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| Book chronicles hearing disability |
| By Rachel Thomson - The Daily World |
| Wednesday, July 30, 2008 10:06 AM PDT |
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| KATHY QUIGG | THE DAILY WORLD
Aberdeen resident F. Wesley Brosman has recently published “No Place Else,” a book about growing up with a severe hearing impairment.
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Wes Brosman remembers being ridiculed by fellow classmates because he was born with a severe hearing impairment. To make things worse, his parents added to his humiliation, calling him names like “Dummy.”
“I didn’t know I had a real name at the time,” Brosman said. “It was difficult growing up under that.”
The Aberdeen man has published his first book, “No Place Else.” The book is comprised of a series of short stories chronicling his struggles as a near-deaf child growing up in a rural California town during the Great Depression, long before most public schools had any programs for educating the hearing impaired.
Brosman has a book signing scheduled for 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2 at The Book Hut, 105 Chance a la Mer Blvd. in Ocean Shores.
The book is available for purchase for $18 at Duffy’s restaurant in Aberdeen or via the Web site http://www.electrickitestringspublishing.com.
Brosman describes his childhood self as “anti-social.” He didn’t spend much time interacting with other people. Instead, he watched them and taught himself how to read lips by studying their body language and facial expressions. At first he could only make out a few words in a conversation, but he used deductive reasoning to fill in phrases and dropped words. He said it was a process that would later help him on standardized tests in school as he got older.
His book describes many brawls he got into with other kids as a result of constant teasing. He said the trouble he got into would’ve caused him to drop out of school, had it not been for his middle school English teacher, Mrs. Moore. Moore tricked Brosman to read the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade in front of what he thought would be a small group of parents and teachers. The “small” group turned out to be an audience of nearly 100 people. Brosman closed the book in the middle of the performance and recited the rest by memory. When he finished, the crowd stood up and cheered — a reaction he didn’t expect.
“I got an ovation that hooked me,” Brosman said. “I never had people applaud me before.”
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KATHY QUIGG | THE DAILY WORLD
As a child in 1945 Brosman became a member of the Deputy Safety Rangers of Arizona and said he was sure he “was going to save the world.”
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He said Moore convinced him to go to college. It took Brosman 20 years of working odd jobs and going to school part time before he earned a degree.
He spent six months as a dean of English at a school in Valencia, Spain. He later moved back to his hometown of Blythe, Calif. to take care of his ailing mother . During that time, he became an elementary special education teacher. When he retired, he moved to Aberdeen to get away from dust and smog in California.
Since moving to Grays Harbor in 2000, he has become an activist, speaking with city officials throughout the county to make some of the buildings compliant with American Disabilities Act requirements. One of his friends who walked with a cane once got stuck in the doors at the Port of Grays Harbor building. He worked with port officials to install handicap accessible doors.
“No Place Else” is the first in a series of four books. The subsequent three will account Brosman’s life during high school, college and career in the post-depression era. No release dates have been set, but Brosman said he wants to complete the second book by the end of the year.
Rachel Thomson, a Daily World writer, can be reached at 537-3935, or by e-mail at rthomson@thedailyworld.com. |
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