person faces in their everyday life.
Anyone who has met local business owner, Giuliana Albanese, may have been asked to speak face-to-face to her as she is deaf but is excellent at reading lips.
Nestled on Main Street in Shawville, her store, White Buffalo Vintage, is a picturesque boutique run and owned by Albanese who is also works full-time as an assistant coordinator at Directorate Health Services Individual Training & Education for the Department of National Defense. She is also a mother, and recently became a grandmother.
THE EQUITY sat down with Albanese to talk to her about being a business owner and being deaf and some of the challenges that come with that.
Albanese, born deaf with no family history of it, grew up in Otter Lake and went to the public school in town rather than going to a deaf school. She took speech therapy five times a week to help her speak, and from a very young age, she was able to read lips.
In school, she had a teacher’s aide who took notes for her because, although she could read lips, it was hard to keep up in class. So between doing homework and constantly catching up, being a deaf teen was a lonely road and made it difficult to make friends, Albanese explained.
Growing up her mother cheered her on and made her feel confident and told her to never put barriers around herself. “She made me a strong woman,” she said.
At the age of 18 she got a cochlear implant which changed her life. She was one of the first adults to receive it in Quebec, as this type of surgery is often done at a very young age. Hearing for the first time was so disorienting and overwhelming because she was introduced to a whole host of unfamiliar sounds, “I cried because I hated it,” she said.
Hearing the sounds of cars passing by, the flushing of a toilet, or even the growling of her hungry stomach, all of it was so strange. Nonetheless, as she got used to it, she realized it was the best decision she made because it gave her the confidence to speak. It made her more relaxed because she could hear her surroundings and the fact that she could hear herself speak. Now she highly recommends it to anyone who has a deaf child.
“We have to reassure deaf kids that they can do anything, because they have low self-esteem and they’re afraid to face the world because it’s not made for the deaf,” she said.
At the time navigating through this whole new world as an 18-year-old, she was also told she was pregnant and that the baby would either not make it or suffer severe mental illness–due to all the x-rays and the drugs she had to take after her surgery. Being told those were the only options she chose to listen to her instincts and decided to keep her baby. She now has a healthy, happy son, she said while adding that choice taught her to never doubt herself.
Getting her first job at 18, she had to move to the city where she knew no one and constantly had to explain herself which created so many barriers. Much of her 20s was devoted to her son; who was mature for his age because he would help translate for her, but now that he’s grown up and moved out she decided it was time she focused on herself.
Fast forward to 2018, and after much deliberation, she decided to start her own business in Shawville. As a hearing impaired person, she hesitated but every time she was unsure she remembered her mother’s words telling her “you are no different, you are like everybody else. You can do this even if you feel like you’re gonna fail. Just keep going, everything will be fine.” It was those words that helped her get through many hard times.
One of her biggest supporters who encouraged her and helped her get her business up and running was her boyfriend, Richard St-Jean.
Albanese said that she started this business because she loves interior design, flipping furniture and sharing her passion with others. She enjoys teaching people how to paint and seeing them happy in their homes. “It’s like therapy for me when I paint.”
As a first-time business owner, figuring out the ropes of running a business was scary and on top of that, she was concerned about people not understanding her and vice versa. The thing that got her through that was staying positive and being determined to figure it out, but the community was also very welcoming which put her at ease. People came in from out of town and really responded to what she was doing. Opening it in a small town rather than in a big city was a deliberate choice as she felt it might be easier to tap into a community she would be familiar with.
“I refuse to write on pen and paper, I will figure out a way even if we have to talk with our hands. I just want them to understand what it’s like to be with a deaf person,” she said.
One curve ball she didn’t expect was working around the mask mandates. It made her job even more challenging because she relied on reading people’s lips to communicate. “When people come in, I let them know ahead of time ‘if you need to speak to me, step back and put down your mask and ask any questions,’” she said.
When meeting her for the first time, she advises people not to resort to talking slower, which actually makes it harder to read lips. It’s easier when customers speak face to face to her but to keep in mind she needs a few minutes to adjust to the way you speak. “Everybody’s lips move differently, so it takes time for me to realize that’s how they talk,” she said.
Some of the things people are surprised by when they first meet Albanese is the fact that she’s deaf but also that she’s not mute and can speak. People are surprised that she can do regular things like drive and work. For her, her life is no different than anyone else’s, she explained.
“The best thing about being deaf is when it’s too loud I can’t hear a thing,” she laughed.
At the age of 41, Albanese finally feels comfortable in her own skin and believes in herself and what she can offer. “It took me 20 years to be more comfortable with who I am, and not to be shy to tell people that I’m deaf because I didn’t want their pity.”
Looking towards the future she hopes to retire early, continue to grow her boutique and one day be able to transition it to the Victorian style home she bought with her boyfriend a year ago located in Shawville.
With everything, she knows now if she could go back and talk to her younger self she would say: “Accept your difference. Don’t hold back, embrace every opportunity given and keep challenging yourself.”
