This kind of hit me when I saw it.

Deaf person seeks peers
Chico Enterprise-Record


When my 44-year-old daughter was growing up in the '60s, '70s and '80s,
"they" -- the government, schools, the deaf-in-denial and the ignorant
bureaucrats -- decided deaf children should not ever learn American Sign
Language but should be mainstreamed into regular schools and learn to
speak. So, my daughter is now able to speak, but she can't hear. She
fits nowhere.

When she was growing up, and as recently as three years ago, I took her
to speech therapy, had her hearing tested (it's deteriorating), had her
fitted for different kinds of hearing aids and inquired everywhere I
could to find her help.

I took her to the university and Butte College. They do not teach sign
language for deaf people or know of anyplace that does. The Nor Cal
Center for the Deaf is no longer in Chico, but they too only taught
sign language for people who wanted to be interpreters, not to teach the
deaf to communicate. My daughter is lost. Her physical and mental health
is declining because of the stress she's had to live with for so long.
She has no friends.

My question is, can you help her? Do you know where she can learn
American Sign Language for the deaf, and be with her own peer group. Her
emotional and physical health is of great concern. She needs to know
American Sign Language -- and other deaf people. Please help us.

-- Marti Lorber Hicks, Chico


"You can only stumble if you are moving."
-Richard P. Carlton

Steve Hamerdinger, Director
Office of Deaf Services
Alabama Department of Mental Health
and Mental Retardation
(334) 353-4701 (TTY)



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