Everybody calls me Daya ~
My name is Dayamarali Espinosa, but I'm known to my family and the community as Daya. I was born in New Jersey. When I was two years old, I moved to Puerto Rico to be close to my maternal grandparents. While we were living in Puerto Rico, I attended a school for the deaf. My family learned Puerto Rican Sign Language. Family and music are valued in our culture and community but experiencing emotional connections is far more essential.
Hard of Hearing and culturally Deaf ~
My family has always encouraged me to have unlimited opportunities for communicating using American Sign Language (ASL) with deaf peers. I also learned spoken-Spanish. It just came naturally. My parents felt that if communication barriers were immediately removed for me as a child and opt for a visual language that was the most accessible and natural way for me to communicate in with ease, I would flourish in everything else. That could not be any more true as those years in Puerto Rico were the happiest for me. Everywhere we went, there was music and dancing. I learned how to play the violin and eventually taught my hearing (non-Deaf) sister how to play.
We eventually relocated to Florida for a few years. I attended a public school that had a Deaf/Hard of Hearing program. During a family vacation to North Carolina, my family fell in love with the area and decided to relocate again when I was starting in 7th grade. It was a significant change for me because I was the only Deaf student at the local although I had a sign language interpreter. I then went to Northwest School of the Arts for high school because I could play the violin exceptionally well. However, I started failing my classes at the start of my high school years.
There is greed within the system ~
Not once did the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) team from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools even mention to my parents that there were other educational placement options.
By God's grace, when I was in 10th grade, this interpreter took pity on me and signed, almost as if she was whispering, “Do you know there is a mainstream program in the next town? And, that NCSD is not too far from here?”
“NCSD?”, I inquired.
“North Carolina School for the Deaf”, she said.
The bells went off in my head. How did I not know about this? How could the IEP team withhold this kind of information from my parents?
I found home ~
We had made arrangements to visit NCSD in Morganton. It was in January when we visited the school. After my visit, I immediately knew this was where I needed to be. I felt this overwhelming sense of belonging. My parents immediately informed the IEP team in Charlotte to make the transfer. However, the Local Educational Agency (LEA) and professionals on the IEP team showed tremendous resistance and told my parents that the transfer would not be possible until the following August. Numerous conversations took place between my parents and the LEA, and the IEP team. This experience brought so much tension for my family and me. I had to endure another six months at this public school, as the only Deaf student.
I shudder to think about how different my life would have been if I had not known about NCSD. There, my whole world opened up again, and so did my music. Because Western Piedmont Community College is adjacent to NCSD, I became a Western Piedmont Youth Symphony member. I joined the orchestra and played the violin at a concert every month. At NCSD, I was experiencing things a typical teenager should be in a language-rich environment – playing sports, complaining about math, having in-depth conversations, and building strong friendships. It gave me so much confidence. I flourished socially and academically during my time at NCSD. Something I would not have experienced at a public school.
Having Deaf role models ~
When I enrolled in public school, I never had a deaf teacher. The idea of going to college was unfathomable. Inconceivable. Deaf teachers at NCSD had much higher expectations for me than the teachers in the public school system did. The constant talk of “making college plans” at NCSD was clear to me. I felt empowered!
Off I went to Washington, D.C. ~
I graduated from Gallaudet University with a double major in International Studies and Spanish and a minor in Government. My great passion for advocating for reform in the immigration system and protecting all people's human rights had me continue at Gallaudet for my graduate studies in International Development (ID). Upon completion, I received a Master’s degree in ID in May of 2020.
Experiencing limited access to the public school curriculum here in North Carolina was a personal fight for me as I’ve lived all my life being deaf. IEP teams need to make informed decisions on appropriate placements and educational plans for all Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, ensuring that they receive full and equal access to academics at a public school. At the same time, parents should be provided the opportunity to decide to send their deaf child to a school for the deaf. State law requires professionals on the IEP to disclose information about schools for the deaf. The IEP team from Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school system violated that law by withholding that information. They made every effort to keep me in a public school, which was considered the most restrictive environment.
It is not surprising that IEP team professionals do not always listen to what parents say and want for their deaf child even though they are vital to the IEP team in making the final placement and educational plans. Professionals on IEP teams across the state continue to withhold information from parents about schools for the deaf and attempt to stall a transfer of a deaf/hard of hearing student to a school for the deaf. This trend is prevalent.
