At Prairie Point Elementary in Oswego, I watched as a group of deaf and hard of hearing students filed into the large media room. Colorful cochlear implants and hearing aids were perched on some ears. I was looking forward to talking with the students about my job and my life, giving them a peek into my daily world.

Because you see, when I was growing up, I didn’t have deaf or hard of hearing role models to look up to. I was the single, solitary student with a hearing loss while growing up. All of the role models that I knew had hearing in the normal range.

Just before I transferred to Northern Illinois University, I became deaf from a fall while barefoot water skiing. During my sophomore year, I had to decide on a major. I wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse and work with babies. I shared this with a counselor and was gently, but firmly discouraged from this vocation. “It would be difficult to overcome the communication challenges,” I was told.

Later in life, I met deaf lawyers… deaf accountants, deaf doctors and yes… deaf nurses!

So I applaud the teachers at Prairie Point who bring in deaf and hard of hearing adults to talk with the youngsters. You just never know how a role model could shape the future for a deaf or hard of hearing student. For example, Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, found his life path after meeting Lowell Myers, the first deaf attorney. Howard went on to become an attorney and worked at Equip for Equality before becoming CEO of NAD.

The deaf/hard of hearing program at Prairie Point was established in the 2005-2006 school year and has 19 students. There are 58 deaf and hard of hearing students in the itinerant program throughout the Kendall County Special Education Cooperative. Shelley Strnad teaches second and third grade, Beth Gioiosa teaches pre-kindergarten and fourth grade, and Andrea Praught teaches kindergarten and first grade. Prairie Point staffs four full time interpreters and a classroom teacher/itinerant, Beth D'Orazio. Kay Ariano and Mary Meehan are itinerant teachers serving children across the county.

During my chat with the students, I mentioned that I knew several deaf and hard of hearing firefighters. One little boy’s eyes grew big. When I was done speaking, one of the teachers came up to me and explained that the same student had previously asked her if deaf and hard of hearing firefighters existed.

That student now had his answer.