jenny & sue

regular

For both Jenny and Sue it was very important that I recognize their worth as "regular folk" (again, their own words) while we explored their difference. And in this I did not need convincing. They were wholly people before I met them, people gracious enough to tolerate the intrusions of a stranger who wished to ask rude questions about what society has labeled their "handicap." But in stories after stories, both my collaborators/informants assured me that they did not feel this lack, that they were somehow incomplete, until they confronted the outside. They, in their insulated world of family and close friends, have no need for special consideration. It is only in their interactions with the larger hearing world, with the public at large, that they need assistance. And it is imperative that they get this aid because the hearing world is not slowing down to learn sign language.

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john in context | jenny & sue
deaf:audist | hearing pedagogy | enfi | techno-teaching
city on the hill | "othered" outside
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