Quotes from Lou Ann Walker

there are signs that are parodies of actual objects and that retain a cleverness even for deaf people. Indeed, these signs are to sight what onomatopoeia is to sound.

A conservative survey once showed that the average deaf high school graduate has a third-grade reading ability.

Every day they met with constant, irritating reminders of their shortcomings, from the petty annoyance of not being able to ask for a cup of coffee in a restaurant, to the sobering knowledge that they couldn't hear cars careening around corners, and that deaf people had been shot in the back by policemen when they hadn't heard a command to halt.

Like virtually all schools for the deaf at that time, the Indiana State School emphasized oral skills: speaking and lipreading.

In sign language, conversations like these are unbelievably hard. You must look directly at the person as you talk to him, and as he talks to you. You can't avert your eyes to relieve the tension.

We were speaking in feelings. Words were not enough.

That was another thing hearing people did—made too-large movements. It was tantamount to shouting.)