FAMILY SPOTLIGHT: MEET PAM AASEN

Spring 2018

The Morrobel family at the Annual Charity Golfing event for the Center for Hearing and Communication in New York City. From left to right, Angel, Gavin, Pam, Ethan.

Pamela Aasen of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, was one of 13 NFADB scholarship winners who attended the Deafblind International (DbI) Network of the Americas Conference on behalf of NFADB in April 2018.  

Pam described the experience as follows:

I was so thrilled to have received a scholarship to go to the conference. It was fabulous! For me, having moved here from Canada, it was a great opportunity to meet more people in the Deaf-Blind community. The inspiring stories and helpful workshops were galvanizing. I believe I am a good advocate for my children, but participating in events like this spur me on to do even more. The biggest takeaway for me was being in the company of people who know what we face everyday. In our day-to-day lives we are on our own. It is just so empowering to be surrounded by people who understand each other.

Pamela and her husband Angel Morrobel have been members of NFADB for 3 years and are the proud parents of Ethan, age 16, and Gavin, age 14.  When asked why the family joined NFADB, Pam said, “I attended an NFADB conference and was so impressed by group of people who were there, that I just had to join!”

Pam also shared that Ethan and Gavin were born deaf and diagnosed with Usher Syndrome in Canada in 2009. The family moved to New Jersey in 2014 and learned about NFADB from the New Jersey Consortium on Deaf-Blindness.

Ethan and Gavin haven’t let Usher Syndrome slow them down. They play baseball, soccer, volleyball, and basketball, and love to swim, ski, and skate. They also love participating in charity and awareness events and are great self-advocates.