I Was #87: A Deaf Woman's Ordeal of Misdiagnosis, Institutionalization, and Abuse
Washington, D.C. Gallaudet University Press, 2000. First Edition. Hardcover. This first edition is bound in black publisher's cloth. Covers are plain with white lettering on the spine. xiii, 184 pp. Illustrated dust jacket bears a photograph of the author with black, red and light green accents. Protected by a mylar cover. Book has very lightly bumped corners, else fine. Dust jacket is fine. A very, very nice copy. Full refund if not satisfied.
FROM THE DUST JACKET: "Anne Bolander had the great misfortune of losing her mother early in life, which left her in the care of a father, and later a stepmother, who showed little interest in raising a child that seemed slow to learn. She lived with her grandmother until she was five. Then, her grandmother returned Anne to her parents, urging them to take responsibility for their daughter. In 1959, her parents took Anne to the Johns Hopkins University where experts declared her to be retarded, when in fact she was deaf. But Anne's parents accepted this assessment and put her in the Stoutamyre School for Special Education in Bridgewater, Virginia.
At the Stoutamyre School, Anne was punished for every rule broken, yet the only way to learn the rules was by being punished. Children's names were not used; Anne was assigned a number instead, #87 (an abstract symbol for her, since she had never been taught numbers), which told her when she was allowed to go to the bathroom, after #86. She was not allowed to communicate or touch the other children at the risk of being beaten. Getting sick was a punishable offense; watching another child being punished would bring a blow. The slightest resistance triggered even more severe consequences.
Anne endured five years in this oppressive environment until her parents moved to Pennsylvania. By chance, she was placed in St. Mary's of Providence Center, where teachers correctly assessed her as deaf, not retarded. But after only one year, her parents brought Anne back home again, where she suffered many more years of abuse. As she grew, the physical attacks abated, buyt the emotional scars left her socially ill-prepared as an adult. The damage led to many other betrayals by false friends and others willing to take advantage of her.
I was #87 compels with the need to know what happened to Anne Bolander and how she survived. Not a Dickens novel, nor an account from the Great Depression but of the Great Society, Anne's story is a cautionary tale that calls for vigilance today and everyday." Near Fine / Fine.
9.25" tall x 6.25" wide x 0.75" thick.
Item #076104
ISBN: 1563680920
Price: $75.00 save 50% $37.50