Page 88 - ARAlbumsWesternNYAlumniChapter1968-1992

From page 1B

everything," she said.

"I lost a l.ot ofmy friends too ....

They don't have patience with me.
Or they thqught 1 was a different

person. They thought I should re-

late to deaf people, I had no idea

how to relate to deaf people. I didn't

even know sign language. I didn't
know the culture."

Wenokur got a TDD, telecom-
munications device for the deaf, but

didn't know any deaf people to call.

Peroni plummeted into a tailspin

of dependency and desperation.

He went from one doctor to an-

other seeking a cure. He relied on

his family to do even the simplest

tasks for him' - make phone calls,
appointments, tell hearing people
he couldn't hear. .

Then he was plunged into the

deaf world. '

His parents took him to Gallau-
det University in Washington, D.C.,

for two weeks of intensive sign lan-

guage instruction. Since Peroni

knew only a little American Sign

Language, he got the cold shoulder

from students there who are fluent

in ASL, he said. . .

"I had the idea that the deaf

community at that time would em-

brace me, accept me fully solely on

the basis of my deafness," said Per-

oni, now an instructor at the Na-

tional Technical Institute for the

Deaf. '.

"It did not work.out that way.

Integrating into .the deaf world

takes a lot of work and preserver- ,
ance." .. ,

While many people who are born
deaf enjoy deaf culture and deaf-
ness, those who lose their hearing