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In this thought-provoking and tender memoir, R.H. Miller relives his unconventional, complicated, and sometimes painful upbringing in rural Ohio as the oldest of four hearing children of deaf parents. Covering the last years of the Depression, World War II, and the early 1950s, the book chronicles a time of social upheaval: The war brings jobs and a measure of prosperity, but then many workers are displaced by returning soldiers. Small farms give way to large agribusiness operations, and rural communities, families, and an entire way of life begin to disintegrate as younger generations head for the cities and their booming suburbs. Miller’s family plays out all of these changes, with his parents’ deafness—and the prejudice it inspires—adding extra levels of complexity and struggle to family and social relationships. As a CODA (child of deaf adults), Miller himself often feels caught between the Deaf and Hearing worlds, unsure of his place in either. His remembrances shed light on situations unique to his position, from deciding just how much to share while interpreting between his mother and his teacher at a school conference to witnessing cruel or thoughtless putdowns of his highly intelligent father. Through it all, his honest, compassionate, and sometimes wryly humorous prose gives us a flawed but loving family to care about and root for.
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Program transcript
Blurbs from the book cover
Card catalog entry from the Library of Congress
Publisher’s information page from Gallaudet University Press
Deaf Hearing Boy was the second volume in Gallaudet’s Deaf Lives Series
Amazon.com information page
Barnes and Noble information page
Reviews:
• Louisville Courier-Journal
• John Burroughs from Reviewer’s Bookwatch
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