Same As Me by Angela Theresa Egic (best electronic book reader .txt) 📕

47-years-old. On April 28, 2010, Anika, my precious daughter, turned 14-years-old. She’s a young woman now. I miss her.

My life, in Pennsylvania, as a deaf man; a father without his children; a married man without a wife; a man without a country has been enough to consider suicide.

I live in a homeless shelter. My work visa expired years ago. I have no savings and cannot come up with money to pay for my citizenship.

I have been in America for over 20 years.

I still believe in America. I did own a car and many of my dreams from childhood came true.

I am fluent in American Sign Language. I can speak English, although, as a deaf man, I prefer not to speak aloud. I love my culture . . . the deaf.

I love American Sign Language. It gave me full communication. It gave me my own language.

I still hope to live an American dream. I still have hope.

I am still deaf. I am a deaf man.

I am a father. I am proud to be Guatemalan. I am intelligent. I am willing to work.

I become homeless and am a man without a country. Immigration will not hear my plea and will not send me home I have no lawyer or interpreter to help me.

There are none so deaf as those who do not hear.

I hear you. I see you with my eyes. I listen more in this way. I am an artist. I am a man. A deaf man. I am a proud man.


Imprint

Text: All rights reserved, 2010
Images: Art Work: Fredy Adolfo Gonzalez De Leon
Publication Date: 03-15-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To you, Fredy...for sharing your story with me. To all the deaf people out there who were or are forced to live in the hearing world.