Lila ~ May 30

 

As we close out for the May Mazurka, I will share a few other encounters I have had with the deaf world. 

 

In elementary school, our music teacher, Mrs. Flanagan, taught us the sign language alphabet. 

 

My mother was once a teacher for the deaf. 

 

She and all her sisters went away to college.

Granddaddy wanted to make sure all of his children got a college education the education that he didn't get to have. 

 She majored in home economics at the University of North Carolina and Greensboro. Of course he was also expecting his daughters to graduate with their Mrs degree, so that their husbands could pay for any further education. 

 

My mom was the only one to not marry right out of college. She came back home to Mom and Dad at 206 Rose Hill circle. 

 

There, she was expected to help run the family business. 

 

My mom had worked as a volunteer at the local Western State hospital. She worked with autistic and mentally ill people. She realized that with the right kind of help, some of these people could be rehabilitated and helped to live in the real world. So she started looking into programs and special education. 

 

One day, she was at home by herself. Mother and Daddy were out, when the phone rang. She picked it up.  It was Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. They wanted to offer her a fellowship to the graduate program in education of the hearing impaired. Someone else had turned it down and she was next on the list to receive it. But she had to accept it right there on the spot or else it would just go to the next person. She didn't have time to consult mother and Daddy. 

 

She said yes. That whole summer, granddaddy made her life very miserable. He was very upset that his daughter was going to leave home without his permission. 

 

After graduation my mom took her first job in Connecticut at a school for deaf and autistic children. 

 

Sadly, her job didn't last long. They consolidated their staff, and gave her position away to her coworker, who was deaf. She was heartbroken. 

 

I wondered why my mom never used her sign language skills.  Why couldn't she have worked as an interpreter, or been closer with Lauren's mom? 

 

Maybe it reminded her of that first job. Or maybe, she just didn't want to deal with it.