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Article: Phone System Increased Independence for Deaf
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 28, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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For the first 40 years of his life, Dr. James C. Marsters refused
to be alienated by his deafness. He was provisionally admitted to
dental school on the condition that no special accommodations would
be made for him. He graduated and became an orthodontist and could
read lips so well that oftentimes his own patients did not know he
could not hear them.
As a licensed aviator, rather than cause a panic in the air
traffic control tower about an incoming pilot who couldn't hear
radio instructions, Dr. Marsters would fib that his receiver was
malfunctioning. The airport would respond by guiding him in with a
reserve flashing light system.
A telephone conversation, however, had always been out of ...