A man from Pacquet on the Baie Verte Peninsula wants to see the School for the Deaf reopened and is crediting his own success as an engineer on the education he received there.

Chad Greenham was about a year old when complications from misdiagnosed chicken pox with a high fever lead to his hearing loss. He was educated in both the public school system and at the School for the Deaf; recounting his experience like it was yesterday.

In a passionate Facebook post, Greenham says he didn’t learn anything in public school and that made him angry and frustrated.

He remembers very clearly at 8 years old thinking he was a failure and that there was no future for him.

He realized he wasn’t getting all of the information that everyone else was getting and that he wasn’t able to absorb the information the same way that his peers were able to in public school.

Greenham says the School for the Deaf needs to reopen. He spoke to VOCM’s Jolene Grimes, through the use of an interpreter.

He says there’s a lot of pressure on families and the access just isn’t there. Greenham says he can’t emphasize enough that the kids need equal access education and direct communication in their own language, to get the opportunity for the same education as everybody else. They shouldn’t have closed down the school.

Greenham says he was lucky to have parents who realized he wasn’t getting the education he needed and sent him to the School for the Deaf, even though it was 8 hours away.

He is a now construction officer for BC Hydro and is accommodated with a full-time sign language interpreter, when needed, at work.