Miss-Delectable
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http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/NEWS/511120309/1001
Teresa Torres Zurita does not know Neftali Garcia of Salem, but she knows his story well.
Every year, the director of CORAL, a hearing and speech rehabilitation center, sees people flee her country to seek help for a deaf child.
"Our biggest challenge is convincing them that it is not a punishment from God," Torres said. "They're ashamed."
Discrimination toward the disabled in Oaxaca makes it difficult for parents to come forward from isolated villages to seek treatment, she said.
Hearing loss is especially prevalent in Huajuapan de León -- Garcia's home -- because of untreated ear infections and poor nutrition, said Sylvia Torres, a CORAL volunteer.
"The poorer the community, the higher the deaf rate," she said.
An estimated 100,000 children and adults in Oaxaca have some hearing loss, according to center statistics.
With limited resources and no government assistance, Teresa Torres said, her clinic can serve about 500 patients per year.
Alternatives to this program are costly and scarce because less than 30 percent of the state's population has access to health care, Teresa Torres said.
Using an approach called oralism, also known as the Spoken Language Approach, volunteers at CORAL focus on developing listening, speaking and other communication skills in children. They also use hearing aids to maximize whatever hearing the children still have, she explained.
Torres said the center steers away from teaching sign language, hoping to get children involved in mainstream schools, where it is not allowed.
The assumption that all deaf children cannot speak is false, she said, and if she can get children into the program young and fit them with a hearing aid, oral ability can be taught.
"If we can get them fitted with a hearing aid by the age of 5, they will start talking," Teresa Torres said. "And it always brings tears to my eyes to see a child speak a word for the first time."
Teresa Torres Zurita does not know Neftali Garcia of Salem, but she knows his story well.
Every year, the director of CORAL, a hearing and speech rehabilitation center, sees people flee her country to seek help for a deaf child.
"Our biggest challenge is convincing them that it is not a punishment from God," Torres said. "They're ashamed."
Discrimination toward the disabled in Oaxaca makes it difficult for parents to come forward from isolated villages to seek treatment, she said.
Hearing loss is especially prevalent in Huajuapan de León -- Garcia's home -- because of untreated ear infections and poor nutrition, said Sylvia Torres, a CORAL volunteer.
"The poorer the community, the higher the deaf rate," she said.
An estimated 100,000 children and adults in Oaxaca have some hearing loss, according to center statistics.
With limited resources and no government assistance, Teresa Torres said, her clinic can serve about 500 patients per year.
Alternatives to this program are costly and scarce because less than 30 percent of the state's population has access to health care, Teresa Torres said.
Using an approach called oralism, also known as the Spoken Language Approach, volunteers at CORAL focus on developing listening, speaking and other communication skills in children. They also use hearing aids to maximize whatever hearing the children still have, she explained.
Torres said the center steers away from teaching sign language, hoping to get children involved in mainstream schools, where it is not allowed.
The assumption that all deaf children cannot speak is false, she said, and if she can get children into the program young and fit them with a hearing aid, oral ability can be taught.
"If we can get them fitted with a hearing aid by the age of 5, they will start talking," Teresa Torres said. "And it always brings tears to my eyes to see a child speak a word for the first time."