Note: To view video and original article link, see below.<\/p>\n
Jefferson Award Winner Bridges Communication Gap <\/p>\n
February 7, 2008 <\/p>\n
HOUSTON — Our Jefferson Award winner this month has spent most of
\nher 99 years in service of people who were once a target of social
\ndiscrimination, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday. <\/p>\n
Lillian Fitzgerald Beard is a champion of those born without the
\nability to communicate, except in their own unique way. And she’s had
\na hand in helping them overcome their disability. <\/p>\n
Her hands have spoken volumes. <\/p>\n
Although Miss Lillian is not deaf, her adoptive parents were. So,
\nthey taught her to communicate with her hands. It’s called signing.
\nAnd it was Miss Lillian’s first language. <\/p>\n
“I’m just now realizing that it was God who sent me into a family
\nhome that needed to teach me the language In order that I might be
\nable to minister to the people,” she said. <\/p>\n
When Miss Lillian was a child, people like her mother and father were
\nsocial outcasts who kept to themselves. But in 1920, when she was 12
\nyears old, she talked her mother into going to church services —
\neven knowing her mother wouldn’t be able to hear what the minister
\nwas saying. <\/p>\n
“I didn’t want anyone to know my mother was deaf.. And I didn’t want
\nto attract attention. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of her. I was not.
\nSo I sat and turned and I signed.. And she had to look down to look at
\nmy fingers. And I tried to tell her what he was talking about,” she
\nsaid. <\/p>\n
That Sunday, Miss Lillian found her purpose in life. She reasoned
\nthat if she could help her mother understand the hearing world, she
\ncould interpret for other deaf people, as well. Over the many years
\nthat followed, she helped set up skill standards for interpreters and
\nhelped organize the Texas Society of Interpreters for the Deaf. <\/p>\n
But just as importantly, she helped change a devastating stereotype. <\/p>\n
“Do you think that because of your work and your life, deaf people
\nare better accepted now than they were before?” KPRC Local 2 anchor
\nBill Balleza asked. <\/p>\n
“That’s why I stayed with it. — because people said, “Miss Lillian,
\nwhy do you work with the deaf and dumb people?’ They thought the word
\ndumb meant stupid,” she said. <\/p>\n
These days Miss Lillian’s work continues at Woodhaven Baptist Church
\nin Spring Branch where she teaches others to sign so that they can
\nminister to the deaf community. <\/p>\n
From helping her mother understand a minister 88 years ago, she is
\nhelping ministers like Pastor Arthur Craig make themselves understood
\nto the deaf. <\/p>\n
“And if you understand then that work is successful,” she said. “So,
\nit’s very important that you feel free to ask me questions.” <\/p>\n
Miss Lillian is a natural-born teacher. And she takes her students
\nwhere she finds them, even during television interviews. <\/p>\n
“At the end of our conversation, after I had presented Miss Lillian
\nwith her much deserved Jefferson Award, she, in characteristic
\nhumility, said others in her circle deserved it just as much,”
\nBalleza said. <\/p>\n
Miss Lillian had this to offer in parting. <\/p>\n
“And if you get what I have shared with you to help others, then my
\nconversation with you has been very helpful,” Miss Lillian said. If
\nyou know of a person deserving to be recognized with a Jefferson
\nAward, fill out an online application. <\/p>\n
link: http:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/15244783\/detail.html<\/p>\n
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Note: To view video and original article link, see below. Jefferson Award Winner Bridges Communication Gap February 7, 2008 HOUSTON — Our Jefferson Award winner this month has spent most of her 99 years in service of people who were…<\/p>\n