Deaf Like Me
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars drf321
Very touching story of parents realizing that it is ok to have a deaf daughter and that she is no less of a person than her older brother. Many of the misconceptions are brought out in the story of their wanting nothing but the best for their daughter. Highly recommend this book for anybody that has a hearing impaired child or know of parents who are struggling with this in their family.
5 Stars Deaf Like Me - A Must Read For Parents of Deaf Children
This book, the true-life story of parents who struggle to do the best they can for their deaf child, is one of the most concise and important books ever written on this subject.
The book doesn’t tell hearing parents what decisions they should make for their deaf child, but instead tells this family’s story in an easy to read and engaging first-person narrative, written from the point of view of the child’s father.
Lynn Spradley’s revelation at the dinner table, after her parents teach her the first signs they’ve learned at a night school class, is heart breaking and revealing. ‘Name me?’ she demands to know. What is my name? Without sign language, there was no way to bridge the gap between parent and child, and she was five years old before she knew her own name.
3 Stars Good Book, But May Be Overrated
Many people find this book THE book to read in regards to a deaf child’s experience (of course, that includes her family as well). And this book is very good at showing you what a hearing family goes through when a deaf child is born into it. It tells of the “typical” struggle between raising their child strictly oral or letting them sign, too.
Many doctors and therapists tell hearing parents that to allow their deaf child to sign would be to hinder their ability to speak, lipread, or progress intellectually. All of this is hogwash, but, nevertheless, that is what this book is about. What should we do with our child?
If you’re looking for that kind of informative read, this book is sure to please. For me, it was just another book about the same old issue and I found myself skimming often just to get to something original. As harsh as that may sound, that’s just this deafie’s opinion. :v)
5 Stars Great Read
This book was required reading for my ASL class. I had heard from my classmates that it was an interesting book. As I found out for myself, it was wonderful. The lies that the “mainstream” told to the Spradleys is still evident today where kids are forced to speak, wear cochlear implants and hearing aids and deny their native language. Being able to tell your child that you love them and have them understand is paramount and by denying a deaf child their native language, they can’t “hear” you say that you love them…they have to see it.
5 Stars A universal story told in particulars–strongly recommended
“Deaf Like Me” is one of my favorite books of all time in any genre, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who comes across this page.
The book is a richly detailed autobiography of one family’s struggles to grow up with deafness in mid-1960s America. As such, it provides a terrific introduction into a key moment in the history of deaf education when deaf children were still suffering from a wrong-headed emphasis on lip reading and vocalization, rather than sign language. Members of the deaf community have long heralded the book for this reason.
But “Deaf Like Me” isn’t a book just for deaf people and others interested in deaf culture. To the contrary, I think, it’s a book for anyone who grew up in 1960s America, and possibly for anyone who has struggled to communicate with loved ones ever.
That’s because there are so many parallels between this little family’s struggles to learn how to communicate with one another against a background of changing norms and great uncertainty, and the difficulties that many American families went through in the 1960s to speak with and understand one another on issues ranging from civil rights to the Vietnam war. Such struggles afflict most generations everywhere.
None of this is to suggest that I think the authors of “Deaf Like Me” intended to write a metaphorical treatise on 1960s America much less humanity. To the contrary, I believe the authors’ sole focus was on the Spalding family’s particular struggles. One of the authors was a trained anthropologist, and that comes through in the book’s unerring attention to details as opposed to generalizations. It’s these details in large part that bring the book to life.
Nonetheless, as a hearing person with no deaf family members, I found myself identifying with this book a lot. I suffered as the little girl Lynn and her parents suffered. And I rejoiced in their discovery that everyone in the family can express themselves and be understood if only they learn to “hear” one another in the different ways that each of us has to communicate.
Strongly recommended.
