Alandra's Lilacs Reflection On Deaf Culture

Nicole Casciola

Professor Paoli

Deaf Culture and Heritage

February 23, 2017 Alandra’s Lilacs Reflection Imagine a life where you were unable to use the phone, had to go to school seventy miles from home, and can’t have a conversation with your elder because they didn’t take the time or effort towards learning your language. This was the life of many hard-of-hearing and deaf people during the 1960’s and earlier. American Sign Language wasn’t even brought about until around 1817. In the book Alandra’s Lilacs it tells the story of a young woman named Tressa Bowers and her many experiences and views on raising a deaf child beginning in 1967. Tressa attempted to have children times before but both were born much too early and did not survive.

This school was very beneficial for Alandra’s education because it used the method ‘Total Communication’ which allowed her to use American Sign Language and learn without being restricted by her teachers. However this upside to Alandra having a beneficial education took her away from her mother Tressa at a very young age. Tress explains this when she says, “I believe that leaving my five-year-old daughter at a residential school was the most traumatic event I experienced as a result of her deafness. I have heard all the reasons and excuses for sending deaf children to a residential school- better education, being with ‘their own kind,’ the amount of language they can absorb, and the freedom to express themselves in their own language. Still, I feel that nothing can replace the child growing up at home if a child’s family provides quality support and the public system makes educating deaf children a priority.” (Bowers 43). Although Tressa knew that this would be extremely beneficial for Alandra even though she had lost a great deal of time with her growing daughter but it made all the difference in her daughter’s ability to communicate and Tressa was very grateful for making this decision in the future because the amount of growth and knowledge Alandra learned from this experience was worth

At the beginning of this journey Tressa was angry and afraid for the future but by the end she was ready to welcome whatever could come her way and was willing to do anything to give her daughter the best life possible. Of the many major changes she went through was the change in her feelings toward oralism. When her daughter was born and was announced that she was deaf, she believed the oral method was the only answer when it came to how she was supposed to communicate and learn because of the influence of the schools around her and the doctors she sought out to. However, after being exposed to the deaf community through Alandra’s schooling and friendships, she slowly realized that manualism was truly what her daughter needed. She stopped seeing deafness as a misfortune, but more as a blessing as shown with the birth of her deaf grandchildren whos he adored greatly. I enjoyed this book because I had the opportunity to see what life is like for deaf families. I have always wondered how life for them is different when it comes to education, communication, and growing up. I know that if I became the mother of a deaf child, I would go through everything Tressa had gone through and more. With the advanced technology and programs that are available today I would have a major advantage over Tressa’s journey but as