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Each
Hurdle Is a Chance to Soar
By
Michael T. Kaufman
Reprinted
from The New York Times
When
Deborah G. Groeber marches with her dog Duncan in Columbia
University's graduation exercises tomorrow, she will,
she says, be thinking of the journey she has made to
attain her law degree and of those who helped her along
the way. She may, however, pause to think about those
who once cautioned her not to set her sights so high,
since she is deaf and blind. If she smirks a little,
it will be understandable.
Ever
since Ms. Groeber was in third grade, there were school
officials who tried to steer her out of their classes
into more custodial programs, citing her deteriorating
sight and hearing. There were teachers who did not let
her into gym. There were guidance counselors who said
she should not go to college, and there have been all
sorts of people who keep trying to do things for her
without asking.
By
now, it is clear that the 29-year-old Ms. Groeber has
triumphed over them and their timidities. She has finished
law school and been hired by a Philadelphia firm. Six
years ago, she earned an MBA from the Wharton School
at the University of Pennsylvania. She also completed
her undergraduate studies at Wharton, graduating magna
cum laude. For two years before law school, she worked
as a senior financial analyst. She lived on her own,
learned to ski, did aerobics. She fell in love. At the
end of this summer, she is to marry her fiancé,
Anthony Cirillo.
"People
look at my record and they see one thing, then they
meet me and they see something else," Ms. Groeber said,
sitting in the room of the law library with the magnifying
machines, sound amplifiers and Braille punchers she
used when studying. The conversation confirmed her words.
Though she cannot hear, she forms words without defect.
Though
she is legally blind and can hardly see beyond a few
feet, she focuses on the mouths of speakers, reading
lips perfectly. Her blue eyes may have failed her, but
they charm those who look into them. She could be a
model for a preppie clothes catalogue or a cheerleader
from a school with a highly competitive cheerleading
program.
Lance
Liebman, the dean of Columbia Law School, who taught
her employment law, said he never really understood
why Congress had felt obliged to change the language
of law, replacing the term "disabled" with the designation
"persons with disabilities." "Thanks to Deborah, I understand,"
said Mr. Liebman. "Deborah is not disabled. She is a
person who has disabilities and so many more talents
and advantages that she owes society tremendous contributions."
She
traced the challenges she has overcome. She was born
and raised in Cinnaminson, NJ, one of five children
of Bruce and Roberta Groeber. She was deaf as an infant,
but after she had taught herself to lip-read, surgery
restored her hearing. She spent her early childhood
hearing, talking, seeing and reading. Then, when she
was 8, her eyesight worsened. She was found to have
Stargardt's disease, a genetically caused degenerative
eye disorder.
"One
out of 10 cases suffers accompanying deafness, and I
was one of those," she said.
In
the fifth and sixth grades, her life worsened. "I was
changing and I would stare at people," she said. "Some
classmates teased me. I kept telling myself it will
get better next week. I asked myself why is this happening?"
Her
parents fought to have her enter the local high school.
But as her sight and hearing deteriorated, they saw
to it that she learned Braille and sign language. Then
when she surprised her teachers and herself by doing
very well on the SATs as a junior, they supported her
resolve to go to college.
She
loved Wharton, she said: "My roommates and friends were
wonderfully accepting. It was like, 'Oh, you're deaf
and blind, that's really neat, let's go get some pizza.'"
It
was there she perfected the techniques of study. In
seminars she would sit close enough to the professor
to lip-read. Where that was not possible, she had an
interpreter who would translate what was being said
into sign language. For reading, she would use either
Braille materials or a machine that magnified print
into foot-high letters. It was also while she was at
Wharton that she decided to get a seeing-eye dog.
"That
was my biggest decision," Ms. Groeber said. "My parents
didn't like the idea. They had wanted me to look as
normal as possible. Once you had a dog, it was clear
you didn't just have poor eyesight. You were blind.
But I was bumping into things."
She
obtained Bonnie, her first dog, from Guiding Eyes for
the Blind in Yorktown Heights. "We were a good team
for eight years," Ms. Groeber said, explaining how Bonnie
developed arthritis and retired. Bonnie now lives with
Ms. Groeber's parents and will be sitting with them
at the graduation ceremony watching her old mistress
and partner walk down with Duncan.
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