Malia Johnson is adopted and, at six months of age, diagnosed as deaf. Her horrified mother desperately tries to raise her as hearing, which confuses young Malia. Her silent world is wrought with teasing from her peers and harsh discipline from her mother as she forces her to learn lip reading and speech six hours a day, seven days a week. Feeling isolated and unable to express herself, Malia plunges into a life of sex, drugs, alcohol, and anorexia. She represses her sexuality at risk of further alienation - and looks for love in the wrong places.
Never Broken: How a Deaf Woman Improvised, Adapted, and Overcame discusses Malia's challenges while growing up deaf and struggling with her sexuality. In her adult years, she relentlessly works to overcome the barriers that separate her from her hearing family and friends and finally find inner peace. No matter the struggle, Malia shows us that nothing is impossible with perseverance.