Disabilities and Journalism Lifetime impairments or temporary setbacks do little to deter reporters, photographers or their sources
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Being a journalist is a tough job. Every day journalists overcome tremendous odds to get the story or photo. Some journalists, however, have to overcome additional challenges, ranging from being blind to fighting cancer. Not all their challenges are permanent. Having a broken leg can be as much of a hindrance in the short run as being paralyzed in the long run. Still, the stories of how student journalists and their advisers have overcome offer everyone lessons in perseverance and determination — essential qualities for every reporter, editor, photographer and graphic designer as well as pacesetting advisers. COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 5
Temporarily disabled Workshop participants challenged to increase sensitivity CONTRIBUTED BY SUSAN ROBERTS WITH INTRODUCTION BY CIARA NIKI MAJOR October marks disability and diversity awareness month in the United States. To assist student journalists in accurately portraying persons with disabilities in the media, the Texas Governor’s Committee on people with disabilities hosted a workshop at United Space Alliance in Houston about how to use positive, progressive and personable language when writing about people with disabilities. The workshop was led by Joe Bontke from the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, Nancy Schubert and Laurie Gurkenred from TGC. To help students increase the feeling within their stories, newspaper staff members were issued a challenge: take on a disability for a day. Their summaries reflect their experiences and insights.
HANDICAPPED, DISABLED, IMPAIRED In general, do not describe an individual as disabled or handciapped unless it is clearly pertinent to a story. If such a description must be used, make it clear what the handicap is and how much the person’s physical or mental performance is affected. Some terms include: disabled • a general term used for a condition that interferes with an individual’s ability to do something independently handicap • it should be avoided in describing a disability blind • describes a person with complete loss of sight. For others, use terms such as partially blind deaf • describes a person with total hearing loss; for others, use partial hearing loss or partially deaf mute • describes a person who physically cannot speak; others with speaking difficulties are speech impaired wheelchair-bound • do not use this or variations; a person may use a wheelchair occasionally or may have to use it for mobility; if it is needed, say why
Niki Major, junior, attempts to go through the junior parking lot, but finds the journey difficult as she gets caught in a pothole. Photo by Jason DeLeon
SOURCE: Associated Press Stylebook
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NIKI MAJOR: MOBILELY HANDICAPPED The constant questions — “Niki, are you okay? What happened?” — were annoying as I frequently had to explain that my use of a wheelchair for a day was merely an experiment for the newspaper. Most people I passed seemed genuinely concerned. Friends who did not know about the experiment were shocked to see me. Some came close to tears, but a few acted as though it were no big thing. However, everybody’s reactions seemed genuine so at least I know people do care. Some people I passed actually laughed. How can somebody’s differences be funny? I found nothing comical about the experiment, and I still fail to understand how people make fun of their differences, the things that make us unique in this “uniform” world. A few friends tried to wheel me around as though I were incapable of getting myself places. People looked at me and treated me with pity. There is nothing I hate more than pity so, needless to say, I was quite upset.
Going through the day seemed business as usual at first. However, as a dance assistant, I obviously couldn’t do my job. I could not physically dance and could not physically express myself. Therefore, I had to find a new way. We also happened to have a pep rally that day, and I am usually active as one of the school’s mascots. I was not able to wheel myself onto the field because it is not terribly accessible so I sat out of a pep rally, a decision that depressed me even more. I physically was not able to do the things I loved. I soon became aware of how people can wallow in self-pity, but I could never let that happen to me. I have so much to live for, as everybody else does, so why let something small, something that I should celebrate as a new reason to stand out in a crowd, get me down? My teachers helped me throughout the day by rearranging desks so I could move around. I noticed there was insufficient space for wheelchairs in almost every classroom I went to that day. My friends at lunch moved to the end of the table so I could sit with them. Do people always make these special agreements for people in wheelchairs? Shouldn’t they already be available? The real challenge of the day was SUMMER 2004
going to the restroom. I was in “C” building, one of the older portions of the building, and it has two doors in the entrance. Because of the second door, it took me nearly five minutes to get inside the restroom. A work order has now been filled out, courtesy of Principal David Drake, to get the second door removed. Once in the restroom, I had to wait for the person, able bodied, who was in the one accessible stall although the other four stalls were open. From now on, I will always leave the accessible stall open. That morning, I had parked in the junior parking lot, the land of potholes, which is currently under construction. Getting out to my car on the rugged asphalt and dropping down the curb was a nuisance. Now I understand why it is essential to have accessible parking closer to the building. DEWAYNE CHAPA: VISUALLY IMPAIRED Getting around took longer than usual because I typically speed walk everywhere I go. When the day was over, I had bruises and blisters on my hands, along with a new outlook about how my life would be different and how I would adjust if I could not use my eyes. The thought of not having my sight for a whole day was not as overwhelming as it should have been. It did not really sink in that I would not be able to see the little things that make me, a person who has enjoyed having eyesight since birth, worth living. When someone does something of this magnitude, they must be aware of what is to come, scholastically. When I chose to do this, I knew that I would somehow have to work it out with my teachers so I did not get behind in my school work. My teachers were more than cooperative. They made sure that the experiment ran smoothly so I was not overwhelmed with homework once I had the use of my sight back. I can remember asking myself whether students who were actually blind got this sort of leniency, or if they even had to go through this? I knew that my experience was SUMMER 2004
merely a fraction of what a blind person goes through because I could quit being blind after the day was over, but they couldn’t. The realization was probably the thing that hit me the hardest, the thing that I know I will never forget. My work was cut out for me. I knew that it would take explaining, not simply once but every time someone asked. When the day arrived, two friends agreed to ride to school with me so they could direct me through the day. As I sat in my first-period class, I realized I had to learn to rely on my other senses if I wanted to maintain my sanity for the day. I sat there trying to picture the equations that my teacher was explaining to the others in the class. Once I felt something hit the side of my head, and I was later told it was a paper ball. The missile caught me off guard because students who are supposed to be “the future of society” were not mature enough to understand the experiment. I became so frustrated with students asking me what was going on that I attempted to put an explanatory sign on my forehead explaining. But I knew that would simply cause people to stop me and read the sign. Telling them took less time. Being dependent on others was also stressful. As the day progressed, I realized that not everyone was equally mature. Some students would never understand. Also, I learned to use my hearing more so I heard interesting conversations. I also picked up on conversations when students were talking about what I was doing. I learned to ignore their comments. I knew that what I was doing was helping myself as well as others in the process.
DISABILITY, HANDICAP
disability, disabled • General term used for functional limitations that limits one or more of the major life activities such as walking, lifting, learning, breathing, etc. Different laws define disability differently. When describing an individual do not include their disability unless it is clearly pertinent to a story. If it is, it is best to use people first language, for example: “The writer, who has a disability...” as opposed to “The disabled writer….” Disability and the people who have disabilities are not monolithic. Do not refer to “The Disabled” as that would be similar to referring to “The Asians.” “The Jews” or “The AfricanAmericans.” Instead, use “disability community,” “disability activist,” etc.
DeWayne Chapa, sophomore, walks into the building with help from classmate Evelyn Crawford, junior. Photo by Jason DeLeon
handicap, handicapped • Should be avoided in describing a disability. Can be used when citing laws and situations. SOURCE: National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ)
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 7
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
National Center on Disability and Journalism National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) is an independent journalism organization formed to educate journalists and educators about disability reporting issues to produce more accurate, fair and diverse news reporting. NCDJ is committed to educating about the complexity of disability issues and the range of perspectives available on them. Only through open, diverse and inclusive dialogue will disability reporting become more accurate. NCDJ offers two programs: 1. Research, development and distribution of educational and resource materials for journalists and educators to use in the newsroom, educational organizations, and college and university classrooms. Materials include a newsletter, style guide, curricula and mentorship program.
Miranda Scarborough, La Porte High School sophomore, attempts to talk to classmate Danielle Dominguez, freshman, without full hearing ability during her experiment. Photo by Jason DeLeon
2. Student internships where students get hands-on experience by participating in the educational materials program. National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ) 944 Market Street, Suite 829 San Francisco, CA 94102-4019 415-291-0868 www.ncdj.org
8 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
MIRANDA SCARBOROUGH: A HEARING PROBLEM I put in the earplugs I had purchased for the experiment as I left the house. Though I could still hear loud noises, I felt as though I was partially deaf. I thought, “This is going to be easy.” When I arrived at school, I headed to my locker as I always do to talk to my friends. But that day was different. Every time someone addressed me I had to explain the earplugs somehow. Eventually they stopped talking to me directly. I felt isolated. Now that I had a disability, it felt as though nobody wanted me around. First and second periods weren’t that difficult. In first period, we were given a packet. In second period, I had to gather information for a project. Because both assignments required no communication, it was fairly easy to finish. Lunch is when I realized how difficult communicating would be. We tried to use hand signs and gestures. The process would have been a lot more effective if my friends and I had known sign language. After several minutes we resorted to using pen and paper. Third period was more stressful. My teacher lectured that period so I did not have the slightest idea what to do when I was handed a worksheet covering what had just been taught. I was unable to take notes and everyone else’s notes were unhelpful. I was eventually directed to use a book.
My teacher was somewhat helpful, but he kept asking me to repeat myself. Every time I spoke, I became louder and louder. At first I knew I probably was not speaking clearly enough, but by the fourth time I became annoyed. I wondered whether people who are actually deaf were ever offended. No doubt they have to try harder than a person who isn’t deaf to get their points across. I had to struggle to finish the assignment with a vague idea of what to do. By the time fourth period had rolled around, I was tired and ready to go home. I could not keep up with (state testing) practice or any of the worksheets. Thankfully, I understood the lesson from the day before. After everyone had finished, the class was allowed to talk. Everyone … except me. I began to wonder, “If I were actually deaf, would I be able to enjoy things that I do now, such as going to movies, going to concerts, passing through a drive-thru and talking on the phone?” At home I concentrated on my homework, which was a first. My parents were frustrated when they tried to get my attention. And again, communication was the biggest problem. After a while I began to catch on to their hand gestures. To complete the experiment, I kept the earplugs in ’til I went to bed. I had never been so appreciative of hearing. I also felt that it was unfair. A person with a disability cannot simply stop having it at the end of the day. Nor do they choose what they can and cannot do. As a hearing person, I now understand that communicating is hard for both parties so everyone needs to approach it with more patience and more empathy. n
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TIPS FOR
JOURNALISTS
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Prohibits discrimination and requies reasonable accommodation
Tips for
Interviewing people with disabilities
THE BEST TIP
Ask the expert – the person you are interviewing – about how best to provide their accommodation.
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
• Ask the interviewee if they require any specific accommodation. (Wheelchair access, quiet place, interpreter, etc.) If unsure about how to provide the accommodation, ask the interviewee.
• Allow plenty of time for the interview. Some accommodations require additional time (for example: interpreters, speech boards, etc.)
SETTING UP THE INTERVIEW
• Place yourself and the camera (if applicable) at interviewee’s eye level. • If the interview will take place on a platform, and the interviewee has a physical disability, be sure there is proper physical access to the interviewing area.
DURING THE INTERVIEW
• When interviewing a person with disability, speak directly to that person and maintain eye contact rather than interacting directly with an interpreter or companion. • Use the same interviewing techniques and manner as you usually do. Speak in relaxed, everyday tones.
• When talking with a person with a hearing loss, be sure to face them and do not cover your mouth when you speak. Place yourself so that you face the light source and are not backlit. Make
DISABILITY OVERVIEW Disability law is largely regulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which took effect July 26, 1992, prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disability as any of the following: • a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of the individual; • a record of such impairment; and • being regarded as having such an impairment. While alcoholism is included as a disability, other socially undesirable behavior is excluded from the Act. For example, sexual behavior disorders such as pedophilia as well as transvestism, compulsive gambling and pyromania are excluded. Some people are explicitly excluded from coverage, including: • current users of illegal drugs (but those with a history of drug or alcohol abuse are covered, and an employer may continue to conduct drug tests on employees for illegal drugs); • those with “sexual behavior disorders,” such as transvestism or transsexualism; • those who have the conditions of compulsive gambling, kleptomania or pyromania. Other individuals who are protected in certain circumstances include those, such as parents, who have an association with an individual known to have a disability and those who are coerced or subjected to retaliation for assisting people with disabilities in asserting their rights under the ADA. While the employment provisions of the ADA apply to employers of 15 employees or more, its public accommodations provisions
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apply to all sizes of business, regardless of number of employees. State and local governments are covered regardless of size. The Act, however, does not list all impairments covered. ADA further requires that reasonable accommodation be made so as to provide individuals with disabilities equal opportunities. Agencies and departments charged with enforcement of ADA include the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Justice. States may pass disability statutes so long as they are consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other statutes prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities include the Fair Housing Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Air Carrier Access Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. ADA: A BRIEF OVERVIEW Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act is a wideranging legislation intended to make American Society more accessible to people with disabilities. It is divided into five titles: Employment (Title I): Business must provide reasonable accommodations to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of employment. Possible changes may include restructuring jobs, altering the layout of workstations or modifying equipment. Employment aspects may include the application process, hiring, wages, benefits and all other aspects of employment. Medical examinations are highly regulated. Public Services (Title II): Public services, which include state and local government instrumentalities, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and other commuter authorities, cannot deny services to people with disabilities nor participation in programs or activities that are available to people without disabilities. In addition, public transportation systems, such as public transit buses, must be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
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Public Accommodations (Title III): All FACTS ABOUT THE AMERICANS new construction and modifications must be WITH DISABILITIES ACT accessible to individuals with disabilities. For A qualified employee or applicant with a existing facilities, barriers to services must be disability is an individual who, with or withremoved if readily achievable. Public accom- out reasonable accommodation, can perform modations include facilities such as restau- the essential functions of the job in question. rants, hotels, grocery stores, retail stores, Reasonable accommodation may include but etc., as well as privately owned transporta- is not limited to: tion systems. • Making existing facilities used by employTelecommunications (Title IV): Telecom ees readily accessible to and usable by munications compapersons with disnies offering telephone abilities. service to the public • Job restructuring, must have telephone modi fying work relay service to individschedules, reassignFOR JOURNALISTS uals who use telecomment to a vacant munication devices position; for the deaf (TTYs) or • Acquiring or mod similar devices. ifying equipment or Miscellaneous (Title devices, adjusting V): Includes a provimodifying exams, sion prohibiting either training materials or The Americans with Disabilities (a) coercing or threatpolicies and providAct (ADA) of 1990 took effect ening or (b) retaliating ing qualified readers July 26, 1992. It prohibits against the disabled or or interpreters. private employers, state those attempting to aid An employer is and local governments, people with disabilities required to make an employment agencies and labor in asserting their rights accommodation to unions from discriminating under the ADA. the known disability against individuals with of a qualified applidisabilities. It also requires WHY DO WE NEED cant or employee if employers to make reasonable IT? it would not impose accommodations for people In the United States, an “undue hardship” with disabilities. 43 million individuon the operation als have physical or of the employer’s mental disabilities. Too business. Undue often they are excluded from the mainstream hardship is defined as an action requiring of American life by attitudes and inacces- significant difficulty or expense when considsible environments. Sixty-seven percent of ered in light of factors such as an employer’s all people with disabilities are unemployed, size, financial resources and the nature and even among college graduates. The ADA structure of its operation. benefits everyone as each person has a 20 An employer is not required to lower percent chance of becoming a person with a quality or production standards to make an disability and a 50 percent chance of having accommodation, nor is an employer oblia family member with a disability. n gated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids. n
TIPS
SOURCE: Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) of the U.S. Department of Labor.
SOURCE:The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
sure you talk when the person is looking at you.
• When meeting an interviewee who has a visual impairment, identify yourself and others who may be with you. When conversing in a group, remember to identify the person to whom you are speaking. • Listen attentively when you are talking with a person who has difficulty speaking. Be patient and wait for the person to finish, rather than correcting or speaking for them. Never pretend to understand if you are having difficulty doing so. Instead, repeat what you have understood and allow the person to respond.
• When covering an event where a sign or oral interpreter is present, be aware of the communication between an interpreter or real time captioner and the person using their services. Avoid walking between them or blocking their communication while taking a photograph. Often people who use interpreters are located near the front in a designated section. Remember, blocking this communication is like pulling the plug on the public address system.
OTHER ETIQUETTE SUGGESTIONS
• Focus on the person you are interviewing, not the disability.
• Shake hands when greeting a person with a disability. People with prosthetics or limited hand motion usually shake hands.
• If you offer assistance, wait until the offer is accepted. Then listen or ask for instructions. • A wheelchair or other assistive devise is part of the person’s body space. Don’t lean or hang on a person’s wheelchair.
• Service animals and guide dogs are working. Do not make eye contact, praise, talk or pet the animal. It is distracting for the animal and owner. © 2002, National Center on Disability and Journalism. Reprinted with permission.
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COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 11
Tips for teaching deaf students BY STEPHANIE MARTINELL
Make sure you have the deaf students’ attention. Remember they cannot hear you so you may need to flash the lights, tap on the desk or touch them to get their attention. When communicating with deaf students, always speak directly to them, not to the interpreter. Eye contact gives them the feeling of direct communication. Also, turning your head away to look at the interpreter can make it more difficult to lip read. Notify the interpreter in advance of videos and other special presentations that may be in the dark. It is extremely hard to interpret and read sign in the dark. Provide the interpreter with an outline of lectures or discussion priorities in advance. The information helps both the student and the interpreter follow the thinking process more clearly. Provide security by emphasizing the process and the structure. Use visual aids. They are a tremendous help to deaf students because vision is their primary sense. Make full use of overhead, white boards and films with closed captions. Try to slow your pace of communication. Speakers tend to speed up when talking about familiar topics. In addition, there is an unavoidable time lag with interpreters. Give them time to “catch up.” In the event that the interpreter is absent, assign a “note taker” to take notes to give to the deaf student. Also, seat the lip-reading student at the front of the room. If needed, set up a time with the deaf student and interpreter to go over assignments to make sure the student understands the process and the expectations.
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‘Yes, you can write’
Being deaf doesn’t stop writer Once Trudy was told, ‘You will never be a writer.’ Now she runs her own writing business. All because her highschool adviser gave her support. BY TRUDY SUGGS
I was stunned. All my life, I had dreamed of becoming a writer. At school, I joined the staff of the Bumblebee, the newspaper (in reality, a bunch of mimeographed papers stapled together each quarter) for the deaf program. I was relegated to the unwanted stories — finding out students’ birthdays or vacation plans. Every time I asked for better assignments, the adviser — a hearing teacher who taught deaf students though she was hardly fluent at signing — would sigh and shake her head. Though I was resigned to do these stories, nothing prepared me for what she said one day. Out of the blue, she called me aside. “You will never be a writer,” she said with a perfectly “lipsticked” sneer that I remember. “You need to leave the staff, Trudy.” My 14-yearold heart was shattered along with my confidence. BLEAK EXPECTATIONS BUT GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES A few months and many tears later, I signed up for a journalism class — it was almost a do-or-die decision. I had to somehow find reassurance that I could be a writer. By the semester’s end, I became an assistant editor for the school paper. The promotion was somewhat extraordinary, considering how many of the teachers had such low expectations of the 80 deaf students at my school. Never mind that I had skipped two grades and would be graduating at 16; never mind that I
was an honors student; never mind that I had my first article published by age 10; never mind anything but their preconceived notions. Remember — this was in 1990, before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Teachers usually assumed that I wasn’t intelligent or didn’t know English because I didn’t speak. Their discomfort at my choice of communication — using American Sign Language or using paper and pen — was obvious. Not so with Carol Park, my journalism teacher and adviser of the Stinger. Mrs. Park insisted that I come to the Stinger office after school even though interpreters were not available. I should also mention that the interpreters in high school were far from qualified. In fact, I often wonder how in the world I ever got through school because the interpreters were not highly skilled at signing. I applied to become a Stinger editor the following year. When the interpreter for the interview was a no-show, Mrs. Park said, “Well, we’ll just have to write back and forth then.” So we did. It was a bit humbling for me, and I’m sure tedious for the interview committee, but I have often remembered this experience as the perfect example of patience on both my part and the hearing person’s part. The interview may never have happened had not Mrs. Park demanded the same out of me as out of other students. I never wanted to be treated differently, nor did I want people talk down to me. Sure, there were times when I was completely left out, especially when the staff chatted among themselves and I sat at my computer engrossed in my work. That was fine with me, though. I loved writing and doing layout, and I was happy being given SUMMER 2004
Trudy Suggs videoconferences with a client from her home in Faribault, Minn., from where she says she can enjoy the scenery, watch eagles and do her writing.
an opportunity to prove the other teacher wrong. A DECADE LATER Today I run a full-time writing business, working with clients from all throughout the world out of my log house in Minnesota. My book, issued by a major publishing company, has just come off the press recently. I have worked professionally as an editor in chief of several publications, including a magazine and a newspaper. I teach nonfiction writing courses to hearing students online. My published articles list is more than seven pages long. But is it easy being a writer who is deaf? Of course not. A bit of background: I come from a family where everyone is deaf. My partner, who is third-generation deaf, and I expect to have deaf children. We communicate by using American Sign Language (ASL is a language separate from English, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary), and consider ourselves culturally deaf. None of my family members or I would ever want to become hearing if given the choice. This decision shocks many people outside of the deaf community, but it is easily understood within the deaf community. We are distinctly unique from other disabilities because we have our own language and therefore our own culture. Admittedly, the deaf community often struggles with being labeled disabled. If we resist the “disabled” label, we lose important funding for services such as interpreting and closed captioning. SUMMER 2004
I lead a happy, productive life as a registered voter and tax-paying citizen. However, it is difficult for me to land assignments or jobs with publications outside of the deaf community because people simply do not know what to do when they meet a deaf person, a reaction that is comprehensible. True story: In November, I was at Barnes and Noble, and the woman at the register started speaking to me. I was focused on typing a message on my two-way pager but soon realized she was speaking so I looked up and indicated that I was deaf. I asked what she had said. She looked at me and stuttered. Guessing that she had spoken the total of my purchases, I pointed to my check card already on the counter. As she tore off the receipt for me, something seemed to dawn upon her - a sudden realization of sorts. “Um ... can you ... sign — I mean, can you write?” She gestured as if signing a receipt. Perhaps I should have given her my business card, which clearly states that I work as a writer. Situations such as this incident make me chuckle, and I am eternally grateful I am not that ignorant. Besides, they also create great material for my writing. CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS The Internet has, of course, been such a blessing, for so many reasons. I can interview people via e-mail or instant messaging, and I communicate with my editors easily. I also utilize my two-way pager, a device that enables me to use e-mail and instant
messaging anywhere my pager is in range. There are Internet-based relay services (a free service provided by the government where an operator speaks what is typed, and types what is spoken, between the hearing caller and the deaf caller). There are also video relay services for those of us who prefer to communicate via the phone using American Sign Language. Still, there are challenges sometimes. I have not been able to write for or edit a newspaper in the hearing community yet — a dream of mine — because staff at newspapers are understandably uncomfortable with the notion of having a deaf, non-speaking employee on staff. “How can she interview people? How can she communicate with us?” If they took only five minutes to ask me, they would realize that it is really no big deal and that there are easy answers that will cost them nothing. Another challenge is how the media portrays deaf individuals. Inappropriate labels, such as “the deaf,” “hearing impaired” and “deaf-mute,” date back centuries. Deaf people are lumped as being identical when the reality is that the deaf community is as fragmented as any other community. If I had a nickel for every time a story about a deaf person started out, “The people cheered, but Jane did not know. She is deaf,” I’d be richer than Oprah Winfrey. That angle has been overused in the media — do a search on the Internet, and you will see what I mean. Oh yes, for the record — we do not live in a dark, silent, lonely world. Sure, there are obstacles. But there are always ways around them. It is a matter of ignoring the naysayers and doing what you can, even if it takes years. POWER OF ONE PERSON Today I look back at my days in high school and wonder, “How was it that Mrs. Park, a newspaper adviser who knew so little about deaf people, ASL and the culture, was so much more supportive than an experienced teacher of deaf students? It only took one person to tell me, “Yes, you can write,” for me to believe in myself. Though I have told Mrs. Park many times how much she did for me, she probably still does not realize the impact of what she did. Her belief in me had nothing to do with my being deaf and everything to do with knowing that I could write. Her visionary response is why I am still developing as a writer.
COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 13
For newspaper editor, being hearing impaired
‘Simply a part of my life’ BY AMELIA VENEZIANO
TIPS FOR
JOURNALISTS
deaf • Capitalize when a person identifies as culturally Deaf. Use as an adjective, not as a noun. Describes a person with profound or complete hearing loss. SOURCE: National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ)
When I was younger, I had one great fear: opening my mouth and speaking in front of other people, letting them hear the way I talked. Rather than pretending I spoke like a “normal” person, I apologized for misunderstood words or for asking “What?” more than once in a conversation. Then high school hit. Because I had always been good in writing and reading, I decided, as a freshman, to take the Journalism I class. Once enrolled, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. Three years later, I know I was right to be worried. As a J-I student in a standalone journalism class, I was the youngest student in class and felt intimidated. I thought everyone else was better than I was and smarter than I was. I couldn’t quite understand that we were all on the same level as “cub reporters” for the Sandstorm. Today, I’m not scared anymore. I’m still hearing impaired. I still sound different when I talk. But I’m not afraid. I don’t care what anyone thinks about the way I sound when I open my mouth — it’s the words that matter. Today, as editor in chief of the Richland High Sandstorm, I stand daily in front of 25 students. Confidently I issue orders and explain ideas as I direct the class. Today I have found the person who was hiding inside for 14 years before I walked into room 410, Mac Hall, Richland High School. Somewhere in my sophomore year, I found that I could excel in sports writing. Not the easiest subject, on the field or off, and not a particularly deep idea, but nonetheless, I was good. I was scared when my first sports story was assigned.
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Amelia “Ami” Veneziano interviews James Jones, the manager at a local Albertson’s supermarket. A three-year staff member, Veneziano is the editor of the Richland High School (Wash.) Sandstorm.
Somehow it took only five drafts (yes, that sounds like a lot, but compared to 15 for a news story it was an improvement), and my editor actually liked it. And thus, a star was born! Well, not a star, exactly, but someone braver, newer and more adventurous, someone who didn’t make excuses for her disability or apologize for it. Now most people don’t know I’m deaf unless someone else tells them. It doesn’t really matter to me anymore. When I called up the football coach earlier this year for his input on a story, after asking “What?” for the third time, I didn’t apologize. I just said, “Excuse me?” and plowed right on through my questions. I stayed with the Sandstorm because I found my place in a rather unusual field, especially for a girl. I have won two awards in national write off competitions
and one at the state level. I have also won other awards. First, I was shocked to be winning. How could I when I was simply some deaf girl in this testosterone-dominated field? Easily. I worked hard. I did not let hurdles, such as the wrestling team, prevent me from doing the job. I did not worry about my comfort zones. So what if I had to loiter around the door to the boys’ locker room after a game? I’d found my niche. And through that, I found the one thing that could make a real difference in my life. As a senior and the editor in chief, I do not find much time to write sport stories anymore, but that is okay — the field will be open to me when I have the time. Today I focus on issues in the school and in the community rather than on the field. I recently wrote a story about shoplifting at a local grocery store
SUMMER 2004
during lunch. All the thefts were by freshmen and all were fairly petty, but they were still causing problems. To cover the story, I first met with our principal, then with the store manager. The interview with the manager was actually pretty difficult. He was a willing, cooperative source, but there was a lot of background noise — grocery stores are bustling places. I do not like interviewing with a tape recorder so I rely totally on my own hearing at the moment. And I was having a hard time understanding the manager. Instead of getting frustrated, I asked him to slow down, speak up and have patience. I wanted to make sure I was totally accurate. And he did, with no problem, no hesitation — he didn’t think twice about it. Someone in the community, an adult, who didn’t deal daily with kids from the high school, had no problem allowing for my handicap. It turned out to be a pretty good story. Every time I leave my classroom and go into the community for anything related to the newspaper, be it selling ads (that was a scary task!) or interviewing citizens, I have gained confidence and skill. I bring a different perspective to every story I cover, but so would anyone else. Mine may be more wacky than theirs. I can understand where people are coming from. Last year, I had an interesting story opportunity. I interviewed Amanda Beers, Miss Washington in 2002 and a top-15 in Miss America. She was tall, beautiful, intelligent, an accomplished piano player — and totally deaf. She relied on lip-reading, not an easy task I’ve discovered. Meeting Amanda, hearing what she had to say — and she spoke beautifully — I realized something that had perhaps not yet hit home: I was like anyone else, and maybe even better, for overcoming my “disability” to follow my dream. I do not enjoy my hearing loss. Despite it, though, I’ve come a long way in a school of 2,000 students. Many of them are smarter than I am, or more skilled, or better organized, but I was the best qualified to lead a Pacemaker-winning newspaper. I wouldn’t be half the person I am today if it were not for the Sandstorm. I’m deaf. I sound funny when I talk. But that does not stop me from asking questions or having an intelligent conversation with anyone. What matters is what I say, not how I sound. I’m a journalist, first and foremost. Then, I’m deaf. The two don’t mingle. I have worked too hard, for too long, to keep them separated. n
SUMMER 2004
Teachers help others overcome challenges
Look for strengths It is so easy to let a handicap that affects only one aspect of a person change our view of the total person. I have admired earlier Helpline discussions about what to do when a handicapped person is placed in your class. The bottom line is that we need to be willing to see the strengths that can be developed to permit individuals to make a contribution to their own growth and to our connections as human beings. My “learning” meant recognizing the importance of being human first so I would be a teacher who is a problem-solver and a facilitator so any student with handicaps could grow. BY JANICE DEAN
I had a deaf student who insisted she should be able to take journalism and then be on the staff of our newsmagazine, Genesis. She had become deaf as a result of an illness as a young child so she had memory of sounds and could speak well with only some distortion. She was quite spunky, having been helped by parents who encouraged her to make the most of her dreams and talents. She was a good student, but often she used other students to take notes for her in classes. When she decided she wanted to be a journalist, I pointed out her dependency on others for notes and quickly pointed out that she might be more successful in another area of study. With her counselor, I was insistent that she should be steered in another direction because journalism was an elective. Her counselor, however, sympathized with Lisa, not me. To my complaint about dependence on other notetakers, she suggested that I could write more assignments on the chalkboard,
a simple change that was also helpful to others in the class. Lisa assured me that she could read lips, especially if I did not turn my head away from her when speaking. She also agreed to ask friends for help. We both worked at our communication skills — and the progress became one of my lessons in the importance of adaptive teaching and learning. Lisa, being a bright student and aware of the world around her, contributed helpful ideas to story discussions and to the development of interview questions. She would have liked to have another student go with her on early interviews, but I was equally determined that she must become independent of others if she were going to be successful. To her credit, she did not give up, and I learned how appropriate it is to find ways for such determination to be rewarded. In this case, it was to make sure that she had well-thought-out questions, that she would tell an interviewee that she would lip-read, but that she would have to be able to see him as they spoke. One particular memory re mains from early in her time with us. A health educator was talking to the staff as background for a story for which everyone was to take notes. At the end of the news conference, Lisa was tearful and without notes. I was thinking that my point that she should not be trying this field was justified until she said, “I couldn’t read his lips because of his mustache.” We both learned that day. She now knew what her challenges would be, and I knew that I would have to become creative in helping her solve problems arising in situations that normally would not rate a second thought. n
COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 15
TIPS FOR
JOURNALISTS
hard of hearing, hearing impaired • Many people who are “hard of hearing” or “hearing impaired” have a mild to moderate hearing loss that may or may not be corrected with amplification. “Hearing impaired,” “hard of hearing,” “hearing loss,” “partial hearing loss” and “partially deaf” are some terms used by some individuals to indicate varying degrees of hearing loss from mild to profound”. Currently there is no uniform terminology. It is best to ask the person which term to use. SOURCE: National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ)
Anna Henkel interviews a student with the help of her interpreter Stephanie Martinell.
Deaf student contributes more than stories BY SUSAN FERGUESON, CJE
Last spring, one of my newspaper staffers approached me with an idea. “Could my friend Anna Henkel join the newspaper staff instead of taking a study hall? She’ll be a sophomore next year. She’s on the dance team. She’s trustworthy and dedicated and responsible. And, oh yeah, she’s deaf.” At first, I will admit that while I found the idea intriguing, I had serious doubts. I was not sure how having a deaf reporter would work. A deaf page designer or a deaf photographer, I could imagine. In both those cases, hearing is not a required part of the task. But a deaf reporter? I wasn’t quite sure how that would work out because listening is such a vital part of a reporter’s job. Before I gave my answer, I did research. A childhood friend of mine, Susan Switzer, is a sign-language interpreter so I called her to find out what obstacles I would face. She mentioned that other than needing an interpreter to translate, I should be aware that a deaf student often has weaker writing skills than the average student. Susan explained that this is because the syntax and the structure of American Sign Language is differ-
16 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
ent from English and that English is basically like a second language for students who have used ASL for most of their lives. After hearing this, I went to see Anna’s language arts teacher. She said that Anna’s writing was good, technically at the eighth-grade level. Knowing what I knew about Anna, I was confident that we could make newspaper work for her. I learned more about Anna at the first faculty meeting of the year when the district special services coordinator talked to teachers about the school’s first deaf student. From her presentation, it was obvious that Anna was an average teenager in every way but her hearing. She fit into campus easily as she formed a large circle of friends and joined the dance team. Watching her perform, I was amazed, not only by her dancing skill but also by her ability to stay on beat when she could not hear the music. I was not the only one who was amazed. My editors pitched the story, and Anna came to the newspaper office for an interview in early October. Thinking back to that interview, I realized that Anna would be able to conduct interviews, but it would take longer. I grew more and more convinced that adding Anna to staff
would be a good idea. Still, I had doubts. After all, the most gifted students can find that being on a publications staff is a huge challenge. I did not want to end up in a situation that would be detrimental to both Anna and the rest of the staff. Whenever I was unsure about whether newspaper would be a good fit for Anna, I reminded myself of the dance team. If Anna could stay on beat without ever hearing the music, we would be able to find a way to make newspaper work, too. I agreed to bring her on staff in the fall. During the summer, I codirected the student session of the Washington JEA summer workshop, where we had a deaf student, Tyler DeShaw, from Roosevelt High School. Watching Tyler in action — seeing him interact with his interpreters and peers — made me more certain that I had made the right decision about Anna. As the beginning of the school year approached, I started thinking about how we could run the newspaper to make Anna comfortable. Initially, I was worried that she would be isolated from the rest of the staff because of communication challenges. I quickly found that communicaSUMMER 2004
tion was not a day-to-day problem — in fact, there is so much communication I frequently have to interrupt to get everyone back on task. As a staff, we are lucky that Anna is a great lip-reader and has limited speech. While she has a full-time interpreter, Anna is able to have one-on-one conversations. Of course, to guarantee communication, we have to remember to look directly at Anna when we are talking, especially when we are working at the computer. But the payoff is worth it. It is a big timesaver not to have to call the interpreter over or write notes for a short conversation. Also, it helps Anna feel like part of the group. When there is a staff meeting, or a topic being discussed requires absolute understanding, interpretation is essential. Anna has a fabulous interpreter, Stephanie Martinell, who has become an important part of the staff. When Stephanie is sick or needs a break, two of Anna’s friends on staff fill in as interpreters. This is a huge relief because, otherwise, communication could be quite difficult. Also, my initial concerns about Anna’s writing ability proved to be unfounded. Through Stephanie, I learned that Anna does not, in fact, use ASL to sign. She learned an alternative sign language, Signing Exact English, which uses the syntax and word endings of formal English. Usually SEE users have an easier time learning to read and write English. I think this is the case with Anna because her writing is better than I expected. While her writing is not perfect, it is generally solid. Her work requires no more editing than any of the other beginning reporters, which has given the editors confidence to treat her like everyone else. Anna receives assignments that are typical for other beginning reporters. She covered a fall sports team and compiled all of the information, including scores, highlights and quotations from coaches and players, for our “fact box” coverage. She has written a news brief about the annual food drive. She has become our go-to girl for the “Pick of the Litter,” a personality profile in questionand-answer format. This spring she will write a first-person account of her recent cochlear implant surgery, including what it was like to hear her mother’s voice for the first time and the ongoing challenges she faces as she learns to hear. While having Anna on staff is an overwhelmingly positive experience, it has not been stress free. There have been a few bumps along the way. Fortunately, most were solved simply as we became conscious of Anna’s challenges and spent a few minutes to find a solution. One of the biggest regular challenges we face as a staff is the constant chatter in the publications office. Stephanie is supposed to interpret everything that goes on in the room so that Anna knows what is going on. With so many people talking at once, this is nearly impossible. When it comes to formal staff meetings, “one person talks at a time” becomes a constant reminder. Also, students need to speak slowly to help
Making life easier for deaf reporter BY ANNA HENKEL AND SUSAN FERGUESON, CJE
Turning deaf reporters into hearing journalists begins with the right signals. The adviser and the editors turn on those signals by making the pathway to success possible. When conducting story pitching or other staff meetings, make sure only one person is speaking at a time. When five people are all talking at once, a norm in most publications offices, it is almost impossible for the interpreter to keep up or for a deaf student to lip read. If phone interviews are a regular occurrence in your publications office, your deaf student will require special services or equipment to use the phone. Because most schools do not have Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDD), making calls from school will most likely be impossible. Deaf reporters may utilize relay services from their homes, but it is a good idea to prepare interviewees about how they should handle the relay call so they know what to expect. The adviser and the editors, as well as the deaf reporters, need to understand that a relay call is a three-way call between a deaf person with a TDD, a hearing operator with a TDD and a hearing person. The operator serves as the interpreter by reading what the deaf person types to the hearing person and then typing the hearing person’s statements in the TDD for the deaf person to read. Though you may not normally let reporters use e-mail, instant messaging or text messaging for interviews, consider allowing deaf students to do so. Using the written word can eliminate the communication gap, and instant messaging can allow for “real time” conversation and follow-up questions, a process that is similar to an oral interview. Give special thought to the events deaf reporters are assigned to cover. Noisy press conferences and public meetings will be a challenge to cover even with an interpreter. Presentations or performances in a dark room will make it difficult to lip read or see the interpreter’s signs. Advisers and teachers rely on verbal directions. However, written directions for complex or repeated tasks can make life in the publications room easier for everyone as well as for deaf students. Help an interpreter prepare for the distinctive challenges of a publication experience by providing a journalism vocabulary list at the beginning of the term. If the interpreter or student is comfortable doing so, ask them to teach the entire staff basic signs. That way, students can communicate directly with one another. Also, look for an opportunity that would give a deaf reporter a chance to cover subjects involving sources who are either deaf or fluent in sign language so the reporter may conduct an interview without an intermediary. With the success of the recent signed production of Big River on Broadway, a reporter could explore local deaf theater productions or the expanding number of schools that offer ASL as a foreign language. Thoughtful and imaginative advisers and editors will “hear” the results via astounding accomplishments of deaf reporters who progress from novices to experienced journalists. n
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COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 17
Using Signing Exact English, Anna Henkel interviews a student with the help of her interpreter. Henkel is a reporter for the Mount Si High School (Snoqualmie, Wash.) newspaper.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17
the interpreter, especially for a quick-talking bunch such as the Cat Tales staff. Sometimes, a change in procedure can help. The most chaotic part of any staff meeting is story pitching. After one meeting when Stephanie nearly gave up interpreting and Anna sat silently, we moved to pitching on paper. With this change, each staff member writes down at least three news and three feature story ideas. Then the editor reads the ideas aloud and people comment. While this change was implemented to aid Anna and Stephanie, the staff has found that the paper is the true beneficiary. By having everyone on staff participate, we end up with a wider variety of story ideas, a process that improves coverage. Working with Anna can be challenging for editors, especially those who like to wait until the last minute. When editors work with Anna, they know they cannot be lazy. They have to read her story ahead of time and make sure all of the changes are made by deadline. They know they cannot call her with questions. They also make written notes with specific suggestions and questions before handing the story back. In other words, working with Anna forces them to do the job they should be doing with all of their reporters. Editors sometimes grumble about the extra time it takes to work on Anna’s stories, but it is time well spent. I hope that they will eventually realize that if they treated all of their reporters the way treat Anna, their jobs would be easier and the paper would be better — and put that realization into action. After a semester with Anna on staff, I am thankful for her presence. Earlier this month Anna told me that newspaper really isn’t “her thing.” While Anna has not yet found a passion for journalism, she has made an enlightening contribution to the staff. Her contribution has not been simply in her reporting, which is competent and responsible. Her most meaningful contributions have been as an exemplary human being. Through her presence, we have changed the way we function as a staff. Through her example, we have seen that it is possible to overcome unexpected obstacles to reach our goals. n 18 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
Communication biggest challenge BY ANNA HENKEL
As a reporter, you must have good listening skills. Most highschool journalism students and teachers take that for granted. Not me. I was born deaf. But I report for my school newspaper. It has been a long journey for me. My parents found out that I was deaf when I was about a year old. At first, they didn’t know what to do with me. They started doing research and learned about the deaf world and sign language. At age 3, I learned sign language (Signing Exact English). Also, I started wearing hearing aids on both ears. I can hear some sounds, but I can’t hear many words. I have taken speech therapy. My speech has improved every year, but it still needs more work. I attended a school for the deaf until I was 13. Then I mainstreamed my freshman year. As a deaf person in a hearing world, that was a difficult adjustment. The other students can listen and take notes at the same time. That tends to be a difficult task for me. So, as you might guess, being a reporter for our newspaper is especially hard. When we are assigned a story, we have to research the topic, which includes interviewing key people. When doing interviews, people who can hear will ask a question. Then they look down as they write that person’s answer while the source is talking. That is impossible for me. I sign the question while my interpreter, Stephanie Martinell, voices what I ask to the person. Stephanie then signs the answer to me. I have to watch her carefully and then make notes for my story. The process can be time-consuming and difficult, but it does work. Communication is my biggest challenge, in newspaper and in my other classes. Even though I can speak, sometimes people do not understand me. Even though I am a good lip reader, sometimes I do not understand everything people say. I have taught some of my hearing friends to sign, and they are pretty good at it. Still, it is hard being connected to hearing people because so many of them do not know any sign language. To make communication easier, I started thinking about getting a cochlear implant a few years ago. I wanted to hear more sounds so my parents and I went to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle to learn more about the implant. I had cochlear implant surgery on Sept. 12 of this school year so the sound I hear now is louder and clearer. My hearing has improved so much in the past three months. I still have to go for listening and speech therapy almost every week, and my hearing continues to improve. While I am still learning to use my implant, I am still working hard to communicate in the hearing world. It is difficult for me, but my goal is never to give up and always to try my best. n
SUMMER 2004
TIPS FOR
JOURNALISTS
paraplegic • Sometimes people with paraplegia (or who are paraplegic) will refer to themselves as a “para.” If so, use in quotes. Otherwise, spell out. Wheelchair • Unless mentioning a wheelchair is essential to the story, leave it out. People use wheelchairs for independent mobility. Do not use “confined to a wheelchair” or “wheelchairbound.” Instead, use “person who uses a wheelchair” or “wheelchairuser.” Avoid phrases like “wheelchairrider” and “vertically challenged.” Nonusers often associate wheelchairs with illness and aging, and may meet them with fear. Keep in mind that a wheelchair can be a source of freedom and independence. SOURCE: National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ)
Find a niche
Writer finds journalism a reason to look forward to school Because of a congenital birth defect, Amanda Johnson is a paraplegic who is confined to a wheelchair. In 1999, she graduated from Great Falls High School (Mont.) as an experienced newspaper reporter and editor. After graduation, she attended University of Great Falls, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in writing and a minor in computer systems integration. She is employed as a secretary at a local church. BY AMANDA JOHNSON
As a freshman, I enrolled in introduction to journalism because I loved writing and had enjoyed participating on my middle-school newspaper. Action happened immediately. When Great Falls High School journalism teacher and adviser Linda Ballew assigned a good idea sheet, I was concerned about when it was due. Before school the next day I went into the journalism room to find out when the assignment was due. Editors were busy assigning articles to the writers. One of the editors asked me if I wanted to write an article for Iniwa, the newspaper. I said sure even though I was overwhelmed with simply starting high school let along doing something for the newspaper. The editors assigned me an article about America Online. The editors helped me through the journalistic writing process. I learned an enormous amount about the proper way to interview sources and write articles. I continued to write articles and became the features editor in the middle of my sophomore year, making me the youngest editor of the staff. During my senior year, I became an associate editor, taking
20 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
Amanda Johnson has attended several JEA/NSPA national conventions. “I learned an enormous amount at each convention because of the wide variety of workshop topics. I learned about positions available for journalists and how to write more efficiently,” she said.
more responsibility. Ballew, who guided me throughout my high-school journalism “career,” helped me find a niche within my high school. She also provided me with a reason to look forward to going to school every day. Journalism was a safe place from all that was going on in other parts of high school. Overall my journalism experience helped prepare me greatly for college because of the deadlines. It
forced me manage my time effectively. I also learned how to interact with people on a job-like experience and how to guide people I was overseeing in my capacity. I look back fondly on my experience of working on the Iniwa. I enjoyed every moment, even the most stressful times. Journalism also helped me decide that I wanted to major in writing or communications and eventually to go into some field of writing. n SUMMER 2004
Challenges will come ‘…but I promised myself that Michael would succeed’
From freshman journalist to assistant editor. From a public relations job to graduate school. Then onward to being an advocate for people with disabilities. A “normal” journey that Michael has taken in his wheelchair. BY JANE BLYSTONE
Keenly aware that his disability could become more complicated, Michael Adamus was not your typical high-school freshman when he joined my newspaper staff as he started high school. In his quest to grow up like other teenagers, Michael had experienced many challenges, including the breaking of almost every bone in his body as the result of genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta. Wheelchair bound, he was susceptible to a variety of illnesses along the way. There were so many extracurricular things to do in high school but many of them involved physicality beyond his ability. Michael, however, wanted to be like every other normal boy in school. An avid trumpet player, he petitioned the marching band director to let him march with the band. After much ado about the situation, the district hired a student aide to help Michael march by pushing him in a wheelchair through the various marching formations. A story about this success in our school paper opened a door for Michael to be himself at school because people could see that he made Herculean efforts to be like anyone else. My staff was excited that they scooped the local newspaper and a larger city paper. According to Michael, his interest in being on the newspaper staff came from his brother Dan’s influence. “My brother had studied journalism, which got me interested in writing, and I had tried to start a newspaper with some friends when we were in middle school,” Michael said. “When I got to high school, I found that it was one of the activities I could be involved in. I was only beginning to test my abilities and limits so I wanted to start with something simple. As I continued in my academic career, I picked more difficult challenges.” SUMMER 2004
Michael Adamus’ senior portrait.
The challenges came, but I promised myself that Michael would succeed on my staff. He had a problem with his finger dexterity so it took him extra time to write articles others could type and send to the printer. Nevertheless, Michael persevered, and his stories were delightful. Michael’s sense of humor helped me laugh at myself as I learned to negotiate around his wheelchair without getting bruises on my legs from his metal foot rests. He wanted to be taken seriously, and his editor accepted his stories — and we worked with him to do serious pieces. The staff helped him make the transition from middle school to high school. “I’m not sure if I ever really had any trouble with the staff. I may have had some trouble early on getting accepted as a serious writer. The editor at the time appreciated what I turned in, but I think it took a while before I got more substantive work,” Michael said. “I would say that the experiences I had — interviewing people, traveling and the leadership opportunities as sports editor and assistant editor — helped me develop skills that I have been able to use throughout the rest of my life. Also, I think the students benefited from working with me. I hope that I was able to give them an image of someone with a disability as being just
like them, but doing things a little differently. I have learned that many in the ‘real world’ still see people with disabilities as being helpless and need to be taken care of. Even if only a few people got the message, it was beneficial.” Michael pursued his love for communications, earning a bachelor’s degree in speech communications. He got his first job as a highway safety coordinator writing press releases and doing media relations for highway safety efforts in the five-county Philadelphia region. “While my experience in high school and college helped, I felt that my skills weren’t being utilized fully. I worked for an insurance company for a few years and then was laid off. I decided, after not finding anything, to attend graduate school. I earned a master’s degree in counseling and eventually wound up in the field of disability advocacy.” Michael added, “Here I was able to use my public speaking skills, counseling techniques and my journalism skills to promote the rights and needs of people with disabilities. I’ve also used my journalism to write press releases for a local wheelchair basketball team and the Erie Thunderbirds Drum and Bugle Corps. I’m also working with the Lake Erie Regiment, Erie’s Junior Drum Corps. While I’ve pursued those things that interest me, these skills that I learned in high school have helped me be more effective to these groups.” As I look back on my experience with Michael, I can say we both grew tremendously. I came to understand that students with disabilities can do almost anything, and Michael learned that he could do anything. Today, Michael is an advocate for people with disabilities for the Pennsylvania Protection and Advocacy, Inc., a federally funded, nonprofit agency responsible for providing protection and advocacy services to people with disabilities. When we connect from time to time, he thanks me for the opportunity to work on the newspaper staff. But I thank him for teaching me that a student with a disability who has hopes and dreams can accomplish anything. I simply had to get out of the way and let him show me. n
COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 21
Cora opens eyes The irony is that she is blind, while making the journalist who makes people see
BY BECKY KIRK
TIPS FOR
JOURNALISTS
blind • Use as an adjective, not as a noun. Describes a person with complete loss of sight. Many people who are legally blind have some vision, which they sometimes use in combination with canes, dogs and other low vision aids. For them, the label “blind” is inaccurate. For others, use terms such as “visually impaired,” person with “low vision” or “partially sighted.” Currently there is no uniform terminology. It is best to ask the person which term to use.
The first time I saw Cora, she was walking down the sidewalk on a sweltering Oklahoma mid-August afternoon, a middle-age lady of medium build, brown short curly hair, walking down the sidewalk of our Welcome Back to School Fair. She was tapping the sidewalk in front of her with a long white cane like a blind person. She walked up to my table and asked if it was the newspaper table even though there was a sign right in front of her. She looked me in the eye and told me she wanted to sign up. “Sure, just fill out this form and leave it with me,” I said, handing the white half-page form to her. However, she stood there looking at me. I was not sure what kind of game she was playing so I asked if she wanted me to fill it out. “Uh, yeah, I’m blind,” she said. Oops. She really was a blind person. Cora never made any apologies for her lack of sight and never considered herself an inconvenience to me or anybody else I can remember. She never considered anybody else an inconvenience to her. Also, she had never met a stranger and never finished high school. In fact, she had never finished junior high school. This 43-year-old mother of eight and grandmother of three was also a college sophomore, honor student, school volunteer, soccer mom and student journalist I was to find out. “Are you the new journalism teacher?” she asked. It was not hard for her to figure out I was. “I have you for two classes this semester.” That’s how I met Cora — a meeting I’ll never forget.
22 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
In the months since that meeting, I have come to see her quite differently than I did that August afternoon. I have seen few challenges that Cora could not conquer and few tasks that she could not perform. When she needs help, she asks for it. When she passes a bulletin board and hears the rustle of papers, she stops whoever is nearby and asks, “What does that say?” She navigates campus by counting the steps from one manhole cover to the next. She takes my arm on the steps of the fire escape at the end of the hall and counts the steps to the bottom. She steps onto the sidewalk confidently, ready to make that next step on level ground, but she will not let me buy her lunch. That is one of the few insecurities I have noticed. She does not like to eat in front of people. “I’m always afraid I’ve got stuff all over me and the table, and I don’t have anyway to know it. There might be people staring at me wondering what’s wrong with that crazy blind lady,” she said. Cora received an award in February at the Annual Honors Banquet. She asked me to accompany her because her husband could not get out of babysitting the grandkids. The only time she ever ate lunch with me was the week before that banquet, in preparation for the evening — she said she had to practice. We sat together at a table filled mostly with faculty. Then in the middle of dinner she reached for her glass of tea and knocked over her
neighbor’s water glass. Napkins flew at the water as hands grabbed for plates and voices stabbed at her to “calm down ... don’t worry … it’s okay.” Her face flushed. She covered it with her linen napkin and looked like she was about to cry. She seemed uncharacteristically bewildered. I leaned over and whispered, “Everybody’s staring at the crazy blind lady.” I heard a quiet chuckle that became a sudden snort, and soon everybody at the table was chuckling. Cora has a way of doing that to people. She did drop most of her salad on the table trying to get the onions off, but no one but me really noticed. Cora is one of 14 children. Her family was poor. Her mother was a victim of incest. Her older twin sisters who were a product of that abhorrence were not known to her or most of her siblings until they were adults, when the two sisters came looking for their birth family. Cora is not shy about telling her story to anybody who will listen, but some of her story does not come easily from her memory. The only time she ever asked to be removed from a story was one
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about registered sex offenders. That is how I found out about her miserable childhood tale. Her stepfather was affectionate … too affectionate. She did not know she could refuse. When she found a neighbor to marry her at the age of 14, having known little of life except poverty and misery, she could not have realized she was still a child as she gladly stepped into adulthood. She was married to that man for 17 years and birthed six children. Finally, she met a man who listened to her troubles, laughed with her, made her smile and wanted her to be his friend. She divorced her husband and went to live with Joe, her friend. They married several years later. Now he is the light of her life, the father of her two youngest and her chauffeur. And now her life centers on school. The first time Cora came to the newsroom we were making staff assignments at our first editorial board meeting. When we got to preferences, she said she wanted to do Dear Abby. It was not something I had considered, but I thought it might be a good assignment for a blind lady. After all, she could not very well do layout and design. I started making a staff list beginning with front page editor. Sports. Community. Aggie News. She wanted to know what editor she was going to be. “Well, Cora … how do you think you can be an editor?” “Same way as anybody else, I guess,” she said.
Ms. A
ugust
Cora
Mille
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The Sports section was the only one left unassigned, and she did not want to do Sports. Whew, off the hook! But the girl who chose Community volunteered, “I’ll do Sports if she wants Community.” “Uh, well, do you want Community, Cora?” “I guess I could do that,” she said. My hesitation, concern, horror — whatever you want to call it — turned out to be wasted energy. She had a reader assigned by the Vocational Rehabilitation Office. Between the two of them and a corkboard on the light table with strategically placed pushpins and yarn, her page got done as well or better than anybody else’s. In fact, after a few weeks, when we had become pretty comfortable with our four little pages, I decided it was time to branch out with Cora as Op/Ed editor. “What’s that?” she asked. “I don’t know much about technology.” She called it Norse Talk. She has a column called “Ask Me …” And they do. Some weeks she does not have enough to write about so she has to go out on campus and ask people to ask her questions. That’s a hoot — a blind lady tap, tap, tapping her way across campus from one manhole cover to the next and asking people, “Do you want to ask me a question?” She hardly gets noticed anymore because people have become so accustomed to seeing her. But she hardly needs to be noticed anymore. People have become curious about her answers. My favorite was when somebody wrote in asking her what she thought about putting condom machines in the dorms. She always has a tactful but reasonable answer, even to the condom question: “Go to the drug store. What would your parents think seeing something like that in the dorms?” Cora connects to readers as easily and naturally as she connected to me. And maybe sometimes the meetings rely on words that readers may never forget too. She is blind, but she makes people see. n
The word “blind” is used in colloquial English to imply “ignorance” or “stupidity;” i.e., “Turned a blindeye,” or “blind to the fact,” “What? Are you blind?” “Blind” is a short and punchy word, which makes it good for headlines and teases, but it is inaccurate for non-disability issues and misleads when applied to people with low vision. Using “blind” instead of “ignorant” (or other adjectives) is inaccurate and perpetuates stereotypes that people, who are blind, are ignorant. This stereotype can lead to negative assumptions when a person applies for a job or seeks to have equal access to society. It is best not to use colloquial English and instead choose more accurate words. SOURCE: National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ)
MOVING VIOLATIONS: WAR ZONES, WHEELCHAIRS AND DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE John Hockenberry ISBN: 0786881623 416 pages, Hyperion Books, ©1996 A former National Public Radio correspondent explains what it is like to report from such embattled outposts as Jerusalem, Baghdad and New York City in a wheelchair. EXCERPT CHAPTER ONE WALKING WITH THE KURDS There were legs below. Stilts of bone and fur picking around mud and easing up the side of a mountain near the Turkish border with Iraq. Two other legs slapped the sides of the donkey at each step like denim-lined saddlebags. They contained my own leg and hip bones, long the passengers of my body’s journeys, and for just as long a theme of my mind’s wanderings. I was on the back of a donkey plodding through the slow, stunned bleed of the Gulf War’s grand mal violence. The war was over. It remained only for Desert Storm’s aftermath to mop up the historical details wrung out of Iraq. The Kurds were one such detail. It had taken another war, Desert Storm, for the Kurds to unexpectedly emerge from the obscurity they had received as a reward for helping the Allies during the First World War, nearly eight decades before. The Kurds had helped the Allies again this time, but this was just another detail. In the calculus of victory and defeat echoing through world capitals and in global headlines, in the first moments of Iraq’s surrender there were few details, and fewer human faces. The first pictures of the war were taken by weapons; Baghdad, a city of five million, rendered in fuzzy, gun-camera gray. Snapshots of hangars, bridges, roads, and buildings. No people. We had won. They had lost.
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Behind the lens Neurological disorder doesn’t slow photographer’s ambition
NO PITY: PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES FORGING A NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Joseph P. Shapiro ISBN: 0812924126 382 pages, ©1994 REVIEW BY DOUGLAS BAYNTON By the end of Joseph Shapiro’s No Pity, most readers emerge with an entirely different view of disability than they started with. Shapiro shows us that the crux of the problem for most disabled people is not so much individual impairments but rather socially constructed barriers that make it difficult for them to move about freely, interact with others, and participate in their communities. Published in 1993, it is in some ways dated, but is still the liveliest and most accessible introduction to the underlying principles and history of the disability rights movement in print. The chapter on assisted suicide, “No Less Worthy a Life,” is perhaps the most powerful because it deals with lives not just damaged but lost as a result of prejudice. He shows us how disabled people who become depressed and suicidal are not treated in the same way as other people in similar circumstances. Doctors, counselors, and psychologists, instead of exploring the specific circumstances behind their depression, often assume that depression is a natural outgrowth of disability. The result is that, where others would be guided into therapy, in many instances disabled people have been implicitly or explicitly encouraged to take their lives. The well-publicized cases of Jack Kevorkian, which Shapiro discusses, are only the tip of the iceberg of this serious problem. The great strength of No Pity is to effectively introduce readers to the “social model” of disability that underlies the rights movement, but with engaging narratives of real peoples’ lives rather than abstractions. Shapiro shows us that physical, mental, and sensory differences from the majority are not the main source of difficulties for disabled people, but rather the obstructions that prejudice puts in their way.
BY MAXINE SPRINGER
The photographer expertly shoots a roll of film at a basketball game. The next day he enters the darkroom to perform the lengthy and complex list of tasks required to develop and print his pictures so they can be used for a sports spread of the yearbook. Alex Mrozewski goes through the processes of a typical high-school photojournalist, but he faces challenges atypical to most photographers. Alex was born with dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes impaired mobility and affects his speech. He tires easily, and balancing can be difficult. None of this stopped him from deciding to take photojournalism the first semester of his freshman year. “I took photojournalism because my older brother took it and thought it was interesting so I gave it a try,” Alex said. He began to face several setbacks; in particular, he was frustrated because he had difficulty keeping the camera balanced while shooting a roll of film. “The major challenge with Alex has been helping him to take pictures without camera shake,” said Brad Froebel, Alex’s journalism teacher. “With his disability, there are times that he does not have complete full muscular control, and it is hard for him to balance.” When Alex was still facing problems at the end of the one semester course of photojournalism, he decided to take the course a second time in hopes that he would get better because of the extra practice. “I was on a quest to join the yearbook staff,” he said. “I really liked taking pictures so after the first semester I took it again to improve my skills.” During his sophomore year he also began to work with the school’s occupational therapist, Dawn McDonald, who, along with Froebel, worked to help Alex in his “quest” to succeed. “The three of us sat down and tried to come up with ways to reduce shaking,” Alex said. “This year I am seeing bet-
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ter outcomes and hope the good results can keep on rolling in.” The method that is now proving to be successful for Alex is only slightly different from the way any other photographer would go about shooting a roll of film, but it is tailored to his needs. “Normally I teach photographers to take pictures with their arms bent loosely and at their sides, but Alex had trouble taking pictures in focus this way,” Froebel said. “We worked on having him pull his arms closer to his chest. This way he has a tighter control and is able to brace his arms against his body or brace his entire body to a wall.” Alex, who has now attained his goal, serves as a staff photographer for the Legacy yearbook staff. As his adviser, Froebel has noticed great changes in him since he first began. “Alex has changed drastically over the past three years while in my classes. At first it was hard for him to understand that he needed to adjust how he took pictures, but once he saw how his pictures improved by bracing himself against a wall, he continued to do so,” Froebel said. “Last year Alex and I found which subjects, such as basketball, he was better at shooting so those assignments are given to him. He is not as negative to the class and in his ability now that he knows he can take good pictures and process and print them.” As a junior, Alex has new goals that he intends to attain. Believing that photography has opened a new world to him, he plans to pursue a career in the field upon graduation. “This summer I’m going to visit NYU and Lynn University because both of those schools have good photography departments, but it doesn’t really matter where I go,” he said. “Before photography I didn’t really have anything to do. I started trying new things, and this is what I like. Photography is the greatest thing that has come into my life in the past few years. It has brought a lot of new opportunities into my life.” n
SUMMER 2004
A confession
My biggest disability is my insecurity rather than my cerebal palsy BY KELSEY VETTER
If you looked at me you probably wouldn’t realize that a word like “disabled“ could describe me. Well, I am going on record as saying, “Don’t dismiss everything you see.” I have a mild taxic cerebral palsy. It is not a disease, and I am not going to die from it. The condition simply means that my physical abilities are hindered, not enough to put me in a wheelchair but more than enough to entitle me to “special needs“ assessment. I leave my classes five minutes earlier than other students so I can beat the rush because my sense of balance is way off. Also, I am allowed extra time to complete essay tests, and teachers make copies of their notes for me so I don’t
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have to write them. The last two items connect to writing, and it is an ironic fate that what I love to do the most is also the thing I should avoid doing the most. When I found out that I would be on the staff of the Epic, our school newspaper, you can imagine that my reaction was a little mixed. How much writing would I have to do? Though putting pen to paper is a thrill for me, the thrill quickly dwindles into exhaustion if I write for more than about 20 minutes. Fortunately for me, I had an understanding teacher who was big on computers. Okay, so I would be typing the articles rather than writing them by hand. But that, I quickly found out, didn’t matter when you’re — gasp
— interviewing. Easily my most feared aspect of journalism is interviewing people for their quotes and insights. I know they are watching me as I scribble in my as-of-yet unperfected shorthand. They can see how slow I am. They can see I am struggling to record every word they are saying. Or can they? As I am constantly finding out, my biggest disability may be my insecurity rather than my cerebral palsy. Even though I’m a little slow. I can still get the job done. And that is all anyone is really asking of me. In the end, of course, I forget the worrying and the anxiety. I cause myself to concentrate on writing the best story I can produce. n
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This group faculty picture was from “Hat Day” last year when I stopped wearing my wig and the entire faculty wore a hat in support.
Teaching with cancer A journalism adviser’s journey to June
How-to untangle the difficult. Journalism advisers know about decoding computer programs and defending freedom of the press. The human experience, though, means they also learn how to function with spirit when encountering the unrepeatable word: cancer. BY SUE FARLOW
I should have known. The mammogram was “fine,” but the lump was still there. Of course, I was too busy to even think about it until 3 a.m. when I woke up worrying about the next deadline. It was October, and I was dealing with senior make-up pictures and underclass pictures for the yearbook. We were frantically trying to make our first deadline. The first issue of the newspaper had just been published. I would feel the lump and think that I needed to call the doctor. In the meantime, I would be hit with several crises a day, which made the lump leave my mind until 3 the next morning This time last year, I thought I was a happy, healthy woman with a great job that no one else could do but me. We were working on the last issue of the newspaper, waiting for the yearbook to come back and collating the literary magazine. I was looking forward to a great summer. 26 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
After I went to the doctor on Thursday afternoon, he sent me to the Breast Center in Greensboro. My appointment was Monday at 8 a.m. After Dr. Dover looked at my mammogram, she did an ultra sound and a biopsy immediately. She told me to go home and rest rather than to return to work that day. I was much too busy and much too important to take time off work. It was May, for heaven’s sake. Ever try to explain a deadline to a substitute? I bravely drove to work with an ice pack stuffed in my bra. I told my husband he needed to go back with me the next afternoon. Bad news. Dr. Dover put her arms around me and said, “We cry a lot around here.” I went to school Wednesday in shock, but didn’t say anything — I was still much too busy. Surgery was scheduled for the following Wednesday. I took my editors into the office Monday afternoon and told them I wouldn’t be here Wednesday. After the usual NOOO (they hate bookwork when the sub is there), I told them that I wouldn’t be back for at least two weeks. When I told them I had just been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, two of them cried. Because I cry if anyone else is crying, we all had a cry together. Fortunately, I timed it down to the
minute, and the bell rang. The next morning, my secondperiod class crept into the classroom. I bravely smiled my reassurance that I would be okay — remember, I was too busy for diversions. I left great lesson plans. English Honors was slugging through “The Awakening,” the yearbook staff was getting ready for the big day and Journalism was slugging through Journalism Today. They hate bookwork and wanted to put “The only good sub is a sandwich” on their journalism T-shirts, but I wouldn’t let them. The sub was a friend of mine I had taught with for years. They settled for “Bookwork? NNNNOOOOOO...” The literary magazine went to the printer. While I was out, they had a great yearbook distribution day. The literary magazine came back — all but one copy they saved for me was sold. The last issue of the newspaper looked great. For the first time in 17 years I didn’t look at one word before it went to press. This was a humbling experience for someone as busy and important as I was. How could all of this possibly get done without me? I returned to school on the last day of classes before exams. I was the only one who could get my students ready for their exams. It was time to be busy and important SUMMER 2004
again. But now I was scared, too. Right after school, we had a meeting for all students taking yearbook the next year. We gave them their folder with the ads they had to sell during the summer. I noticed a woman standing outside my door, but I waited to talk to her until I was sure the sophomores understood how to sell a yearbook ad. Finally, I got around to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the yearbook editor creep out the back door. He knew what was coming — one mad mother waiting for me. It seems we forgot to put her daughter’s senior ad in the yearbook. In my nicest placating voice, I explained that I had been out and I would look into it. Those words didn’t appease her one bit. In fact, she had heard that I had breast cancer — and that didn’t have any effect either. Apparently, she was a survivor — and convinced that someone on the staff was sabotaging her daughter deliberately. A row of freshmen girls had the wrong names under their pictures. Upset mothers went to the principal about it because that, too, was done deliberately — they even accused the editor, who didn’t even work on those pages. He told me later he got yelled at for a solid week after the yearbooks came out — by mothers, the principal and the girls. All of a sudden, I was half glad I had been out. Somebody else could be busy and important for a while. Last summer is a blur. Dr. Young, my surgeon, inserted a port-a-cath to prepare for chemo. I had my hair cut short to prepare for losing it. I will never forget the day I woke up with clumps of hair on my pillow. It was a beautiful Saturday morning in June, 10 days after my first chemo treatment. I put my hand in my hair and pulled out clumps. That afternoon, I drank a glass of wine. Then on the back steps I whacked my hair as I did when I was 2 years old. In a macabre way, it felt good. At least I was in control of something. Two days later I was completely bald. I put my wig on and went to chemo. My first round of chemo was SUMMER 2004
This was Relaly for Life and I am on the left - with the short gray hair!
Me with my bodygards on the street in New York City.
This is our group at the CSPA convention in NYC a few years ago
Some students and I move boxes into our new classroom and lab,
every three weeks. My husband, David drove me to the Piedmont Cancer Center in Greensboro. Fortunately, I was eligible to be in a “study” of cancer patients. Cindy Shaw, my amazing research nurse, met me at every appointment, listened to my complaints and laughed at my feeble attempts at jokes. She went with me to see my oncologist, Dr. Rubin, who was another amazing person. He ordered adriamycin and cytoxan for my chemotherapy. It was so toxic, the nurse wouldn’t put it through a drip, but had to push it through the port-acath herself. If it got on my skin, it could burn it — if it got in tissue, it could cause damage — and they were putting it in a vein going to my heart. I spent the summer in bed, crying and hurting, and I couldn’t tell you why I was crying or where it hurt. I survived on Gatorade and saltines. Of course, I went back to school in August. I was going to be busy and important again. Late August chemo was changed to once a week. I left Asheboro High School every Thursday at noon with a box of food for the weekend — each department from school took turns providing food. For a couple of weeks, I came back to school on Friday. As the chemo began to take its toll, I came back on Monday — then Tuesday. By Thanksgiving, I was teaching only 2 1/2 days a week. My fingernails turned black, and my teeth turned brown. I never knew how important eyelashes were till I didn’t have any. I made my own eyebrows with an Estée Lauder eyebrow pencil. Sometimes they were even, but most of the time they weren’t. My fingers and toes went numb — again chemo — and the only shoes I could get on my feet were my trusty Birkenstocks and a pair of black high top Reeboks I had bought years ago when I hurt my ankle. I had to wear button-up clothes because I couldn’t lift my arm over my head. The port-a-cath CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY • 27
Here I am working on yearbook proofs with Birtany Simmons and Drew Tysinger. It is our local newspaper here in Asheboro, N.C. where I advise the Ash Hi Chat; Ash Hi Life and Ash Hi Review.
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hurt, and I was terrified of getting lymphedema, a common side effect, every time I moved my arm. I was so exhausted I could barely get from school to home before I fell asleep. For the first time in years, I was sleeping all night. Everything I ate tasted like greasy hot metal, and I had to use a plastic fork and spoon. I lost 25 percent of my heart’s ability to pump blood, courtesy of chemotherapy. I thought at least this would enable me to drop the 15 pounds I needed to lose, but steroids in the chemo took care of that. I actually gained weight. When my blood counts dropped, I had to take a shot that hurt when it went in and burned all the way up my arm. The cost was $2,500 a shot. Some weeks, I had to take a double dose. Thank goodness for “teacher’s insurance.” Chemo was also affecting my short-term memory, which I referred to as “chemonesia.” Unfortunately, this was another common side effect. At this point, I asked Dr. Rubin for a handicapped sticker and medical marijuana. I felt like I earned both. He just looked at me and rolled his eyes. 28 • COMMUNICATION: JOURNALISM EDUCATION TODAY
Here I am multi-tasking, helping Andrew Edwards with newspaper proofs and looking through a catalog with Michael Moore
The week before Christmas, our color deadline in yearbook was due, but I was much too busy (but no longer important) to come to school. I don’t think I thought about it one time. On Tuesday of that week, I had chemotherapy. Wednesday, I had a heart test. Thursday we went south to Wilmington, and Friday my youngest son graduated from UNC Wilmington. Saturday was a beautiful day at the beach. My husband and sons left me alone all day and it was wonderful. I was so tired of bravely smiling, without showing my dark brown teeth, and telling everyone I was “just tired.” I took a bubble bath and tried to walk out on the beach. I got so winded I had to come back,
but my nice oceanfront suite had a great balcony. I tried to read a trashy novel and felt much better. New semester — new students — same old tired chemo-infected body. My memory was getting worse. I thought my juniors from first semester were seniors now and kept asking them where they were going to college. I couldn’t remember names and couldn’t focus on yearbook or newspaper deadlines. I couldn’t remember where I put things, and my students realized that if they wanted to find their pages I tried to proof for them, they had to stand there while I read them and take them right back. If I put them down, we’d never find them. A lot of snow and missed deadlines — only I didn’t seem to be able to get worked up about it. The kids were holding proofs because they thought I needed to see them before they sent them back. It was the middle of January, and we hadn’t met our December color deadline yet. I was too tired to care. Dr. Riggan, my principal, did everything he could to help me. He changed my planning period for second semester so I could drive 25 miles at 7 a.m. every morning SUMMER 2004
for radiation treatments and then another 30 minutes to school. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes gave me gas coupons and restaurant certificates. I did this for 7-1/2 weeks — still smiling bravely and still not quite caring about deadlines. Before I started radiation, they had to make a cast of my head and shoulders for me to lie in while l was taking treatments. I asked the nurse what they were going to do with the cast when I was finished. “Probably throw it away. You want it? “How much did it cost?” my everpractical self asked. “Altogether? About $5,000.” I took it home because I didn’t know what else to do with it. Our school play this spring was Les Miserables, and my $5,000 contribution was prominently displayed in the barricade. I asked Dr. Goodchild, my radiation oncologist, for a handicapped sticker and medical marijuana. He smiled and gave me the handicapped sticker. I didn’t tell
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Mallory Warner makes corrections to newspaper pages.
Dr. Rubin — he’d only roll his eyes again. By March it was time for another mammogram and doctor’s appointment. Because I didn’t trust mammograms any more, I insisted on an ultra sound as well. I was learning
to stand up for myself and to take charge. Thankfully, there was no evidence of cancer in my body at all, and I went from being a patient to being a survivor. My yearbook students were still selling yearbooks to businesses, and I asked a couple of them to go by the local newspaper office to buy a purple survivor pin. Upon their return, one girl turned to her friend and said, “What does Mrs. Farlow want with a survivor pin? Does she even like that show?” I wore my purple survivor pin every day until I lost it. The last deadline for the yearbook was in the mid-March, the same week I finished my radiation treatments. I think it was the only deadline we met this year. I was elected Teacher of the Year for Asheboro High School. Dr. Riggan assured me it was because I was crazy enough to want to come to school as much as possible and still do yearbook and journalism. This was before I had to tell him how CONTINUED ON PAGE 31
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
an experience I will never forget. I walked with my late our deadlines were. I friends Jean and Marty, still couldn’t concentrate who started out in a enough to work on them. wheel chair. She got out People kept telling me and pushed the wheel how strong I was. I didn’t chair around the track. feel strong — just scared. That is courage. The faculty and staff were Recently during the exceptionally supportive of Academic Awards Night me and brought me a lot at school, I had the honor of treats. of presenting a scholarI had a rude awakening ship from the American when my yearbook rep sent Cancer Society to a the ship date and price. graduating senior who June 28. June 28? Oops. had survived childhood We graduate on May 31. cancer. Hmm. Time to negotiate. Right now, one in eight Physically, I was getting a women will get breast little strength back — my cancer. I was just standhair was slowly growing ing in the wrong place back. Instead of being at the wrong time, and brown, it was gray and Ben Murchison makes corrections at the Courier Tribune, Asheboro’s local newspaper. in the immortal words of curly. I had picked out a President Reagan when wig that I thought had The paper looked great — everyhe got shot, “I forgot to duck.” I been my natural hair color. But as one was impressed, even me. am amazed at the number of people my son Brian so kindly said, “Yeah, The most common question I am mom — 20 years ago.” asked is “How did you do it?” I don’t who have come to me during this I finally got up my nerve to start know how I did it. I am not a hero, past year to share a cancer story. showing friends my hair. Up until nor am I a martyr. I was simply too People across cultures and economic this point, I had on either a wig, hat scared not to put one foot in front levels are finding themselves united or turban. I didn’t look like Sinead of the other and keep going. I drew in the fight against this disease. I love being an adviser. I love O’Connor and was self-conscious. strength from my fantastic supeverything from the brainstorming I was still swollen and puffy from port group — my husband David, to the deadlines. I love the creativity the chemo. With encouragement our sons Daniel and Brian, church and the computers. I love working from the staff at school, I chose my friends and the most fantastic facwith the students. I cannot imagine “unveiling day.” ulty ever put together in one place. doing anything else. The Thursday I didn’t wear my I could not have gone through I am finishing this article while wig to school, I had on a cute hat. this journey without my family, cojournalism students are taking their The entire staff, from administra- workers, church friends and even final exam. The yearbook exam was tors to custodians, wore hats to strangers who wanted to share their yesterday, and yes, there were a few support me. WOW! Now the wig own story with me. One woman tears shed. We have selected the ediis gone, and the eyelashes are back. hesitantly approached me outside tors for next year, arranged the date Eyebrows are still crooked, but life the grocery store to comment on for senior and underclass pictures is good. my wig. She recognized it as a wig and are trying to come up with a But still no yearbook ship date. because she had taken hers off theme My yearbook rep renegotiated with recently. We stood in the parking In exactly 35 minutes the school me, and we got the yearbook back lot and cried together. I never got year will be over. Graduation is at May 9. It looked great on the out- her name. Immediately after I was high noon tomorrow. It is a beauside. The literary magazine looks diagnosed, my friend Jean came tiful May morning, and I have the pretty good, also. Not many mis- over with advice and hats — she is a whole summer ahead. Yes, my cantakes that I could find, which was five-year survivor. My friend Cookie cer was aggressive. Yes, it has a high a good sign. Maybe radiation wasn’t was the featured speaker at Relay for recurrence rate. And yes, I still see so bad after all. Life this year. We stood in the lumall my doctors every three months, Just when I thought I could coast ber section of Lowes Hardware and but right now, the sun is shining, till the end of May, the newspaper cried together one afternoon. the flowers are blooming and the editors informed me that the last Relay for Life was the most birds are singing issue of the school newspaper need- incredible experience. To walk Life is good. ed to be 24 pages. Where is that around the track while more than I should have known. n medical marijuana when I need it? a thousand people are clapping is
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