[stylist] Trials of an honorary Dragon chapter 27 (New chapter)

[helene ryles]

Chapter 27: Mutiny at NIRC
By Nadia Murat
24/12/1997 to 24/1/1998

"Are you sick of speech?
We must all rebel against the cruel auditory verbal training system
that is being used at this school.
 We don't have to put up with this.
I will be organizing a mutiny against this unjust system which forces
us to use our ears that are not working properly.  This is hard and
unnatural for us.  We should be using our eyes!
 To get them to realise how wrong they are, we must all mutineer
against our oppressors (our teachers in this case).  We will tell them
that we flatly refuse to speak or wear our Cochlear implants or
hearing aids unless they agree to sign with us and let us read their
lips.
Please join me in this protest; I will be holding a meeting for all
interested in our dormitory at midnight.
Nad Murat"

I was just examining my handiwork when Mitch tapped me on the
shoulder.  He was still as small and scruffy as he was when I last saw
him.
"Hey Nad!  Where have you been?" Mitch wrote.   He seemed really
pleased to see me, but it had taken him a while to realise I couldn‘t
hear him any more.
"I've been on the run.  My mother tried to kill me the last time we
met.   My aunt did come for me eventually, but we had to keep on the
move a lot.  Eventually the Darthrilan police officers caught us, so
now I'm here again," I explained.
 "Really!  I know it was a bad report and everything.  Maybe we
shouldn't have written all those rude words on the blackboard, but
even so.  I think trying to kill you for that is a little extreme.
What happened to your Cochlear Implant?" he asked.
"I've decided to stop wearing it.  It's unethical.  Animals were
tortured to death in order to produce the cochlear implant. I refuse
to have any part in that," I told him.
"Any ideas as to what we should get up to this term?" Mitch asked.  I
felt disappointed that he hadn’t asked me to tell him more about
animal research but he seemed keen to change the subject.
"Yes, we're all going to rebel against the teachers,” I told him.
"What does that involve?" he asked me rather dubiously.
"We stop speaking, and we will all refuse to wear our hearing devices
until the teachers agree to our terms..." I explained.  I showed him
what I had just been writing.
"I don't think that will work.  You might get a little hungry after a
while.  I mean, you know what they are like here?" he commented.
"I don't care.  Have you ever heard of going on hunger strike?
Prisoners of conscience do it all the time.  A person can go for days
without food.    The teachers are bound to pay attention sooner or
later," I explained.
"Sorry Nadia, but you are on your own with that scheme.  You are my
mate and everything but I've got my own stomach to think about.  I
hope you understand," he replied apologetically.

                    ***  ***  ***

Mitch stole several blank sheets of paper and some pencils from the
store cupboard for me.  I spent the rest of the new years break making
posters and leaflets about my planned mutiny.
When the next term started up again I pinned the notices all over the
unit.  Unfortunately they were all torn down again and I was sent to
see the head teacher.   Since I had expected the authorities to summon
me eventually I had already come prepared with a note:
"We are Deaf.  We demand to be addressed in sign language.  Otherwise
we shall continue to refuse to speak or wear our hearing devices."
The teacher’s face turned an ugly colour.   She tore up my note.  A
teacher held my hands behind my back while another forced me to wear a
speech processor which they kept as a spare for the children who broke
or mislaid their own machines.
I wasn’t sure what her reply was, but she was very angry.
I did not say anything.
She spoke again.  Getting more red in the face, but I really couldn’t
understand her at all.
I shook my head.  The teacher held me down and began to beat me with a
leather strap.
She screamed more incomprehensible words into the speech processor.
I shook my head again.  After several more blows I was eventually sent
to my dormitory.   I lay in hunger and pain until the others arrived
for bed. I had not been given anything to eat all day.
When the other children got back, one of my class mates handed me a
bar of chocolate.  It lifted my spirits no end even if it did little
to satisfy my rumbling stomach.

The next day I was sent to the head teacher again.
She gave me a long lecture.  I wasn’t sure what it was about, neither
did I care.  Since it was spoken rather then signed it meant my terms
were not being met.
I shook my head.  I'd read about passive resistance.  It wasn't easy,
especially when you are a ravenously hungry teenager.  Well some
people went on hunger strike didn't they? They managed to survive days
without food, so I was sure that they found the courage from
somewhere.   When Mitzi’s comrade Scraps (from ‘mutts and butts’) was
faced with such trials he met them with dogged determination. I
intended to do the same.
Unfortunately it was a one child mutiny.   Some of the children handed
me food in secret, but they were unwilling to associate with me in
public for fear of getting into trouble themselves.
   I was beaten and sent to my dormitory every single day without
food.  A week later the teacher sat me down in front of a meal.
I had no idea what they said to me.
I was feeling so hungry by this time that I grabbed some of it in my
hands and stuffed it in my mouth.  A teacher pulled me away.
I flew at the teacher, hitting, biting and scratching.  I found myself
tied to the chair.  The teacher turned the volume up to full on the
speech processor I was wearing and began to shout at me.
I understood nothing.  In fact the sound I was receiving was becoming
less and less distinct.
Then halfway through the lecture her voice went altogether.  I could
tell she was still shouting, but I could no longer hear her at all.
My cochlear implant had stopped working completely.
Although I had put my failure to understand speech down to lack of
practice, it occurred to me then that maybe my cochlear implant had
been malfunctioning right from the start.

                   ***  ***  ***

I feel dizzy and sick.    My cochlear implant got more and more painful.
They’ve been keeping me excluded in sick bay now.  At least they have
stopped trying to starve me, but I feel no appetite for the food the
matron keeps leaving next to my bedside.
 Now I’m running out of strength.  I really can’t speak any more, even
if I wanted to.  I have less and less energy.   I am plagued with
migraines.   I have no idea how long this will go on for.
I wonder what Mitzy or Scraps would do in a situation like this?