Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage grew up just like any other child — with a few exceptions.

Her parents were both born deaf.

“Sign language was my first language,” Lozada-Cabbage said. “I first started signing when I was about six months old.”

Lozada-Cabbage said she doesn’t feel like she grew up any differently than she would have without her parents being deaf.

“Growing up with deaf parents was normal to me,” Lozada-Cabbage said. “I really don’t think it was too much different than living in a normal household.”

The only differences in the household revolved around noise components.

“For our doorbell, we had a light go off, and when we were babies, our baby monitors would have lights flash on them when we would start to cry,” Lozada-Cabbage said.

“It was just a little different, but not too much different than everyone else.”

Lozada-Cabbage has grown as a vocal communicator since arriving at Wichita State, but she said she feels like “there’s always room to improve” on her communication skills.

“I try to use my mouth more each day to communicate,” Lozada-Cabbage said. “It’s still something I need to work on coming into this season.”

Lozada-Cabbage is one of two seniors on this year’s WSU roster. The team brings in eight true freshmen and is the fifth youngest squad in the nation behind SMU, UMBC, Oklahoma, and Georgia Tech. Lozada-Cabbage said she feels communication will be a key for this year’s team.

“With so many new girls, communication is going to be extremely important for us,” Lozada-Cabbage said. “I expect us to get better every single day with communication and skills.”

The Shockers were picked tenth at the American Athletic Conference media day. Lozada-Cabbage said that serves as motivation to prove people wrong.

“We’ve been using that as motivation,” Lozada-Cabbage said. “We don’t have much expected of us, so we will go out there every single day and getter better, all while turning some heads.”