Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love, by Myron Uhlberg - a Book Review

It is the bittersweet memoir of a boy born to two deaf parents and how he must constantly navigate between child and adult to translate between the languages of the deaf and hearing communities to help his parents communicate on a daily basis.

As a couple the Uhlbergs were discouraged from having children - how would they hear the baby cry? How would they know if it was ill? Would the child also be born deaf? How would they communicate and teach the child to talk if it weren't born deaf?

From an extremely young age, Myron had to take on major responsibilities. Not only was exposed to matters of adult life, but he had the responsibility of keeping watch and aiding his younger Epileptic brother!

The story navigates from sweet innocent childhood memories where Myron actually gets to behave and experience childhood things, to episodes where he almost becomes the parent, as he has to constantly answer his deaf father's questions as to what things sound like. Always in demand, Myron seeks escape on the rooftop of his apartment building where he is able to read and imagine undisturbed for a time.

Finally, when Myron reaches young adulthood and is able to escape his responsibilities through attending and out-of-town college, he jumps at the opportunity. Even so, he does not escape the reactions of strangers as they learn of his father's handicap when he comes to everyone of Myron's football games to support him at school.
Myron never seems to be embarrassed by his father's deafness, rather he does his best to protect his parents from the awful reactions and comment thrown at his parents by the hearing world.

As a couple, Myron's parents live in a separate world, and we catch a glimpse of how isolated that must really be as both parents recount their own childhoods where they too were outsiders to the world of their hearing families.

There is much to learn from this wonderful book, from things both said and left unsaid.

It is astounding the way the deaf people of this generation lived as compared to the now generations who have the benefit of modern technology as well as a sometimes better understanding of the deaf community.

Through modern day media people who may not normally have crossed paths with the deaf community have been exposed to stars like Marlee Matlin and mainstream movies and television shows that feature and educate the public on the lifestyles of the hearing impaired. It is impressive the way the Myron Uhlberg and his families learned to survive in working around the problems faced on a day-to-day basis that the hearing community take for granted.

This is a wonderful book, an easy read, and a thought provoking story that makes one take a second look at their own lifestyle and see it in a new light!