Disabilities Awareness Month
Tina Terrance speaks about deafness
As part of Disabilities Awareness Month, Indian Time has featured articles on community members who have disabilities they would like our readers to know more about. The previously featured individuals were Aaron Jock who spoke about Down syndrome, Hilary Jacobs who spoke about Osteogenesis Imperfecta, and Shelby Adams who spoke about her daughter Joryan’s autism. Our final feature in the series is with Tina Terrance who is deaf/hearing impaired.
Terrance, 50, was born 100 percent deaf but hasn’t let it stop her from being a mother, grandmother, wife, friend, club president, sign language teacher, and active community member. While being hearing impaired means Terrance has to do some things differently, she feels she gets to live a pretty normal life and does everything people around her do.
As a baby Terrance said she learned American Sign Language easily and it is her first language. Her grandmother was deaf also so her mother knew sign language and Terrance never felt she wasn’t part of the family. Her family always accepted her and she felt comfortable among them. When she was a young girl, her parents sent her to three different schools for the deaf, first in Montreal, then Rochester and finally Rome’s New York State School for the Deaf.
“Since all of the students were deaf, they all became my friends and still remain today,” she said in a written interview. “I am grateful to my parents for sending me to an all deaf school. I wish that other parents of deaf kids would do the same. It’s hard being mainstreamed in regular school because that’s where you are really treated differently.”
Terrance remembers being made fun of as a child because of the way she talked when she tried to.
“I can remember that people thought because I was deaf that I couldn’t talk, so they would ask me to try to speak,” she recalled. “I didn’t think anything of it, so I would try to say words and they would end up making fun of me. When I saw their faces I knew that they were only doing it to laugh at me. From that time on I never tried to speak.”
Despite instances like those, Terrance was happy with her family and the friends she made at her all-deaf schools.
“I always knew that my family would include me in conversations and activities,” she said. “A lot of (other) people would forget to keep me included if they didn’t sign very well.”
Terrance said that while growing up many people around her wanted to learn how to communicate with her and many people learned to sign as a result. This helped her to be able to do all the things people around her did, and she also learned to teach other people sign.
“I always had the support of my father, who encouraged me to do everything and make it possible,” she said.
As an adult, Terrance married and had four children. Parenting came easily to her and she had no fears about it as she had been babysitting since she was 9 years old. First came Carey, then Kimmy, followed by twins Kurt and Cass.
“I knew how to care for a child and with my own I knew what I needed to get so that I would have all the alarms and monitors that are adapted for the deaf,” she said.
Terrance wore a special watch that would vibrate when her baby was crying, and she also had an alarm to keep in bed with her that did the same. Her late husband also helped to make sure their home had everything it needed and she also had help from her mother.
“I always had my mom’s help with the kids and I will always be grateful for that,” she said. “She would baby-sit for me and go with me to the doctors.”
Still, Terrance was happy to do all she could on her own with her kids.
“I enjoyed sewing clothes, costumes, and blankets for them,” she said. “I always signed them up for sports, took them to fairs, water parks, (and) tried to keep them busy and happy.”
Terrance said it was easy to teach her children sign language.
“It was actually easier to communicate with the babies/toddlers since they could sign easier than they could talk,” she said. All of her children were fluent in sign at an early age.
The Terrance home was and is just like any other home except for a flashing doorbell, flashing fire alarm, and a special phone. At her son’s business in Akwesasne, Terrance has access to the type of high speed Internet she needs to use a videophone. She and her deaf friends can talk to one another by signing back and forth. The technology requires fast Internet so that the signs are sent and received instantly and not broken up. Terrance wishes all areas of Akwesasne to high-speed Internet. However, technology like computers and Blackberry cell phones have improved communication in the deaf community, Terrance said.
Working was never a problem for Terrance and deaf people are able to lead successful careers in all areas of the workforce. Terrance has held many jobs throughout her life, but she said her favorite is teaching sign language, which she did for six years and will begin doing again this January. She said that Akwesasne has a large deaf population and there are surprisingly very many who are fluent in sign as well.
While Terrance feels her life is just about normal, there are a few things she wishes the general public knew about people who are deaf.
“I just wish that people would realize not every deaf person is the same,” she said. “We are all individuals with our own personalities. We only have deafness in common.”
She also wishes people didn’t make fun of her or exaggerate their speaking to her. She finds both insulting.
“I don’t do well with people who assume I can read lips,” she said. “I would prefer that they write a note or attempt some kind of sign language, and we can usually manage.”
Another difficulty Terrance faces is needing an interpreter when in public. Her children often do interpreting for her but if she’s alone she said it can be hard finding people in businesses and public places who can interpret for her or speak sign with her.
“Sometimes I have a lot of frustration trying to get interpreters to help get things I need done,” she said. “Usually in bigger cities with large deaf populations you will find more facilities that accommodate the deaf, like Rochester or Washington, D.C. where they have large schools for the deaf.”
Terrance said she would also like to see more interpreter services offered here in Akwesasne for her and many others in the community who are deaf or hearing impaired.
“It would be nice to be able to attend community events where an interpreter is provided,” she said. “Tribal meetings, specialty group meetings, even churches, or the longhouse, or the powwow, etc…I don’t think my life is completely normal. I do enjoy most everything everyone else does, but not knowing what’s going on because I can’t listen to the radio or hear announcements – sometimes I feel left out.”
While the world advances, so do the tools and services offered to the deaf and Terrance appreciates having easier ways to communicate with people as she gets older. She also finds friendship and camaraderie in a large deaf club that is based in Akwesasne and has members from all over New York. Terrance serves as the club’s president and they hold regular social events and functions to bring deaf people together. The club holds dinners, beach parties and typical get-togethers. They also plan group trips.
“I am grateful for the deaf club,” she said. “It keeps all of us in contact with each other across the state on a regular basis. It also keeps us informed of what’s going on in each other’s lives. We regularly plan events that we look forward to.”
In September of 2011, Terrance and the Deaf Club are organizing the very first Spiritual Gathering for the Native Deaf.
“The Native deaf from around the world will be in Akwesasne and we are in the planning stages now,” she said. “Any support, ideas, or contributions would be greatly appreciated.”
Terrance would like the community to know also that learning sign language can be done at any age.
“Anyone can learn sign language if they want to,” she said. “It’s just like learning a second language, like Rosetta Stone. You will be as fluent as you want when you are truly interested in it and use it. Like anything, if you don’t use it, you lose it.”
Reader Comments(0)