Seeds of Disquiet: One Deaf Woman’s Experience

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----14After my return from the mental health conference, I started to immerse myself in projects. I hooked up with Charles Cochran, who belonged to a group called the Telephone Pioneers of America. Charlie wanted to distribute old teletypewriters that he and his group had reconditioned so that deaf persons could use them. The Pioneers gave me one and asked for my help in finding other people who might be able to use a machine. I'd never had a way to use the telephone before, and without their help it would have taken much longer. Buying a teletypewriter cost hundreds of dollars, and using one also required another $200 for an acoustic coupler. Tootie Campbell, my friend from the sign language class, talked to the local chapter of Quota Oub International, and they agreed to cover the cost of several couplers. The teletypewriters were real monsters; they took up a lot of space. They also weighed so much that they couldn't be moved easily. Charlie hurt his back taking one from his car to the house of a deaf friend. I found that many deaf people were not interested in having a teletypewriter. They saw the machines as a luxury because they would be used only to talk to other teletypewriters. 90 Seeds of Disquiet Even after machines were placed in the police department, the hospital, and the library, those three locations were the only ones in our community that could be reached. Public Law 94-142, then known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, had gone into effect. But deaf children were still being taught in public schools with little more support than I'd received. Those who were lucky enough to have classroom interpreters did not necessarily have them for every class. And most of the interpreters had no training in sign language interpreting; they were simply people who'd taken a couple of classes in sign language. I had endured a lot of what these kids were going through, and I was beginning to realize that much of my success in school happened in spite of, not because of, the system I'd experienced . I couldn't bear watching the kids struggle as I had done. I tried to help a woman who wanted better services for her deaf daughter. It was tough going because special education programs were still young, and the local school systems weren't used to having to deal with deaf kids. In the past, the kids had been mostly shipped to schools for the deaf, sometimes after they'd dropped hopelessly behind in public schools. The local school system didn't have any professionals who really understood what deafness meant to children. Besides working at the library full time, and occasionally at the Virginia Book Company, I was also doing freelance writing . I did an article about the horrible conditions at the dog shelter of a nearby county after a friend persuaded me to visit the shelter. The story was printed in the community newspaper , and it generated so much response that the paper hired me to do a follow-up. Occasionally I did public relations work for groups like Shepherd's Ford Center, an idyllic country retreat with offbeat workshops. 91 Seeds of Disquiet Fred and I were playing volleyball a couple of nights each week. We put together a team for league play and won a few tournaments. A regulation-size net was anchored on steel poles in our backyard, and we invited friends to play and practice there. My garden was routinely slaughtered by stray balls. Toby had trained her pack well. What started as a neat idea, using her to alert me to sounds, had backfired. She was the recognized pack leader, and she took her job as my protector seriously. Tam, Mac, and Leila had copied her behavior to the last twitch and howl. Having one dog bark urgently and come to tell me if someone was at the door was helpful. Having four dogs barking and rushing at me was the cacophony of which nightmares are made. High-strung people left my home tied in knots. Fred Yates occasionally wrote me letters filled with wisdom and encouragement. In Feburary 1979, his office called me, asking if I could attend a three-day workshop in Williamsburg. Another deaf person had canceled and my name had been suggested as a replacement. The request...