Patricia Riley
Why it Began...
When I was a child up until the 5th grade, I could barely hear. I was put in numerous speech pathology classes, special Ed classes and always put in the front of the class room, in hopes that I would hear the teacher better. I underwent many operations,
the doctors tried everything to restore my hearing.
Then in the fifth grade, my teacher, Mrs Smith, gave me several IQ tests. She declared, this child is not stupid. she has a genius IQ.
She is not Deaf and dumb.
My mother then raced me to the orthodontist. My mouth was so small. The dentist pulled 5 teeth and placed a cranker (bar) across the roof of my mouth. The bar was attached to my back teeth on either side of my mouth. My mother would place a key into the bar every night and turn the key once or twice, as much as I could take. Cranking the bar widened the roof of my mouth.
I can not begin to tell you how painful this was to a little fifth grade girl.
Then one day I was standing on the play ground playing with my friends, I heard the school bell ring. I abruptly stood up and said, “What is that sound?” All of my friends just looked at me and said, “Have you never heard the bell before? That is the recess bell telling us it is time to come in.” Wow, I just heard the bell for the first time!
The widening of my mouth had caused my Eustachian tubes to open. I could now hear!
I began to hear all sorts of sounds for the first time, bodily functions, the phone ringing, the door bell, my mother calling me home from playing outside with my friends. I had never heard my mother call me home before. Wow. I was so happy. The pain from the cranker in my mouth every night did not seem so bad anymore.
I raced home and grabbed one of our big dictionaries and sat down with it at the kitchen table. I began reading in the A’s. My mother asked, “What are you going to do?” I looked up and smiled and said, “I am going to memorize every word in this dictionary.”
My mother smiled back, I could hear.
My older sister Teresa began teaching me how to sound out words for the 1st time. We would sit every night and read and reread all of the Dr. Seuss books I could get my hands on. I had to make up for lost time.
I am now an adult with two beautiful children. I am blessed in so many ways. I have a little over 60% of my hearing and a passion for the children of this world.
You see, I do believe that miracles can and will happen in everyone’s lives.
Everyone deserves a miracle!
How Nugget Started
What Am I Going to Be When I Grow Up...
I had just graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts and Children’s Theater. I was working at Magnolia Elementary School in the communications Dept. assisting with the deaf children. One of the teachers I worked with is deaf and a very good friend of mine, her name is Denise. Every once in awhile Denise would ask me to come to school dressed as Nugget the Clown and interact with the children. The deaf children loved this type of communication. Especially Denise....... she just loved Nugget the clown.
One day Denise asked me in sign language, “Patricia what are you going to be when you grow up?” I signed “oh I don’t know Denise, maybe I will be President of the United States.” We both laughed and again she signed to me, this time a little bit more serious. “Really, Patricia, what are you going to be when you grow up?” I just looked at her and this time signed, “I don’t know Denise, maybe I’ll be a famous Actress”. “No don’t be an Actress,” she said, “you’ll be much too busy. You will have no time for your family or for the kids and besides there is no money in it.” Again we both laughed. However Denise was not at all satisfied, so for a third time she asked me, this time a little frustrated and very curious “ Come on Patricia, really, what are you going to be when you grow up.”
I stood there not knowing what to say or what she really wanted to hear, or for that matter what she wanted to know. So this time I answered her question with a question, “I don’t know Denise, what do you want me to be when I grow up?” she smiled, and then signed, “Patricia, I want you to be a Clown for the Deaf....... Growing up I never had any toys that I could identify with, that I understood and that made me feel special. I never had a toy that I could say see this is my toy it speaks my language, it understands me. I want you to be a clown for the deaf!!!”
I stood there in awe. I had know idea how much of a visual impact Nugget the Clown had made on her. I thought to myself what an incredible idea. What a privilege to create toys and clowns that would open a new channel of communication and awareness. I looked at Denise and with every bit of inspiration I could muster up, I signed to her, “Denise, I would be honored to be a clown for the deaf and create toys that the deaf children could have and communicate with in their own language. Yes that is what I’ll be, when I grow up. I’ll be
Nugget the clown for the Deaf!!!!”
By: Patricia Riley AKA “ Nugget"
