What Happened to Make You Realize What Deafness Means?
Awareness of being deaf for me came late. I was mainstreamed and the school was a very supportive one--in fact, it was a protected environment. The school had two classes for special needs students--one a pull-out room for the HOH students and one full time for educable developmentally disabled. I had best friends who kept a buffer between me and anyone that might bully me. This was okay up till the sixth grade, an age when children are more aware of differences and form their own cliques.
At this point my classmates all moved on to different junior high schools and my parents enrolled me in a school for the deaf.
How Did You React to Knowing This?
The realization that I was Deaf like my new classmates was slow in coming. First was learning manual communication, then recognizing that it was a superior, liberating, and immensely satisfying way to communicate. The world just opened up. I learned to know and admire accomplished Deaf students, a Deaf teacher, and realized I was equally competent as they were. Acceptance was never an issue...it just happened.
Advice
- Deaf children need to grow up with both deaf and hearing children, so parents might think about enrolling them in both schools for the deaf and neighborhood programs, if possible, or to participate in recreation programs such as dance or sports teams. The exposure to each other is mutually beneficial.
- As for myself, I have never regretted being mainstreamed nor graduating from a school for the deaf...but if I could change things, would have gone to the school for the deaf several years earlier. Mainstreaming could occur at different ages for short periods depending on the need and readiness of the individual.
