Continued from page 6
Coming Home : A Journey of a Signer
family using her from a very young age , 3-4 years old , as an interpreter . I am still very close to my sisters to this day .
I started off truly believing I was the only deaf person in the entire world . Eventually , it dawned on me that I was not and that people had treated me badly because I was “ different ”. I had rocked the proverbial boat and the Southern Code was in play and had been all along . My requests for American Sign Language ( ASL ) interpreters , beginning around the 8th grade , were denied time and time again . I then rebelled by skipping school so much that there was talk of sending me to reform school . In one meeting , my father , the gentle and stoic man , suddenly erupted in a fit of rage and screamed his head off telling them if I wanted an interpreter , they had better give me one . I had never seen him so mad and realized after all those those years , he still saw me and loved me for who I was and am . They still denied that request and then sent a letter stating I was to repeat junior year . I told mom that I was done and quitting school , period . Luckily , I had just found a deaf club and was now starting to get to know some deaf people . One of my new deaf friends Sharon , who is now like family , heard about this and came over to talk to my mother . Sharon stood outside of my home with an interpreter in the middle of summer for more than three hours , fighting off mosquitoes , absolutely soaked in sweat and trying her very best to convince my mother to let me go to Arkansas School for the Deaf . Mom finally said she would think about it . I owe Sharon a lifetime of gratitude because after that day , mom said okay .
At the deaf school , I felt it with every fiber of my being : I was truly and finally home . I had found my village . What I know now is that my father , my two sisters and Memaw ( grandmother ) were already _ members of that village as well .
I graduated from the deaf school with honors , and attended Gallaudet . I eventually met my now husband who comes from a deaf family with extended deaf members on both sides as well as hearing signers , codas , etc . It was there I finally understood what truly being part of a family actually looked like and to this day , I still absolutely love every moment of it . They call me their daughter and sister , and have been there countless times for situations that called for family support , just for me . I had to learn how to be part of this family because for the most part , I was not allowed to do so within my own . Any signing that ever took place were for one on one conversations only . I had always been left out most of the time . I never knew what dinner talk looked like . Family discussions . Any of what a family does , whether it is a
The Duvall Siblings at Stacy ’ s Wedding Day – from left to right : Karen , Michael , Andrea , and Stacy
healthy or dysfunctional one . Now I do , thanks to my in-laws , and am now demanding it from my own family . They are to become a signing family . They just need more education , which my sisters are more than willing to learn .
Prior to my mother ’ s death , she opened up to me . She had been deaf in her right ear all her life . Also admitted to other things , as well . I believe , in her own way , she was finally admitting the truth : that she had always known that I was born deaf . The deep shame , its roots intertwined within the Southern Code , had made it hard for her to accept this . ( Continue on page 8 )
The Power of ASL 7 Winter 2016 – Issue 4