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Final Presentation Paper

Final Presentation Paper

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Published by: Daniel Waters Everton on Dec 17, 2010
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Everton 1Daniel W. EvertonS. LygrenDST21011 December, 2010My Deaf Person: The Final ProjectFrom the audiogram given to me by Sandy, my person is on the moderate-severe scale, leaning
more towards moderate. From this, I built my deaf person: Richard “Rick”
Wanbli, a deaf NativeAmerican who had meningitis which resulted in his deafness (A.D.A.M).Rick comes from the Santee-Sioux tribe, located in Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.Rosebud is one of the more poor reservations in the Sioux area, and Rick is no exception. His family ispoor, but manages. Early Intervention is nearly non-existent on the reservation, and that is part of hisfirst barrier. The other part is his early education, which has only two aides that do not use the samesigned languages (one uses ASL, the other Signed English). Rick is unable to attend a Deaf schoolbecause of both the cost and distance, but also the fact that enrolled tribal children attend the localtribal school. Another issue is that at the Indian School he
s put in SPED classes; being in a mix of possibly some other deaf individuals with a majority of mentally disabled children is difficult to managein one setting. Majority of the attention will be on the children that may have autism, D
syndrome,and other MR pieces. The education may also be dumbed down, to be applicable for the more mildly toseverely retarded children. Rick is capable of performing at a hearing level, if given the opportunity.At home, his family does learn some ASL and Plains Indian Sign Lang
uage. Rick’s sister was
inspired by having a deaf brother to eventually go into interpreting, and also became a great resourcefor sign. So while his family did have little educational opportunities for him, he did have a basis of 
Everton 2communication and language, which is essential for developing minds (Scheetz). He was able to learn toread quite well, even though his tribal school put him in SPED classes.
Rick’s home life became unstable with his mother’s alcohol
addiction. Due to high poverty levelsand a prevalence of drug/alcohol abuse during the post-colo
nization times, it is not unlikely for Rick’s
mother to fall prey to it (Beauvais). He was put with his grandparents after social workers found thehome unfit. However, unlike Pine Ridge (another Sioux reservation, with a bit more resources), Rosebud
does not have its’ own social workers. Most borrowed social workers are ill
-equipped for dealing with
the cultural differences between their culture and Native American culture and norms. Rick’s home was
deemed unfit because he and his siblings share a room, which was a limited space anyhow, and that toomany people lived in the small house. Culturally, having an open door for family members is traditionaland still practiced amongst Plains people, so it is not unusual to have a large group of your family stayingthe night or the week, especially if they are traveling far between places.
His grandparents’ place was much the same, so they were soon deemed unfit as well. Custody
was placed with his father for a brief moment of time, and because his grandparents were slow and notwell versed with the legal system, they could not prepare to gain custody of Rick and his brother (both
sisters were off the reservation at this time, at school). Rick’s father signed off custody, thus changing
 custodianship to the state and no longer the tribe.
Rick’s brother, who was 16, skipped the foster care
system and jumped around from place to place, typically staying at distant relatives or friends houses onand off the reservation. Rick was then adopted out to a family in Scranton, Pennsylvania.The family was a typical white suburban family. Dad, mom, two kids (boy and girl). Thedifferences between them were obvious: Rick was Native and deaf, his family was white and hearing.This created quite a divide already. His sisters were not notified of the adoption until it was too late, andthey could not gain custody. However, they fought for the right of visitation which was granted. Despite
Everton 3all this, Rick adjusted very well. He was active at the school he attended (Scranton State School for theDeaf), participating in sports and making deaf friends. He was not living there residentially at this time,so he had little to no affiliation to the dorms. He was popular, but distant to his family. Feelings of beingostracized are common amongst children to hearing adults, more so if there are language (Scheetz) andcultural barriers.Towards late middle school, Rick was like any typical teen and was exploring himself and his newpubescent body, and was curious about boys. He was caught by a staff individual in the locker room witha class and teammate from the basketball team, kissing him. The school reported it to the parents, andboth Rick and the other male student admitted that Rick did initiate
the “lewd act”. This prompted the
parents of the other male student to argue sexual harassment, indecency, conduct code violation, etc.Anything they could come up with, you name it. Zero Tolerance, which is portrayed as some magnificentsafety net for LGBTQI children to be protected from bullying, can be used against them in incidents like
this. With the Zero Tolerance policy, the student can face expulsion. Rick’s family opted to transfer him
to a different Deaf school in Pennsylvania, out in Pittsburg. This reaction and rejection from the school,parents, and other members involved creates an association that what Rick did is fundamentally wrong,and is unacceptable (Kaufman, Raphael).Rick attended Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for high school located in Philadelphia. Heexcelled academically, especially with support from his sister Amy Mae (the interpreter). He didcontinue to explore his sexuality, and his adoptive sister and Amy Mae helped by going to PFLAG withhim and being supportive. After graduating, Rick attended Community College of Philadelphia. Servicesand teachers were generally nice, and with the deaf school nearby and a significant deaf population,support was easily at hand. He also managed to get closer to his adoptive sister as well, though his other

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