What Is Deaf Again By Mark Dolsbaugh Summary

I chose to write about Deaf Again, by Mark Drolsbaugh, because the title stood out to me. It wasn’t just being deaf, but deaf again and made me wonder what exactly that was supposed to mean. In the book, Drolsbaugh paints a picture for us and has us imagine ourselves living in a glass bubble underwater. In this underwater glass bubble, you can see all the fish swimming and playing. All you can do it watch the fun around you, and at most put on some scuba gear to try and join the fun, but the thing is, the scuba gear weighs you down because it’s heavy and uncomfortable. Despite the uncomfortness, you are able to interact with the fish, but you can never perfect the swim of the fish. This made you know you were different, that you weren’t like

Although both his parents could sign, he was raised without learning how to because his doctors told his parents and grandparents that they were afraid signing would interfere with his speech and interfere with his learning and education because he would no longer try and use his speech and hearing skills. Mark talks about his struggles faced while attending different schools and just not being able to understand people because all he can do is read lips which was especially difficult when he wasn’t familiar with the movement and pattern of the person’s lips. He also talks about the schools he attended and how they affected him in different ways and how kindergarten at the Henry H. Houston School made him feel out of place because he wasn’t able to sing along or hear any of the music in class. Then, in third grade he switched schools and attended the now Plymouth Meeting Friends School and thought it was going well until another boy kicked a football at him and knocked him to the ground causing him to lose his hearing aid battery. Another school experience he didn’t enjoy was at Germantown Friends School where Mark states 95% of the time he had no clue what was going on and that when the teacher was done lecturing he would scramble around asking for the assignment and had to learn how to do it on his own. He was so ashamed of being deaf considering that’s all his grandparents wanted to believe that

It makes you realize that regardless religion, social status, salary, race and other things we seem to care so much about, we can look past and develop meaningful relationships. I felt like this book told the story of being deaf from one person’s viewpoint, but also touched base on the general Deaf experience when talking about how the people around him would react. But, because Mark was born hearing, and was always “so close” to being hearing, all his teachers, doctors, and grandparents wanted him to be considered hearing and to be “normal”. If he had been born deaf, he would have been accepted as a deaf person instead of being treated as if he had some kind of disease. I believe that this book presents the Deaf community in a positive light because although he talks about how his deafness made him feel like an outcast and like he was broken which led to his low self-esteem, it’s a beautiful outcome showing a boy’s growth and how he learned to be proud and understand that there is nothing wrong with being different from other people. Being different does not make you less than, nor does it make you inadequate. I would definitely recommend this book because it shows that communication is everything, that human interaction is one of the most precious things, and that you should be proud of who you are and your culture, no matter