Johannesburg - When Lindsay Dunn turned 11, a spinal meningitis epidemic hit KwaZulu-Natal, where he grew up.
The disease left him deaf, and as it was during apartheid, this meant no educational opportunities for a lot of deaf, let alone black, children. But through a stroke of luck, Dunn was able to finish high school and even go to university.
Dunn, who was the first black deaf learner to finish matric in South Africa, is now teaching at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. The university specialises in the education of the deaf and students with hearing difficulties.
“I became deaf close to my 11th birthday. When I got sick, I went back to school for one year and the principal said I would have problems because there was no one qualified to teach a deaf person,” Dunn said.
After the year, he was forced to leave school and stay at home for three years.
“After three years of waiting, I went to a school in Cape Town, although there was a school for the deaf near my home in Clermont (near Durban). The problem was that I was the wrong colour - the school near my house did not accept black, coloured or Indian people.
“I was the first deaf person to pass matric in 1979,” he said proudly.
“When I passed matric, a newspaper in Durban did an article about my situation. Later on, Thulani Gcabashe, who used to be the head of Eskom, who had studied in the US, told me I have to go to school in the US. ‘In America, deaf people can do anything,’ he said."
After writing to a few American companies, Dunn received a scholarship and moved to the US in 1980. He moved to America with only a dollar in his pocket and a dream of being successful. He worked three jobs while a full-time student.
Dunn has a bachelor degree in English and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Gallaudet University. He also has a master's in education and counselling from New York University.
After working as an administrator at the university for 14 years, he is now one of the institution's instructors.
“I teach social justice courses. Oppression is my speciality. I was born with, I lived it and I thought I was not going to escape it,” he laughs.
Staying on in the US and never returning to South Africa was never part of the plan.
“I had planned to go home after graduation in 1987 but my mom told me I couldn't come home because of the political violence in Durban.”
Dunn has a wife and three adult children and visits South Africa frequently. @TebogoMonama