page_title: Geraldine Lawhorn
section_title: Handicap and school
hierarchical_section_title: Geraldine Lawhorn / Biography / Handicap and school
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photograph of Geraldine and her dog Blondie.
context_page_description: Geraldine Jerrie Lawhorn was a figure of the American Deaf-Blind community, a performer, actress, pianist, then instructor at the Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired. At 67 years old, she became the first deaf-blind African American to earn a college degree in the United States of America.
context_section_description: Geraldine was about eight years old when doctors discovered she had an eye condition. She could not see well, and faced difficulties to read. Geraldine attended many church meetings because her parents thought religion could help her. At twelve years old, Geraldine lost her sight, but she could still perceive some glimmer of light. Doctors never found the cause of her blindness. As a result, she attended the Sight-Saving Room of the Sherwood Grammar School which provided some accommodations for the visually impaired pupils. Geraldine had to learn the braille language, but still had classes with sighted students. Her integration at school was not easy: in eighth grade, her classmates booed, stigmatized, and discriminated against her.
  
  Then, Geraldine attended the Braille Department of Marshall High School. She became interested in writing and public speaking. She won several prizes for her short stories. She decided to change her name from "Jerry" to "Jerrie" because she wanted it to seem French. As for the sight, Jerrie progressively lost her hearing capacities. Therefore, she had to learn a new mode of communication : the One-Hand Alphabet, and joined a special academic program in the Braille Room. This situation did not prevent her from improving her writing skills. She won a writing contest in Chicago after presenting her short story Gift. She also wrote a novel entitle The Needle Swingers' Baby.
caption: Geraldine Lawhorn and her dog Blondie before 1954
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