My Life of Language: A Memoir

Ogden is Professor Emeritus of Deaf Studies at California State University, Fresno.. About the AuthorPaul W

Ogden is Professor Emeritus of Deaf Studies at California State University, Fresno.. Paul W

His tight-knit family, which included one deaf and two hearing older brothers, facilitated open and constant communication using a variety of methods. Paul W. He has taught and mentored a generation of teachers, and his classic volume, The Silent Garden, has served as a guide for parents and educators for over thirty years. His father was a pastor who was involved in the civil rights movement. As an award-winning professor of Deaf Studies at California State University, Fresno, he successfully petitioned for the university to recognize ASL as a language, and he established the Silent Garden program, which has grown into a flourishing provider of training and resources to support the Deaf community. Despite the family’s closeness, his father struggled with depression, an illness that would take the life of one of Paul’s brothers. He returned home for high school and graduated as co-valedictorian—unaware of the standing ovation he received as he walked to the podium. In My Life of Language, Paul offers eloquent reflections on both the joyful and difficult periods of his life as he navigated relationships, faced discrimination, questioned his faith, and found great happiness in his marriage..                Born in a time when many deaf children had no access to language, Paul learned spoken and written language sk