Voices of the Oral Deaf

The deaf world is a complex one, divided by the allegiance of some to Deaf Culture, which emphasizes communication by sign-language, and by others to oralism, which emphasizes speech as the primary means of communication, and still others to a program called Total Communication, which stresses both signing and speaking. Today, more and more deaf people, especially children, are choosing oralism because it helps them fit into mainstream society better. This work presents interviews with fourteen extraordinary oral deaf role models from diverse backgrounds and professions. Wall Street banker Ralph Marra, paralegal Kristin Buehl, 1984 Olympic gold medalist Jeff Float, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, engineer George Oberlander, university mathematics professor Dr. David James, law professor Bonnie Poitras Tucker, executive Carolyn Ginsburg, foundation head Mildred Oberkotter, architect Tom Fields, accountant and institute executive director Ken Levinson, finance manager Michael Janger, school administrator Kathleen Suffridge Treni, and teacher Karen Kirby tell of their experiences and stories, discuss what helped and what hindered them, and offer advice to parents of deaf children. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Jim Reisler has written books covering such topics as baseball, the deaf, and sportswriters. He lives in Irvington, New York.

Jim Reisler
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 174
Bibliographic Info: photos, resources, index
Copyright Date: 2002
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1266-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8413-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     vii
Preface     xi
Introduction     1

Kristin Buehl     5
Tom Fields     14
Jeff Float     23
Carolyn Ginsburg     33
Evelyn Glennie     39
David James     52
Michael Janger     60
Karen Kirby     69
Ken Levinson     81
Ralph Marra     94
Mildred Oberkotter     105
George Oberlander     112
Kathleen Suffridge Treni     133
Bonnie Poitras Tucker     143

Helpful Resources     149
Index     159