A Deaf Adult Speaks Out

1. Introduction

1I Introduction In order for people unacquainted with deafness::· and its problems to know and understand deaf people, they should first become familiar with certain factors that contribute to the personal development of deaf adults. These include environment, etiology of hearing loss, education, and training. But, the most important factor of all is the persons: parents, teachers, supervisors at work, friends and relatives, clergy, social workers, rehabilitation personnel, or counselors who mold the deaf person's total development. Since we live in a society in which hearing people are dominant, these responsible people, with a few exceptions, are hearing. The sad truth is that comparatively few of these hearing persons have either the intimate experience with deafness or the empathy for deaf people that is necessary before they can really become effective. Whatever help or advice they offer the deaf persons coming under their spheres of authority or influence is dispensed out of only a vicarious understanding of deafness. This understanding is not fully internalized and felt. My personal life experience has contributed a great deal to this manuscript. I insert a brief autobiography here to help the reader understand my background and how it has influenced my opinions. My story begins with the birth of my mother in San Francisco. Her parents were first cousins, and after a first child who could hear, they bore three deaf children in succession. They decided to stop )l-Deafness (Deaf)-A condition in which the residual hearing, if any, is not usable; perceivable sounds have no meaning to the individual. 2 IA DEAF ADULT SPEAKS OUT bearing children but two more came about 10 years later and they had normal hearing. However, those two youngest offspring died from childhood diseases. Therefore, I knew only one aunt who could hear. All three deaf children went to the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley. My grandmother and Aunt Julia learned sign language, so I was always very much a part of the family group every time we visited relatives. My father, the oldest of four brothers, on the other hand, lost his hearing from spinal meningitis. He had no deaf siblings, and we could not communicate with his family at all except one uncle who could barely fingerspell. Although he attended the same school my mother did, they did not become sweethearts until after they graduated. They were going together when San Francisco was hit by the big earthquake and fire in 1906. I remember being enthralled by stories about the experiences that they and their families met during that devastating time. They were married in my mother's home in 1908. Although my brother Harry was born in San Francisco with normal hearing, a bout with whooping cough at age 18 months cost him his hearing. This was indirectly responsible for my parents abandoning San Francisco for the more clement weather of the East Bay. I was born when they were living in Berkeley. However, my mother clung to her old doctor, who practiced in San Francisco. So, when she was to deliver, my mother went to San Francisco and I was born at the old Mt. Zion Hospital in that city. I was born deaf. When my parents discovered that both their children were deaf and would be going to the Berkeley school, they purchased a small house only seven blocks from the school campus. The proximity to home allowed both my brother and me to walk to school every day. However, the superintendent persuaded my parents to place me in the dormitory when I was a junior in high school, "so that I would become accustomed to being away from home." The adjustment would then be easier when I was ready to go to Gallaudet College~:· in Washington, D.C., as anticipated. I enjoyed a normal childhood free of any barriers or restrictions in ~:'Gallaudet College became Gallaudet University in October 1986. Hereinafter, it will be referred to as "University" unless "College" is more appropriate for historical context. Introduction I3 communication. The Berkeley school was also an old and familiar place to me because my parents were there, too, and I was acquainted with not only the physical facilities but also many of the staff before I ever became a pupil. An illustrious graduate of the school who later became a respected staff member was Theophilus Hope d'Estrella (see Albronda, 1985). He was a good friend of...