St. Augustine

We started our day by walking a quarter mile from our motel to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB). Jeff's former principal Jeanne is now the principal at FSDB. She welcomed us warmly to FSDB and immediately escorted us to the gymnasium to watch a goalball tournament.

Truth be told, I was reluctant to watch a high school game as historic St. Augustine was beckoning, but that changed quickly. Watching goalball turned out to be the coolest experience ever. FSDB has over 200 blind students and they have a thriving blind education program, and goalball is part of that program. Goalball was started by blinded World War II veterans and it is now played widely among the blind and is a Paralympic sport. FSDB is one of the powerhouses of goalball and it was hosting a national tournament that weekend. The players orient themselves spatially by feeling the lines on the court and the goalposts, and they sense the ball coming at them by listening for it. All of them wear masks to level the playing field.

After the game, Jeanne took us out to lunch and then she showed us the beautiful campus. It is the most impressive deaf school I had been to. FSDB is Florida's only deaf school; students come there from all over the state. Those who live some distance away are put up in the dorms during the week and they are bussed back and forth from home on the weekends. The school even has a bus station to facilitate a smooth bussing operation. During our walk around the campus, we stood with Jeanne at the bus station and watched her say goodbye to the learners as they boarded their buses. What struck us most was how positive the culture appeared to be. I know that a large part of that can be attributed to Jeanne.

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