Tracy Mawson

Why the “Invisible Wall” in The Silent Fortress Will Resonate With More Than Deaf Readers

Some walls are easy to see. They are made of brick, concrete or steel. Others are harder to recognize because they exist inside us, built from fear, rejection, trauma, misunderstanding and years of learning to protect ourselves. That is the idea at the heart of Tracy’s memoir, The Silent Fortress. Throughout the book, Tracy returns … Read more

Why Resilience Does Not Mean You Were Never Hurt

Resilient people are often described as strong, fearless, or impossible to break. From the outside, it can seem as though they simply endured difficult experiences and carried on. What is rarely seen is the pain they carried while doing it. Resilience does not mean something did not hurt. It does not mean the person forgot … Read more

When Disability Is Mistaken for Rudeness

Imagine greeting someone and receiving no response. You might assume they are ignoring you. You may think they are unfriendly, dismissive, or rude. But what if they simply did not hear you? For many deaf people, moments like this happen regularly. Someone speaks from behind them, calls their name across a room, or asks a … Read more

The Woman Behind The Silent Fortress

Behind every memoir is a person who made the difficult decision to revisit experiences that would have been easier to leave buried. Tracy Mawson, the woman behind The Silent Fortress, does not present her life as a neat story of suffering followed by perfect healing. Her journey is more complicated, more personal, and far more … Read more