A Labour MP has described the "unbelievable pressure" of speaking to doctors as a 15-year-old to find out if her deaf mother had breast cancer.
In an emotional Commons speech, Rosie Cooper spoke of the "huge challenges" her parents faced to be heard and how she had to "grow up fast" to help them.
Her dad was born deaf, while her mum lost her hearing at the age of 4-years-old.
The West Lancashire MP is battling to change the law to give British Sign Language (BSL) legal recognition, which she said would send a clear message to every deaf person that "their language is equal and should be treated as equal".
"BSL is my first language and I have to tell you, hearing children of deaf parents grow up fast," she said.
"They have to shoulder a responsibility well beyond their years and that's not fair. We do it willingly - I never knew any different - but we have a chance to help with that.
"Growing up, I saw first-hand the difficulties deaf people face every day. The huge challenges my parents had to overcome, to be heard, to be listened to.
"More importantly, to be understood. Now, I'm told I booked my first family holiday when I was four years old. I don't remember but I did."
She said deaf people were regularly failed by public services - and described having to interpret medical information for her mum who was waiting for a breast cancer diagnosis.
"Can you imagine what it was like for me - between my morning and afternoon exams - trying to phone a hospital as a 15-year-old to get them to talk to me... to find out if my mum was going to be ok?
"That pressure is unbelievable and its wrong."
Ms Cooper said her parents made her do lessons at home every day as a pre-school child and when she complained, they said: "'You have to - because we're deaf, they'll think you're daft.'
"Only as an adult can I appreciate how much that said how they, intelligent people, had been treated just because their ears didn't work."
Her bill passed its first Commons hurdle on Friday after winning Government backing.
Although BSL was recognised as a language in its own right by the Government in 2003, it has no legal protection.
The measures were supported by Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis.
The MP thanked Ms Ayling-Ellis, saying: "She proved what my dad always says 'deaf people can do anything, even the impossible', such as winning Strictly when you can't hear the music.
"That 10-second glimpse she gave the hearing world into deafness when the music stopped was truly momentous."
Speaking ahead of the debate, Ms Ayling-Ellis, 27, told The Big Issue: "If it becomes an official language, which we've been fighting for all these years, it will be so emotional for us.
"Because of the massive interest in BSL recently, a lot of people don't realise how much of a fight the deaf community have had."
Susan Daniels, chief executive of the National Deaf Children's Society, said it was "a historic day for British Sign Language users everywhere".
She said: "With their language now well on the way to being recognised in law, they can feel jubilant, valued and optimistic about the future."
David Buxton, chairman of the British Deaf Association, said the Bill has been "19 years in the making".
He added: "I now call upon ministers and MPs to do everything they can to get the British Sign Language Bill to Royal Assent in this parliamentary session."
The Bill will now now undergo further parliamentary scrutiny at a later date.
