When Duracell released a commercial featuring Derrick Coleman, the deaf fullback from the Seattle Seahawks football team, the YouTube version quickly gained millions and millions of hits. Suddenly, the unknown fullback became a star.

He became the first deaf offensive player in the NFL, breaking barriers and challenging perceptions about the capabilities of athletes with disabilities. Coleman used specialized hearing aids and relied on lip-reading and visual cues to communicate on the field.

Derrick Coleman's story began in Los Angeles, where he was born with a profound hearing impairment. Despite this, he never let his disability stop him from pursuing his dreams.

Coleman acknowledges during his speech at the school, almost sheepishly, that he does not know sign language. He never learned it growing up – he said he wants to learn now -- instead perfecting his system of reading lips.

Youtube.