I've lost everything

Clint Barton is an amazing hero. Unlike most super heroes he doesn't have super powers, genius intellect, or even money to back him up. He's just a normal human with a "stick and a string from the Paleolithic Era" who through wit and hard work manages to keep up with, and even best, heroes that are far more powerful. More than that though he is able to do so with what many would consider a disability that should disqualify him from fighting alongside these legends.

Clint Barton became 80% deaf when he used a sonic arrow of his own devising to prevent mind control by damaging his inner ears. He spent much of his life as a hero that way (fourteen years in the comics) however in those days it was more of a convenient plot point than something he actually struggled with. After his death and subsequent revival his hearing was returned to what it had been before he intentionally deafened himself.

During the Fraction run however Clint was once again deafened when ‘The Clown', a hitman hired by the mob to take Clint out shoved arrows into Clint's ears. It was during this run that Clint's d/Deafness was treated with the respect it deserved. Clint initially struggles with being deaf again after having his hearing back for so long. He initially refuses to sign or even acknowledge Barney's words when his brother signs to him.

This is expressed in an issue that is almost entirely sign language and Clint's interpretations from reading the lips of those around him. For readers not experienced with sign language it is an issue of half understood conversation and the feeling that you're missing something. It's the same feeling that a d/Deaf or hard of hearing individual may have when communicating with friends because you can only read one set of lips at once and hearing aids fail to pick up the intricacies of sound the way the human ear can. It isn't until Clint is willing to accept that he can't hear and get help in the form of hearing aids and his friends that he is able to overcome it despite his continued struggles in several comics after the initial sign language issue.

The portrayal of Clint as a disabled super hero is important because it gives people the ability to recognize that you can fit into an ableist world and that it's okay to ask for help because asking for help isn't letting your disability defeat you. It provides them a role model they look up to in a society that rarely recognizes those who aren't completely able bodied.