Two Active Ladies On The East Coast
Janice Honig and Judy Jonas

    Janice Honig and Judy Jonas, who are hearing and Jewish, grew up in the New York area and have worked in the Deaf Community for many years. They founded the Fair Lawn Deaf Program in Fairlawn, NJ. JDCC News felt they were appropriate candidates for this column.

Janice Honig
    Honig and her hearing brother who is two and a half years older were born in a family with parents who were both Deaf. "My father became deaf as a result of spinal meningitis which he caught when he was almost three. When he was released from the hospital the doctor did not inform my grandparents that he was deaf or that deafness was a possibility. My grandmother deduced this after he was home for several days. The many doctors that they sought out afterwards confirmed that he was deaf and that the hearing loss was permanent. My mother's parents were first cousins. When they arrived in the U.S. from Europe they became reacquainted and eventually married. They had four children: my mother who was born deaf, two children who were hard of hearing and one child who was hearing," Honig explains.

    "Growing up, I remember being aware that there were different aspects to my life. There was life at home with our family of four. Lots of love, teasing, humor and total acceptance from our parents. We signed and spoke at home. My mother and father spoke to us a lot. My father had good speech; after all, he was hearing for almost three years. My mother's speech was not readily understandable by people who did not have an "experienced ear." Both my brother and I could understand every word from either one of them - even if they called us from another room. We used a mixture of sign, speech and fingerspelling to communicate with them. At an early age I was responsible for most of the phone calls. Although my brother was older and more competent he hated using the phone--so I got the job!

    "Another aspect of my life was being in social situations in the hearing world where I had to be the interpreter. This was often a difficult situation for me. The method I used was to listen to the conversation, condense the meaning and then give my parents the main idea of the conversation, movie, doctor's explanation, movie, etc. I remember feeling stressed and sometimes inadequate for some of the responsibilities. A related but slightly different experience was when we were in new situations and I had to introduce my parents to people that I already knew and explain that my parents were deaf and when speaking to them the person should look at them and move their lips and speak clearly. Growing up in the city, new friends didn't know that my parents were deaf until they came to my house or I told them. In a small town everyone knows these kinds of things about one another.

    "Another type of life was experienced when we were in a deaf environment. My parents got together with their deaf friends and their children. These times were tension free, as if we were all part of one big family. We kids laughing and playing with lots of deaf "aunts" and "uncles", talking to us and smiling and teasing us. When I went to the deaf club, I was totally at home."

Judy Jonas
    "I am the youngest of three children. I have an older brother, who is Deaf, and an older hearing sister. The temple that my family attended hired a new rabbi shortly before my Deaf brother's Bar Mitzvah. My brother turned out to be his first Bar Mitzvah. I am six year younger than my brother so I barely remember it, but I have seen the rabbi since, and he still remembers it well. My Deaf brother Larry Brick, married a Deaf woman Carolyn. They have two hearing sons and one deaf son. Their Deaf son, Kelby Brick is an attorney in Maryland, married to a Deaf woman from Long Island, New York. So I guess you can say that I have Deaf family members!

    "My Deaf brother was raised orally and I remember feeling upset and uncomfortable at the endless corrections of my brother's speech, particularly at the dinner table. When I was a child, I often said, 'I want to grow up and work with Deaf people'. However, since I was six years younger than my brother, my sister who is between us in age, was closer to him than I was while we were growing up. My brother learned to sign himself after he completed college and I learned after I finished graduate school, Now, since my brother and I both sign, and my sister doesn't, we are closer.

What Kind Of Jewish Upbringing?
    When asked about their Jewish upbringing, Honig responds: "I had observant grandparents who lived in Manhattan. When I was six years old my family moved to Manhattan only a block or two away from my grandparents. They were kosher, went to synagogue every Saturday and did not ride on Shabbat. Our family of four was not kosher. We had frequent Friday night meals at my grandparents house often with my aunt, uncle and  cousins. Sometimes other guests joined us.

    "My brother started Hebrew school when he was about 7 years old, going twice during the week and on Sunday mornings. When we moved to Manhattan, Ira continued Hebrew school at my grandparents synagogue. I started Sunday school when I was 9 and attended my cousin's family temple which was more modern than my grandparents synagogue. When I was eleven, I went to classes once during the week and Sundays. When my brother became a Bar Mitzvah it was a big milestone in our family. All kinds of preparations were made and there was a lot of excitement. I remember my mother saying to me during the ceremony, I wish I could hear him. Is he doing a good job? It was very touching. There were no interpreters at that time and there was no story for me to condense to tell my parents. After all what could I say except it was Hebrew, which they already knew!

    "Most of Mom and Dad's friends didn't attend the Bar Mitzvah because it was boring and meaningless to just sit and look. Only the few closest deaf friends were required to do this since they would be going to the catered luncheon afterwards. These deaf friends went to both the celebrations in honor of my brother's Bar Mitzvah because several weeks later there was a big dinner for deaf friends to attend and naturally they were included in that as well. My grandparents also attended the second affair. Some of my parents friends were real comics and mimes and were famous for routines they did in pantomime or ASL. It was a very different celebration than the elaborate, kosher catered affair directly after the Bar Mitzvah. When I was 14, I was confirmed and so was my cousin. Bat Mitzvahs were unheard of at that time.

    "An annual event was going to Central Park on Yom Kippur afternoons with my parents," Honig continues, "First, I went to synagogue with my grandparents in the morning and then met my parents. They usually went to services held by the Hebrew Association for the Deaf (HAD) followed by meeting with hundreds of Jewish deaf people who met at the Central Park Zoo. We had a lot of fun. The parents talked the afternoon away and we kids found and played with each other.

    "Both my parents were active members and officers of HAD at different times in their lives. While not very observant, being Jewish was a real part of our lives. I realize I have not mentioned my parents' names! They were Faye and Lester Cohen."

Jonas On Growing Up
    "I lived next to a Reform Temple in the Rockaway section of Queens in New York City, a lovely community where my house was only three blocks from the beach. There were many embarrassing moments living next door to a temple. My dog would frequently disrupt services by barking at the side door to come in.

    Mom would ask me to get up in the middle of the service to go home and put the dog back in the house. You can imagine how embarrassed I was to be seen doing that! I attended Hebrew school and Sunday school until I was fifteen, through confirmation. Back then, girls did not become a Bat Mitzvah, but Reform temples did have Confirmation for both boys and girls."

Education?
    Honig has a bachelors degree in psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University and a Masters degree in Deafness Research and Rehabilitation from New York University (NYU). She and her husband, Charlie have a daughter and a son Gary who was an attorney and sadly passed away three years ago due to an "asthma induced heart attack caused by raging fires and smoke" in Florida.

    Jonas has a bachelors degree in Speech Therapy from Brooklyn College and a Masters degree in Deaf Education from Teacher's College, Columbia University. She also studied ASL/Deaf Studies and interpreting and received certificates from Union County College. Together with husband Peter, they have two daughters. Interestingly one of the daughters has been production stage manager for Bethesda Academy of Performing Art's Deaf Access Theater in her free time.

How They Came Together
    They met in 1977 when Honig was finishing her Masters at NYU and did an internship at the Hackensack, NJ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. At that time Jonas was writing a grant to set up an Adult Basic Education Program for the Deaf at a nearby Adult School. Honig developed and taught a Language and Math Enrichment Program for the Deaf at Bergen Community College while Jonas set up a literacy course for Deaf employees of Hoffman LaRoche. That was during the time she worked at the Fair Lawn Community School (FLCS) as a high school equivalency counselor/instructor with hearing people. 

    "We had so much in common in terms of interests, skills and ethics" Jonas says, "we decided to work as partners in developing a free Basic Education Program for the Deaf in New Jersey. Hearing people had this kind of literacy training available to them at no cost .... why not the Deaf?"

    "You have to remember that in 1978 there were no captioned TV programs, no captioned movies, no interpreted theatre, no ADA and certainly no interpreters for Adult Basic Education Programs. Deaf people who had been out of school for years were starved for the opportunity to improve their reading, writing and math skills. They were anxious and excited to return to school. "When the recession of the early 80's started, students told us that either they or their spouses were being laid off and they needed help in getting jobs. That led us to write a grant to develop the vocational evaluation, placement, career counseling and job-related interpreter services which grew into a fully comprehensive Vocational Program for Deaf Adults .... The Fair Lawn Deaf Program (FLDP)...

    "FLDP is now 22 years old and has continued to provide adult basic education, job placement, career counseling, work-related interpreter services, and vocational evaluation to deaf, hard of hearing and late deafened deaf adults in New Jersey. It assists in every phase of employment pursuits by helping adults sort out their career goals through vocational testing and counseling. Then program staff assists with job applications, creating resumes, mock interview practice with an interpreter and provides a staff interpreter for interviews and the initial stages of employment.

    "The program has been in the hands of Teresa Bianco since 1999. The goals have expanded to include a strong component to help high school seniors make the transition to post secondary choices and/or work. Teresa has also increased the number of interpreter training interns who use the program as one of their deaf social service program sites. Employment related information workshops are offered to members of the larger deaf community. Almost 200 deaf, hard of hearing and late deafened adults are served by the program annually."

And Amazingly They Did More Tool
    Honig and Jonas are also founding members of the New Jersey Jewish Deaf and Hearing Impaired Council (JDHIC), a non profit group set up by Naomi and Harvey Miller who were hearing parents of a deaf child almost twenty years ago.

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