I am hosting a fundraiser for a special boy, Ian, whose family needs help from an immigration lawyer plus court fees to enter the US  for an appropriate education for deaf children.

Ian is a deaf three-year-old indigenous boy who requires a Bilingual Deaf education and exposure to Deaf adults and peers for normal language development. He was born deaf in a tiny fishing village at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. His supportive parents are convinced that he needs to be in the US to be educated and be part of the Deaf culture.  When there, he will be living with a Deaf host family.

Ian received a cochlear implant (CI), but follow-up auditory-verbal (AVT) therapy and regular reprogramming of the device is inaccessible in most parts of Mexico. The cost to travel and to get the device reprogrammed is nearly impossible. Language development and speech proficiency with a CI alone is not guaranteed as it is paired with sign language and Deaf role models. Ian’s parents were fortunate to have met successful Deaf adults. They showed them how a deaf child could grow up to be a happy human being.

Unfortunately, there are no schools for the Deaf in Oaxaca. The last residential school for the deaf in Mexico closed its doors indefinitely. Sadly, Mexico has been pushing toward mainstreaming (aka isolating) the deaf in their local schools or placing them in special education schools geared toward students with other disabilities. The illiteracy rate among the deaf indigenous in Mexico is currently above 95% because of the push toward full inclusion. On top of isolation, they experience bullying and marginalization, which they would carry their scars to adulthood. 

Ian will thrive as a well-rounded Deaf person with early immersion in ASL/LSM, Deaf adult role models, and access to CI technology. If he does not benefit from CI, he will have fluency in ASL/LSM to access information and express himself.

Please support Ian by donating whatever you can for his legal fees and expenses. The process may take a long time. In the meantime, a deaf adult will be paid to visit the boy and his family regularly to teach them LSM. The GoFundMe page will be updated periodically to show how your money is used.