As a high school junior, Ramon Rodriguez decided to try out for the wrestling team. But when Rodriguez, who was born deaf, first joined the team, his teammates and coach were skeptical. They had never had a deaf student on the team and weren’t sure how it would all work out, said Coach Joe Ferrari.

But two months into the season, they say Rodriguez is part of the family. He learned wrestling skills and taught the team basic sign language, beginning with wrestling terms and eventually vocabulary words any high school student might want to know, such as “dance.”

The video by the Reading (PA) Eagle is subtitled to make it accessible to deaf and hearing viewers alike, and includes interviews in sign language with Rodriguez. It won first place in the team video category in the National Press Photographers Association’s multimedia contest for February 2009.

CHANNEL:Reading Eagle

Length: 3:30

Video and Photos by Susan L. Angstadt & Ben Hasty

Click to View

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“Deaf Reading wrestler teaches teammates about communication, tolerance and understanding”