Growing up Deaf - Part 11

Going to School - Grades 6-9

From sixth to mid-seventh grades after a move to another city in Florida, was the beginning of the teasing stage, though it wasn't too bad. It was here that I was beginning to get some more socialization with other deaf outside the classroom. There was this interpreter in church, but my signing skills were still not that great at the time> An adult friend and I managed to learn together sometimes by watching the interpreter.

This was also the time when I started having class schedules and changed classrooms. One of the classes that stuck with me even years later was Home Economics. In this class, we did some sewing, cooking, that sort of thing. I'm still doing some of that stuff today, even hand- and machine-sewing. I think I still have a recipe or two from back then. One English teacher was a fast talker, so it wasn't easy for me to keep up with her at times. Another was a science teacher that had laryngitis for a week. I understood her pretty well.

The School From Hell starts in mid seventh til ninth grades when we move to Louisiana. This was also when my brother was literally dragged, kicking and screaming, from home to school now and then. Maybe I should have denied knowing him when people brought him up at school.

Since I was just a little older than they were due to my going to kindergarten for two years, some of these kids seemed to be a bit resentful due to that. Most likely, it was a good thing I didn't tell them about that little kindergarten fact as I'd probably never hear the end of it. One of the habitually overly rude kids said in one class, "He doesn't have a tan" after summer break. The teacher ordered him away from me.

So I didn't, smartass. I didn't tan, I burned. Shall I apply a hot torch to your backside where the sun doesn't shine?

At these two particular schools, they had announcements over the loudspeakers. The good thing is that they printed them out beforehand, and I was able to read them. The PE coach lived up the road from me, so it was an opportunity at times to talk with him outside school.

It was also around this time that I heard about MSSD. I had some printed information about it, but do not remember why I never went.

Next - Attending high school.