Silent Journeys
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- Joined
- Jan 6, 2011
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Hi! I am from rural Minnesota and am so blessed with a dozen grandchildren, all with normal hearing except Chris. He became ill at age 4 and needed a strong antibiotic which helped cure his illness but left him with no ability to hear. He also has other learning problems which further complicate things. But unless we can understand his deafness and learn how to help him we cannot even assess where one problem ends, and the others begin. His life has been turned upside down in so many ways for a little guy.
The local school wrote him off as too stupid to even learn sign and refused to provide an aide to work with him in a mainstream classroom. He was enrolled in the MN Academy for the Deaf. The school is several hours from his home and ours. We want to learn sign, but there is no one to teach us. We want to understand the world of the Deaf culture but do not know how or who to turn to for help.
We have been to the school and they provide lessons mid-week. We can't drive across the state for a 2 hr lesson every Monday night..or Wed..whenever.
I don't know what to do so I am working with the Academy and am in the process of establishing a fund to help the school with funding by selling my artwork with 100% of the profits going to programs for deaf children and adults if needed. It is all I can think of to do. I cannot volunteer, I have no skill they need. Or at least I do not think I do.
On my website "Silent Journeys" I want to dedicate the site to Deaf people, young and old. The photos are focused on things that most hearing people would not look for. I see this in Chris, his heightened ability to spot things that are missed by everyone else. His uncanny way of spacing items to perfection. His need for organization and so much more. I expect I am seeing the things he is learning at school. There are so many thing s he needs to understand, I am in such pain wondering how to help him. Are we doing right? We are a part of his life and we are the only people who has been a constant in his life since birth. In all of this my fear is to be unwittingly unkind or insulting to the Deaf adults that are working so hard to help him. I don't want to intrude where I am not wanted but I need to do something.
Any direction you can give me would be so appreciated. If I should not be on this forum please tell me and I will just sign out. My email is: catesown@gmail.com. Feel free to either reply here or directly to my email.
I want to understand, I want to help not just Chris but the whole community at the school.
Thanks for any replies you can give me.
The local school wrote him off as too stupid to even learn sign and refused to provide an aide to work with him in a mainstream classroom. He was enrolled in the MN Academy for the Deaf. The school is several hours from his home and ours. We want to learn sign, but there is no one to teach us. We want to understand the world of the Deaf culture but do not know how or who to turn to for help.
We have been to the school and they provide lessons mid-week. We can't drive across the state for a 2 hr lesson every Monday night..or Wed..whenever.
I don't know what to do so I am working with the Academy and am in the process of establishing a fund to help the school with funding by selling my artwork with 100% of the profits going to programs for deaf children and adults if needed. It is all I can think of to do. I cannot volunteer, I have no skill they need. Or at least I do not think I do.
On my website "Silent Journeys" I want to dedicate the site to Deaf people, young and old. The photos are focused on things that most hearing people would not look for. I see this in Chris, his heightened ability to spot things that are missed by everyone else. His uncanny way of spacing items to perfection. His need for organization and so much more. I expect I am seeing the things he is learning at school. There are so many thing s he needs to understand, I am in such pain wondering how to help him. Are we doing right? We are a part of his life and we are the only people who has been a constant in his life since birth. In all of this my fear is to be unwittingly unkind or insulting to the Deaf adults that are working so hard to help him. I don't want to intrude where I am not wanted but I need to do something.
Any direction you can give me would be so appreciated. If I should not be on this forum please tell me and I will just sign out. My email is: catesown@gmail.com. Feel free to either reply here or directly to my email.
I want to understand, I want to help not just Chris but the whole community at the school.
Thanks for any replies you can give me.