Seventh grade eye opener

Parent-Teacher conferences are never fun, especially when the teacher requires you, the student, to attend. My English teacher wanted to talk to my parents about me.

According to my teacher, I refused to put endings on words in my speech and my writings. Suffixes, plural, and possessive endings were the things she was referring to.

What my dad said next both blew my world apart and together at the same time. “Robin talks and writes like she hears. She does not hear high frequencies sounds.”

That’s why everyone makes fun of me. My speech, not my being poor ( We weren’t really poor.). That’s why my “vote” did not count. That’s why I have no friends.

I started speech therapy for only a few weeks the next week.

I still wanted friends and would do almost anything to have one.  That’s next time.

To begin

Several people have asked me to write a book about my life. I actually feel that my in person stories are better than my writing them. Guess this will be “the test.”

Why My Life, I don’t know. My Deaf Perspective? Most people with hearing loss are constantly told, “You’re not listening.” “ This time, pay attention.”  “Where in the world did you hear that?” “That’s not how I remember it. “ And so many other negative examples.

Let’s begin with my seventh grade year- 1970-1971. My family moved to Blacksburg, VA from a town where I was born and raised- Hillsville, Va. Just an hour away from each other, but the kids teased me. Things like, Did you have running water? Indoor plumbing? Telephones? Television? And so on. I thought they were just stupid.

On the first day of school, I learned that I was not the only Robin in school. I was told by my homeroom teacher that I needed to listen for my last name as well.

Then we had an election. For what? I don’t remember. The two people we were voting on were two popular students. A boy and a girl.  Most elections are done by secret ballot, right? Not this one. We had to stand up by our desk and say the name of the person we were voting for.

My turn! I stood and said the name of the boy. Did I mention that I had a huge crush on him? Well, I did. He tallied his vote, so when I said his name, he asked,”What?” South repeated his name a little louder. Again and again he asked me,”What?” Then he said, as clear as day, “If you cannot day my name correctly, then your vote does not count. Sit down.”

Then, the whole class, including the teacher, laughed and laughed. I had no idea why, so I walked out of the classroom and went to the principal’s office and sat in a chair outside her office.

When she asked me why I was there, I had no idea what to say to her. She told me to go back to class. So, I walked down the hall, past my classroom, out the outside door and walked over a mile home.

i had to hide in a bush, until the bus arrived, so I could walk with my brother to the house.

Enough  for one day. Next time, I will finish up the seventh grade stories.