Jenny at Gym
The Fort Myers News Press ran a story about a family in Indiana who intentionally withheld medical care from their disabled child, resulting in the child’s death. To contrast that unfortunate attitude, they contacted Jenny Friedman’s family to find out their thoughts on the matter. At that time, Jenny was enrolled in a private after-school gymnastics class with "normal" children. As you can see, she is proudly dressed in her red tights and gold chain. She had what they call "fine motor control" difficulty which means she couldn’t grab the bars so well; but she made up for it with a whole lot of enthusiasm! and self-confidence. And made a whole lot of Good Friends. Later in life, the same loose and limber quality of her hands made her a top-flight professional Signer. She could do the entire alphabet in ten seconds. Many times, in the company of deaf people, I couldn’t speak; but she communicated with them like crazy! So who is to say who is smarter than someone else!
So one family in Indiana let their child die; and one family in Florida dressed their daughter in gold chains and taught her self-respect, self-worth and self-confidence.
On July 11 of that year, Jenny’s lucky birthday 07/11/77, the Fort Myers News Press published the entire article with Jenny’s beautiful picture on the front page! Jenny said, "Oh! They put my picture in the paper for my birthday. Wow."
