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15 seconds of fame. I’ll take any chance to share a story if it helps someone.

12 Oct 2025 · 2 min

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2:21

In a brief CityNews‑style interview, mental‑health expert Shawna Ackerman shares her personal journey raising two children with profound hearing loss. She describes the difficulty of navigating school systems that claim accessibility but fall short, leading her to become a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing and to advocate for creative, daily communication strategies beyond medical technology. Ackerman explains how self‑development and intentional action helped her transition careers, launch a private practice, fall in love again, and build a supportive community. She highlights the Karma Cares community and Karma Country Camp she founded to improve accessibility for the deaf, hard‑of‑hearing, and neurodiverse populations, and notes her upcoming participation in Toronto’s Speaker Slam to inspire others during National Deaf Awareness Month.

Chapters

Of children with significant hearing loss. Kevin Rowe has her story. I had no idea how to parent 2 kids who didn't hear, so it was unique. It was crazy. It was a wild journey of learning and doing.
As we enter National Deaf Awareness Month, mental health expert Shawna Ackerman recounts her journey with her 2 kids with profound hearing loss and trying to navigate a world that wasn't as accessible 20-plus years ago. Hold on, hold on.
We had to maneuver through assist school system that says they're accessible and are not. I became a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing at the school board where my kids were going, and I advocated for years finding outside-the-box solutions to the hearing challenges that even though you get technology from the hospital, it's the action of what you do every single day and how you educate and communicate with your children that make the big difference.
Ackerman is now taking her journey in life and hoping to inspire others during this year's Speaker Slam, which is a live speaking competition where participants deliver powerful personal stories on a set theme to inspire and connect with an audience and judges.
You want to level up one step at a time and get from, you know, I was 27 years old with 2 deaf kids. I'm independently building a new community. I have a private practice. I've transitioned careers. I've fallen in love again, and my kids are finding success out there. I didn't think that was possible, and here we are. So how does that journey happen? It happens with self-development. And where do you get self-development? It's all over the place. You just need to take the action, put that intention to action, actually do something, do the hard work.
Ackerman has dedicated her life to raising awareness and improving accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as those living with neurodiversity, which led her to create The Karma Cares community and the Karma Country Camp.
I love accessibility. I love making accommodations. I love helping anyone out there who needs to be part of our world in a different way.
You can listen to her at this year's Speaker Slam event, which will be on September 17th at the Lulu Lounge in Toronto. I'm Brandon Rowe for CityNews.