AIDS - A Single Drop of Blood

 By Darlene Tropp 
 Model Secondary School for the Deaf 
 Washington, D.C. 

It only takes a single drop of blood. You can get it through a blood transfusion, sexual intercourse, or unsterilized needles.

Director Katherine Jankowski poses with winning MSSD students Darlene Tropp and Amber Marchut after congratulating them on their essays.

It happened to one young boy, Ryan White, in his teen years. Ryan contracted the HIV/AIDS virus through a blood transfusion. He had a disease called hemophilia. He bled easily and received infected blood during one of his blood transfusions. Ryan died at 17 due to complications of AIDS.

In 1984, we discovered the AIDS virus. Later, we discovered a way to stop it. Teens who have intercourse should use condoms. Teens who use drugs with unsterilized needles are bound to become infected. It is not worth doing drugs because of the high risk of becoming infected with the AIDS virus.

More teenagers need to protect themselves. Remember infection only takes a single drop. Be aware. Know the facts and protect yourself.

Darlene won her school's HIV/AIDS essay contest. The second and third place winners were Amber Marchut and Megan Leschly, respectively.

Deaf People & the Holocaust

 By Heidi Thrush 
 Carlisle, Pennsylvania 

For European deaf people, the Holocaust of World War II was especially terrible. I interviewed Dr. John Schuchman at Gallaudet University. He explained that the Nazis saw Deaf people as defective, but not completely defective because they could work. Hitler wanted "perfect people;" he did not want deaf people to marry because he thought they would have deaf babies. Schuchman estimated that about 16,000 German deaf persons were sterilized during the Holocaust.

Last spring, I interviewed a man from England. He met a young, Deaf married couple from Germany that was staying with his Deaf aunt. His aunt told him that both husband and wife had been sterilized during the Holocaust.

I also talked with Frederick Martinez on America-on-Line. He said that eight deaf German people came to visit the San Francisco Bay area in 1992. One of them was a deaf German preacher. He had lived through World War II. When he was a small boy, he saw Hitler as his car drove by. During the war, he and his friends hated Americans because Americans were bombing Germany. After the war, he found most of his Deaf friends were gone-they had died in the Holocaust death campus.

For most of my life, I was not interested in history class. It really bored me! Now I like to learn about the Holocaust and China. It's important to learn history because, if we forget the past, then it may happen again. If we learn more about the Holocaust, we can prevent it from happening again.

Black and Deaf - And Proud

 By Ernest R. Wilcox 
 Hershey, Pennsylvania 

My teacher informed me that some black, deaf people consider themselves black first and deaf second. My teacher asked me to reply. Here are my thoughts:

I think it's kind of stupid to consider yourself black first and deaf second. I am deaf and black, and I consider myself deaf first. If you are deaf, you know sign. If a person is black and deaf, and tries to hang around with black people who do not know sign, it is hard.

Black, deaf people need what's in the deaf world. They need to interact with other deaf people, and learn deaf culture and deaf history. Hearing people do not tell deaf history.

I am proud that I am deaf and black. I keep in contact with other people who are deaf and black-like Dr. David James, a deaf, black professor at Howard University. James grew up oral and never knew about signs until he was grown.

I have been treated the same as the other kids. I thank my biological mother and my foster family. My foster family shows me that they care about me. They know sign. They gave me a deaf brother. They put me in a class where the teacher can sign and where I can make friends with deaf kids. I have wonderful friends. My dad takes me to Philadelphia for surgery, check-ups, and to see the doctor. They are the best family.

The color of skin does not matter. It does not matter if a person is white, black, or Hispanic. We should accept each other-and be proud of who we are.