What handicap? Deaf couple graduate from HGTC

If you knew the words "perseverance" and "determination" in American Sign Language, it would be easy to describe Michael and Aimee Curry in their own way.

The Little River couple, both deaf, embody a spirit that moves them forward, despite obstacles and discouragement, to reach a goal.

In their case, the goal was graduation from Horry-Georgetown Technical College, and on Thursday they practiced for the commencement ceremony with more than 400 others who were to march across the Myrtle Beach Convention Center stage that night.

With more than 1,000 students meeting requirements, "it's our largest graduating class in our 44 years," said Marilyn Fore, HGTC's senior vice president for academic affairs.

Being part of this class was a five-year journey for Michael and Aimee, who will have been married 11 years this September, and it was a trip that saw some disappointments and many successes - with a lot of heart sandwiched in between.

"We've worked hard to be able to graduate," said Michael, 36, through HGTC's Barbara Baldree, who has been the couple's interpreter for all five years. "We tried to go to college because we wanted to get a job. It's been over two years since we had a job before college. No one would hire us; they didn't understand us."

Now, Michael has earned an associate degree in computer science with a networking emphasis, which allows him to manage networks so that computers can talk to each other. He said he was told that networking might be easier for him than working in computer repair, "but I learned all about them. I'm a computer geek."

Aimee, 29, has earned a pharmacy technician certificate, but has had a bumpier road in achieving her dream. She already had taken courses to earn a certificate in allied health in 2007, but couldn't pursue nursing and ultrasound practicums because of concerns about her hearing.

The couple moved to the area with their families when they were younger - Aimee from Syracuse, N.Y., and Michael from Gastonia, N.C. Aimee said the couple met on the school bus at Conway High School when she was 11. Michael later attended the N.C. School of the Deaf in Morganton, N.C., and the two met again and began dating when Aimee was 17.

"I was too much of a bad boy," said Michael, now a devoted husband and father to daughter Samantha, 9. "I'm always there to support them."

Samantha, who is a third-grader at North Myrtle Beach Elementary School, can hear, and her grandmothers help with the family's communication.

"The mothers help her not to be language delayed," Aimee said. "She signs a little bit, and she can understand more than she will show."

Michael said he was born with his hearing, but at a year old, he had spinal meningitis and a high fever that burned out the nerves in his ears. He doesn't remember ever being able to hear.

Aimee, who has been deaf since birth, said her mother had German measles, or rubella, during pregnancy. She said her mother was told that complications could produce a defect, and she was advised to abort, but with already having two boys and knowing a girl was on the way, she ignored the advice.

"I'm happy she kept me anyway," Aimee said.

The couple said they had no problems working in the classroom environment at HGTC. Both use sign language, with Aimee being the better lip reader, and they've had access to tutors when needing one-on-one instruction. Baldree, a professional interpreter since 1983, would sit in front of them or beside them in classes and translate the lectures "into our language," Michael said.

"Most of our professors have been very cool. English is my second language, not my first," Michael said, explaining there are fewer words in sign language, so it's sometimes more challenging to get the right word in translation. "The school has been very motivated to provide us what we need."

Fore said the number of students that need support has grown over time and that the college funds special accommodations, such as interpreters.

"We made the same commitment to them that we make to all students," Fore said. "We are an open-door, open-access college. We do our very best to provide support services for everybody."

Jodi Bohn was Aimee's professor for pharmacy math and lab, and said she had picked up signing from her grandmother, who was a special needs teacher.

Bohn said she made an effort to sign certain words, such as "milligram" and "confusing" - "We use 'confusing' a lot" - and she called on Aimee every class.

"She wouldn't let me get off easy because I'm deaf," Aimee said.

Michael and Aimee said they were a little nervous but happy about graduation, and they're now more than ready and willing to work, if the right employers will give them jobs.

"There are many services [the deaf] can get," Michael said, explaining how their video phone relays calls to them through an interpreter, as well as other technology they use to live a regular life. "The deaf can do it. The only thing we can't do is voice communication."

Aimee had a cochlear implant, an electronic hearing device, on March 25 and said she hasn't given up on her dream of becoming a nurse.

She is outfitted with a special stethoscope and other adaptive equipment, and said she is already very advanced with the implant, according to her doctor.

With a little more time for fine-tuning of the device, she expects her hearing to improve, but for now, she's ready to work in the pharmacy field and is enjoying the things many take for granted.

"Guess what?" Aimee said. "I can finally hear the birds sing."