Bernard Bragg 's Role Model

His senior year of high school he applies to only two major colleges; Purdue University and Rochester Institute of Technology, he was accepted into both. He and his grandfather had dreams of him going to Purdue and playing on their wrestling team; he didn’t think he’d get in. RIT was out of the question but with his mother’s encouragement he applied as well. While at his first year at Purdue, he struggled. He only knew how to read lips, and the large fast pace classrooms were too much to handle. Although he had an interpreter in all his classes, it was useless. He barely knew any sign language and his grades were affected by his inability to comprehend what the professors where saying. Eventually he was kicked off the wrestling team due to his grades. This scene in the movie made me realize that Deaf people could not only read lips, but they should all learn how to sign as well. Sign Language is a universal method of communication between Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing people.

The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in with everyone and eventually

By embracing the Deaf culture, he found his career and his family, and he is a much happier person living for himself and not trying to fit in with what he previously viewed as “normal”.

The legacy of Laurent Clerc is long withstanding. As the first teacher for deaf individuals, he pioneered a system of teaching the deaf that carries on today. Without him, the American School for the Deaf may not have come to fruition. By offering classes in sign

Deaf people living in a hearing world have certainly made their mark in the hearing community. Deaf people can do anything that hearing people can do. The band shown in the film called “Beethoven’s Nightmare “caused quite a stir in our class. I think that we were simply amazed that deaf musicians could play so well. By showing the audience this experience, it provides hearing viewers with the knowledge that this type of event does occur within the deaf community and that the deaf can appreciate

The book also describes how life has changed for deaf adults through the years. Previously, many deaf adults were not able to get jobs in many places, because there were not many places that were accepting to them. These days, however, almost every business or company is looking for those that are fluent in American Sign Language, due to the simple fact that they would be able to accommodate that many more people and earn more money for their business. Also, there were not many outlets for deaf adults to use in relation to entertainment or basic needs, because again, mostly everything was catered to hearing adults only. However, they have recently developed many different ways for the deaf to communicate with the hearing and with one another, including TTY, full-keyboard, and internet phones and closed-captions on television stations and movies.

First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term

It was un expected to me to see how William and his mother were simply curious and hopeful about the Deaf community apposed to brutal as some of the other characters such as Janice’s boss who seemed to think that deaf people were just a nuisance. Another thing that intrigued me was how important a deaf persons hands are and how hard it must be if they are to break it. I always have thought about how important hands are for reading brail for people who are blind, but for deaf individuals it is both there voice and there culture that are hindered if they are unable to use there hands. The last but potentially the greatest is the acute attention to beat that some deaf people may have. This came to mind when MR. Ryder was dancing, because he was able to dance using strictly the beat. I just wish that the movie had done a better job at looking into how deaf people could empower themselves at the time.

After reading Deaf Again I learned a lot of new things about Deaf culture and was drawn in by the story of Mark Drolsbaugh. "The hardest fight a man has to fight is to live in a world where every single day someone is trying to make you someone you do not want to be" e.e cummings. I was brought into the book immediately from this quote and realized how difficult it must have been for Mark to find his identity. He was trying to hang on to his hearing in fear of going deaf as if there was something wrong or not proper with being deaf. It took him a long time, twenty-three years to realize that the Deaf culture is receiving and it was there for him to embrace the entire time. It would be difficult to be able to hear and then slowly

In this book, Deaf in America, by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, the two authors wrote stories, jokes, performances, and experiences of Deaf people. They also wrote Deaf culture and Deaf people’s lives from various angles. This book is great navigator of Deaf world for hearing people and even Deaf people as me. There are several factors attracting reader. To begin with, I could learn about backgrounds of deaf people and hearing people. Authors wrote about a Deaf boy who was born into a deaf family. Until he discovered that a girl playmate in neighborhood was “hearing”, he didn’t notice about “Others”. Authors

In Mark Drolsbaugh’s educational and witty autobiography “Deaf Again”, he describes his journey as a child born to deaf parents, losing his own hearing in his childhood, and navigating both hearing and deaf worlds while trying to discover his identity.

Benjamin James Bahan who was born by Deaf parents in New Jersey was very passionate about American Sign Language and Deaf Literature. As a child he attended Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in West Trenton, New Jersey as well as Gallaudet University where he is now a professor and chair of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. Upon returning to Gallaudet University as a professor and chairs person in 1996 he went to The Salk Institute in La Jolla where he researched American Sign Language linguistics and acquisitions as well as receiving his masters degree in Deaf Education and helped operate the Deaf Studies Program in the School of Education at Boston University. Lucky for Ben, while attending Boston University he met his wonderful wife who was not only Deaf but had Deaf parents just like him.

     Born hearing to deaf, signing parents, Mark gradually lost his hearing. Despite the fact that his deaf parents preferred sign communication, Mark was raised and educated without the use of sign language. His parents and grandparents were concerned that sign might interfere with speech and restrict his educational achievement. Although Mark became increasingly hard-of-hearing, he worked hard to "pass" as a hearing person. This ambition, he later discovered, actually constricted his development and limited the depth of relationships with family and friends. During these long years, he just "didn?t know what (he) was missing." When he later learned ASL, chose to mix with deaf people, and learned to

This documentary does an excellent job of advocating for the acknowledgment of people who are deaf within society. This is shown through not only the brilliantly written and performed poems of the students but also in the basic, everyday struggles each of them face, such as the desire to fit in or be valued by those around them. Deafness is not a specific to any gender, race, culture, or religion. The struggles many people who are deaf go through are relatable to all and

Drolsbaugh started to lose his hearing when he was in first grade, and from there, pressure from society and his family kept him in hearing schools until he graduated from high school. Even as his parents were deaf, initially his hearing grandparents’ on his mother’s side of the family, kind of took over how his deaf but performing