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Local: Deaf community rallies at Sams Stadium for Border Games | deaf, people, community : Brownsville Herald
At the seventh annual North Border Games for the Deaf, organizations for the deaf from across South Texas came together Saturday at Sam's Stadium for a day of football, tug-of-war, dramatic skits, basketball, and to socialize with other members of the deaf community.
Eric Martinez, the president of the Deaf Club of South Texas, helped to organize the day's activities, which included participants from Corpus Christi and McAllen as well as Brownsville.
To him, events like the NBGD help to create a supportive, social environment for the deaf that he never experienced as a child.
"When I was young, there were limits to what people said the deaf could do," he said. "Now we are teaching our children that deaf people can do anything, except hear."
Martinez hopes that by creating more awareness of the large population of Valley residents who are deaf - he estimates there are 100 deaf people in Brownsville alone - it will be possible to reduce the stigma still present in some of the hearing community's interactions with the deaf.
"Some hearing people are scared to trust deaf people," he said. "The same way that people discriminate against people based on race and color, they sometimes discriminate against the deaf, thinking that we're dumb just because we can't hear."
Rolando Perez joined the NBGD from the Rio Grande Valley Deaf Club in McAllen. He was happy to see how much the younger participants enjoyed the day's events.
"We're giving kids experience and responsibility so that when they get older, they can take over for us," Perez said.
Martinez said that he hopes that more members of the Brownsville hearing community will make an effort to learn about deaf culture. He encourages those interested in finding out more to visit the Deaf Club of South Texas's Web site at Deaf Club of South Texas |.
At the seventh annual North Border Games for the Deaf, organizations for the deaf from across South Texas came together Saturday at Sam's Stadium for a day of football, tug-of-war, dramatic skits, basketball, and to socialize with other members of the deaf community.
Eric Martinez, the president of the Deaf Club of South Texas, helped to organize the day's activities, which included participants from Corpus Christi and McAllen as well as Brownsville.
To him, events like the NBGD help to create a supportive, social environment for the deaf that he never experienced as a child.
"When I was young, there were limits to what people said the deaf could do," he said. "Now we are teaching our children that deaf people can do anything, except hear."
Martinez hopes that by creating more awareness of the large population of Valley residents who are deaf - he estimates there are 100 deaf people in Brownsville alone - it will be possible to reduce the stigma still present in some of the hearing community's interactions with the deaf.
"Some hearing people are scared to trust deaf people," he said. "The same way that people discriminate against people based on race and color, they sometimes discriminate against the deaf, thinking that we're dumb just because we can't hear."
Rolando Perez joined the NBGD from the Rio Grande Valley Deaf Club in McAllen. He was happy to see how much the younger participants enjoyed the day's events.
"We're giving kids experience and responsibility so that when they get older, they can take over for us," Perez said.
Martinez said that he hopes that more members of the Brownsville hearing community will make an effort to learn about deaf culture. He encourages those interested in finding out more to visit the Deaf Club of South Texas's Web site at Deaf Club of South Texas |.