Book Report Deaf Again
Book Report: Deaf Again by Mark Drolsbaugh
Deaf Again is the story of Mark Drolsbaugh, and was written to show the world a deaf perspective, of how they live, struggle on a daily basis. Deaf Again is about Mark Drolsbaugh journey from being born hearing, to becoming hard of hearing during the first grade, and the difficulties of being forced into the mainstream and not knowing of the joys of the deaf community and deaf culture until he is in his twenties. 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. Since Mark was not completely deaf, his grandparents held on tightly to what hearing and speech their grandson had left and to find ways to improve it. All the negativity that Mark dealt with towards being deaf, made him also feel negative towards his deafness. His Grandparents believed the way to improve Mark’s hearing was for him to keep attending school with children who could hear, because if he were to go to a school that would sign and help him accept his deafness it would “ruin” Mark’s chance at being able to be “fixed”. School was difficult for Mark because his classrooms contained more than twenty students and the information he had to learn would only go over his head. Mark would wear hearing aids, and because of this he was also ridiculed and made fun, because he was different. Mark would get into fights and have report cards saying that his behavior could be improved. Mark’s grandparents made a smart move and had Mark transfer to Plymouth Meeting Friends School, PMFS for short. It was a small school with two teachers and eight
Deaf Again is the story of Mark Drolsbaugh, and was written to show the world a deaf perspective, of how they live, struggle on a daily basis. Deaf Again is about Mark Drolsbaugh journey from being born hearing, to becoming hard of hearing during the first grade, and the difficulties of being forced into the mainstream and not knowing of the joys of the deaf community and deaf culture until he is in his twenties. 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. Since Mark was not completely deaf, his grandparents held on tightly to what hearing and speech their grandson had left and to find ways to improve it. All the negativity that Mark dealt with towards being deaf, made him also feel negative towards his deafness. His Grandparents believed the way to improve Mark’s hearing was for him to keep attending school with children who could hear, because if he were to go to a school that would sign and help him accept his deafness it would “ruin” Mark’s chance at being able to be “fixed”. School was difficult for Mark because his classrooms contained more than twenty students and the information he had to learn would only go over his head. Mark would wear hearing aids, and because of this he was also ridiculed and made fun, because he was different. Mark would get into fights and have report cards saying that his behavior could be improved. Mark’s grandparents made a smart move and had Mark transfer to Plymouth Meeting Friends School, PMFS for short. It was a small school with two teachers and eight