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Deaf student finds success at MSU : Local : Times Record News
Eric Patterson says college wasn’t that difficult.
The new Midwestern State University graduate doesn’t suppose that he invested any more hours in his studies than a typical student.
He said his social life was sometimes frustrating, but he didn’t let it bother him. He always found ways to be with his friends.
A typical student?
Not entirely.
Patterson is deaf. But he makes his experience at MSU sound just like any other student’s, with the main difference being the constant presence of an interpreter in his classes.
Patterson, 24, received his psychology degree Saturday.
“The routine was (interpreter) Lori Shirah meeting me at my classes, usually five minutes before the lecture begins,” Patterson explained to the Times Record News through e-mail. “She interprets everything that is being said by the teacher throughout the lecture. As for the translation process, there’s only a slight delay in me receiving the information, maybe two to three seconds. Ten seconds at the longest, where there are words that she is forced to spell out instead of signing them.”
Beyond that, his college routine was similar to that of a hearing student, he said.
“I didn’t really invest that much more time than the average student than most people would have thought,” he wrote.
Patterson has been attending classes alongside hearing students since he was 5 years old. According to his records, he was the second deaf individual to be mainstreamed into regular classes at Cunningham Elementary School.
“My parents felt it was important that I received the same level of education that the other children, who weren’t deaf, were receiving. The only difference that was present between me and the other students was that I had an interpreter accompany me throughout my classes.”
Patterson was a good student and had no trouble keeping up — not at Cunningham, McNiel Junior High or Rider High School.
College didn’t seem like it would be any more intimidating than the rest of life, Patterson said. “I saw college as another stepping stone to get across to attain my goals. Yeah, it was a no-brainer that I was going to go to college.”
All that exposure to hearing students made choosing MSU over a college for deaf students the easier choice, he said.
But, for awhile, he was torn.
“I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to a college for deaf students or continue going to a ‘hearing oriented’ — if you want to call it that — school,” he wrote.
But he was used to learning through interpreters. He also felt he might benefit more from MSU because it offered a broad education.
And if there was any fear at all, his philosophy was to simply do that very thing.
With tuition help from the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Patterson enrolled in MSU in the fall of 2002 and took full advantage of help offered by Debra Higginbotham in MSU’s Disability Support Services.
“They have always provided me everything that I’ve needed for my classes,” Patterson wrote. “It wasn’t all that difficult. I saw it more as an experience than anything else.”
When his interpreter occasionally wasn’t able to go to classes with him, Higginbotham would give him a tape recorder.
“I never really felt like I missed out on anything in my classes,” he wrote. “With Ms. Higginbotham, I have always felt like I was a top priority, that I came first before anything else. This is why I have nothing but respect for her and the Disability Support Services. They are truly a great addition to MSU for the disabled, and I would love to see them expand and provide more for students the way they did with me.”
Teachers treated him no differently than a hearing student, he said.
And friends — well, there were always friends, he said.
“It was difficult at times. How could it not have been?” he said. “There were countless times where I’d get frustrated for not being able to participate in conversations among students, especially those that I considered my friends. I didn’t always have an interpreter with me 24/7.”
But he persevered. “I never really did let that get to me. I would always try to improvise or come up with other means of talking to people. I had no trouble meeting people who were genuinely interested in me for who I was.”
He got by, many times, by scribbling his thoughts on paper.
After all these years of interacting with hearing students, the time may have come for Patterson to reach out to his fellow deaf students.
Armed with his psychology degree, he would like to move to Austin and work at one of the schools that serves deaf students or that enforces mainstreaming programs for the deaf.
Austin is attractive because “of the sheer population of deaf people that reside there,” he wrote. “I’d love to provide them guidance and see them achieve what I have achieved, or more.”
Eric Patterson says college wasn’t that difficult.
The new Midwestern State University graduate doesn’t suppose that he invested any more hours in his studies than a typical student.
He said his social life was sometimes frustrating, but he didn’t let it bother him. He always found ways to be with his friends.
A typical student?
Not entirely.
Patterson is deaf. But he makes his experience at MSU sound just like any other student’s, with the main difference being the constant presence of an interpreter in his classes.
Patterson, 24, received his psychology degree Saturday.
“The routine was (interpreter) Lori Shirah meeting me at my classes, usually five minutes before the lecture begins,” Patterson explained to the Times Record News through e-mail. “She interprets everything that is being said by the teacher throughout the lecture. As for the translation process, there’s only a slight delay in me receiving the information, maybe two to three seconds. Ten seconds at the longest, where there are words that she is forced to spell out instead of signing them.”
Beyond that, his college routine was similar to that of a hearing student, he said.
“I didn’t really invest that much more time than the average student than most people would have thought,” he wrote.
Patterson has been attending classes alongside hearing students since he was 5 years old. According to his records, he was the second deaf individual to be mainstreamed into regular classes at Cunningham Elementary School.
“My parents felt it was important that I received the same level of education that the other children, who weren’t deaf, were receiving. The only difference that was present between me and the other students was that I had an interpreter accompany me throughout my classes.”
Patterson was a good student and had no trouble keeping up — not at Cunningham, McNiel Junior High or Rider High School.
College didn’t seem like it would be any more intimidating than the rest of life, Patterson said. “I saw college as another stepping stone to get across to attain my goals. Yeah, it was a no-brainer that I was going to go to college.”
All that exposure to hearing students made choosing MSU over a college for deaf students the easier choice, he said.
But, for awhile, he was torn.
“I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to a college for deaf students or continue going to a ‘hearing oriented’ — if you want to call it that — school,” he wrote.
But he was used to learning through interpreters. He also felt he might benefit more from MSU because it offered a broad education.
And if there was any fear at all, his philosophy was to simply do that very thing.
With tuition help from the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Patterson enrolled in MSU in the fall of 2002 and took full advantage of help offered by Debra Higginbotham in MSU’s Disability Support Services.
“They have always provided me everything that I’ve needed for my classes,” Patterson wrote. “It wasn’t all that difficult. I saw it more as an experience than anything else.”
When his interpreter occasionally wasn’t able to go to classes with him, Higginbotham would give him a tape recorder.
“I never really felt like I missed out on anything in my classes,” he wrote. “With Ms. Higginbotham, I have always felt like I was a top priority, that I came first before anything else. This is why I have nothing but respect for her and the Disability Support Services. They are truly a great addition to MSU for the disabled, and I would love to see them expand and provide more for students the way they did with me.”
Teachers treated him no differently than a hearing student, he said.
And friends — well, there were always friends, he said.
“It was difficult at times. How could it not have been?” he said. “There were countless times where I’d get frustrated for not being able to participate in conversations among students, especially those that I considered my friends. I didn’t always have an interpreter with me 24/7.”
But he persevered. “I never really did let that get to me. I would always try to improvise or come up with other means of talking to people. I had no trouble meeting people who were genuinely interested in me for who I was.”
He got by, many times, by scribbling his thoughts on paper.
After all these years of interacting with hearing students, the time may have come for Patterson to reach out to his fellow deaf students.
Armed with his psychology degree, he would like to move to Austin and work at one of the schools that serves deaf students or that enforces mainstreaming programs for the deaf.
Austin is attractive because “of the sheer population of deaf people that reside there,” he wrote. “I’d love to provide them guidance and see them achieve what I have achieved, or more.”