A Maine Camp for Deaf Children Carries On After an Unthinkable Loss

With a mix of participants who sign and speak — or do both at once — the camp is rarely quiet. A tense dispute during a game of four square elicited bouts of impassioned signing, as well as very audible howls of outrage. A loud, lively mix of popular music — Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey — played at the beach during morning swim, as Maya and her friends stood waist deep in the water holding hands, then dunked.

Later, back in Cabin 2, Maya broke out a few exuberant dance moves and showed off a stack of handmade friendship bracelets. The three girls had polled everyone at camp on their favorite colors, pretending it was for a survey; in secret, they planned to craft a bracelet for every camper and staff member by the time camp disbanded.

It was the unspoken understanding between them, they explained, that made their week together special. “Here, if I say ‘What?’ because I missed something, my friends will repeat it,” Autumn said. “At home I have a friend who’s sensitive, who sometimes gets mad if I ask her to repeat things, even though she knows I’m hard of hearing.”

At her school, Ingrid said, she is the only student who wears hearing aids, which connect to a special microphone that her teachers wear around their necks. “At camp, everyone understands what it’s like,” she added.

It wasn’t always easy to be away from home. Fionn McLoughlin, a seventh grader, said he had shed some tears after lights out, when unwanted thoughts of zombies crowded in. Kari Barry, 13, missed her mom, and worried about the one night when the campers would sleep outdoors.