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’ THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, Friday, June 27, 1969
Celestine Sibley
Sharon Finds a Friend
The near-misses in life are
robably the most terrifying thing about it.
If you hadn’t been at a particular place at a particular time what might
have happened fo vou? If a certain person hadn’t seen you and spoken to you
at a speaiite
vornenl, where would you be now? I’ve had the happenstance
aspects oi*hie oii itiy-mind a great deal the last few days becauSe of a re-
port which a young writer named Edward Downs Jr. made on the case
of a little Negro ‘girl named Sharon.
Sharon is almost 13 years old and she lives
in that area west of the Atlanta stadium called
Mechanicsville. Life isn’t easy for most people
, in Mechanicsville and it doesn’t seem possible
that it could be remotely comfortable for
Sharon and her family. There are about 20 of
them — 16 children at last count — living in a
three and a half room house. Her father, uned-
ucated and untrained for any kind of work,
-had a poor-paying job until recently but it fiz-
zled out and according to the last report he
was on the street looking again.
None of this looks particularly jolly for a lit-
tle girl but on top of that everybody took it for
granted that Sharon was mentally retarded.
Her efforts at talk were gibberish. She clearly
didn’t understand what was said to her. The
regular escape from an overcrowded and im-
poverished home, public school was closed
to her.
Then Sharon found a friend.
Mrs. Bernice Miller, mother of three and a
former school traffic policewoman, visited
Sharon’s home as a part of her job as an Eco-
nomic Oppor ervice aide,
The little girl's face attracted her. She could
see something was wrong and, withthe seem-
ingly boundless optimism of EOA workers, she
a é up her mind to gef Sharon some expert
elp.
The first thing was a psychological test and
then she took Sharon to the Butler Health Cen-
ter for a physical examination and then, lo and
behold, they found the trouble.
“Sharon was not mentally retarded but prac:
tically stone deaf.
It seems inconceivable that parents or
friends wouldn’t have caught a handicap like
. . Everybody took it for
granted that Sharon was mental-
ly retarded. Her efforts at talk
were gibberish. She clearly did
not understand what was said to
her ...Then Sharon found a
friend.”
that at some point im the little girl’s life before
she reached her 13th birthday but you don’t
know how confusing and bewildering life can
get for 20 people in three and a half rooms.
When the scramble for food is frenzied and
there’s not enough of anything to go around
you might stop paying attention to other trou-
bles.
Sharon has a lot of catching up to do and it
isn’t going to be easy for a time. But things
are looking up. She is getting special attention
at the Milton Avenue School, where they con-
centrate on work with iwretarded children. She
has speech lessons, amamg others, and can now
make herself understood better.
“Sharon still lives at the crowded Mechan-
icsville address,"” Mr. Downs wrote in his re-
port. “But now nearly every day she is at the
Sum-Mee (Summerville-Mechanicsville) Center
participating in dancing, drawing and elemen-
tary writing. Now, too, the gentle black face
that was once ignored breaks into a jolly smile
when observed.”
Makes it scary when \you think that if Eco-
nomic Opportunity didn’t exist, if Mrs. Miller
hadn't been there .. . doesn’t it?
’ THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, Friday, June 27, 1969
Celestine Sibley
Sharon Finds a Friend
The near-misses in life are
robably the most terrifying thing about it.
If you hadn’t been at a particular place at a particular time what might
have happened fo vou? If a certain person hadn’t seen you and spoken to you
at a speaiite
vornenl, where would you be now? I’ve had the happenstance
aspects oi*hie oii itiy-mind a great deal the last few days becauSe of a re-
port which a young writer named Edward Downs Jr. made on the case
of a little Negro ‘girl named Sharon.
Sharon is almost 13 years old and she lives
in that area west of the Atlanta stadium called
Mechanicsville. Life isn’t easy for most people
, in Mechanicsville and it doesn’t seem possible
that it could be remotely comfortable for
Sharon and her family. There are about 20 of
them — 16 children at last count — living in a
three and a half room house. Her father, uned-
ucated and untrained for any kind of work,
-had a poor-paying job until recently but it fiz-
zled out and according to the last report he
was on the street looking again.
None of this looks particularly jolly for a lit-
tle girl but on top of that everybody took it for
granted that Sharon was mentally retarded.
Her efforts at talk were gibberish. She clearly
didn’t understand what was said to her. The
regular escape from an overcrowded and im-
poverished home, public school was closed
to her.
Then Sharon found a friend.
Mrs. Bernice Miller, mother of three and a
former school traffic policewoman, visited
Sharon’s home as a part of her job as an Eco-
nomic Oppor ervice aide,
The little girl's face attracted her. She could
see something was wrong and, withthe seem-
ingly boundless optimism of EOA workers, she
a é up her mind to gef Sharon some expert
elp.
The first thing was a psychological test and
then she took Sharon to the Butler Health Cen-
ter for a physical examination and then, lo and
behold, they found the trouble.
“Sharon was not mentally retarded but prac:
tically stone deaf.
It seems inconceivable that parents or
friends wouldn’t have caught a handicap like
. . Everybody took it for
granted that Sharon was mental-
ly retarded. Her efforts at talk
were gibberish. She clearly did
not understand what was said to
her ...Then Sharon found a
friend.”
that at some point im the little girl’s life before
she reached her 13th birthday but you don’t
know how confusing and bewildering life can
get for 20 people in three and a half rooms.
When the scramble for food is frenzied and
there’s not enough of anything to go around
you might stop paying attention to other trou-
bles.
Sharon has a lot of catching up to do and it
isn’t going to be easy for a time. But things
are looking up. She is getting special attention
at the Milton Avenue School, where they con-
centrate on work with iwretarded children. She
has speech lessons, amamg others, and can now
make herself understood better.
“Sharon still lives at the crowded Mechan-
icsville address,"” Mr. Downs wrote in his re-
port. “But now nearly every day she is at the
Sum-Mee (Summerville-Mechanicsville) Center
participating in dancing, drawing and elemen-
tary writing. Now, too, the gentle black face
that was once ignored breaks into a jolly smile
when observed.”
Makes it scary when \you think that if Eco-
nomic Opportunity didn’t exist, if Mrs. Miller
hadn't been there .. . doesn’t it?