OCTOBER 2001
Degree for deaf student has been hard work, but worth it
In Diana Carraway's world, sound comes through movement: hands, fingers and lips curve into words, sentences, and meaning.
Deaf since birth, Carraway is poised
to earn her FSU bachelor's degree in management of information
systems this spring, setting a milestone not only for herself
and other deaf students, but for the College of Business.
"I'm just happy I went to college and (will graduate)," Carraway said. "There are not many deaf people who can say that about themselves."
A slim brunette, Carraway's intense brown eyes are at times fiery, sometimes sad, as she talks about growing up deaf, her determination to make it through school and the ostracism she occasionally suffered.
"I've been made fun of a lot," she said, pausing briefly, reflecting on her past.
The shadows pass quickly and she brightens. "I'm deaf, that's all I know. I wouldn't change it any other way."
Born in Lakeland, Carraway was reared in Wakulla County and attended high school there.
She enrolled at Auburn University, then switched to Tallahassee Community College, finally transferring to FSU in the summer of 2000.
Drawn by her interest in computers, Carraway said she enrolled in the MIS program because she likes "problem solving, the logic, being challenged."
Challenges take many forms for the 22-year old student.
Imagine yourself hastily jotting down notes as a professor scribbles
furiously across a blackboard while simultaneously watching an
interpreter translate the lecture into hand signals.
Though note-takers are available, Carraway said they're "unreliable
and a pain in the butt," and so she prefers to take her
own.
For those parts of the lecture she misses, Carraway said,
many professors post their lectures on-line, and she can download
them to fill in the pieces.
Other teachers have offered to make their notes available to
her.
The tediously slow process has cost her a few failed classes
and delayed her graduation from fall to spring 2002.
But she chafes at the suggestion of special treatment.
"I tend to blame myself if I fail a class," she said.
"But I have to recognize there's a problem."
The sign interpreter always at Carraway's side is Cindy Orn-dorff, a staff member at FSU and coordinator of Deaf Services.
Working so closely together, the two have developed a friendship
that Carraway hopes will continue after graduation.
Carraway can hear some sounds, like voices, but they are muffled
and garbled to her ears.
She does her own talking.
She can also read lips, a knack she developed early, mainly because her parents never learned how to sign.
She has a brother, Brook, who was also born deaf. He attends the University of Florida.
Carraway works part time at Wakulla Bank in Crawfordville,
where she handles customer service and quality control.
But it's the world of computer databases that excites her, and
she said she has started applying to companies in the Tallahassee
area for a job.
"I like to solve problems," she said. "I can figure out how everything relates to each other."
Carraway said the biggest obstacle may be her need for an interpreter and whether a potential employer will pay for such an expense.
But she remains determined, encouraging other students with similar handicaps to reach for their goals.
"It's possible," she said. "You may have to work hard to get it, but it can be well worth it." -Michelle Hayes
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