Different Ways of Being

From Linkville Press:For Willa and Robert, it’s a quiet time.The sky takes on a greenish hue, and great bolts of lightning zigzag overhead. The rumble of thunder vibrates through the floor, and trees bend against the wind. Hailstones, some the size of marbles, pepper the windows and fracture on the driveway and sidewalks. Shutters flap against the siding. Soon, the street is littered with tree branches, roofing shingles, and assorted trash. A riderless tricycle blows by in odd concert with a trash can and a soccer ball. The noise is considerable, but for Willa and Robert, it’s a quiet time. It’s always a quiet time.So begins Different Ways of Being, Alan Balter’s strong and sensitive novel about people who are Deaf. Willa and Robert are congenitally deaf and members of the Deaf Culture. They communicate with American Sign Language and prefer to socialize with other Deaf rather than interact with people who hear. For them, deafness is not a disability; thus, they don’t want to hear any more than hearing people want to be deaf. They consider marriages between deaf and hearing people to be “mixed marriages” that are destined to fail. So strong are the beliefs of members of the Deaf Culture that many would choose to abort a pregnancy rather than have a hearing child.

Alan Balter was born in Chicago and attended the Chicago Public Schools. He entered the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1956 where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 1960 and a Master's degree in Special Education in 1962. Subsequently, he taught adolescents with developmental delays at the Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois. He returned to the University of Illinois and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education in 1967. After working as the Director of the Niles Township High Schools Department of Special Education, he took a position with Chicago State University in 1969 where he prepared teachers for children and adolescents with developmental delays, learning disabilities, and emotional disorders. After 32 years at the university, he retired in 2000. He and his wife Barbara, also a retired teacher, enjoy extensive travel and fourteen grandchildren.