Deaf History Month means more, I suppose, to someone who is deaf or has a deaf family member, but should mean something to all of us, as none of us are guaranteed that we will hear well for the rest of our lives. For our family it is significant, because my youngest brother is deaf, along with other disabilities, due to an illness in infancy.
The observance of Deaf History Month came to be due to some key events that took place in the time period it covers. While many month-long observances cover a single month, this one spans two…the dates are from March 14th through April 15th. The key events that took place that make that time period significant are:
March 13 - On this date in 1988 the “Deaf President Now” movement succeeds, and Irving King Jordan becomes President of Gallaudet University.
April 8 - On this date in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter establishing a college for the deaf, so April 8th became known as Gallaudet Charter Day in honor of the start the first University for the deaf, Gallaudet University.
April 15 - On this date in 1817, the first public school for the deaf is opened, the “American School for the Deaf”
For me, memories of having a brother who is deaf are first and foremost in my mind when I hear “Deaf History Month”. Along with being deaf, he has other disabilities as a result of having Spinal Meningitis when he was a baby, only 6 months old while we were on a family vacation. The impact that a disabled family member has on a family is dramatic, and can take many twists and turns, but I will tell you that God has been faithful in providing for us, and for my brothers needs in the past and for the future.
When he was young, there were no programs for what was referred to as “multiply handicapped” children, so he didn’t fit in a deaf school because of his other disabilities. There is much more support for families with disabled children now, and I hope it will continue to be something that our government will support, no matter how poor the economic outlook is.
I join many today who remember Neil Armstrong stepping down from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and making that first small step on the moon…I was working at a summer camp in New Hampshire during summer break from high school 40 years ago today, it was getting close to dinner time here on the east coast. We stayed in a dorm-type setting, and there were people camping with campers and tents in the campground.
Many of us gathered around a particular camper that had a screened-in section and television set up on their picnic table. The TV screen was small, the picture black and white, and the image was snowy and a bit difficult to see, but we did see that amazing moment when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and the footage that followed.
The space program was important to our family…my Dad was working for the aeronautics division of a company at the time, an electrical engineer, and designed parts for air and space travel. When Kennedy declared that we were going to go to the moon, it was a boost to the industry, and more job security and new jobs for people who did work like my father did. I remember in particular one of the unmanned viking missions for which he had designed a part that was to allow an arm to reach out and scoop up soil samples. I remember him watching and listening intently to the news that day to see if what he had designed had worked. His name is up there on the moon somewhere as everyone who had a part in the designing had their name sent up to the moon with the ship. Exactly how that was done, or where the names are, I don’t remember as I type right now off the top of my head, but do know that is a part of our family history stored away somewhere in my papers.
So today is not only a wonderful memory of an amazing historic moment, but brings back fond memories of my Dad.
How could I forget the first Earth Day? It was my last year of high school, and being April 22, 1970, it was only a couple months before graduation. I’m sure my focus at that time was on the day I would FINALLY be finished with school…at least the schooling you didn’t have a choice about…but I do remember caring about the environment and natural things from early childhood, so the day had some significance to me.
The “hippy” movement had been going on for some time, and the “Jesus” movement was still to come. Rebelling against “the establishment” was “groovy” and though there were elements of the rebellion that weren’t good, the desire to return to natural things that took place then, and we see repeating itself now, was taking shape in a very big way.
One way that this was expressed was by setting aside a day to focus on the environment, and wake up “the establishment” to the need to conserve our natural resources. I wasn’t part of the “college scene” yet, but knew a lot about demonstrations…so very popular at the time, anti-war demonstrations, anti-this, anti-that. People gathered by the thousands to show their support for a concept started by an environmentalist and politician, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin.
Next year will be the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, where did the time go? Have we learned anything?
Today as I hear the news about deploying missile destroyers to N. Korea, for some reason memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis came to mind…maybe it’s the news report today plus the fact that we watched a movie we love, “White Squall” this weekend, and in it there is mention of the Bay of Pigs and a confrontation with a Cuban ship. I guess that’s all coming together to remind me of those tense days in the early 1960’s.
Starting my life in the 1950’s meant that we were steeped in “cold war” thinking, and at least for me, I found myself wondering when the button would be pushed that would annihilate us all, yes, I know, sounds extreme, but being one who thinks a lot, the mind can go in so many places it probably would be best to avoid….especially for an impressionable child. I remember “air raid drills” when we were in school, interesting, because I attended a private school that used old, abandoned army barracks for classrooms…going out into the hallway and sitting along the cold, cinder block walls with our hands over our heads. That can strike fear in any child!
Of course we had television, but the radio was on all the time, and during the hourly news updates, I found myself sitting very close to it to hear what the latest report would be. I remember praying a lot, and keeping my Bible close, even at at school, after all, God is not something you can touch and hold, but His Word was something I could hold in my hands, the closest tangible connection, and brought great comfort. I also remember Mom reminding her sometimes-fearful child that God would take care of us, there was nothing to fear.
At times I think that the world is more dangerous than it was back then, but the truths that Mom shared are the same, and my source of comfort hasn’t changed.
