`You see, deaf people in America can do anything,” Irena Gajewski signed crisply, waving a flier advertising a deaf pilot’s book signing at a local library.
Gajewski stuffed the paper in her purse and pointed to the stage at the Chicago Club of the Deaf during a recent program featuring local deaf actors and storytellers. “I love this country! Deaf people here have real opportunities to succeed. We can be actors, doctors, lawyers and teachers. In Russia it is very different,” Gajewski said.
The 30-year-old Gajewski is deaf. Born in Lvov, Ukraine, she immigrated to the United States eight years ago. She lives with her mother in Mundelein and works at Moen Inc., a plumbing parts manufacturer in Wheeling.
Gajewski, who is divorced, met her ex-husband in the United States; he originally is from Poland and also is deaf. They have two children who are deaf and attend John Powers Center for the Hearing Impaired in Vernon Hills, which is a part of the Special Education District of Lake County.
“One of my favorite things about this country is the good education available for deaf and hard-of-hearing children; there are so many choices,” Gajewski said.
“I visited a sign language class John Powers offers parents of deaf children, and I was amazed to see all the hearing parents who can sign well,” she said. “In Russia, deaf children learn speech and lip-reading in school; sign language is forbidden, although outside of class we signed to each other all the time. In Ukraine, hearing parents never learned Russian Sign Language. Many deaf children there can’t communicate with their hearing families, and they are very frustrated.”
The problem for most immigrants is having to learn just one new language. Gajewski has had to learn two: English and American Sign Language. But she is not alone.
Delynn Miller, deaf services coordinator at the Lake County Center for Independent Living, said, “I know about 20 deaf immigrants in Lake County. Most deaf immigrants tend to live in Chicago because there is better public transportation and more job-training services,” Miller said. “Finding work is a common problem.”
Few statistics are available on the deaf immigrant population. According to an ongoing census by Deaf Adults Education Access Program, a new not-for-profit organization in Chicago, there are more than 650 deaf foreign-born residents in the Chicago area.
Randy Gunderson, principal-supervisor of the John Powers Center, said his staff is still learning how best to help deaf immigrant students and their families. To complicate the issue, some of the families can hear and use a different spoken language than English, and some of the families are deaf and use a different sign language than American Sign Language. In fact, sign languages are as complex, numerous and different from each other as spoken languages.
“In our program, we have had deaf Hispanic students for several years, but deaf immigrants from other countries are new to us,” Gunderson said. “I’m sure Lake County’s growth has a lot to do with the numbers of these students we are seeing. For example, we have a new student who uses German Sign Language. We need to teach her both ASL (American Sign Language) and English. It takes a lot of work and a lot of one-on-one time from our staff.”
Jacqueline Kimel, agency administrator for the Low Incidence Cooperative Agreement, a regional program for deaf and hard-of-hearing children that draws students from such Lake County communities as Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Deerfield, Highland Park and Bannockburn, also is seeing an increase in the number of immigrant students in her program.
“We are a microcosm of society,” Kimel said. “Everyone is impacted by people from other cultures moving into the area. Chicago felt it first, but many immigrant families move to the suburbs. We have had students from Mexico, Poland, Russia, Greece, Korea, Japan, Cambodia and Thailand in our program.”
Learning not one but two new languages is a challenge for most children. For adults, the task can seem overwhelming, yet a large number of deaf immigrants like Gajewski manage to succeed.
Back in Ukraine, Gajewski’s family was deaf and used Russian Sign Language. Communication with each other was never a problem, and Gajewski credits her all-deaf family with making her more independent.
When she moved to the United States, her husband and his friends taught her Polish Sign Language and some ASL. “Deaf people in America have been so friendly, welcoming and willing to help me learn ASL,” Gajewski said. “I knew I needed English for my job, so I tried to learn it by studying a Russian/English dictionary. It was very difficult.”
Gajewski drives to Chicago on Saturday mornings to attend classes on basic written English and ASL that are designed specifically for deaf immigrants. The classes are offered by the Deaf Adults Education Access Program, and they are unique because both classes are taught by deaf teachers and aides. Gajewski thinks deaf teachers are easier to understand. “I learn the concept in ASL, and then I can connect it to the English word. The classes really help.”
“Our students often feel pain and tend to experience oppression because of their lack of formal education in written English and ASL,” said Bob Paul, president and educational coordinator of the program. “They need services, recognition and education. We want to provide them with educational rewards they can apply immediately on the job or in their daily lives.”
Students come from all over the globe and have different native sign languages, yet he and his staff aren’t overwhelmed. “The deaf students and teachers have skills to communicate with each other,” said Paul, who is deaf. “We use body language, facial expression and the visual medium. We are all human beings and part of the community. We are responsible for supporting each other and working as a team, regardless of national, ethnic, cultural and racial backgrounds.”
“This country has so much to offer deaf people,” Gajewski said. “We have sign-language interpreters and televisions with closed captioning so we can understand what is happening in the world and TTY/TTDs (a device that allows deaf people to use the telephone). The Americans With Disabilities Act protects the rights of deaf people, and there are organizations like the Department of Human Services to assist us. Churches like St. Francis Borgia (a congregation for the deaf) in Chicago have sports teams, picnics and social events (for deaf people).
“The Lake County Center for Independent Living has been very helpful. They send me information on events for deaf and hard-of-hearing people that are taking place in Lake County and other areas.”
Miller, deaf services coordinator at the center, writes and sends out a monthly newsletter. “I try to help, and because I am deaf myself, I can communicate more easily with them,” she said. “I tutor them on using the TTY and in many other areas — for example, on driving laws. Because many of them can’t read English well, they are able to use a sign-language interpreter to take the Illinois driver’s license test.”
Irena Gajewski has her driver’s license and travels confidently wherever she needs to go. Eventually she plans to take a citizenship preparation class and become a citizen, but first she wants to improve her ASL and English.
“My life is very normal,” Gajewski signed, smiling. “You know, I really love this country!”
