Train Go Sorry
Inside a Deaf World
by Leah Hager Cohen, 1994 The Lexington School for the Deaf got started in 1864, the first school in the United States devoted to the oral method of instruction for deaf students. Over the years it has evolved, and when ASL began to be recognized as a legitimate language, Lexington stopped prohibiting sign. Oscar Cohen, the son of Deaf parents, one of whom attended Lexington (but didn't learn to speak) was the superintendent of Lexington. His daughter, the author of this book, got interested in the Deaf that way. This book follows five interwoven stories: those of the Lexington school, student Sofia Normatov, student James Taylor, Deaf culture, and the author herself.
Hager is sometimes an interpreter, who follows the interpreter's code that says that what is represented must be represented exactly. Some parts of the book, especially those in which Hager attempts to represent controversy, read as though Hager is trying to be an interpreter, as though she is not giving her opinions blatantly. This hurts the narrative because Hager is opinionated, strongly. Hager's explanation of Judaism is also somewhat confusing (Sofia's parents are dubbed Orthodox Jews though they have a female rabbi).
According to reviewers, Hager has provided a window into Deaf culture. An apt comparison in
Train Go Sorry gives a much better metaphor. Hager points out that interpreters for the Deaf are the only interpreters who regularly interpret into a language they are not at home in. This alters and inhibits their interpretations. Too, Hager is not a member of Deaf culture. As she states, she is a hearing adult member of Hearing culture. She did not grow up in Deaf culture. Her window is into the world of hearing people interacting with the Deaf, not a view into Deaf culture itself. That said, readers can go ahead and look into the world of the hearing who work with the Deaf.
Happy reading.
Finding Ben
A Mother's Journey Through the Maze of Asperger's
by Barbara Lasalle, 2003 Benjamin Levinson spoke early, walked late. He spoke about his books (he read early too) and about streets and trains. His mother's friends wished their babies were more like him. They wished their babies sat still and learned to read from watching Sesame Street. But as their children grew older, they saw Ben as worse and not better. He couldn't draw an approximate line, not even with a straight edge. He couldn't draw. He made no friends. Sports were way too hard to interest him. Neither of his parents wanted him. Sent to boarding school for a year, he lost 40 pounds in a month. After misdiagnoses galore, group homes, mental institutions, and extreme obesity, Ben and his mother finally were told that Ben is autistic. It was, said Ben, the happiest day of his life. It paved the road for his mother's eventual acceptance of her son.
This book was painful for me. Towards the book's end, Ben's story contains quite a bit of luck, but first it contains some of the most awful things that could happen to an autist. Reading this book makes me feel very lucky that Ben's story is not my story. It is a testimony to the power of knowing that people are different, and of the good that comes of accepting it.
This story makes some attempt to be Ben's as well as his mother's, but it remains mostly his mother's anyhow. According to the book, Ben had a website in which he wrote about himself, but I cannot find it.
Serious reading.
