WHO ARE YOU and I?

You'll be puzzled by the title, huh? I'll use myself as an example, why not! I did explain about the aspect of being human; however, we're going the macro part of who we are.

Human is the entirety. The macro aspect is the parts of us that make us human. Ok, we're going to use me as an example (I did say that once didn't I?). For those who know me, I am deaf.

OK. The point? I can walk, I have eyes, I can think, learn, discuss, and even argue. I use my hands to communicate; to compensate the loss of a sense. How can I speak English? Well, my larynx still works along with the voice box. How relevant is that to my being deaf?

My deafness is only a macro part of who I am. It should not be the barrier to a new world. Deafness is not blocking the brain from receiving information, we still can because we become visual and tactile. Does my deafness stop me from being a vicarious reader? Does it stop my deaf friends from becoming architects and graphic designers? Does it stop deaf people from teaching their language and culture to other people who are interested?

Seeing me as only a deaf person is the biggest barrier society has promoted over the years. Employers wouldn't hire deaf people (general again, no stereotyping here) because of the cost of interpreters or the inability to communicate. It is scary for us to be able to communicate with employers too sometimes. After all, we're human.

Being deaf does not stop us from feeling the range of emotions that go through us everyday, just like everyone else; however, some of those emotions can be intensified because there is no understanding and more barriers in place. What example can I give?

Here's a story. This lady is in her 40's, been deaf all of her life. She attended the deaf school back in the time when kids would go home like once every 2 to 3 months and for summer vacation. Her entire family is hearing, with minimal sign language knowledge, mostly gesturing and the like. They all grow up. Her sister gives birth to a deaf child, mainstreaming the child and placing a cochlear implant, back in its infancy. The boy rarely sees his deaf aunt, because she doesn't have a cochlear implant and primarily uses sign language to communicate. The boy still does not have the communication skills he needs to navigate in the real world. His aunt is frustrated because of working at her family's business place. The biggest barrier is the lack of communication and a lack of respect for the lady, despite her deafness, who has been a part of this business since it was founded. When the lady and the boy goes to family events, the lady stays and makes attempts to converse, her husband is easily accepted because he can speak well. The boy is left behind, he almost makes no attempt to converse.

I'm curious to what you think. Is the lady frustrated because of communication attempts fail at business and in family gatherings? Why is the boy with cochlear implants pretty much left to his own devices? Do the time periods of the lady and the boy have a noticeable difference?


I would like to post an article from USA-L. The newspaper is mentioned so the credit goes to the newspaper and writer.

From the newsroom of the Newsday, Melville, New York, Wednesday, January 10, 2007 ..... Editorials

Disability can be a valuable lesson

Whether students need a dog like Simba or a wheelchair, their experience enriches everyone's education

BY BROOKE ELLISON

Brooke Ellison was a candidate for New York State Senate in 2006.

Sixteen years ago, I was struck by a car and left paralyzed from my neck down and dependent on a ventilator to breathe. I was 11 at the time, and, like many children, I understood my life in terms of days spent in the classroom.

One of the first memories I have following my accident was a desire to return to school, to be reunited with my friends and classmates. This required having a caregiver in the classroom, who turned out to be my mother. The school district resisted. Some felt uncomfortable having a parent in a classroom at all times; others believed my presence, in a wheelchair and on a ventilator, would be too disruptive, distracting or upsetting to my classmates.

After a long administrative and legal battle, the district ultimately acquiesced, and I returned to school with my mother. She has been at my side ever since, through high school graduation, and then undergraduate and graduate school at Harvard. That special arrangement in the classroom was crucial to my development.

So I can understand what 14-year-old John Cave and his family are experiencing in the East Meadow School District. Cave, who has been near-deaf most of his life, is not being allowed to bring his assistance dog, Simba, into school. As in my case years ago, this raises the question: What is education for?

School is a place not merely to learn math and science, but to prepare children to navigate the world and prepare for their future. The Cave family's request for the assistance dog aims for just that: to provide the clearest path for John to interact successfully with his environment. Simba is no more just an animal than a wheelchair is just a piece of furniture - he is a vital part of John's ability to live safely.

Barring his assistance dog from a public facility, particularly his school, takes far too capriciously the necessities of John's life.

Beyond this, to bar John and Simba from the classroom is also to deny John's classmates the opportunity to learn from him. With exposure to different ways of life comes understanding and acceptance - as important a lesson as will ever be taught at the blackboard. Just as you can't learn to swim without being in water, you need to be surrounded by difference to learn from it.

Young people are naturally open to difference and intrinsically want to learn from other ways of life. In my days in the classroom and in speaking in schools since then, I have found students curious about perseverance, and how you develop it against a daunting disability. They ask about personal details of my day. They tell me my situation has given them pause to appreciate what they have in their lives. And their reactions, in turn, have helped me to believe my physical situation, different though it may be, makes me no less able than my peers to achieve my goals.

Does the East Meadow district really want to deny this education to John Cave and the students in his school?

We are fortunate to live in communities that offer special educational settings for so many children. But when a student is willing and cognitively able, the mainstream classroom should be the first choice.

In some cases, a child's presence might be logistically or physically unfeasible in the mainstream classroom, becoming inappropriate for either the child or his classmates. But, provided the child can do the schoolwork, and there are no clear obstructive or deleterious effects on the classroom, more acceptance is always preferable to less. Greater diversity almost always paves the way for broader understanding.

John and Simba's story is getting national attention now - and for good reason. This case challenges our most basic fears about difference and disrupting the status quo, but it also provides us with the opportunity to embrace the noblest parts of human nature.

We fear the unfamiliar and often distance ourselves from that which we fear. My physical situation 16 years ago made me unfamiliar. Had it not been for the accommodations the schools made for me, my life would have taken a far different, and likely far less fortunate path. I'd like to think the same is true for my classmates.

We need to provide the same opportunities for John Cave and his fellow students. It is their future we should believe in and strive to maximize, as it is the very purpose of education itself.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

How true is that? Education is more than just an opportunity to learn subjects at hand. It provides for interaction, acceptance and respect of others. It will always be difficult no matter what. As humans, we adapt and survive by learning, meeting others and being a part of the world larger than ourselves. The same needs to be provided to deaf children, to experience the fullness of the world before them and allow others to see them more than their macro self, their true wholeness.

Using me as an example, again (yes again, smiles), I am a woman, sister, daughter, granddaughter, counselor/advocate, avid reader, creative with artistic avenues, teacher, activist, wife, lover of nature, opinionated, occasionally rude (okay), strong believer in the value of education, community, parent involvement and support and how many more macro parts? I am not only deaf, I am many more. You are too, so is everyone. That is what defines us human. The macro parts become a whole human.

We create opportunities to break down barriers, it takes two to break the barriers. One could break it down, the other can build it up again. It is up to all of us to break down the barriers and learn all about each other. Are we up to it?