//BIGGIE
Asilent MATTER
Sophomore’s mom lives in sound-free world
BY MAWAL SIDI
mawalsidi@csdecatur.net
each morning and the sound of her mother stepping into the shower. She can hear her mother preparing dinner each night when she comes home. Dennis’s mother, Latoya Smith, can- not. Smith spends every moment in silence. Smith lost her hearing at the age of five.
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Her hearing loss was due to Spinal Men- ingitis, an infection that attacks the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Because Smith has used sign language for the majority of her life, she took the oppor- tunity to teach her children sign-language when they were toddlers. Because Dennis feels competent with sign language, she was able to interpret her mother’s signed responses for this interview. While Dennis signs to her mother, she also mouths out the words.“It helps that my mom can also read lips,” she said.“I am not a pro at signing, but I am getting there.” Growing up, Smith’s siblings did not
know how to sign. “I would have to write things out for them,” she said. Each time she wanted to communicate, she was forced to find another, different way to tell them what was needed. Dennis shares this with her mother, when in public often being the
38 CARPE DIEM • OCTOBER 2011
ophomore Denise Dennis can hear the sound of the refrigerator buzzing in the next room, the television chattering after dinner. She can hear the alarm clock
only other person in the room who knows how to sign. “It’s one of those things where you realize how much you use verbal com- munication,” Dennis said. Inability to communicate through sign
language with her family often keeps Smith from attending family gatherings. Often, in place of attending gatherings with the family, Smith attends deaf gatherings. Once a month, a large portion of the deaf
community comes from different parts of the world to an exclusive gathering held in the Southeast. Tey attend free clinics and go to casinos and festivals, as well as many other forms of entertainment. “Tere is also a huge deaf community out
there that is filled with deaf culture,” Princi- pal of the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, Vanessa Robisch said. “Some people who are deaf may not associate much with the deaf community, but there are others who are very proud of the culture of deafness.”
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