 14:9
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Disappointment, Pain, Hope,
and Triumph
A Mother and Her Deaf Daughter Share Their
Fight for Her Education in a New Narrative
Within the canon of personal narratives about raising deaf children, a familiar
theme revolves around the emotional trials endured by a mother trying to find
the right educational environment for her deaf child. For the first time,
however, a mother’s story of her arduous journey is paralleled by her deaf
daughter’s own personal narrative, both featured in the new book
Amy Signs: A
Mother, Her Daughter and Their Stories. “Thirty-seven
years ago, I vowed to write a truthful book about raising a deaf child,”
shares Rebecca Willman Gernon. “The book would be filled with disappointment
and pain, as well as hope and triumph.
Amy Signs is that book.” Although Amy Signs is primarily
about her daughter’s story, “each person’s life has an effect on the other
family members,” Rebecca explains. “The journey my husband Jack, son John, and Amy
and I took had its ups and downs, but the overall progression was forward,
even though many days it was against a stiff wind. I believe my decisions
were the best for Amy. Instead of wanting her to be hearing, I embraced her
Deafness. Were my decisions right? I’ve hoped so for years. While
writing
this book with her, I gained a better understanding of her Deaf world.
Knowing she is happy and content, with no reservations about my decisions,
has been my greatest reward.”
Read chapter 37, “Do You Sign?”, in its entirety, and receive 20% off the
regular price of your
online order by typing “SEP2012” in the box labeled
“use promo code” next to the checkout button. You may also
order by mail.
 Author
Timothy G. Reagan’s
Language Policy
and Planning for Sign Languages, the 16th volume in the
Sociolinguistics in
Deaf Communities series, elicited the following review from the journal
Language Policy: “This pioneering book measures up remarkably to the tall
order of bringing together the work of scholars in two disciplines to explicate
the concomitant links between sign language in deaf education and language
planning for sign languages. [W]ith this book, Reagan has laid a
solid foundation
upon which researchers and educators from an array of disciplines will find
support for exploring and advancing language policy and planning (LPP)
activities for sign languages.” Examine this volume further in this excerpt from
chapter one, “Sign
Language and the deaf∩world
as a Special Case: An Overview,” and order Language Policy and Planning for
Sign Languages
online or by
mail now.
 In
Signing in
Puerto Rican: A Hearing Son and His Deaf Family, Andrés Torres, the only
hearing member of his immediate family, writes of growing up in New York in a
Deaf/hearing family that communicated freely in a mix of Spanish, ASL, and
English. Centro, Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies had this
to say about Torres’s story: “This book is for those who are interested in
Puerto Rican issues, cultural issues in childhood, issues of Deaf families with
hearing children, and those who are interested in cross-cultural relationships
involving Deaf people. This book is an
easy read, both enjoyable and
informative, and filled with much information about new topics not typically
encountered in the lives of Hearing people.” Read more about Torres’s unique
family life in chapter one,
“The A Train,” and order
Signing in Puerto Rican
online or by
mail.
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