PVCC Puma Press: October 2003

The students quietly settle into their seats. In walks their teacher, a handsome man with thinning, gray hair. He confidently walks to the front of the class and loudly claps his hands to grab his students' attention.

He notices the annoyed look on the their faces as he continues the racket. Then he finally stops, looks up to the sky with a smile on his face and signs, "Thank God I am deaf."

Class is about to begin. "Voices off," signs Ed." In this class everyone is deaf." This allows students to enter the "deaf world." For an hour-and-a-half the students experience a brief moment in the silent, yet colorful life of Ed McGann.

Ed McGann is a Sign Language teacher at PVCC. He was introduced into the deaf world at age 7. Although he has been unable to hear since childhood, he doesn't miss a beat. Gazing through his glasses, his light brown eyes absorb the world.

McGann's introduction into silence came as a complete shock. At 7, he became very sick and his ears began to bleed as he first lost hearing in his left ear, then at age 9 in his right ear.

While other children were out on the playground, McGann was visiting specialists around the United States and all the way to London to try and uncover the mystery to his deafness. Still, the cause went undetected. One thing was definite; there was nothing that could be done. McGann then had to become accustomed to the silent world.

McGann started out at a school for the deaf right away. He learned most of his signing through interaction with other children.

"Signing is like drama class," explains McGann. "It is very colorful. It is like you are acting out your conversations. This made it easier to learn."

McGann was an extremely fast learner, which allowed him to finish school in only nine years instead of the usual 12 years. After high school McGann decided to go to a mainstream college, which would offer more opportunities and degrees than a college for the deaf. This experience forced him to learn by applying his most vital instrument, his sight.

Lip reading through college was often complicated, he says

"One of my teachers had a mustache that always got in the way of his lips," explains McGann. However, McGann's intelligence and persistence allowed him to finish college courses in management from George Washington University in Washington D.C.

For the next 26 years McGann worked for the National Imagery Mapping Agency as the Assistant Chief of Computer Systems in Washington, D.C. His secretary was also an interpreter for him; she acted as ears for him by signing meetings and conferences to him. She also gave him a voice in the company by translating his signs to others.

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Voices off...In this class everyone is deaf.
—Ed McGann
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Landing this job is what McGann says has been his biggest accomplishment. Yet the happiest day of his life, is the day his wife, whom is also deaf, gave birth to their hearing daughter.

How did McGann know when his daughter was crying? With his eyes, not his ears. Instead of hearing the baby's cries through a monitor, Ed's sight was alerted by flashing lights.

"Deaf people have very sharp eyes, everything that hearing people hear, we must see," says McGann.

McGann, like most deaf people, has a light system hooked up all around his home which is used to alert him of all things hearing people hear. The light is used as a baby monitor, door bell, telephone ringer, and fire alarm. This "smart" light flashes in a manner that describes its sound. For example, a baby's cry is a long, drawn out glow, while the fire alarm is a fast, "loud" flicker.

Raising a hearing child with two deaf parents may seem difficult, yet McGann thinks differently. His daughter's first language was sign language, but since McGann does have some speech, and he would read to her as best he could.

"She could understand me. I would talk very slowly so she learned to make out what I was saying," explains McGann. She also learned to use her hearing and her speech at school and with relatives.

Once his daughter was grown up, McGann decided it was time to retire. He soon realized not working was terribly boring. This is when he made up his mind to become a part-time sign language teacher, which is what he has been doing for the past 16 years. He taught 11 years in Washington D.C., prior to his five years at PVCC.

Although McGann stays very busy teaching, he still has plenty of time to indulge in the activities he really loves. In his spare time his favorite thing to do is hike all around the Valley. He likes to go alone and view nature.

"Since I can't hear, I always have to observe my surroundings. If there is a rattlesnake in my path, I need to see it, cause I sure can't hear it," says McGann.

Playing sports and keeping up with politics are some of McGann's other passions. However, most of all he loves to dance... to music! How? He dances to the beat that he feels. Vibrations allow him to "hear" the music.

"My favorite dance is the waltz," says McGann as he jokingly demonstrates.

"Active and hilarious are two words to sum up McGann's personality," says Amy Penner, a student from McGann's sign language 201 class. " He makes learning fun, even if you don't completely understand what he is signing, the whole story still makes sense because of his descriptive facial expressions and gestures. He's like a mime."

McGann and his wife plan to travel around the world next year after his wife retires.

"I have accomplished anything and everything I could ever imagine," says McGann. "I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I love being deaf. It has not stopped me from anything at all. It has actually opened up more opportunities for me."