Life of the Deaf Icons

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were deaf? Or how about if you were deaf and had big dreams but feel as if you couldnt accomplish them? Would you sit at home all day, not try and think youre a nobody. Well you really should you should look at theses five major people in history that had the same problem with being deaf but they all over came their non-hearing life to become big! Im going to talk about five major people as of the writing world, sports, and being not only deaf but also blind all of them are deaf and all overcame it to become big in our world. First, Laura C. Redden Searing was the first ever-deaf female journalist. She was born in 1839 and lost her hearing at age eleven from meningitis the doctors thought that they could treat it with the use of ototoxic drugs it never helped. She ended up graduating from Missouri School for the Deaf. When she started her journalism career she used the name Howard Glyndon in several newspapers, the St. Louis Republican, NY Times, New York Sun, New York Evening Mail, and The Tribune. Laura was also a strong poet one of her famous poems is Belle Missouri it was a war song for the Missouri unionists during the civil war. She probably never thought she would ever become a writer but she did and she overcame her deaf. Second is William Dummy Hoy he was born in Houcktown, Ohio on May 23, 1862. When he was just three years old he contracted meningitis (same as Laura). Dummy had then entered The Ohio School for the Deaf in 1872 and graduated as valedictorian in 1879. One normal day for Dummy he was playing baseball with some of the kids in the neighborhood and was very impressed but found out that he was deaf and moved on. The following day he came back and asked Dummy if he would play for Kenton, Ohio against their rival Urbana so he played and the day after the game he closed

his business down and set out for the Northwest League and became a Major League Baseball player in 1888. Hoy played for Buffalo, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Louisville as a left-handed batter and a righthanded thrower. Being totally deaf as you know and some of my teammates being unacquainted with my play, I think it is timely to bring about an understanding between myself, the left fielder, the shortstop and the second baseman and the right fielder. The main point is to avoid possible collisions with any of these four who surround me when in the field going for a fly ball. Whenever I take a fly ball I always yell I'll take it--the same as I have been doing for many seasons, and of course the other fielders let me take it. Whenever you don't hear me yell, it is understood I am not after the ball, and they govern themselves accordingly." A famous quote from Dummy Hoy. In conclusion, Hoy played in 1796 games with an average of .287 that included 2004 hits, 1426 runs, 40 homers and 726 runs batted in. Possessing great speed, he is credited with 597 steals. Thats amazing to be a deaf baseball player and have those high levels! He died on December 15, 1961. Another great and retired major athlete is Kenny Walker. Born on April 6, 1967 and 47 years old now, he is a former defensive lineman for the Denver Broncos and is the second NFL player to be deaf ever! He is the youngest of six children and became deaf by meningitis just like Laura C. Redden Searing and William Dummy Hoy. Walker was drafted into the NFL in 1991 and played for two full season he was the first deaf to complete one full season NFL.

Final person is Helen Keller she was not only deaf but blind by the age of 2. She was born on June 27, 1880, and soon fell ill with brain fever that still is a mystery today. Martha Washington the youngest of the family cooks daughter helped Helen and by the time Keller was 7 the girls had created 60 signs to communicate with each other. Then in March 1887 Anne Sullivan went to the Kellers home and began teaching Helen finger spelling and having Keller feel the things over ad over till Helen got it right. This women to me is very inspiring she over came being deaf and blind thats amazing!