All language subtitles for Deaf.1986.1080p.WEB-DL.x264_track3_eng

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(chanting) (clapping)

(vocalizing)

- You want to blow some bubbles?

Okay.

Remember.

(whooshing)

Right?

Same.

(whooshing)

Yeah!

Remember?

(whooshing)

Woo!

You do the same, ready?

Okay.

(whooshing)

Yes! Keep on, keep on.

Good try, you want to hold it?

Yay, good boy!

- Come on, jump.

No, no, jump.

Come here, jump.

Okay yes.

Okay Jason.

What did Jason do?

He jumped.

Say it.

Jumped.

Okay, good.

Walk.

Okay?

Walk.

Walk.

(child vocalizing)

Okay?

Walk.

(child vocalizing)

Okay.

Walk for me.

Okay.

What did I tell Jason to do?

Yes!

Jason walked.

Can you say Jason?

Jason walked.

(children vocalizing)

- Okay, go sit down and eat.

Snack time.

- Ah!

Yes.

Ah!

Mmm hmm.

Ooh.

Ooh.

You do it.

- Ooh.

- Uh huh.

- Ooh.

- Yes.

Can you say, bye-bye?

Bye-bye.

(vocalizing)

Bye-bye.

Two times.

Bye-bye.

(child vocalizing)

Bye-bye, see you later.

Bye!

Tell Cheyenne to come on.

- On your nose.

- [Woman] Where's your nose?

Where?

Where is it?

Yeah!

Good!

- Where is your nose?

Okay?

Okay.

(vocalizing)

Where is your

your cheeks?

Your cheek?

That's mine.

Okay, your cheek.

Okay finish with the nose.

(vocalizing)

Your cheek, okay, now your chin.

Jason, where is your chin?

Right here!

Okay, that's good.

Where is your elbow?

(child vocalizing)

- [Teacher] Oh, yeah heard, huh?

Your elbow...

- A, B, C, what's next?

What's right there?

D, where's D?

Good.

Okay what's next?

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

E.

Where's E?

A, B, C, D, E.

It's right there.

No.

F.

F.

Mmm hmm.

Okay, what goes right here?

A, B, C,

D, E, F.

No, not K.

E, F.

What is it?

G.

Mmm hmm.

- Baby. - Baby.

- Yes! I like your speech this morning.

Can you say

Cheyenne?

I hear nothing!

- Cheyenne!

- Aha, Cheyenne!

Yes I see your name Cheyenne, right?

Okay, you say, hello.

- Hello.

- Ball. - Ball.

- Can you say boat?

Ooh, that's hard, look here.

Boat.

(child vocalizing)

Mmm hmm, boat.

Shoe?

What color are your shoes?

What color are your shoes?

What color?

- [Child] Purple.

- Yes, purple.

Can you say shoe?

Let me hear you.

(child vocalizing)

Good girl!

Say you.

- You.

- Uh-huh, good look here.

- Ah!

You.

- You.

- Better.

Can you say white?

Where's white?

Yes!

I see some white.

I want you to say white.

(vocalizing_

Very good.

What color is that?

What color?

(vocalizing)

Looks a little bit dirty, huh?

What color is this right here?

(vocalizing)

- What?

- Blue.

- I want to hear it, blue.

- Can you count the apples?

How many?

1, 2,

3, 4,

5, 6.

Six apples, red.

Yes good boy.

- Circles, circles.

No I don't want it on me.

No I don't want it on me!

Oh no!

(vocalizing)

(laughing)

Make circles.

(tapping)

Where's your nose?

Nose?

Nose.

Nose.

Nose.

Your nose?

- And as kids develop, their sign language

is going to change also.

Okay, almost everybody knows shoes.

- [Man] Shoes, yeah.

- Okay, coat.

It's like you're putting on a big heavy coat.

- [Man] Pulling it up over your shoulders.

- Pulling it over.

Now this is put on a coat.

This could be take off.

It's really a gesture than a true sign.

Coat.

Where is your coat?

Or you know, once you come in you can take off your coat.

Okay?

That's the verb and the noun.

- [Woman] That covers the whole sentence.

- Take off your coat.

It's really just sort of a gesture.

There again you start miming it.

Wine, it's a W down the side.

Okay.

Beer is sort of a B.

Okay, you got to be careful with the B sign,

cause there's some other things they use like a female dog.

(laughing)

(teacher mumbling)

Tea is like the tea bag, okay?

Tea bag.

Bread.

This is like a loaf of bread and you're slicing it.

But bread.

Come down with it, yeah turn your hand.

Okay turn this one, put your palm forward.

Okay this one's like the knife, and you're cutting it.

Cutting it, okay?

That's bread.

Milk.

You all remember milk?

(laughing)

You know when I went to Mexico

and all I knew in Spanish was, "Where's the bathroom?"

(laughing)

They know that sign for milk down there folks.

And that's when (mumbling)

"How can you learn sign language?"

I always say, "Well we all use it.

"What's the sign for goodbye?"

They go, "Really?"

(laughing)

Okay then I said, "Now guess if you wanted

"some milk to drink and you were in China,

"what would you do?"

And you know eventually somebody will come up with this.

So a lot of times we really are scared of it,

but we really shouldn't.

- We'll let Billy Jo be the bird.

And then if Becky comes back, I have a chicken.

I have a yellow chicken and Becky can be the yellow chicken.

Okay Quentin, come on boy!

Come here.

Let's take off the gloves.

You can't sign good with your gloves on.

Okay look, What are you?

- I

am

a

bear.

Good boy, sit down.

Come here.

No.

No no.

One more time and the smile's going.

Okay, come here and let me get you.

This might be too little for you.

Okay, I can fix it later,

when we're getting ready for the big program.

What are you?

(vocalizing)

Like I said,

I

am

a

monkey.

Monkey.

(kids laughing)

Come here Michael.

(vocalizing)

After while, one second.

Good, okay.

She

is a spy.

She is watching

your

voices and listening to see if you talk.

Did you lose your tail?

Okay.

Let's see your hands.

Okay.

What are you?

(vocalizing)

I...

(vocalizing)

Okay there's your tail, go sit down.

Come on Daniel.

Daniel.

Where are your glasses?

(teacher mumbling) (student vocalizing)

What are you?

I

(whispered mumbling)

am

a

rabbit.

- Rabbit.

- Yes good boy.

Okay Wiley.

What are you?

(vocalizing)

I want it in a sentence.

(vocalizing)

Good boy, okay.

(vocalizing)

- [Teacher] Winks.

- [Pupil] Winks.

(pupil vocalizing)

(chattering)

- Is that right?

Yay good girl.

You forgot to say A.

No ma'am, A.

Good girl.

Okay do it yourself.

(vocalizing)

Good girl show me five.

Yay! Good for Jesse!

(pupil vocalizing)

- Stops.

- Stops.

- Falls.

(vocalizing)

- Winter.

- Winter.

(vocalizing)

- Good reading.

- What are we going to do about our decimal?

What are we going to do with that?

You just move the decimal up.

Okay.

Now.

You are dividing right,

but you are putting your answer in the wrong place.

What are we going to do about that Travis?

(vocalizing)

You use the decimal?

Where is it?

Alright.

Go back and check your work again.

What is confusing you is probably the decimal.

Right here, let's try it like this.

Forget the decimal, go ahead and do this.

Right.

There okay.

No you don't put your G over there, put your G right there.

What goes up here? What goes here?

- Nothing.

- Right put it down.

Now, okay very good, now look at this decimal right there.

Now what do we do with that decimal?

We move it up.

What are we gonna do with that?

So you have two dollars, two dollars and fifty cents

divided by five equals fifty cents.

You don't worry about that decimal,

until it's time for you to move up to the correct place.

Now come here.

- Sherry, that's a girls name, Sherry.

- Sherry. - Uh huh.

- Shop. - Shop.

- Ship. - Ship.

- Good! Alright can you say that

list by yourself? I won't help.

- Shoes, Shoot.

- Okay wait just a minute.

Make your SH's real soft, okay?

Don't try so hard, no big deal.

- Shoot. - Shoot.

Start right here.

- Shoot.

- Uh huh, real soft, shoot.

- Shoot.

- Okay.

- Ship.

- Mmm hmm.

- Sherry.

- Good, no that was pretty.

- Shop.

- Good!

- Ship.

- Alright now I want you to try and compare them okay?

It's going to be harder.

Shoes, choose.

(pupil vocalizing)

It looks the same, but it sounds different.

(pupil vocalizing)

It looks the same, but it sounds different.

Alright let's try this one.

Remember SH is soft, that's hard.

Sheep.

- Sheep.

- [Teacher] Pretty.

Cheap.

- Sheep, cheap.

- [Teacher] Better.

- Sheep, sheep.

- [Teacher] Cheap.

- Cheap.

- [Teacher] Good!

Sherry.

- Sherry.

- [Teacher] Cherry.

- Cherry.

- [Teacher] Good!

Shop.

- Shop.

- [Teacher] Chop.

- Chop.

- [Teacher] Good, Teddy.

Ship.

- Chip, chip.

- [Teacher] Soft and lots of air.

- Ship, ship.

- Good!

Oh that is so good!

Okay, you're all done.

Adios!

- Bye.

- See you later, alligator.

- See you later, crocodile.

- After while, crocodile.

- After while, crocodile.

- Alright try again.

See you later, alligator.

(vocalizing)

No! No!

I say, "See you later, alligator."

You say, "After while, crocodile."

- After while, crocodile.

- Alright let's try again.

See you later, alligator.

- See you later..

- Again.

See you later, alligator.

- After while, crocodile.

- Yay!

(clapping)

Bye!

(vocalizing)

- Okay, okay, you don't have to yell.

That's fine.

Everyone's got one now.

You must,

Alfred look.

What's it say?

(Alfred vocalizing)

Right, what's that mean?

No, write.

(Alfred vocalizing)

You must write the words in alphabetical order first.

No, first you write the words in alphabetical order first.

Then you find the words in the dictionary.

No, here, now.

I want you to work on it now.

(Alfred vocalizing)

When you finish your work, you can go to the bank.

(clicking)

(teacher mumbling)

- What will you do?

Hopefully we can show you some different signs

that will help you.

If you see the sign for Coke, sign Coke.

People in different parts of the country might sign Coke.

Who knows a different sign for ugly?

Someone told me, ugly.

Another person told me, ugly.

That's really ugly isn't it?

Ugly.

How many different signs do you know for light?

Let me see.

How many different signs can you think of?

Light, let me see.

How many different signs can you think of?

Right.

Light, light, light.

Sometimes people say, "Turn off the light."

Sometimes people might say "Turn off the light."

But it all means the same, right?

I bet most of you know, what is this?

What is that?

That's helicopter or helicopter.

Who knows what this is?

Ho-Ho-Ho.

Who knows?

Santa Clause.

Some people say Santa Clause, or Santa Clause,

or Santa Clause.

Santa Clause.

Okay.

There's many many different signs for all these words.

- [Vocaid] Help, I have a limited vocabulary.

Thank you, thank you, please ignore last remark.

Thank you, please ignore last remark.

Please ignore last remark.

(clicking)

- [Woman] You should of seen her upstairs

sitting in your chair.

- Oh is that right?

You want my robe?

- [Woman] She used your gavel!

(laughing)

Let's get a picture of her.

- Oh that'll be fine.

- Bill we had an election yesterday,

and we elected the judge and the sheriff,

and you know different, and everyone of them got,

we had one, there's the defenders,

put him in jail quick, he's mean.

- He's getting ready to get him again.

- [Bill] He'll have to go straight to jail.

(laughing)

- The judge said you would have to go straight to jail.

- You have to go straight to jail.

Now, come on.

(laughing)

- [Man] How are you judge?

(laughing)

- [Woman] Hello, hello?

- [Woman] She said didn't have one.

- You don't have no pistol?

(man mumbling)

- Bill that means I love you in the deaf language.

- Ahh!

- And you give it to him.

- Thank you darling!

(laughing)

- You're welcome.

- Thank you judge!

- Well it's so good to see all of you.

Sheriff, I got to get you a pistol.

- Yeah, you see this?

You know about that don't you?

You remember?

That's the man that they think killed

all of the deaf people.

(chattering)

- This man is the sheriff's helper.

- [Woman] He has a badge.

- He has a badge.

- [Woman] He has a gun.

- [Woman] He has a gun.

- [Woman] That's not play.

- [Woman] Real gun.

- [Woman] Not play.

You do not play with it.

That's truly a gun.

That's what they're interested in.

(laughing)

Yeah where are your handcuffs?

- I don't have any on me.

(chattering)

- [Woman] Wait just a minute, wait wait wait.

They like y'all.

(chattering)

- [Woman] They have a T.V. in there.

- Well a lot of the cells upstairs have T.V.

You gotta have something for them to do,

quiet 'em down, they get restless.

- [Woman] They get bored?

- That's when we started having problems, fighting.

(chattering)

- What do you tell her?

(pupils vocalizing)

Let me hear it again.

(pupils vocalizing)

Again, louder.

(pupils vocalizing)

Okay, thank you, that's good speech.

- Yeah, that's very good.

Y'all come back to see us.

Bye-bye.

- Bye.

- [Coach] Alright the only time now you think you're

going to run 800 in the 32 relay.

Big surprise.

(chattering)

Mark!

Set!

Go!

(footsteps thudding)

(teachers mumbling)

- We talked about kinda they don't have it

or the beginnings of it, by the time they

get to secondary level, they ain't going

to get enough of it.

- Well I think that it's certainly is a wish

that many parents have, that your, you know,

wish we could help fulfill that dream of theirs,

but most of our students, by the time they've reached

ninth grade have not established fairly intelligible speech.

That's not going to be done between ninth and twelve grade.

We've got more important things to teach them

in high school than to pull them out for speech.

- Certain vowels are just getting

reached by that time.

They've just gotten something to talk about

at that age level.

- And again, we're not preparing someone

for a higher school degree.

We're looking at, here's the strengths this individual has,

here's the needs this individual has now,

to survive functionally after age 21,

for this individual, what do we need to teach?

Build on strengths, or bring up some weaknesses.

For some children were working specifically on strengths,

for some children they've got some basic weaknesses

that have got to be built up.

And so you might have then conceivably

one 17 year old child that you would feel

very much that you'd need to pull out.

And another 17 year old child perhaps with

even the same speech problem, but there's

another priority that's going to

prevent you from doing that.

And since you're not looking at a

high school curriculum or something like that.

- Mmm hmm.

Well, and if you look at where they are

developmentally too, so many times it takes them

now, it wouldn't until they're 20 or 21,

but it takes them 'til they're 10 or 11,

to be ready to sit down and participate

in that kind of activity too.

Or to take advantage of something like that.

- If you could make up one sentence of using good details,

in your sentence, try to make up one for me.

Now you want to use good adjectives.

You told me you said upset, depressed, what about lonely?

He looks a little bit lonely right now.

His expression is not happy.

If you realize it is Christmas time,

you see the Christmas tree in the window.

Okay, if he looks lonely,

perhaps,

or perhaps he didn't get what he wanted.

Okay come on, make up me a good sentence

using good details

talking about the boy.

- The boy has got to get away from home.

- Okay, we will begin with that and we

want to add more details to that.

Okay, because we have added two adjectives,

that makes the sentence a little bit more interesting,

more sophisticated and

it gives your reader details.

Perhaps they can't see that picture, but inside their mind,

they have a good image that

the boy is upset and depressed.

So they know the expression's not cheery.

They know it's not mad, he's not

just stomping away from home.

He's just upset and depressed and his

expression is more just

subdued.

What about the weather Vincent?

Very very cold, what else?

Why is it so white up in here?

Why?

Foggy and windy.

(vocalizing)

Perhaps the temperature's going down.

Okay, create one sentence.

Now you said what while ago?

About the weather?

Tell me again.

Mmm hmm.

Okay I'm going to change it just a little bit.

Okay?

Gonna find a picture now that I want to explain

a little bit about and then you're gonna

have to do this for your homework tonight.

I want you to pick apart the picture.

List and get ideas for adjectives

and try to make your short paragraph,

I don't want a long paragraph, I want a short paragraph.

(chattering)

- Maybe if we went to McDonald's and you were working,

I could say, "Wow, today I went to McDonald's

"and I ate a hamburger cooked by Tommy."

Might cooked it for me.

You give me more than a quarter pound,

or are they measured already?

Would ya?

You cook me a special one?

Okay, so that would be an example of a participial phrase.

I ate a hamburger cooked by Tommy.

Cooked by Tommy describes hamburger,

tells me more about it.

It's functioning as an adjective now.

You think of an example.

These are hard, aren't they?

(vocalizing)

Okay, you keep talking about sports.

The present participles are a lot easier

than the past ones for y'all.

They're a whole lot easier to think up, especially.

You wanna try one more?

(vocalizing)

Okay.

The picture on the wall is a subject.

Okay, you could say, the picture on the wall,

painted by DeSoto, is very valuable.

That'd be fine.

The idea that DeSoto painted the picture.

That's a good example.

The clothes bought by your mother looked very pretty on you.

Bought by your mother are describing your clothes.

They're functioning now as an adjective.

That's a good example.

(chattering)

- Okay, Kenneth, number four.

(vocalizing)

- That's not enough.

The thunder happens once in a while

in 20 years, they said, but why?

(vocalizing)

But, it's not raining.

It's thundering, why?

What causes that thunder, Mary Anne?

(teacher mumbling)

And so what they're saying is that every,

at 20 years, if you hear thunder on a really

sunny day to be careful because it is

Henry Hudson with his crew of men

and they're playing and if you drank

from their barrel, you're gonna sleep

for 20 years just like Rip.

Now, in town, when the men have problems,

or troubles with their wife nagging on them,

what do they do?

(chattering)

- Does the P sound have voice?

Does it?

Does it have voice, yes or no?

- No.

- No, you're right, good.

Okay, first we're gonna try the P by itself

and see how we do with it, okay?

Okay, let's try it one time.

Puh.

- Puh.

- Very good.

Okay, let's try it again.

Let's do three times this time.

Puh, puh, puh.

- Puh, puh, puh.

- I hear a little bit of voice.

Okay, we wanna get rid of your voice, okay?

Puh, puh, puh.

Hear mine?

Puh, puh, puh, nuh uh.

Just only air, okay?

Puh, puh, puh.

- Puh, puh, puh.

- Okay, do you hear yourself?

Puh, puh, puh, voice.

Okay, look, let's change it again.

Try it one time again, ready?

- Puh.

- Puh.

- Good.

Puh, puh, puh, puh, puh.

- [Student] Puh, puh, puh, puh, puh.

- Very good, okay?

Now, I want to show you about the air with the P

because you have to have a lot of air, okay?

Okay, watch the paper.

Puh.

See it?

Puh.

Okay, watch the paper.

Buh, buh, no air, okay?

Okay now watch.

Buh, buh, buh.

- Buh.

- Right.

Buh, very good.

Okay, now we want to practice the P

in the middle position, and then we'll

practice it in the initial position, okay?

Ready?

Okay, we're gonna use some other sounds with it.

Okay, we're going to the middle first.

At first we use our voice, then no voice, then voice again.

Apuh.

Can you hear the P in the middle?

Apuh.

Okay, ready?

You try.

- Apuh.

- [Teacher] Okay, just a minute, let's try it again.

Apuh.

- Apuh.

- [Teacher] Okay, I hear voice on your P

which makes it become a B, okay?

Watch.

Apuh, do you see the P?

Can you hear the P?

Apuh, you try.

- Apuh.

- [Teacher] Very good, try it again.

- Apuh.

- [Teacher] Again.

- Apuh.

- [Teacher] Okay.

You're paper's not moving very much, just a little bit.

Okay?

Let's try it again.

Okay, first let's try it at the, let's try it

at the first and see if we can do a little bit better

and then we'll go back to the middle in a minute, okay?

Puh.

See it at the first?

First, no voice, then voice.

Puh, okay, puh.

- Puh.

- [Teacher] Very good.

Try it with the paper.

- Puh.

- Good, okay.

Pooh.

- [Student] Pooh.

- That's better.

Let's try that one again.

Listen, air first.

Pooh.

- [Student] Pooh.

- Very good.

Pow.

- [Student] Pow.

- Good.

Pah.

- [Student] Pah.

- Good.

Oy.

- Oy.

- That's good.

See? You got it right that time.

- What apparently set Peter off yesterday afternoon

was he received a letter from you.

- [Mother] Yeah.

- And he apparently gotten a letter on Friday.

He didn't get it 'til Saturday, apparently, maybe Sunday,

but um...

There may have been some problems with that, too.

That's what happened with the--

- [Dr. Meechum] He was upset with that letter.

- Well he had previously sent me a letter

and told me that Bubba Bishop had moved to Fairhope

and that if I didn't let him move down there

and go to school with Bubba Bishop

that he was gonna hate me.

He wasn't gonna love me anymore,

that he was gonna run away, so in my response to him

in the letter I told him that I was sorry

he felt like that, that I loved him,

but that I thought Talladega was the best place for him,

and that we would talk about it when he came home

and that's all that I really said in the letter,

so evidently that's what got him upset

'cause I refused to even consider it,

because I don't know Bubba Bishop's parents.

I wouldn't consider him going off and living there, anyway.

I mean, he's my responsibility.

- Well, that response is not necessarily unnormal.

I think there's a number of kids,

probably a good number of the kids,

who come to school here sometimes the separation

is such that they believe their parents

don't love them anymore, or if you love them,

you wouldn't send them here.

That set him off the first episode.

Yesterday, he received another letter from you.

I don't know what was in that necessarily, either, but--

- I would like to know what you had

put in that letter, because we didn't have it last night.

We had to ask Peter for it,

that he had gotten upset about that first,

and then he had gotten upset not getting--

- And that must have been the one

I just wrote, 'cause I just put one in the mail

yesterday like you recommended and told him

in that one that I would call his father,

his real father, you know, when he come in

if he wanted to talk to him and see

and that we would go over it when he come home,

you know, talk about it when he came home.

- [Dr. Meechum] Right.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well, that apparently, is an issue.

- [Mother] Yeah.

- The real father and the stepfather and yourself--

- Well see, now what I probably should have done

is years ago shoulda told Peter how his real father

feels about him.

That was one of the grounds for divorce

is that he couldn't accept the fact

that Peter was deaf, that I had rubella measles

when I was pregnant with Peter

and that was causing Peter's deafness

and he didn't wanna hear nothing about that,

when the doctor wanted to terminate the pregnancy

in the beginning and all, he was totally against it

because he just said you know women

have measles all the time.

That that's just nonsense and so then when Peter

was born and it was a long time before

he would accept the fact, he said I was looking

for a problem, because I noticed right away

that there was something wrong with his hearing.

I knew it had to do with his hearing,

but I didn't know to what extent it was

and he just said I was looking for problems

and then he just never was able to accept Peter's deafness

and then when Peter went into hearing aids and all,

he totally rejected him and the hearing aids.

- [Dr. Meechum] 'Cause that made him more visibly different.

- Right.

- [Dr. Meechum] As long as he didn't have the aids.

- Right.

- [Dr. Meechum] It was not as--

- So he's never been denied his visitation rights,

he's never paid child support and for a while

we lived out in Texas but when we moved back

to Mobile he knew where I was at,

and he coulda come, called, wrote,

done anything he wanted to but he never did

as his own choice.

- [Mr. Tiffany] His real father lives in Mobile.

- [Mother] Right.

- And at this point does not see Peter

unless you initiate it or Peter initiates it?

- No, he doesn't see him then.

He might see him if I take him over

to his grandmother's house.

His mother lives here and if I go over to his grandmother's

house or something, he sees her.

He doesn't see him.

Now, he's been to my house several times

for my older son that I have by him

and he has seen Peter then, but he's never

put no time in with him or to where he could

promise him anything or do anything like that for him

or give him anything on his birthday

or Christmas or nothing.

So, there's not a relationship there.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well--

- [Mother] But it's been by his daddy's choice.

- Okay, that is part of an issue.

I don't know, now it's, I don't know.

From what you're saying that that is as much the issue

except that maybe Peter was using it

as an issue to get back at you for some other reasons, but--

- [Dr. Meechum] That's what I honestly believe

at this point, because he--

- The more he can make you feel bad,

something he wants or has not received or whatever,

that's what he's in the process of trying to do, but--

- [Mother] Yeah, that's just like writing a letter

saying he hates me.

Now, if he knows it makes me go to pieces,

and I cry and I feel guilty about it.

- We need to talk with Peter when he comes in

about that, but the other thing that set him off

last night, which is not, which is another issue

with him and that's money.

- [Mother] Yeah.

Well, I had just sent him some money--

- Right.

- [Mother] And that's what I was asking--

- Well, he had money.

- [Mother] Yeah.

- The point was last night,

last night was recreation time for them

and they were going to the skating rink.

He asked Mrs. Sweeney, the houseparent

for six dollars of his money, which is not

what we give the students when they go,

we give each of the students two dollars--

- [Mother] Yeah.

- To try to be equitable to all of 'em,

so they all don't go out there and have more than,

somebody more than another and one of 'em

gets to buy something the other ones don't or whatever,

so they get two dollars to go skating

and that wasn't satisfactory.

The letter, that situation, when he came back

from supper last evening, apparently started

pushing and shoving the other boys

and causing some problems and uh,

at that point in time, he told the other houseparent

that he was gonna hang himself,

and he borrowed a belt, same belt I think again,

that he borrowed Monday or whenever it was,

Sunday night, Sunday night,

that he borrowed the belt from another student and,

in the closet, was gonna hang it from there

and was gonna hang himself.

Well, they called me at home yesterday evening

and I went over to the dormitory and

talked with he and the houseparents for a while

and really got nowhere.

He was very stubborn, very upset yet and very mad

at everybody and so, I took him with me.

I was gonna go play tennis last night at seven o'clock

and I took him with me in the car and went over

to the tennis court and I sat and talked to him

as I was waiting to get on the court

and I wasn't getting anywhere.

I couldn't get on the court and I couldn't

get it from Peter, either one, but we,

Dr. Meechum came and we,

we met with Phillip there for a little bit,

and talked, Phillip, Peter,

for a while and talked,

got really nowhere.

- [Dr. Meechum] He was too upset to listen.

- So, Doc Meechum went back to make a phone call

to try to see if he could stay in the infirmary last night,

which we have done in the past

when something like this might occur

so they're under constant supervision

and I took him back to the school to wait

for Dr. Meechum's call and she couldn't get through

so she came over to the dormitory.

In the meantime, that period of time I sat with him

outside, hugged him a lot, talked to him a lot,

finally got him to start admitting that, you know,

killing himself wasn't gonna help him.

Wasn't gonna help anybody that,

nobody could help him if he was dead,

and he couldn't have the things for his roller skates

if he was dead and he couldn't have a go cart

that he talked about if he was dead

and all those (mumbling) and he finally started

opening up a little bit and talking.

He promised me he wasn't gonna do anything

and that he really didn't mean it

and we went in and talked and Dr. Meechum came

and we talked some more.

I called you.

While I was calling you, he went and got himself

a bottle of pop and a candy bar

and he was as happy as he could be, when we left.

Last night, there was nothing,

I mean, he slept in the dormitory.

The houseparent slept in the room with him.

This morning at breakfast I saw him.

He was fine.

Had a smile on his face coming back from vocational class.

We haven't told him that you were coming.

- But he had gotten calmed down on Monday

in the same way.

He was not as calm and as happy as he was last night,

but he had resolved the issue Monday

and said that he would not kill himself

and that he understood some of the same things

and two days later was just as upset

or really 36 hours later was just as upset.

- But then it could that he's used this

and it worked one time, it's worked again

and he could use that,

now I have to live in fear now.

Every time he doesn't get his way

he's gonna threaten this and if I don't

acknowledge it, and then he did do something,

then there's a big guilt trip there.

See, but that he's learned to use it

to where all I gotta do is threaten to kill myself

and I'm gonna get my way.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well, he hasn't gotten his way--

- Yeah.

- In this process.

That's the only thing that has,

the only way that you can deal with that

is to deal with it at that time but not give in

to whatever it is he's demanding

and using that as the vehicle to get it.

He has not received anything.

He didn't get the six dollars last night

by saying that and he

did not want you to come, he did not

want to go home on the 26th with you

and we can't deal with that yet, beside here,

but he didn't wanna go home.

He didn't wanna see you.

Well, he didn't get that yet, either

because he doesn't know you're here, but you're here.

So, even though he's using that as a way

to manipulate you or manipulate us,

the things that he's trying to get

through that manipulation process

he hasn't received yet and each time

he's been convinced that that's not the way to get it.

- I have to say, too, that each time he says it,

if it costs him more in the way of loss of freedom,

and of supervision and he does not get those things

he wants, then eventually the ploy won't be used as much

so the manipulation doesn't work.

- That we can use with him in that.

Okay, if he's gonna use that as a process

to get something, he can't go with the Boy Scouts

and go camping anymore.

I can't trust, I can't take the responsibility

of allowing him to go with the Boy Scout leader

and go camping over the weekend

because we wouldn't feel comfortable

with his, way he would be supervised during that process.

He's gonna have to stay under a closer supervision

than he would be if he went on that kind of a trip.

- [Mother] Yeah, well what I--

- So what he's gonna do, he's gonna end up losing his,

he's gonna end up losing a number of the freedoms,

the number of pleasures that he is able

to participate in because of, we can't take the risk

of allowing him to be involved in those things

because of that.

- [Dr. Meechum] May I ask you a question?

- Mmm hmm.

- [Dr. Meechum] When he was real young and you first

determined that he was hearing impaired,

did you not discipline him in the same way

as you did your other children?

- I didn't.

I gave in to him a lot, because it was so long.

He was three years old when we were totally confirmed

that it was a nerve deafness and was uncorrectable,

and he was like three years old when he started school

and he couldn't have water 'til he said, "Water"

because he did have vocal cords that he could use

and it was the hardest situation.

I knew what he wanted, but I wasn't allowed

to give it to him until he actually said the word.

So I gave in to him a lot, I did

and I didn't punish him like I did the other kids

and then the doctor told me one day, he said

you have to more firm with him and more strict

with him than you do the other kids.

He said he's not a handicap.

You're making him a handicap

and so then I tried to do an about face

and I didn't do a good job on him

because he still has been like that,

but he gets discipline.

If he does something wrong, he gets whipped,

he gets punished or he gets restricted,

whatever it calls for and he gets it now,

but it's like he don't want,

he wants more than the other kids.

He wants to be allowed to do things

that they can do, but really he can't do

and he gets mad with that.

- [Dr. Meechum] Because he wants to be treated equally,

but in addition to that, have some compensation.

- Right.

- He is angry because he can't be with you

and he can't be out of the dorm, but I think

the main thing is he wants more freedom,

more flexibility in his after-hours programming

and at 14, some of that is natural.

Some of the anger toward you is what we call individuation,

trying to grow up and separate some from parental control

and consequently also separate from school control

of his free time and his money.

That was part of the anger about the six dollars

and the way he's found of controlling the situation

is just say okay, I will do away with myself

and then you'll be sorry and hope that it works every time

and I dealt with him in a very lengthy process

trying to get him to understand that when he starts

getting his way by trying to scare people

and threatening and telling people that

that he is the one that loses because he

will always be in a situation as we all are

that we have to accept other people's instruction

on what to do, whether it be a job, in a marriage

and he understood that to a degree on Monday,

but he still is so angry, he's got to work

through some of this and possibly seeing

all of us aligned on it would help.

At any rate, like Mr. Tiffany said,

he hasn't gotten his way so he may drop it

from his repertoire of things to use

if it doesn't work, but at the same time,

we have to be very sure that we attend to him,

that we give him the attention he needs.

It may not be the attention he wants

and also protect him by a lot of supervision

and we can do that to a degree, but since this is

just a regular school we would have a difficult

time having one on one constant supervision.

- He's got this fear of the devil.

He says when you die he automatically thinks

you're going down there, you know?

And I said why do you always think that?

And he's 'cause, he says you bad, you go there.

I said you're bad, so he's got this fear of going

to the devil.

He says, he tells me all the time,

you're getting old, Mama, you're gonna die.

You know, when you get old, you die.

- [Mr. Meechum] And when you get gray hair, you die.

This is what he told me.

- Yeah.

- He said that if he didn't see his natural

father that he would die in a few years

because he had gray hair and I said--

(talking over each other)

So contradictory.

I was trying to tell him, you know, if you kill yourself,

you don't have any options.

You can't choose to see him later,

and at that point I was just trying to get him

to understand the same thing Mr. Tiffany was

about trying to get him to wait before

he made any drastic decisions.

He, have we found him?

- [Mother] Yes, here's here.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Can't say hello to your mom?

Did you think your mother was gonna come up here today?

Who told you that?

Who told you?

I told you?

Why do you think your mother came today?

You don't have any idea why your mother would come today?

(vocalizing)

- [Mr. Tiffany] I would say yeah, she's worried about ya.

Why does she worry about you?

(Peter vocalizing)

- Before that.

Why does your mother worry about you?

Not just only when you say that word

or words, "I'm gonna kill myself"

but other times.

Why does your mother worry about Peter?

(vocalizing)

- She thinks I'll run away.

- [Mr. Tiffany] That's one reason.

(vocalizing)

- Because of his first daddy.

- [Mr. Tiffany] That's another reason, but the most

important reasons why your mother worries about you?

(vocalizing)

- I don't know.

- [Mr. Tiffany] She loves you.

Your mother worries about you.

Doesn't matter if you're here, at ASD,

or if you're at home in Mobile or, doesn't matter.

Your mother worries about you 'cause she loves you.

Think so?

You told me last night no, she doesn't love you.

You don't think your mother loves you?

Why?

What's the reason?

(vocalizing)

- [Mother] One time, one time and I was sick.

- You got a letter last Sunday.

You got another letter yesterday,

and your mother wrote a letter yesterday at home

and sent it but it's late to arrive.

That's three letters in a week.

- Not many boys and girls get that many letters in one week.

- You say your mother doesn't love you.

Why do you say that?

For what reason?

(vocalizing)

- Because what?

You hate with mother?

(teacher mumbling)

Mother does not move you to a different school,

so you're mad.

You hate your mother?

You hate her?

Hate?

(Peter vocalizing)

- [Dr. Meechum] Not much.

Just a little bit of hate.

- Why do you use that word hate?

(vocalizing)

- He needs another school.

I want another school, not here.

- You need to change the word that you use.

Hate.

Maybe better to say don't like.

Don't say you hate.

I'm mad with mama.

I'm mad with mother, not hate.

You don't hate your mother.

(Peter vocalizing)

You just told me a little bit.

I'm telling you that the wrong word, it's not hate.

Mad, angry maybe with mama.

Right?

You need to stop using that word.

You don't need to hate anyone.

Why don't you like this school?

(vocalizing)

- Because I have problems in the dormitory.

Boys fight me.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Whose fault?

Boys' fault. - Boys' fault.

(vocalizing)

- [Mr. Tiffany] You fight with your brothers?

- No.

- You don't fight with your brothers?

(vocalizing)

Not much?

(vocalizing)

Peter, when you're a young boy, and you're growing up,

you're gonna argue sometimes with other boys.

That's normal.

What one of your problems is that you want it

Peter's way.

You argue with your brothers at home

and the boys in the dorm are kinda like

your brothers there and you argue with them, also.

Sometimes it's their fault, sometimes it's your fault.

You got a bad temper.

Right?

- [Peter] True, that's true.

- [Mr. Tiffany] I know it's true.

I've seen your bad temper when you blow up

and you're stubborn.

- Yes.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You hate your mother?

- No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] No.

- Okay.

(vocalizing)

Okay.

- Do you love your mother?

(vocalizing)

You don't know?

(vocalizing)

You need to separate some things.

When something happens, and you get mad,

you don't like, mad, that's normal sometimes

to not like, to be angry, that's normal.

But don't say I hate, I hate, I hate.

Or another, the words you were using Sunday night

and last night, "I'm gonna kill myself."

Are you gonna kill yourself?

I can't hear you.

- No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Why won't you kill yourself?

(vocalizing)

Don't like it?

- Don't want to.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You wanted to kill yourself last night?

(vocalizing)

- I won't say it again.

- Your mother has thought about having you

go to different schools.

Why has mother told you she wants

you to stay here at this school?

(Peter vocalizing)

But why?

- [Dr. Meechum] Because mother wants--

- [Mr. Tiffany] Why this school most, what for?

(vocalizing)

- Vocational and other things here.

- Your mother cares about you.

The houseparents care about you.

Dr. Meechum cares about you.

I care about you.

Why, you don't like the rules sometimes, right?

They're strict.

(Peter vocalizing)

Why?

(Peter vocalizing)

What if I just let Peter do what he wanted to do?

Leave, go to town, spend your money,

not study, not wash your clothes.

Would that mean that we love you a lot

to let you do anything you want to do?

You think that means that?

The school rules are strict and we

discipline you when you get in trouble.

Not because we hate you, I don't like that word.

We do that because we love you,

care about you and wanna teach you

how to handle yourself and grow up

and accept responsibility.

Does mother punish you at home?

Does mother punish you at home?

(Peter vocalizing)

Why?

(Peter vocalizing)

- [Dr. Meechum] 'Cause he's a bad boy.

- When you're a bad boy and you break the rules,

mother punishes you.

How does mother punish you?

Mama paddle you before?

Stay in your room?

(Peter vocalizing)

Why did she do that?

Why does mother do that?

Does mother punish you but it's okay

for the brothers and sisters,

does she not punish, she punish brothers and sisters too?

Fair?

(vocalizing)

Fair, right?

Your mother is fair with punishment, right?

You told me you loved your mother.

Do you love your brothers and sisters?

Boy, they been waiting for you.

I wanna see Peter, I wanna see Peter.

Where is he, where is he?

I can't wait to see Peter.

You come walking in and you don't even say hi.

You've not even told mother hi yet.

Why don't you look at your mama?

- I don't know.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You've got to stop talking

about killing yourself.

That's got to stop.

If it doesn't stop, then there's many things

that you can't do.

Like, last weekend, did you go out to the

the racetrack with the Boy Scouts?

What'd you do out there?

(vocalizing)

You ate and you danced and what else?

Did you camp?

Did you sleep?

(vocalizing)

Sleep?

Did you have a good time?

You enjoy it?

You like the Boy Scouts?

You wanna do it again and again and again?

You can't if you're gonna say

you're gonna kill yourself.

(vocalizing)

You've got to stay here, stay with us

so someone can watch you very closely

'cause I can't trust you.

If you say that you're gonna kill yourself,

I can't trust you.

I can't let you go.

I can't be responsible.

I must keep you close so I can keep an eye on you.

(Peter vocalizing)

- [Dr. Meechum] He's not gonna--

- I know, I know.

(Peter vocalizing)

- [Dr. Meechum] Now he just doesn't care.

- You're not gonna kill yourself?

You promised me last night.

You promise me again.

(Peter vocalizing)

And again now.

(vocalizing)

Why?

(vocalizing)

- Because he doesn't want it again.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Why don't you want it?

(vocalizing)

Yeah?

Forever.

If you did that you would hurt yourself forever.

- Peter, I want you to tell your mother hi.

Okay, tell her that you're angry with her.

(Peter vocalizing)

You tell me or her.

(vocalizing)

Look at her.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Tell mother and look at her and tell her.

- Look at her.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Tell your mother that you're mad.

Go ahead.

(vocalizing)

- Look at her.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Tell your mother.

You look at your mother.

Tell your mother how you feel.

(vocalizing)

- I'm angry with you because you're late

while writing a letter to me.

I wait and I'm worried about you.

It's too long but now I'm mad.

Sunday I got a letter and decided I would kill myself.

Before the letter that you got that arrived

here on Friday, and you got on Sunday,

how long had it been since you got a letter from mama?

Y'all talk about it.

- On Sunday.

- But before that, how many weeks or days--

- One, one week.

Two?

- Yeah, he told me--

(Peter vocalizing)

on Monday that it was three weeks

since he got a letter the last time.

- Not three weeks.

(Peter vocalizing)

- Two.

- [Peter] Two weeks.

- Okay.

So, y'all have decided together two weeks, right?

You agree?

You agree?

Okay.

When you told me about her promising a letter,

talk to her about the promise.

(Peter vocalizing)

- When did I promise?

- When did I promise that I would send a letter?

- [Peter] Friday.

- Okay.

- I promised that I would write you a letter

letting you spend the night with Bubba Bishop

and I did, didn't I?

- Gave you permission to go with you to sleep?

- Yeah, but not.

Bubba's moved.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Right.

- Okay.

- That's not my fault.

- I know, but (vocalizing).

- It came on Friday.

(vocalizing)

Asked me to spend the night with Bubba Bishop last Friday.

- But Pete--

- [Mr. Tiffany] He's moving, got to move.

(vocalizing)

- Bubba moved, now last Friday, next Friday,

that they can't go.

- Mother's letter was late?

Mama's letter was late, so you couldn't

sleep with, and then he left.

Now it's late, can't stay with him, right?

So, you're mad because it was late.

Letter late.

- [Dr. Meechum] Arriving.

- Late, can't stay.

- Peter, I gave you the letter at home.

- [Peter] I know.

- You brought it back to school.

You did.

I gave you the letter at home.

(vocalizing)

So I was not late.

(vocalizing)

- Look at her, look at her.

(vocalizing)

Bubba's mother forgot.

- Bubba, but before, before.

- Before Friday, Bubba left and--

(vocalizing)

(Dr. Meechum mumbling) her to get the money,

because she was broke.

He waited two weeks and didn't get a letter.

(vocalizing)

Okay, look at her.

I want you to look at her

and y'all talk about the money thing, okay?

- I send you money.

(vocalizing)

- Two weeks he's waited for money and permission.

- But then I was out of town with Daddy.

On his boat.

- Okay, one--

- [Mr. Tiffany] Was out of town with Daddy on his boat.

- Okay, this brings up something that I think

we need to discuss just a little bit.

Y'all can't really communicate.

Some of it is because of no signing skills

on your part, right?

And some is because you don't watch her anyway,

but maybe you learn that because

it's not really all that helpful

for both of you to sit and try to communicate

things to each other.

- No, when we sit and look at one another,

we do communicate.

- And that helps, right?

Do you agree?

Did you understand what mother said?

What did she say?

Just then.

(vocalizing)

Okay, watch her now.

- What we see if we look.

We talk.

Do you know what I say?

(Peter vocalizing)

- Okay, right.

It's easier to understand your speech, right.

- Right, but what he doesn't understand

is that I have three children at home

and all the classes for the sign is at nighttime

and I have no one to watch them.

- You ever say, "Mother, thank you"?

- [Dr. Meechum] He's late, he doesn't--

- You late.

(Peter vocalizing)

You late to tell mama thank you.

- [Dr. Meechum] Let's tell her thank you now,

for the money--

- [Peter] Thank you.

- And for the three letters.

Okay.

Can you decide to forget about the late two weeks

for the letter getting here?

It doesn't matter now, it's finished.

Why can't you just forget it?

(Peter vocalizing)

Why does it still bother you?

Why are you still angry about late two weeks?

(vocalizing)

Two weeks ago, then the letter,

worried and worried.

He got a little bit mad.

Okay, why do you worry about mother?

(vocalizing)

Okay, no, that's not the reason that you're worried.

Why are you worried about late letter?

Because maybe you love mother and you want

to hear from mother?

You need to talk with her.

Maybe.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You miss mother?

You miss mother?

(vocalizing)

- No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] No?

- No, don't miss her.

(vocalizing)

Really misses his father, first one.

- [Mr. Tiffany] First one.

Why do you miss first father?

(vocalizing)

- Late to see him in a long time.

Okay, tell mother that.

Y'all talk about that together.

- Do you know why?

- [Peter] No.

- Because he does not love you.

(Peter vocalizing)

No.

- [Peter] Grandma told me.

- No, Grandma lied.

(Peter vocalizing)

No, he don't see Johnny Ray.

(Peter vocalizing)

At his grandma's, but not at his real father's,

because his real father does not want Johnny Ray

or Larry.

He just doesn't love you.

(Peter vocalizing)

That's okay, that's okay.

But he's on a boat, too and gone all the time.

- But tell him that you told me that--

- But I told, I called him on the phone

and told him he can come see you,

he can talk to you, he can visit with you,

but he don't want to.

Why?

Huh?

It's okay with me.

I don't care.

He does not want you.

Or Larry or Johnny Ray.

- [Mr. Tiffany] How you feel?

(vocalizing)

- Very depressed.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well, say it.

You've got to say how you feel, get it out.

What about second daddy?

(vocalizing)

(Mr. Tiffany mumbling)

- But does he love you?

Peter.

(Peter vocalizing)

Does he love you?

- Second daddy hold you sometimes?

- [Peter] Yes.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Why don't you love second daddy?

I told you a little bit ago that when

mama punish you 'cause she loves you

and wants you to behave properly and grow up

and be responsible.

The houseparents punish you here sometimes.

I've paddled you before myself.

I love you, I care about you.

I do that because I want you straighten up,

grow up, become a fine young man, be responsible.

Second daddy, punish you sometimes also.

You told me, right?

Why?

(Peter vocalizing)

- [Dr. Meechum] 'Cause he's a bad boy.

- And daddy, second daddy punishes you

to try to help teach you to become a better boy

and not be bad, to learn to behave

and accept your responsibility, to not argue.

(vocalizing)

- I wanna see my first father.

- I understand that.

- Okay, your mother said you can.

That's fine with her.

She will help kinda plan for that to happen.

She will tell your first father

and that's fine with mother.

So, are you still angry with mother?

Tell your mother, not me.

- [Peter] For what?

- That you are not still angry with her.

Tell her.

(vocalizing)

- [Mr. Tiffany] Are you mad at second father?

- [Peter] No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Sure?

- Sure.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You mad at me?

- No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You mad with Frieda?

Who you mad with?

- Me, nobody.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Mad with yourself?

- Nobody.

Forget it.

- Forget it.

- [Mr. Tiffany] I don't see you smiling.

- I smile.

- I don't see you smile very much.

Who is that?

(Peter vocalizing)

Who is it?

- [Peter] Me.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You like what you see?

You like to be sad?

- [Peter] No.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Then why don't you smile more?

- [Peter] I smile.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Really lucky boy.

You're really lucky.

- Yeah.

(chuckling)

Just forget it.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You wanna forget it?

- To really forget it, you need to start again

and try to do a little bit better.

To communicate with each other here,

to communicate with people here at school,

to not say things that you don't really mean,

for example, hate.

You don't hate, you're angry.

Kill, you don't plan to kill.

You're angry.

Say you're angry, say the truth, how you feel.

Make sure that you tell the people

that you need to talk with

and when it's finished, listen to all

the different words and forget the things

that really don't matter.

For example, two weeks late with the letter,

just forget that, you know.

That's not important.

Can you stop being so angry and really forget it,

finish this by hugging, going over here

and hugging your mother?

Okay, wanna do that?

Okay.

Do you feel better?

Why did you do it?

(Peter vocalizing)

You love mother.

Not only because I asked you to do that, right?

Okay.

- [Mr. Tiffany] What do you wanna do now?

(vocalizing)

- Go back to school.

- [Mr. Tiffany] I told you last night.

Last night easy.

And your mother has a hard time 'cause

you got brothers and sisters and second daddy's

out in the boat working.

She's alone.

She misses you.

Same you miss mama.

When you see each other, you need to say hi.

Come in and see your mother and hug your mother.

Same with your brothers and sisters.

They were waiting to see you.

You walk in, walk past.

I had to make you stop to see them and talk with them.

- Peter, that makes problems for you.

You know, it's not only for other people.

If you try to continue to find problems,

you will do that.

You will find all the trouble and problems

that you search for.

You have to decide how you want to live in the future.

If you want to stay mad, you can find a lot

of things to be mad about.

If you decide to be happy, you can find

more things to be happy about.

You have to search for whatever you really want in life.

Anger, no.

Happy, yes.

(Peter vocalizing)

Okay.

Will you try to stay that way for a little while?

(chuckling)

- [Peter] Yes.

- Okay.

I think it would be--

(laughing)

- [Mr. Tiffany] You're what?

What are you?

- Smile.

- [Dr. Meechum] Smile.

- [Mr. Tiffany] When you're sad, you're not very pretty.

When you smile, you're better looking.

- What did I tell you the other day

about the girlfriends?

Yeah.

But I think that mother needs to kinda come

to the middle sometimes, too, and try harder.

When he's angry, or acting angry,

that's when he needs you the most sometimes.

Try to remember that.

I know it's hard, so.

Well, let 'em visit.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Let's go with mama just a little bit.

She's driven up a long, long way to come and see you.

You know that should prove to you quick

that mother loves you.

She got up early this morning,

drove from Mobile, five hours, quick got here.

It's expensive, gas.

- [Mother] A rainstorm scared me.

- Raining hard and bad storm and she drove up here.

What do you think?

What do you tell mama?

- Yeah, Mom.

Thank you.

- Look at her, darn it.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Look at your mother and say that.

- I know.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well go over there and tell her.

- Thank you very much--

- Thank you very much for the letter.

(vocalizing)

- Got to stop being angry.

You got, you told me you got rules.

You got rules at home.

You got rules here at school, right?

I got rules.

Dr. Meechum has rules.

Your mama has rules.

We all have rules.

If you follow the rules, you can go roller skating.

If you follow the rules, you can go to Boy Scout camp.

If you follow the rules, you can be in the band.

If you follow the rules, you can go to town.

Play football, anything you want to do.

When you break the rules, what happens?

- [Mother] Can't get out.

- [Mr. Tiffany] You can't.

You get punished.

You get paddled or you stay in your room

or you can't go to this place.

So, when you learn to follow the rules you will be happier.

What do you think?

(vocalizing)

Think yes or no?

- Yeah, sure.

- [Dr. Meechum] Yes, sir, wonderful.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Yes, you're learning.

(chuckling)

(vocalizing)

No, I wanna see your teeth.

(vocalizing)

You got teeth?

(chuckling)

- Peter, I love you very, very much.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Look at your mama and the eyes.

Look at the eyes.

- What for?

(vocalizing)

- [Mother] I love you.

- Why don't we let you two visit a little bit

and then if you want to go somewhere,

you have not eaten.

- No, I haven't.

(Mr. Tiffany mumbling)

- [Mr. Tiffany] I need to call, I don't know.

The kitchen's closed.

- No, I can go down to the chicken place down here.

I seen a--

- [Mr. Tiffany] You wanna just take him

with you for a while?

(talking over each other)

brothers and sister and that'll be fine.

- Visit.

(talking over each other)

- I can't take too much longer so I won't be

on the road at nighttime.

- Right.

- [Mr. Tiffany] Yeah, why don't you just go

and do, be with him for a while

and you can bring him on back?

- Okay.

Yeah, bring him back up here or over--

- [Mr. Tiffany] Bring him back here to the classroom.

- Up here, to his dorm?

- [Mr. Tiffany] Well, you probably oughta,

you'll be back before school's out.

Just come back here.

- [Mother] Okay.

- [Dr. Meechum] Bye bye.

I'll see ya after a while, Peter.

(chattering)

(shoes squeaking) (ball thudding)

(coach mumbling)

- Come on.

Rodge, gotta get back on defense.

(mumbling) hurry up, Greg.

(cheering)

Come on boys.

Good job.

(clapping)

Go boys, trying to jump.

Shoot, shoot.

(chuckling)

Three steps.

One three one.

Red, one three one.

(mumbling)

- [Video Man] Be the same one.

Right here, okay?

As close as you can, 'cause I'm gonna follow the ball, okay?

And ask 'em to spread out so it looks navigable.

Agreed?

Quick.

(chattering) (ball thudding)

(video man mumbling)

- The boys seen here at the Alabama School for the Deaf

is not the only story, though.

The girls' team finished the season ranked

number three in the nation, giving the school

a double dose of basketball pride.

(men mumbling)

We're making great time, so, we're fine.

(men mumbling)

The boys seen here at the Alabama School for the Deaf

is not the only story, though.

The girls' team finished what, no.

- [Cameraman] Go ahead.

- No, I did my had (mumbling).

(shoes squeaking) (balls thumping)

The boys' team here at the Alabama School for the Deaf

is not the only story, though.

The girls' team finished the season ranked

number three in the nation, giving this school

a double dose of basketball pride.

- [Cameraman] That's good, that's good.

(vocalizing)

- Who are some of your favorite people?

Your friends, both boys and girls.

It is not necessary to only have girl friends

if you are a girl.

Sometimes you can really have a boy friend,

not a sweetheart, but a boy friend.

Who are some of your friends?

Can you think of people, maybe in this room,

that you have not told, you are one of my very best friends?

Who?

(pupils vocalizing)

Cassandra Davis.

Uh huh, okay.

And Brenda, okay, fine.

We can go with first names.

You have two very good friends.

That's nice.

- A friend is also a person that you can go to

when you have problem, you know, to go to

and talk about the problem.

If you can't hold it in, you can go to see

your best friend and discuss about the problem

with that person.

Kevin--

- [Dr. Meechum] Kevin.

- Helped you?

- [Dr. Meechum] It helped her and that's a boy.

(pupil vocalizing)

Really, a cousin, but also a friend, right.

I have a close friend that lives, Lynn, last name.

(vocalizing)

Sometimes they're special friends

and the next, that person left the school.

Lisa Cowan moved away from here.

- That's when you need to have made new friends.

If your old friends are gone, it's time for you

to make some new friends.

That one, okay?

Okay, let's see.

Another way to, um let's see um,

trying to think of another way how to become your friend.

If you see a person that is lonely, needs a friend,

maybe it'd be a good idea for you to go

to that person, I will be your friend, if you want me to.

You can have another person.

(pupil vocalizing)

- Teach her, Lauren Moore

about how to be a friend with those people.

When you go home to your hometowns, many of you

will not have anyone that you can communicate with,

people that know sign language who you can really tell

all the things that you tell all the people here, right?

Is that true?

So, it is necessary, sometimes people talk

and say they're friends and nothing

and they say they'll learn sign language, but they don't.

Sometimes I watch them and right.

And that makes a difference.

People can decide to be our friends,

but if they cannot communicate with us,

doesn't matter if we're hard of hearing or not,

many times, people that hear can't communicate

but I think with you it is a necessary part

of the commitment to make, if they say that they

will be our friend, for them to learn to sign, right?

And it is necessary for our families

to sign to know when we need to contact

other people, maybe you live near a friend

and need to tell your parents that you need

to talk with someone about a problem.

You need to stay in contact with people

you can communicate with.

(laughing)

- If, for any reason, you happen to be around campus

in the evenings, it would be very much appreciated

if you would drive through the campus

and if you see something that's not correct,

stop and talk with them about it.

I was fortunate last night to be called

back up here because of a problem

and I saw the lights off at Grace Hall,

and puzzled, so I went over to go in to turn on the lights

to find to my surprise, two students practicing

what they've been taught in sex education,

in that building.

They were very polite about it.

(laughing)

I got, we've taught them well.

They were just necking, that was all.

They were being friendly with one another,

and they stopped immediately

and said, "I'm sorry."

But--

(teacher vocalizing)

Well, I mean, I drove past the first time

and I thought, ah, it's okay.

But then I stopped and I backed up

and drove down and went in and uh...

- Which nights did you notice it was not on?

- The outside lights around the patio,

it was dark as it could be and there were

boys and girls all around.

I thought, well, you know.

I probably need to stop and look at that.

(laughing)

- [Woman] That was a good clue.

- But um, we need to encourage the people,

particularly the houseparents that if the lights

are off, there's got to be a reason.

(laughing)

Someone needs to call somebody and tell 'em

to come turn 'em on.

- This year, we are doing mostly the same things

that we have done in the past,

but now we are trying to make sure that all people

here know different ways of giving and sharing

information to our counseling staff.

I am using a kind of case management and am giving

some different people responsibility in following

different students and making sure that information

is gathered and given about each of these students.

- Freida, I don't know if this is what you're

driving at or not, (mumbling), we had a problem

last night with one of the boys, Mike Donald,

which might be of some help to some of you

for writing in these forms.

This boy was horse playing in the dorm,

and another boy walked up to him

and told him, stop,

'cause I don't wanna see you get punished.

The boy gets mad, you don't tell me what to do,

you're not my boss, so they had words and all of a sudden,

he gets angry and runs out of the dorm.

Of course, somebody chased him,

they catch him, then they tried to talk to him.

No, he shuts his eyes.

I won't listen to you.

You're not my boss.

I don't have to listen to anybody.

Finally, they get him to my office.

We sat down.

We talked for about an hour and a half.

Now, if a houseparent wanna fill this out,

you might wanna use that one example

how they would go about filling that out.

- Particularly, if that situation happened

a lot of times and that student didn't listen

to other people and did not accept authority,

then you would know that that student had a problem

with that particular idea and maybe we'd need to

talk with the parents and Mr. Tiffany

and see where that happened.

If it always happens, like in school

and at home, then there really may be a problem,

but if it doesn't happen but in the dormitory,

then maybe it is a personality problem.

You know, maybe they can't interact well

with that dormitory supervisor.

I don't know, but I look at those kinds of things

when I'm trying to decide what is the real problem?

Okay, do we have another example of the kinds

of problems that you might suggest

for sending a referral form or that you might

send through to the dormitory supervisor?

Yes, sir.

- Suppose there's a boy,

he's in the, something like the eighth grade

but his reading level is something like

the fifth or sixth grade?

- [Woman] Sixth grade?

- Okay, then that is an academic problem

and it's an, it's not really a counseling need

or a problem that I would help to handle.

I think that you need to contact, like,

the classroom or the supervisor in that area.

Maybe Judith Gilliam would be the right person to contact

so she would know but if they are in the eighth grade

and they're reading at the fifth or sixth grade level,

then that's not that low for a hearing impaired student.

It depends on the age and the situation,

when they started to school, you know,

a lot of things enter into that decision,

but you need to talk with someone in the classroom

setting, I think Buddy agrees with me on that, okay.

Yes?

- This may be silly, but

we have a boy that every time we,

and makes no difference what we discussing,

he comes back in a argumentive way which,

since he's a senior, I'm concerned that if he

does this on the job and when he gets out,

is that a type situation that we turn in?

- I would think so because it does show that

in real life, he would have a hard time adjusting.

What's the sign for adjusting?

Somebody.

Adjusting, oh okay, like,

but I would send that to the vocational department.

We hope to have a vocational rehab counselor

by well, during this school year.

I would not handle that myself, but I would

send it to the right place.

Yes, Miss Sweeney?

(vocalizing)

- And that happens often.

- I think in a way, sometimes that is a,

evidence of a real emotional problem,

but sometimes it's a discipline thing, an issue

and it depends on the person and how long

it continues and you know, who they fight with.

There are a lot of different things.

Again, I think that needs to be written up

if it happens many times, but it's not

necessarily something that will need

real in depth counseling services.

Yes ma'am?

(vocalizing)

(chuckling)

(vocalizing)

- When we have students who we feel are maybe

inappropriately placed, a staffing needs to take place

within our school and possibly invite

say, for example, one internal transfer

would be moving a student to Helen Keller School

or for Helen Keller School to move 'em to us

if that's appropriate.

Your staffing should be held and there should be

recommendations or discussions of you know,

progress or weaknesses or whatever,

but, and recommendations of what your staff

in your department so when they have 'em

they need to have, be sure that we include everyone.

Academic, academic, vocational, dormitory,

PE, so that everyone has an opportunity

to be involved with that change and then the recommendation

needs to come to me or it would go to Philip

at Helen Keller School and then we'll discuss it

between us and try to make a decision and...

The parent will need to be involved

before a decision's made also.

We really need to be sure that parents

are involved in that and like with the one student

that you had the other day.

We'll probably need to sit down and decide

what we're gonna do.

If we decide that the best place is to move

to Helen Keller School, that's the most appropriate,

we need to call the mother and father in

and sit down and go through it with them also,

but the other problem would be

when we're talking about internal transfers,

would be students who are moved from class to class here.

We need to be careful that when we make those changes

that the parent is involved,

even if it's not really a change in IP,

it's just a change in the class placement,

a different person's gonna be responsible for that IP.

We need to be sure to include the parent

in those discussions before we make those changes.

(vocalizing)

(vocalizing)

(vocalizing)

- Talk with his uncle.

And may get more information.

Okay?

His uncle came Saturday.

I talked with him and was very, very interesting.

I found out many things about him.

He knows how the boy's mother treats grandmother.

The boy lives with his mother and grandmother.

And from what the older says,

the boy's mother mistreats him.

Seems to be pretty bad home, bad situation.

The older says that the boy,

(vocalizing)

12 or one o'clock in the night, comes home.

His grandmother, his mother cannot control him.

And said maybe sometimes boy sittin'

doing nothing wrong and the mother

will walk up to him.

Knock him across the room

for no reason

and the mother drinks very badly

and if the boy sees the mother with even one can

of beer in her hand, he runs, runs away.

And they have paid a lot of money before

but the little boy

(vocalizing)

he throws rocks at people's houses.

Breaks, breaks windows.

(vocalizing)

Doesn't have much trouble with the boy.

And it's pretty good and the little boy

always come to

(vocalizing)

admit what he has done,

but the mother and the grandmother,

the little boy does not have many clothes.

They refuse, the mother's

(vocalizing)

(vocalizing)

- Do we send home the clothes that he will need for a visit?

(vocalizing)

- Okay, how close does the uncle live to the family?

- Pretty close, because uncle picks the boy up.

It's the Birmingham area.

The uncle picks him up and takes him home

when he wants to go but the boy,

very, very seldom wants to go home.

(vocalizing)

- Okay.

- This uncle told me,

"Do what you think's best for the boy."

- Okay, do you have any evidence that the boy

might be being hurt yourself?

You know, you have gathered information

from the uncle.

I feel that it might be necessary

to report this to DPS,

but we would have to substantiate it ourselves

and not only based on what the uncle has said, okay?

That could be included, but I think it would be

important to have some information to share

that we had gathered here, you know.

Is he bruised, or you know, hurt, or

very frustrated when he comes home?

All the information that he doesn't want

to go home with the family is important.

How many times does that happen?

How often does that happen?

You know, write all that.

(vocalizing)

Trying to escape her or being with her.

I think he needs a lot of counseling

and maybe since you have started that,

you can continue, but I may need to see him myself.

(vocalizing)

Well, that was why I talk with you about

you continuing to talk with him, you know, before.

Where is the father?

Do you know?

Oh, in prison, okay.

But I think the combination of both of you

working with him, a motherly image with you

and a role model with you, you know you're not

old enough to be the father, but you are old enough

to be like a big brother and I think he needs

people that really care and who will supervise him

and give him some limits so that he feels

more safe than he feels at home.

(band drum music)

- Steve Glassy you gotta stay low and remember what to do.

Where to go, right or left?

Arthur, you gotta stay low.

Linebackers you gotta stay home a little bit,

watch, count or die.

Defense, secondary, you gotta pay attention.

Remember to communicate with each other.

Remember when to change your cover.

Offense, you gotta line up right,

remember what to do and do it.

Walk it right.

We pass, catch the ball.

Now, if you make a mistake on defense or offense,

give up, bad play.

Stay up.

Don't get depressed.

Sometimes bad things will happen.

It's alright, accept that, improve yourself, right?

Coach, you have anything you want to say?

- Now pay attention.

Practice all week, hard, hard, hard.

Now, I'm gonna say four things.

First, remember where you got your skills.

The Lord gave it to you.

Second, have a good time.

Third, do your best.

Fourth, all of us here love each other

and remember that, okay?

Let's go out there and play football this afternoon.

Play hard, tackle hard, but enjoy yourselves.

Make good plays, run, strong, support each other, okay?

We got to get ready.

We ain't got but four, five minutes

to get on the field.

You need to hurry.

You're in the first group.

You guys wanna say anything?

- Yeah, five minutes, five minutes.

First group on the field five minutes.

(drums beating)

(cheering)

(whistles blowing)

(cheerleaders chanting)

(cheering)

- [Woman] Anything, this wild (mumbling).

(yelling)

(cheering)

(drum beating)

(whirring)

- [Teacher] Go and wash your face.

Come over here and work on this one.

- Gonna read a story first, then stop

and answer one, okay?

Finish two.

Finish three.

Four.

(teacher mumbling)

(vocalizing)

We will type it on the computer anyway,

so when the printer worked, okay?

(clacking)

Type this sentence.

What does this mean?

(vocalizing)

No, can't fill in.

Type it exactly like this sentence right here.

Okay?

Number ten.

Add, same as my paper, mmm hmm.

(clacking)

- Are you doing it right?

Okay.

Fine.

Alright, pin it.

Be sure you get the pin.

That'll hold it.

Wanna it fixed so the stitching on that ruffle

is in between.

Where's your hearing aid?

Did you break it?

Well you better calm down.

(vocalizing)

Okay.

Put the pins in it so it'll stay in place.

(student vocalizing)

I'll check it.

Or Sandra'll check it tomorrow morning.

(chuckling)

(machine whirring)

Alright, you try it.

I'll stand right here and watch you.

Wait a minute, let me help her.

Check this.

Be sure that's tight because sometimes it comes off.

Okay, okay, go on, fine, go on.

(whirring)

(vocalizing)

(chuckling)

Stop being silly.

(vocalizing)

(chuckling)

Okay, that's fine.

I don't know what happened.

Just sometimes it does that.

- Okay, I think I'll begin with just a few comments about

what we readily accomplished last year.

John, you know these figures.

You want into the '83-'84 budget, period.

We were at 8.9 million dollars.

Thanks to your support, we increased by 20.7%

and that included, of course, a 15% pay raise

for faculty and staff.

That took us to a base of $10,770,000

and then when you add the $205,000

in teacher units for these pre-school centers (mumbling)

that took us overall to a 23% increase.

So we're now,

our total appropriation is 11 million dollars,

so we, needless to say, I've said it before

and I'll say it again.

We thank you for making sure that we were

included in a way that we could pay our bills.

Both from a salary standpoint and also

from the insurance standpoint.

There were a couple of items

that Freida thought we needed to apprise you of.

Do we take the approach that we really shoot

for the center of excellence and we go in

and say this is what's it's gonna cost

or do we continue to ask for realistic increases?

It is a philosophical question, I think.

- I've never been, there have been times

in the past, I'm talking about 8 to 10 years ago

where on various projects we would go in

and pad the projects in order to get actually

what was necessary to perform

what we wanted to accomplish,

what we wanted to accomplish.

I think that one,

living with the realities of it,

I think that one, you should ask for what you need.

What it would take to get you to that point of excellence.

But be realistic enough to know that

you aren't going to get what you're asking for and

you know what the bottom line is

and we can't settle for less than the bottom line,

but at the same time, I think your request

should reflect what it would take to bring

these programs to where you'd like to have them.

- [Man] Recognizing it may take several years

to get to that point.

- But if we could pick up,

if we could pick up a few percentage increase

over and above what the bare bone necessities are

each year for the next two or three years,

then that eventually would get us

to the point we're trying to get to.

So, I would suggest that the budget request

reflect what it would take to provide

the excellence that you want to provide,

that level of excellence and you know,

then let's sit down and talk with finance director,

some of those people, see what we can get out of it.

- We have enough (mumbling) of this

capital outlay request.

In fact, when I was talking with Miss Arington,

she said, you know, I'd like to be helpful

in any way that I can.

Would in your estimation it be helpful for us to,

in the near future, next two to three months,

to get a number of our trustees like Miss Arington,

our supporters like you and go down

and talk with the Governor about these items

and our need for these, these buildings.

- Jack, I think we can receive funding for this.

But the plan that you unveiled in Tuscaloosa,

I think that you're going to need to school

your trustees that when these candidates

for Governor, particularly, are coming 'round

asking for support, they bottom-lined

the request that that person has for their support

with what kind of support they're gonna get (mumbling)

and I don't think you have a trustee

that the institute is not their top priority

as far as funding anywhere in the state,

any agency, anything.

As these people are coming 'round, you take

people like Miss Arington.

Miss Arington has a large sphere of influence.

She's well thought of as her husband is.

A lot of people listen to her,

and it's not because of her husband's influence,

she's well liked.

She's well thought of.

I'm sure she wouldn't have any trouble

even getting the mayor to,

in conversations to bring up (mumbling).

Would you help secure funding for these projects?

And lay 'em out there.

You've got Judge McCollum.

You've got some prominent trustees all over and it,

the largest proportionate part of the funding

for your master plan

is going to have to come from these people.

They need to just bottom line it with these candidates

and find out what they're going to do.

Are they willing to do it?

Most of 'em will do what they say they'll do

but they need to be asked.

I think this is realistic.

I think that we can secure, if not all of it,

a large portion of it.

Because of the excess in the budget,

whether it's a bond issue or whatever,

I think we can do that.

(chattering)

- It's now my pleasure to introduce a gentleman

who for the majority really needs no introduction.

It's Dr. A.G. Gaston, our speaker for this program.

I have followed Dr. Gaston for as long as

I have been in the greater Jefferson County area

because he has had such a pronounced effect

on what has happened in that community.

It didn't happen, probably couldn't happen

in any other country in the world

that a gentleman could accomplish so much,

so much from such a meager beginning.

He wrote a book and it's entitled Green Power

and I took great pleasure in reading that book.

In fact, he was to autograph that book

and Rachel Arington has it in her library

and I'm gonna hold her to gettin' you

to sign that book soon.

But in that book, you can cut through

all that's written to the bottom line.

The bottom line is, to be successful,

you find a need and fill it.

And I think if you look back over the history

of this gentleman's work career,

you'll see that he has consistently,

over many, many years, found a need

and has attempted to fill that need

and has attempted with a great degree of success.

Dr. Gaston just celebrated on July the 4th,

what a symbolic day to have a birthday for this man,

he celebrated his 92nd birthday.

He was born in the year 1892 in Demopolis

to a very poor but hardworking family.

He lost his father at age 11

and was reared by his grandparents, Joe and Idella Gaston.

They were former slaves.

Dr. Gaston graduated from Tuttle Institute in 1910,

that was in Birmingham but finding

the employment opportunities very few,

he joined the Army and in 1917 found himself

serving as a supply sergeant in France during World War I.

In 1923, Dr. Gaston founded the Booker T. Washington

burial society and it was because of the recognized

need that he saw that he started that program

because he kept going to funerals and seeing

people pass the hat to pay the expenses for the burial

and so he believed there had to be a better way

and so he set about to start an insurance company

and I've read many, many interesting stories

associated with that early beginning and maybe he'll

share some of those with you today, but

that business today is worth $550 million dollars.

Several years later, he founded

the Booker T. Washington Business College.

In 1953, he started the Vulcan Realty and Investment

Corporation, which today is worth approximately $44 million.

In 1975, he saw yet another need when he started

the Booker T. Washington Broadcasting Company,

estimated to be worth some $10 million.

The driving force again, behind Dr. Gaston's success

has been that he's seen a need and has sought to fill it.

Dr. Gaston had the vision and the tenacity

to build a strong and vital enterprise,

while at the same time investing himself in his community.

His story might be summed up in the words of

Henry David Thoreau when he said,

"If one advances confidently in the direction

"of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which

"he has imagined, he will meet with a success

"unexpected in common hours."

Dr. Gaston, it's a delight for us to have you in Talladega.

I introduce you to Dr. A.G. Gaston.

(audience applauding)

- Thanks Dr. Hawkins.

This is kind of a peculiar, unique situation for me.

I told Mrs. Rachel Arington, my good friend,

whose husband is my dear friend and my inspiration.

A young man who's doing such a great job,

as Mayor of the great city of Birmingham,

with the problems that all of us have (mumbling)

overcome this problem and still fight them out.

I think we're very comfortable and (mumbling)

that these politicians here from the

state of Alabama from the legislature who are making laws.

As I understand from Dr. Hawkins or somebody

tells me that they get all of their appropriations

from operating this institution from the coffers

of the appropriation of Alabama legislature.

But this is such a unique situation.

And I'm kinda at a loss as to where to start.

Only the fact that it's amazing to see you young people

and I'd say all of us young people even those

who are beyond 18 are young.

But those of you here in this institution

are what one might call handicapped.

It's the only thing that inspires me,

what I would say is just these words

I just jotted down now.

Wonder what I was gonna say?

But I got the idea that some of the things

that I went through.

I was handicapped as you might say.

I was a black boy born down in the south Alabama

where there's no opportunities for black kids.

No recreation facilities, no role model,

nothing to look up to to someday I might be somebody

and I overcome it from what Dr. Hawkins

had just said here a while ago, I must be somebody, right?

(audience laughing) (audience applauding)

So that's what I want to talk a few minutes to you about.

Instead of getting sorry for myself,

I had many reasons to be sorry because

I had no opportunity, but here I am here today.

And that brings us to your attention

about this great country of ours.

No where in the world could that happen but in America.

A black boy born in the condition that I born in.

Come on, I've traveled all over this country,

all over the world practically.

We was in Russia a few years ago.

We went in to Leningrad and we came out of Leningrad

went out to Moscow, came out of Moscow.

We were trying to get into India.

(mumbling)

Went I got a little money, I just always

wanted to travel and I traveled first class, you know?

My wife, she always trying to save money (mumbling).

I'd say I lived too long to get to the place

where I could afford to first class

and with power, first class.

(audience chuckling)

I tell ya, I rode on the back of the bus.

When I get on it now, I'm riding on the front.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding)

So...

So we went on into Moscow from Leningrad

and we came out of Leningrad (mumbling)

and we were trying to get into New Delhi.

There's a doctor friend of mine at the hospital up there.

We had some address of his family from New Delhi.

I wanted to see the Taj Mahal.

We've seen many of the things, so went came out

of Moscow and toward India,

where they having this trouble now in Iran

and then on into Turkey.

When the war broke out, y'all remember when the Pakistan

war broke out over there, they blocked us

and we couldn't get into India

and so then we had to go back down to Lebanon,

Beirut where they're having this problem now

and then we flew on from Lebanon right across

over to Bangkok, went on down to Hong Kong

and back up to Singapore and Tokyo and back here.

Now, I mention all those things, those are part (mumbling).

We've been to Africa, South America,

all over the world, but you know this the best thing

in the world, this system?

This is a system here where the individual is important.

Can you imagine in Russia?

We went up to the University of Moscow,

beautiful place, you know, and some of the little girl

who was our interpreter tells me that

the professor, very few automobiles there.

The fella who driving (mumbling) he is somebody.

It's a very few of 'em.

Beautiful city.

Can you imagine New York City, just once in awhile

you see an automobile?

That's the comparison you see in Moscow.

Beautiful city, very few automobiles.

And the important people there is what, the state.

Not the individual.

As we went out to the theater that night

and we got off (mumbling) little girl

who was our interpreter and Mrs. Gaston

talks so much, you know.

That's another thing.

You can get yourself in trouble talking too much.

In Russia in particular.

(audience chuckling)

She would begin to praise about how important

we was over here and what we thought about

our leaders (mumbling) this and that

and this little girl resented that.

She was the interpreter, you know, an she resented that

and she took part in the fact what they thought

of their leaders and theyselves was not important

but the leaders and as we found out there,

as they told us about this professor gettin'

the same salary as probably the boy

who was driving the automobile.

And so, the individual is not important,

but the individual here, even we went to Egypt,

we was in Cairo the day after the (mumbling),

we down the Nile River and the hotel we

were staying in there, we had talked to the folks

and then the government owned everything,

owned the radio, owned the newspapers.

Everything there was government owned.

No individual and here we are here

and you never see nothing in the paper

about any of their leadership.

All over the coast, even down in South America, Brazil.

Beyond the Rio de Janeiro there,

most beautiful city in the world.

But the rich folks is rich and the poor folks is poor.

Ain't no between there.

Yeah, I got a fella who works in my yard

out there comes to work in Cadillac car.

(audience laughing)

This is the greatest thing in the world.

Nothing like it.

Yes, too often I see how folks cursing it out.

Now, that's the minute you talking about it.

'Bout handicapped, ain't nobody handicapped.

And if I could give any of you folks who

might say think you a handicapped, (mumbling)

I want to give you, you're blessed.

You're living in a great country.

One of the greatest in the world.

Ain't no such thing as a handicap.

As I walk to the desk there, saw that little (mumbling)

down at the other place I went to,

I couldn't imagine that she could say anything to me,

but she began to talk to me and she did the...

You know, hitting at that computer.

That's nothing.

When I came up, you know, we had a slate

and a rubber on the end of the pencil

and if you made a mistake, you could rub it off.

But really, computer nice, got to be done right.

And here he had that girl down here blind,

pushing that button.

She's smarter than the whole lots of us.

You think I could?

I wouldn't know how to do it.

So you're not handicapped.

Not only are you encouraged to not be handicapped,

but you're living in a great country

and that is all praying up.

That will always be this way.

We have sitting before me here now, black senators.

Some of these young men who are sitting here,

their foreparents were slaves.

Here they are lawmakers.

The funds of this institution comes at the hand

and the vote of these black legislators.

These lots of folks, I made 92 years

and I'm stubborn now.

But as I think back, I couldn't imagine this myself.

Somebody told me 40, 50 years ago

we gonna have a black legislator,

not only a black mayor, I'd just couldn't believe it.

Here a few months ago we had a black

man run for President.

Ain't nowhere else in the world that could happen

but America.

If you start some this kind of stuff over there

in Russia, you'd be in trouble,

if you wasn't in the clique.

The same thing in Egypt.

So forget your handicaps.

Don't be sorry for yourself.

Look forward and be glad you're in a great and free country.

It's my pleasure, thank you.

(audience applauding)