Friday, March 29, 2024

Working Miracles

As deaf education resources across state face challenges, grad student fights through disability

April 17, 2013

Graduate student John Kirsh discusses the challenges of being deaf and his role as a teacher and student.

Editor’s note: Deaf student John Kirsh is communicating through Janet Jurus, an interpreter for Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, for this story.

John Kirsh loves bass.

It’s the kind of music he can hear, he can feel.

Kirsh, who lost his hearing because of a fever while he was an infant, only can hear the sounds of thunder or a jet passing overhead.

With his hearing aid, however, he can hear the voices of his students, his friends, his family.

And he can hear some of the music he loves.

Rock or house music, as long as it’s not country and has a lot of bass, it’s all good for Kirsh.

Kirsh, a deaf education graduate student, commutes every Tuesday to class from his job in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., as a teacher at Lahser High School.

Kirsh teaches math to the deaf and hard of hearing.

He is one of the few remaining students at MSU in the deaf education program.

A moratorium was placed on the program in 2009 because of budget reductions, university spokesman Kent Cassella said.

“The decision to discontinue deaf education as a certification area did not mean the college was turning its focus away from special education,” Cassella said. “Special education remains a high priority area, and in fact, the college continues to invest in those emerging areas where there is high demand and high shortage.”

Kirsh said the loss of the program negatively will affect deaf education in the state.

Eastern Michigan University was the only other university within the state of Michigan to seek a deaf education specialization, but their program no longer is accepting students, according to deafed.net, an educational enhancement site focused on deaf education.

Despite multiple calls, officials in Eastern Michigan’s Department of Special Education could not be reached for comment before press time.

“Where are the professionals to teach them going to be trained?” Kirsh said. “The people that are going to suffer are the deaf and hard of hearing students in Michigan.”

Once Eastern’s program is phased out, there will be no university-level deaf education teacher preparation programs in Michigan.

Michigan will join 16 other states who do not offer deaf education teacher preparation programs.

Road to teaching
It was a silent stretch of I-96 highway as Kirsh made his way from Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., to his classes at Erickson Hall.

There was the hum of cars passing by, the thumping sound of tires hitting the pavement, the occasional clanking of a dolphin pendant hanging from the rear view mirror, but just that, no music, nothing but the road.

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Growing up in a hearing world was challenging for Kirsh.

“I told people I was trained like a parrot,” Kirsh said. “I was taught to use my voice and not to sign and I did feel that way growing up. I understand why now that my parents taught me to function that way without sign language.”

Kirsh’s level of hearing loss is considered severe to profound, meaning he has 85 to 90 decibels of hearing loss, so he only can hear extremely loud sounds without his hearing aid.

With the help of a behind-the-ear hearing aid, Kirsh is able to hear some voices and, coupled with his ability to lip read, he’s able to communicate with those who don’t know American Sign Language.

“I think it doesn’t really matter if you’re deaf or hard of hearing,” Kirsh said. “I think there’s always communication issues. (However,) there is that universal ability for humans to gesture. It’s all about making an effort to communicate regardless of what language it is, whether you can hear or you can’t.”

Kirsh said he wanted to become a teacher to give back.

“Being a deaf person growing up and experiencing the barriers that I had, I really feel like I needed to give back to the community,” Kirsh said. “I want to see other deaf and hard of hearing students improve and have more opportunities than I had myself growing up.”

For Kirsh, being deaf does not define him.

“I’m not labeling myself as a deaf person,” Kirsh said. “That’s not my identity. I’m a human being. I have motivation to succeed in whatever my interest is. I don’t want to label myself. I don’t want to limit myself.”

State of deaf education
MSU Co-Director of Deaf Education Programs Dr. Harold Johnson said there’s a dire need for teachers for the deaf.

In deaf education, 40-50 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years of starting their teaching career, according to an article in the American Annals of the Deaf — an academic journal concerning education and related services for hearing-impaired children and adults.

“All kids deserve great teachers,” Johnson said. “(The decision to close the program) basically said that kids who are hard of hearing don’t deserve that.”

Deaf education graduate student Michella Maiorana-Basas said she was impressed with the program MSU had and is sad it closed. She worked as a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing for 10 years.

“It will be really hard recruiting (teachers),” Maiorana-Basas said. “Deaf education typically has high turnover rates because it’s a tough job. … It’s going to be difficult to replace teachers and it’s going to be hard to replace them with that level of quality.”

Policy coordinator in the Office of Special Education Joanne Winkelman, who works for the Michigan Department of Education, said a new plan for deaf education will be presented to the State Board of Education on May 14.

For Kirsh, the loss of deaf education programs in the state of Michigan is a devastating blow.

“(I felt) deflated,” Kirsh said. “We feel like our kids were abandoned.”

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