The novel Deaf Like Me is an extremely compelling and inspirational story. The story revolves around a little girl named Lynn Spradley who was diagnosed with deafness at a very young age. The story is a timeline which takes the reader through the countless struggles that Lynn’s parents, Tom and Louise, encountered when learning to live with the deafness that Lynn was born with. Tom and Louise went through a long struggle to find out what was wrong with her daughter after she was born. Before she was born, Louise acquired a rubella rash. She went to her doctor and got a vaccination, but the doctor informed her that Lynn would be 25% susceptible to defects since her mom had rubella. When Lynn was born, she seemed completely normal and healthy, but the risk of congenital defects still loomed in Tom and Louis’ minds. Three months after Lynn was born, the family took Lynn to a fourth of July parade, and they noticed that Lynn didn’t seem flustered when the loud sirens passed by. Incredibly alarmed by this, Louise and Tom made sure to pay greater attention to see if something could be very wrong. After encountering plenty of hints to see that something was wrong, Louis brought Lynn to her doctor, Dr. Bales, and he explained to her that it would be difficult to see if she was deaf being …show more content…
They were also adamant on trying to teach Lynn to talk, even though she could not hear. In seminars that they attended, they got the impression that ASL was only used for retarded children, and they definitely did not want Lynn to be regarded as stupid. When Lynn was a little older, she was given a new hearing aid. When trying it on, though, it irritated her ears tremendously, so she did not want to wear it. Lynn started attending a school for the deaf in Oklahoma, where they practiced an oral method. Lynn and her family soon had to move to Sacramento, though, because Tom had been offered a new
Since both of his parents are deaf, Mark's grandfather took care of everything. He was devastated when he heard the news basically acting like the boy had a fatal disease. Mark's grandfather tested him by saying a sentence and seeing if he could repeat it, which he could, then his grandfather would cover his mouth and repeat the same sentence, but this time Mark had no idea what his grandfather was saying. Mark came to the realization that all along he had been reading people's lips and he never even knew it.
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.
The book A Loss for Words by Lou Ann Walker is a biography about Lou Ann. Her parents are deaf and she and her sister are hearing. The book describes the troubles and embarrassment she felt and had while growing up. She loved her parents dearly but often felt embarrassed, or infuriated about comments people would make to her about her parents. Lou Ann exclaims that “their world is deaf, their deaf culture, their deaf friends, and their own sign language it is something separate, something I can never really know, but I am intimate with.”(2) Lou Ann was both speaking and she could also sign. She felt it hard to fit into one culture. She had a love for her parents and the
The family headed out to California to go to the John Tracey Clinic. This was a clinic that specialized in deafness; the family finally thought that they could get the answers that they desperately had been wanting. The audiologist that they met with and tested Lynn was Mrs. Caldwell. First, however the Spradely's met with Dr. Murphy who tested Lynn to see how she was developing mentally and physically. Even though Lynn was not yet walking, she was still crawling well and could walk if she had something to hold her up and walk against. She was helping put her clothes on and besides talking and not being able to hear Dr. Murphy said that she was normal child. Lynn was small for her age so she was physically developing slowly but she was normal. This put the Spradley's at ease for their fear that Lynn was cognitively disabled was gone.
In “Through Deaf Eyes” you will find a range of perspective on the question what is deafness? This film is a balanced presentation of deaf experience. I believe that the film does a good job of revealing the struggles and triumphs of deaf people in society throughout history. The documentary covers a span of close to 200 years of deaf life in the United States. You will see experiences among deaf people in education, family life, work, and social activities.
Lynn’s deafness was found through a series of many events. These events consisted of seeing many doctors to see if she could hear or not. Lynn was taken to a doctor to make sure that her ears where fully developed, this doctor said that she was fine. Lynn was also taken to a speech therapist that told them that she could learn and that all she needed was to be talked too. Just talking to her would do it all and that one day she would be able to talk to them. This information gave them some hope that she would be able to communicate someday. They also tried the John Tracy course to help her better learn to lip read to be able to talk to them. This had over a thousand classes to it and things for the family to do. Which they tried intensely with Lynn and did the games and things that came with it with her on a daily basis. (79).
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 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.
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
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
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
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
It was unsuccessful because it was not really proving whether or not their daughter can hear. Concerned, they took Lynn to the doctor. The doctor explains to them that, although they were anxious that they couldn't test Lynn until she was at least 2 years old. Not happy with the doctor failing to diagnosis, Louise pressed on and got a second opinion. The at the new doctor is where Louise found out that she was definitely deaf. Louise disheartened by the news did what she thought was to be medically best for her daughter, and had hearing aids made for Lynn. Yet still teaching Lynn to lip read so that she can be oral. Through the years with lots of practice Lynn became very skilled in lip reading. Lynn did become a very good lip reading after a while.
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
In the past, many deaf or even hard-of-hearing students were sent away to special schools for the Deaf, and were not able to associate with the hearing at all. Now, many schools, both public and private, have programs to help these students and make sure that they can stay in a regular school that is close to home.