William Bugh
At the tender age of four, I contracted menigitis which went undiagnosed for a time. When it was finally realized what was wrong, I was already near death. Thankfully, my life was saved at the hospital but I suffered severe damage to the auditory nerves of both ears, resulting in profound bi-lateral hearing loss which is progressively getting worse over the years.
I was raised in the hearing world and was mainstreamed in regular classes at school. I had no family or friends who were deaf, so growing up I was a "hearing" person. I did not know sign language or use interpreters until I realized that eventually my ability to lipread and tie in the residual sounds from my hearing aids were not enough any longer.
At this point, I was back in college and so I requested full time interpreters in all my courses. I joined the ASL Club on campus, had a deaf girlfriend, and started to make the Deaf world more a part of my life.
Now, over ten years later, all my friends know ASL and I regularly participate in Deaf community. I consider myself in between the Deaf and hearing worlds, able to succeed and function equally in either.
I look forward to getting to know you and teaching ASL at Cedar Ridge High School!!
