Deaf Oxnard College Students (D.O.C.S.) Adriana Nino, Joel Garcia, Catherine Russell, Ricardo Nino, Jaime Adame and Gerald Hester described how they’ve triumphed over barriers to academic success during a “Deaf Awareness Day” panel discussion, “DEAF REAL WORLD,” held Sept. 29, 2004 as part of the Fall 2004 Oxnard College Scholars Lecture Series.
It was the third annual Deaf Awareness Day observance at Oxnard College including Ricardo and his sister Adriana, who one of five student speakers at the 2004 Oxnard College Commencement on May 20. Fall graduate Jaime Adame and El Concilio Latino Leadership Award recipient Joel Garcia also described their plans to continue their education goals at universities—she in the child development profession, he at prestigious Gallaudet University, the only major university for the deaf and hard of hearing. Garcia told the audience a poignant story of joining an El Rio gang who used “gestures and body language” that he favored when he felt rejected by his own Spanish-speaking family. During their panel presentation all the students described their frustrations in the hearing world and the sense of relief they felt when they enrolled in programs for the deaf at Loma Vista School in Ventura and at Oxnard College’s Educational Assistance Center. Some of the students demonstrated communication problems they encounter daily, then described the joy and pride with comes with finally succeeding in school and sharing their deaf culture with those in the hearing world. |
