THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506100268
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Don't pity Paula White because she was born deaf. That's the last thing she wants.
Had it not been for her deafness, she said, she probably would not have learned to play the piano, master several sports, speak French or maintain an A-plus grade point average throughout her schooling.
Hers is a silent world. But what's important, she said, is how she's managed to use other gifts and talents - the ability to lip-read so well she can detect an English accent; the ability to speak so well she's often mistaken for a hearing person; a sharp mind that entered kindergarten with a 145 IQ; a gentle temperament, the recollection of which moved one of her former teachers to tears.
On Friday, 18-year-old White, ever an overachiever, graduated from Portsmouth Christian School as its first deaf valedictorian. This fall, the award-winning student and published poet will pursue a career in medicine, or some other scientific field, at the College of William and Mary.
For all of those disbelieving doctors and naysayers over the years, White shares this advice: ``You should never treat someone who's different like they're different because that will keep them from achieving what they could achieve.''
A lot of people, she said, ``are under the mistaken assumption that if you can't hear or you can't see, then you are not capable of living the life you want to live. . . . I'm a very, very proud person. The one thing I absolutely hate is for people to tell me, `You can't do this.' You wanna bet?''
Much of that gritty attitude - and the spine behind it - is simply God-given, said White's mother, Ruth.
But it also developed out of the family's supportive circle of love and its shared belief that deafness isn't tantamount to helplessness. Ruth says the word ``deaf'' has been used at their Green Lakes home three or four times in the past 18 years.
White's older brother, Larry, was born hearing-impaired and later lost all of his hearing. What affected her children's sense of hearing is still unknown, Ruth said.
Larry struggled in school, despite being placed in special classes for deaf and hearing-impaired children in the public school district, she said. She was much more educated about the issues years later, when her baby girl was born deaf. But Ruth quickly noticed a difference with her daughter, who accomplished almost everything well before experts' timetables for development.
Little Paula discovered her voice at about age 3 and could soon pronounce and recognize letters on her own after first seeing them form on the lips of those who read to her, Ruth said.
For the next 11 years, a private speech therapist helped to refine her natural speaking ability. Ruth said she and her husband, Paul, didn't push their daughter down a particular path.
``Only until you've walked in these shoes can you say, `I did right' or `I did wrong,' '' she said. ``You do out of love and your faith and your commitment to what you think is right for your child.''
Today, White doesn't use American Sign Language or rely on any type of manual representation of English. And she's never had to. Her teachers and school chums just make sure she could see their lips. Her notes were the ones to borrow if you missed school.
``When she came here in fifth grade, I think it was just normal to wonder how well it would work out,'' said J. Mark Sibley, who now serves as Portsmouth Christian's junior high/senior high principal.
``There was nothing special for her, really. But she's never had a problem, and her parents are always very diligent. I admire them because they were helping Paula understand there's nothing she can't do.''
White, a deeply religious young woman, said she never felt like an oddball. But her buddy, Nathan Lee, a junior, said some students used to make fun of her. She brushed it off, he said.
``I think it used to bother her a little when people were just acting mean or stupid,'' he said, ``but she has the best attitude. And she doesn't look at people based on their popularity or how big their nose is or anything. She looks at a person as a possible friendship.''
Inez Fletcher, 69, was White's kindergarten teacher at Alliance Christian School. ``She just seemed to want to be a part of everything,'' said Fletcher, who still teaches at Alliance.
``To me, she felt she was a normal little girl. She didn't let her disability faze her. She's so kind and sweet and so helpful. It seems like she was always reaching out instead of using her disability for people to have sympathy for her. It was such a joy to walk in class and see her big smile,'' Fletcher said, tears springing to her eyes. ``She always strives for the best.''
That doesn't stop when she steps onto the basketball court. She's been hooked on sports, especially basketball, since her father introduced her to athletics years ago.
White, the team's most valuable player last season, can nail a wicked 3-pointer. But her heart is pure goodness, said Jeff Fuhrmann, who took over as coach of the girls' varsity basketball team last year.
During the season, he and his key player had a system: She would look at him for guidance whenever play stopped, or confer with him when someone went to the foul line.
``At the end of the season, she had written me this letter. I don't know why she did it, but she was expressing her gratitude because I coached her,'' he said. ``It moved me because it took time to do something like that. It's not like I did anything special just for her. But that's the type of girl she is.'' Some members of the deaf community might argue that, despite her accomplishments, she's more of a sell-out than a sweetheart because she doesn't use ASL and is admittedly more comfortable around hearing people, although she does have a few deaf friends.
White said she's not trying to forget who she is, betray the deaf heritage or anything like that. She simply doesn't feel as though she has to ``be'' any one way.
``I'm the best of both worlds, shall we say.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
Staff
Paula White, who can lip-read well enough to detect an English
accent, plans to attend the College of William and Mary.
by CNB