BUFFALO, N.Y. — Teachers at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf shared prayers and personal memories of the deaf individuals killed in the Lewiston, Maine mass shooting.
Wednesday, 18 people were killed by a shooter in Maine. Four of whom were deaf.
Sean Maloney is a recreational therapist at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo.
“I knew three of the victims,” Sean said. “They were from New England as well.”
He grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and through an interpreter shared some of his memories of the people that were killed, like William Brackett.
Sean used to coach basketball in Maine and was heartbroken to recognize victims like Brackett.
“He was a basketball player at a deaf school when I coaching up there. Very nice man, he played well, he beat us.”
Through friends and family, Sean knew of some of the other three deaf victims: Joshua Seal, Stephen Vozzella, and Bryan MacFarlane.
“I haven’t seen [any of] them in 20 years, but I remember their names from when I coached,” Sean said. “I actually saw the names of people, and I was just shocked. I was angry, I was upset, because it’s just a small deaf community.”
Sean is not alone.
One of his colleagues at St. Mary’s, Pamela Rohring, is friends with people that lost loved ones too, like the sister of Bryan MacFarlane.
“I saw on my phone that alert, and I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe that had happened,” Rohring said. “When I saw her name on my phone, I just said that ‘I am so sorry for the loss of your brother.’ It’s so sad.”
David Wantuck is with Buffalo Deaf Access Services.
He feels that it’s not surprising people here are connected with the victims, because the deaf community is extremely tight knit across the globe.
“As soon as you meet another deaf person, it’s like family,” Wantuck said. “We don’t have that ability to sign with somebody daily.”
Schools with deaf students have visual ways to communicate emergencies, through phone notifications and lights.
On top of that, Rohring and Wantuck hope American Sign Language can be more prevalent with first responders, so they can ask for people’s names and if they need resources.
“We can’t just call the interpreter last minute, sometimes it’s challenging,” Rohring said.
Meantime, Sean tells me there’s only one thing the worldwide deaf community can do to get through this tragedy.
“Be kind, say ‘Hi, how are you, how are you doing today?’ Keep your head up high and try to remain happy. You have to go on. You can’t live your life in fear. We have to support each other.”
