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Slept in Beauty is a description relating to a young girl going into a deep sleep at four years old after being raped and sodomized. The body of the young girl continued to grow and live through thirteen years of horrific abuse; all the while, the young four-year-old girl slept in memory, feeling protected in that sleep, knowing that one day she would wake. She was told to be quiet at every turn, and her voice was silenced. Her family moved from city to city and state to state as the family secret continued, and the little girl kept her voice in silence regarding her experiences. On the outside, one would think she was fine and she would say she was, but the truth is she was broken and could not see a way out. This girl did well in school, joined in groups including cheerleading, choir, and drama, all the while keeping the little girl asleep so no one would ever know the truth. As she got older into her teens and could start to think of a future on her own, she started to see that there could be a way toward independence and escape.

During her last year in high school, a major change came in the form of another student who used American Sign Language to communicate as she was deaf. This language intrigued the young woman as a voice within her began to stir. Using American Sign Language had no sound, but the communication could be understood nonetheless. Would it be possible to speak from the silence using these signs, body language, facial expression, and posture? Yes, it was possible and would come to fruition. As this young woman learned sign language, the voice within began to scream to be heard. One day it all came out.

The signing of the trauma, the cries, the tears, the questions, the pain and hurt all came out without a voice heard. The four year old was now seventeen, and her voice was finally heard. American Sign Language allowed her to say what could not be said with sound and gave her a voice to live in the truth. Why “slept in beauty”? Because she was protected in that state, and as the scripture of Isaiah 61:3 says, He will give us beauty for ashes in finding good in the midst of so much evil. Her life is a culmination of these events, and her voice is loud and clear now as she advocates on behalf of those who have no voice.