New Worlds for the Deaf: The story of the pioneering Lakeside School for the Deaf in rural Mexico

In this engaging, compassionately-written book, Gwen Chan Burton relates the powerful and moving stories of the many deaf children and youths-unschooled and lacking communication-who found language, a free education, community and friendship at the Lakeside School for the Deaf in Jocotepec on Lake Chapala in western Mexico.

The book details how the group of dedicated Mexican teachers responsible for the school’s success had to adapt the specialized teaching methods of deaf education to the needs of their students in this atypical, pioneering school.

International support and creative fundraising by members of the area’s expatriate community enabled the school to expand and offer a boarding program for students from distant villages who would otherwise have had no specialized schooling.

New Worlds for the Deaf is a unique account of the risks and rewards of creating a pioneering school that gave seriously-disadvantaged youngsters and their families access to new hope and opportunities.

Heartwarming stories of individual students and their accomplishments are interwoven with an account of the school’s history and with anecdotes about the customs and culture of rural Mexico that remain true to this day.

All proceeds from the sale of New Worlds for the Deaf benefit the hearing aid program for children in the Lake Chapala region, a program the author runs in partnership with the local committee that supports the CAM Gallaudet Special Education Centre in Jocotepec, Jalisco.