Yesterday’s Field Trip– Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advocacy Day

Posted on April 20th, 2007 by admin

Yesterday, my son David took a field trip to attend an annual “Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advocacy” day. This event is the brainchild of Katie Ward, a supervisor of a program that serves deaf and hard of hearing students in Lockport, Illinois. There were 104 students attending and about 20 parents. Most of the students attend their local schools and some of them attend specialized programs for deaf students.

Earlier in the year, the students were encouraged to share a story about their life and the different ways that they advocate for themselves. Unfortunately, David’s itinerant teacher forgot to share that information with us so we weren’t able to participate. David’s good friend, Aubrey Millar, won an award as a semi-finalist for her wonderful powerpoint presentation.

This year, there were nine deaf and hard of hearing adults who shared a bit about their life– their careers, travels and advocacy tips. There was a financial advisor, a marketing specialist, vision teacher, village trustee, physical education teacher, band director, network administrator, stay-at-home mom and an audiologist. Each of them had the same message to share:

“Don’t let anything stop you from acheiving your dreams.”

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