The book I chose to read is called Finding Zoe: A Deaf Woman’s Story of Identity, Love, and Adoption by Brandi Rarus and Gail Harris. Brandi lost her hearing at the age of 6 due to spinal meningitis. Her mother wanted her to continue to be oral, so she was mainstreamed. As she got older, she began to realize that something was missing in her life, but she couldn’t figure it out what it was. She yearned to be around deaf people with whom she could communicate more with and yet at the same time felt a huge pull toward the hearing world, her family and friends. Her freshman year of high school, Brandi decided to switch schools and go to the school with the deaf program. While there she still avoided the deaf program, but had a few classes with other deaf students. …show more content…
This was the first time she had 100 percent accessible communication. This is also where she came to the realization that being deaf was okay and it could be something good. After high school, Brandi attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and explored many areas of the deaf culture. She became Miss NTID, Miss Deaf Illinois, and Miss Deaf American. She marched with students of Gallaudet down to the Capitol in support of the Deaf President Now. Brandi began dating and later married Tim Rarus and felt part of the Deaf Culture. They had three hearing boys, but Brandi longed for a girl like her. Tim and Brandi were able to adopt a deaf baby girl named Zoe, and now Brandi feels fulfilled in life. She saw how all of her decisions and experiences had been grooming her to be Zoe’s mother and to teach Zoe how to be a confident and self-accepting of who
While reading " Deaf in America: Voices From A Culture " I notice the purpose of this book was to wrote about Deaf people in a new and different way. The book main focus is that Deaf people have a condition that they can't hear. The culture of Deaf people is what both authors want to begin yo betray. What I found interesting while reading is that the majority of indidivauls within the community of Deaf people do not join it at birth. While reading these chapters I've seen both auhtors try to present the culture from the inside to discover how Deaf people describe themselves and how they think about their lives.
The book starts with Louise and Thomas a couple who has one child, a son, Bruce. When Bruce is three, he gets German measles or rubella. After finding this out, Louise discovers that, she is pregnant with their second child. When Louise took Bruce to the doctor to get all of the information on the measles, the doctor was worried about Louise’s pregnancy, even thought she was not very far along. The doctor said that being around someone with these measles could possibly cause congenital defects for the baby. Of course, upon hearing this, Thomas and Louise went through a very worrisome and anxious nine months until the baby was born.
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
The book “Deaf Again” is unique because the author has been on both sides of the spectrum. He had been hearing for some time and now is Deaf. He shows each viewpoint and doesn’t make it just for hearing or just for the Deaf. This author is also unique in showing his feelings for both hearing and also being Deaf.
Deaf Again is an autobiography written by Mark Drolsbaugh. In this book he begins at his birth, goes on to explain what it was like to lose his hearing, and details how this impacted and affected his life. Around the time Mark was in first grade, he began to realize that he was losing his hearing when he began having difficulty hearing some of his fellow students. His hearing continued to deteriorate until he was left completely deaf. This was very tough for Mark, because even though his parents were both deaf, they encouraged him to do his best to continue to be a hearing person. His parents believed that he would be happiest if he could fit in with all the hearing people, but didn’t understand that he could not truly be himself if he was
Deaf Like Me is a story compiled together by Thomas and James Spradley. It is a compelling story about two hearing+ parents struggling to cope with their daughters overwhelming deafness. This powerful story expresses with simplicity the love, hope, and anxieties of all hearing parents of deaf children. In the epilogue, Lynn Spradley, herself, now a teenager thinks back about different times in her life growing up deaf. She reflects upon her education, her struggle to communicate, and the discovery that she was the inspiration and the main focus of her father's and uncle's book collaboration. Deaf Like Me is a
This book was mainly focused on looking at Deaf culture of today and comparing it to the culture of the past, and what kinds of struggles deaf people had to endure to get where they are today. The two authors of this book are deaf; one was deaf her whole life and the other became deaf as a child. In my opinion, that was a major contributing factor to why it was so interesting. The reader gets a chance to travel through the history of the Deaf through words from those who have experienced it. It also had a positive impact because the authors let the readers know in the introduction that they are deaf and a brief history of themselves, which I
The book Orchid of the Bayou was eye opening. Cathryn (Kitty) Hoffpauir Fischer did a good job of being honest, which really allowed the reader to get a better understanding of what being deaf in this time period meant. Her writing really allowed me to see the different struggles that deaf children had to face, and how these struggles were overcome by Kitty. This book taught me many things about Deaf culture.
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
Have you ever felt like there was nothing that you can do for your child? In this book, Deaf Like Me, by Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley, I can see the journey that Lynn’s parents took to get her help. (Spradley & Spradley, 1978). This book was an excellent read. I really liked the way that they described the ways they tried to help Lynn to understand the world around her. The book, is a great asset for any family that might be unexpectedly put into a situation that they know nothing about such as a deaf child.
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.
After reading Deaf Again I learned a lot of new things I didn?t know 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
The main characters in the story with communication disabilities are Laura and her son Adam. Laura and Adam are both deaf. Both of them were born hearing, and then over time
The first lense or category in the “Deaf Studies Template” that is talked about is Only in the Deaf World. This category is about the unique events and experiences associated with life in the Deaf World. Deaf children are mostly born to hearing parents, which is similar how wizard parents have muggle children and muggle parents have wizard children in the world of Harry Potter. DCHP may not know anything about the Deaf World once they grow up due to parental ignorance or other reasons. Harry Potter also experiences this with the Wizard World as his aunt and uncle keep it a secret from him. They were ashamed of him and want to make him “normal”. Hearing parents of deaf children also commonly do this as they give