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http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2005/12/14/news/3news14.txt
Brittney Stanek has been a first most of her life.
At age 5, she became the first child in Wisconsin to receive a cochlear implant, a device that would allow her to hear sounds but not speech.
In 2000, she was valedictor-ian of her graduating class at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf.
And when she enrolled at Viterbo University in 2004, she was one of the first deaf students Wayne Wojciechowski could remember working with during his 27 years at the Franciscan school.
Wojciechowski, assistant academic vice president and Stanek’s academic advisor, said he initially was nervous about the prospect of having a student who communicates primarily through American Sign Language and written notes.
After meeting with Stanek and Kris Follansbee, the deaf and hard of hearing coordinator at Western Wisconsin Technical College, he said those fears began to dissipate. Follansbee, who coordinates deaf services for the La Crosse colleges, helped him formulate an education plan for Stanek.
And, Wojciechowski added, it was a delight to have a student with such a desire to learn.
“You come to realize what really is a handicap,” he said. “It’s more of an attitude than anything else.”
“I don’t think of deafness as a disability,” Stanek agreed. “We can do whatever we want to do, we just can’t hear.”
Stanek, 24, was born deaf. She no longer uses the cochlear implants, she said, and cannot hear any sounds.
The Coulee Region native attended a local elementary school before switching to the Wisconsin School for the Deaf for most of middle and all of high school.
She attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. — the only university in the country for the deaf and hard of hearing — and then the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she received an associate degree in exercise science.
Viterbo lured her in, she said, through its environment, friendly people and educational programs. It didn’t hurt, either, that it’s in her hometown; she’d just ended a bad relationship and wanted her family’s support, she said.
And the experience has been great. Faculty have been helpful and she’s had opportunities to take part in student activities, like helping start Students Against Sexual Assault. Many of her classmates are intrigued by sign language, she said.
She’ll graduate this year with a degree in liberal studies and a minor in women’s studies, with plans to work at a women’s shelter or possibly get a teaching degree in the future.
That’s not to say there haven’t been problems. People often talk to her interpreter, not her, and generally don’t know how to act when dealing with a deaf person.
She chalks that up to lack of knowledge about deaf people, or more accurately, the general public’s lack of experience with deaf people. But the Coulee Region has shown improvement in the decade she was away, she said.
Wojciechowski said Stanek’s attitude helped educate the Viterbo community about being deaf.
“She enriched a lot of people here,” he said. “I feel that she taught us something about diversity, in the sense that we all have the capacity to learn, and some of us do it in a different way.”
Brittney Stanek has been a first most of her life.
At age 5, she became the first child in Wisconsin to receive a cochlear implant, a device that would allow her to hear sounds but not speech.
In 2000, she was valedictor-ian of her graduating class at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf.
And when she enrolled at Viterbo University in 2004, she was one of the first deaf students Wayne Wojciechowski could remember working with during his 27 years at the Franciscan school.
Wojciechowski, assistant academic vice president and Stanek’s academic advisor, said he initially was nervous about the prospect of having a student who communicates primarily through American Sign Language and written notes.
After meeting with Stanek and Kris Follansbee, the deaf and hard of hearing coordinator at Western Wisconsin Technical College, he said those fears began to dissipate. Follansbee, who coordinates deaf services for the La Crosse colleges, helped him formulate an education plan for Stanek.
And, Wojciechowski added, it was a delight to have a student with such a desire to learn.
“You come to realize what really is a handicap,” he said. “It’s more of an attitude than anything else.”
“I don’t think of deafness as a disability,” Stanek agreed. “We can do whatever we want to do, we just can’t hear.”
Stanek, 24, was born deaf. She no longer uses the cochlear implants, she said, and cannot hear any sounds.
The Coulee Region native attended a local elementary school before switching to the Wisconsin School for the Deaf for most of middle and all of high school.
She attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. — the only university in the country for the deaf and hard of hearing — and then the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she received an associate degree in exercise science.
Viterbo lured her in, she said, through its environment, friendly people and educational programs. It didn’t hurt, either, that it’s in her hometown; she’d just ended a bad relationship and wanted her family’s support, she said.
And the experience has been great. Faculty have been helpful and she’s had opportunities to take part in student activities, like helping start Students Against Sexual Assault. Many of her classmates are intrigued by sign language, she said.
She’ll graduate this year with a degree in liberal studies and a minor in women’s studies, with plans to work at a women’s shelter or possibly get a teaching degree in the future.
That’s not to say there haven’t been problems. People often talk to her interpreter, not her, and generally don’t know how to act when dealing with a deaf person.
She chalks that up to lack of knowledge about deaf people, or more accurately, the general public’s lack of experience with deaf people. But the Coulee Region has shown improvement in the decade she was away, she said.
Wojciechowski said Stanek’s attitude helped educate the Viterbo community about being deaf.
“She enriched a lot of people here,” he said. “I feel that she taught us something about diversity, in the sense that we all have the capacity to learn, and some of us do it in a different way.”