Memories of my first deaf adult role model: His name has been changed, but there are clues to his true identity. I can not remember having met any deaf adults before I was in the fourth grade. Then I began the fourth grade in a mainstream deaf program at an elementary school in a New York City suburb. (The school later closed and became a Jewish facility; the program moved to another school for the fifth grade). I had many adjustments to make, going from a private school to a public school classroom environment. As part of that adjustment, I now had to make daily visits to a resource room for the deaf and hard of hearing students.
To this day, I still remember the sense of awe I experienced as I entered that room and met the first deaf adult I had ever known. He was a young, handsome fellow who communicated orally (none of us signed as it was not a "total communication" program). 'Brad' immediately became my god, and in my mind I put him on a pedestal.
I was only eight and a half years old, but I still remember the excited thoughts that raced through my mind at that first meeting: He is deaf like me! He has a job! He has a wife and kids! I do not know how old Brad was at the time, but he must have been in his early 30s.
I do not remember if I wanted to be like Brad. The important thing I remember is the delight and the sheer joy I experienced at FINALLY meeting someone who was deaf and a grown-up! Brad worked with me patiently, and was amused by my smart-aleckiness. So amused, in fact, that in the years to come Brad would make me repeat the cute things I had said as a kid, to other people.
Brad was part of my life for the next few years as even as I moved on to other schools and had other resource teachers, he would participate in the local get-togethers of parents with deaf kids. I recall attending get-togethers at his own home somewhere along Route 9W. in a New York suburban county. Brad tried to mix education with socialization in the resource room, organizing get-togethers of all the deaf and hard of hearing students for small activities. One of my fondest childhood memories is of Brad singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."
Brad's concern for the deaf students' educational and social welfare did not end with the school year. One summer Brad organized a summer program that was held at a local center for physically handicapped children. There was also a program for blind children, and I wrote more about what happened that summer when we deaf kids met the blind kids, in another Growing Up Deaf article.
I did not have any other deaf resource teachers after Brad. Meeting him was a true boost to my self-esteem. Today there is increased awareness of the importance of having deaf adult role models around for deaf children. In my son's school, there is a policy that there must be at least one deaf adult in each of the self-contained classrooms, and that adult must be either the teacher or the classroom aide.
