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NIE serial story highlights deaf education

As part of newspaper in Education offerings, author Janie Lancaster has written a historical fiction serial story of Opal Fleming and how, as a small girl in the 1930s, learning American Sign Language opened up a whole new world for her. How her new language made her feel equal to others and not left out and in a dark lonely world. 
Opal’s resilient spirit overcame so much in her lifetime. She became a well educated, dignified person loved by so many. For 20 years she was a teacher’s aide at the North Carolina School for the Deaf. She died in 2003.
Lancaster has been involved for over 30 years as a Sign Language interpreter and eight years teaching ASL (American Sign Language) at several community colleges. She has made the story available for NIE use during the year-long bicentennial celebration of the American School for the Deaf (ASD) in West Hartford, Conn., the birthplace of American Sign Language and deaf education in the United States.
For information about the series, contact Lancaster by visiting http://www.janielancaster.com/.