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200 The President’s Corner Upon retirement where does a deaf person decide to live? There are retirement centers such as Leisure World, Sun City, Lawrence Welk resorts and hundreds of others of the same kind scattered throughout our country. There are a host of activities—lectures, special trips, operetta or theatre excursions, card games, golf or tennis tournaments—that happily help enrich the lives of our senior citizens. Unfortunately, so many of these activities rely on a world of sound. Interpreters are either rarely available or too costly or there is no time to get one when unplanned notions hit the organizers. Friendships with other hearing senior citizens could make a difference, especially if they have learned to sign, but the ones that are deep and abiding are the exception rather than the rule. No matter what age, deaf people tend to gravitate to where there is a deaf community. Thus we see large populations of deaf people in cities rather than in towns, or in places where there is a residential school or a college for the deaf. There is a reason why over 90% of deaf people intermarry. There is a reason deaf people have their own bowling, golf, softball, basketball, Chess tournaments; their own churches or temples. Or why they are engaged together in a wide variety of social activities. Even oral deaf people prefer to get together with other oral people (ODAS), and hard of hearing people with those of the same ilk (SHHH).5 If the reason could be put in one word, it would be COMMUNICATION. Facile communication. Communication without tension, without strain or guessing. Communication that allows one to relax, to be yourself and to share one’s thoughts with kindred souls. A model of what I am talking about appeared in evidence when I stayed with my good, long time school friends, Ira and Shirley Lerner, in Margate (not far from Ft. Lauderdale), Florida. A score of years ago, The NAD Broadcaster (May 1989) 5. Self-Help for Hard of Hearing people, now known as Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA). 201 David Davidowitz, a hard of hearing teacher at the school for the deaf in White Plains, New York, had a dream. He wanted to establish a colony of deaf retirees who would be able to lead active retired lives. He himself would interpret or there would be interpreters readily on hand—for lectures on the stock market, on the changing legal landscape, on the medical aspects of growing old, etc. Mr. Davidowitz’s dream was realized to some extent. There is now a large group of retired deaf people, most of them from New York, who have taken up residence, either in the same condo unit or within a few minutes drive from each other. Their condo units are mostly two bedroom or one bedroom and den, two bath with a sunroom, kitchen and large living/dining room, all attractively furnished. In fact, the works of art that line their walls and the tastefully decorated rooms are impressive and a source of pride. This community of deaf people is supportive of each other. If one is unable to drive or shop, others will pitch in and help out. Fridays are shopping days at the supermarket—a short walking distance—and beauty parlors for the ladies. There are weekly card games, of a variety to satisfy most who wish to participate, at the nearby Jewish Community Center and at AMITY, a church sponsored organization, and at the Broward County Association of the Deaf club room. At these spots, fundraising socials are also held. There is intense competition at shuffleboard tournaments and weekly golf outings. There is a community within a community when deaf people socialize in their own homes with those for whom they have a special kinship that goes back to the days when they were in New York. They are often at poolside in the warm afternoons. Indeed, the pace of activities is dizzying and one can hardly be lonely. It becomes, happily, a matter of choice—either stay home and do your thing or join the crowd. The matter of choice is crucial. In the world at large, deaf retirees do not have much choice, hemmed in by the limits which the boundaries of communication imposes on them. Take the concept of Elderhostels. True, Gallaudet University sponsors such learning trips but they are limited and sparse compared to what is offered to those who can hear...

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