Mark Drolsbaugh’s Deaf Again is a fascinating account of the author’s experience growing up deaf and then becoming “deaf again” later in life. Drolsbaugh gives readers a unique insight into the deaf culture, and his story is both eye-opening and inspiring.
Deaf Again is an important book for anyone who wants to better understand the deaf experience. It is also a great read for anyone who is interested in hearing loss or deafness. I would highly recommend Deaf Again to anyone who wants to learn more about the deaf community and its culture.
Deaf Again is about Mark Drolsbaugh’s life, and it was written to demonstrate the world a deaf person’s perspective on how they live their lives. During the first grade, Deaf Again follows Mark Drolsbaugh’s journey from being born hearing to becoming hard of hearing.
Deaf Again also discusses how the Deaf President Now movement in 1988 at Gallaudet University, which fought for the right of deaf people to have their own leader at the helm of the only university in the world designed specifically for them. Deaf Again is an important read for anyone wanting to learn more about the deaf experience and culture.
Mark starts his narrative by describing his mother’s unassisted birth. Don and Sherry Drolsbaugh were deaf and had Mark, who was born able to hear and learned to speak and sign because of them. Everything changed when he was in first grade. Mark’s grandparents were informed, and he was taken to a variety of specialists, including audiologists and speech pathologists, in an attempt to treat his hearing loss.
Nothing worked and Mark’s hearing continued to decline until he was deaf. Deaf Again covers Mark’s life experiences from when he realized he was losing his hearing, to high school, college, and present day.
Mark starts his story by talking about his mother’s natural birth. He was born in Pennsylvania to his deaf parents Don and Sherry Drolsbaugh. Mark was born able to hear and learned to talk and know a little how to sign because of his parents. This all changed when he was in first grade.
Mark began to experience significant hearing loss. His grandparents were informed and Mark was taken to different doctors, audiologists, and speech pathologists to try to fix his deafness. Nothing worked and Mark’s hearing continued to decline until he was deaf. Deaf Again covers Mark’s life experiences from when he realized he was losing his hearing, to high school, college, and present day.
Mark goes into great detail about how frustrating it was to not be able to communicate with his parents. He felt isolated and alone. When he finally became completely deaf, he found comfort in the Deaf community. He met other people who were like him and who understood what he was going through. He learned American Sign Language (ASL) and immersed himself in Deaf culture. Deaf Again is an inspirational story about never giving up and finding where you belong.
Because Mark was not completely deaf, his grandparents clung to what little hearing and speech he had left and tried everything possible to enhance it. All of Mark’s experiences with being deaf made him feel bad about his deafness. Because if he were to attend a school that would sign and help him accept his disability, it would “defeat” Mark’s opportunity for being “fixed.”
Mark’s Deaf friends were not allowed at his house, and he was not even supposed to know how to sign, which caused him a lot of hardship. Mark’s hearing gradually worsened over time, but his grandparents continued to send him to the schools for the “normal” children. When he was around eleven years old Mark met a Deaf adult, Paul Edwards, who showed Mark there was nothing wrong with being Deaf.
This was a turning point for Mark, and he started to learn ASL (American Sign Language). He became more comfortable with himself and realized that Deaf people could do anything Hearing people could do, they just had to find their own way of doing things. ASL gave Mark a new way to communicate and a new identity.
Mark’s Deaf friends introduced him to the Deaf community and Deaf culture. He was finally able to be around people who accepted him for who he was and didn’t try to change him. Mark started to feel at home in the Deaf community and realized that he belonged there.
He found his niche in the Deaf world and became comfortable with himself. After graduating from high school, Mark went on to Gallaudet University, which is a university for the Deaf. He got married and had children, all of whom are deaf. Mark has been active in the Deaf community all his life and has worked to promote Deaf culture.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Deaf culture or is looking for a inspiring story about overcoming adversity. This book was eye-opening for me and gave me a better understanding of what it is like to be Deaf. It also showed me that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.
Mark’s school was hard for him since his classes had more than twenty kids, and the information he needed to learn would only go over his head. Because Mark was deaf, others made fun of him and ridiculed him, thinking he was different because he used hearing aids. Mark got into brawls and received poor report cards that stated that his conduct might be improved. His grandparents made a great judgment call by having Mark switch schools, which is Plymouth Meeting Friends School for short.
This school was a Quaker school, which is a Christian sect that goes back to the seventeenth century. The class sizes were smaller at PMFS and Mark had made Deaf friends there too, so he fit in more. Mark’s Deaf friends would sign with him and show him around the Deaf community. In this Deaf community, Mark had found his place and he loved it.
The Deaf community is tight-knit and supportive, something that Mark needed and didn’t get from the hearing world. Mark Drolsbaugh’s book “Deaf Again” starts offwith his hearing childhood and how he struggled in school and with making friends. He then Deafens himself on purpose as an adult, and joins the Deaf community. Mark tells his story of how he found where he belonged, and it is an inspiring read for Deaf and hearing people alike.