A week ago, I was invited to give a talk to the deaf/hard of hearing students at a local high school. The assembled group were 24 students, between the ages of 14-16. During the course of my discussion with them, I asked, "how many of you know someone in your family or among your friends who has been murdered?" Half of the students raised their hands, some with tears in their eyes.These are young people, living in Chicago, who are growing up surrounded by violence, the total disregard for the value of human life. Several of them approached me after the talk to share with me stories re: drugs, violence, and abuse in their homes and communities. These young people want a better life, A DIFFERENT LIFE than the one they are experiencing. Yet, how can they achieve their dreams?

We live in a society that allows just about anyone to carry a gun or guns. Everytime we try to pass reasonable gun laws, the politicians oppose these laws. We live in a society where many 14 and 15 year old girls are pregnant. yet, no one wants to enforce the law against Statutory Rape (Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault of a Minor) even though we know that many of the "fathers" are much older than the girls they impregnate. (Girls who are deaf and/or disabled are raped two-three times more often than hearing/non-disabled girls.) Drugs are everywhere, totally available on the streets, in the schools, anywhere where young people gather. The greatest problem is that for many of these young people home is not "home". Many of these young people do not come from "intact" families. In many public schools( city and suburbs), fewer than half of the children have families where there is a significant, continuing, caring male presence in their lives. Of course these kids have problems. Yet, few people in authority actually want to do what is needed. These people blame teachers for failing to do their job; claim that social workers and school counselors "baby" their students; suggest that more physical punishment would stop all this. Most of the programs for deaf and disabled students in Illinois and other states get a small percentage of what they need. Many of these students are deprived of any real opportunity to succeed because their families get almost no support from government. People in government rarely, if ever, actually try to listen to what the people in schools, and the adult professionals in the community try to tell them. It is much easier to blame than to do the right thing. Sadly, the death and suffering will continue until that failure on the part of the so-called "leaders" in power changes.