y age four, Eric had spoken his first words. The full sentences came at age six. For someone who did not hear until he was almost three, Eric had made great progress. Joe Henderson, Eric's father, says that once Eric began speaking he realized his child was normal. The only difference separating Eric from other children was that Eric couldn't hear well. Over the next few years, the family underwent major changes. When Eric was five, the Hendersons had another daughter. Born as a profoundly deaf baby, Leslie also had Down Syndrome, a chromosome disorder that usually causes a delay in physical, intellectual, and language development. Soon after, the family moved to Eugene, Oregon. fter adjusting to their new environment, Leslie and Eric entered the public school system and were separated from the rest of the school into different programs. Eric continued in an oral program until middle school, while his sister enrolled in a special education program. At that time, Leslie could neither speak nor sign. Unfortunately, her teachers could not sign either. Once she reached third grade, her parents decided their daughter was not receiving a proper education, but publicly funded daycare. Fed up with the school system, they removed her from public school and enrolled her in OSD that same year. She still had no language, but teachers taught her American Sign Language (ASL) and Leslie blossomed. She gained a limited vocabulary and learned to use a computer. Meanwhile, Eric continued with his public school education. Segregated into a program for hearing impaired children, he sailed through elementary school without suffering any ridicule. Although he entered a few mainstream classes, for the most part, he was protected by the safety of this intimate group. But as the only deaf student in his junior high, he could not avoid prejudice. Eric's classmates mouthed profanities at him, picked fights with him, and excluded him from social events. They treated him like a freak. While Eric endured this scorn from his classmates, his sister's situation continued to improve. Because of OSD, Leslie's ability to sign, communicate, and interact with other people improved. Eric's curiousity grew. Maybe there was an alternative to always being the different one. In April 1991, Eric attended a Deaf (see capitalization of "Deaf" below) leadership conference with his father during an open house at OSD. He saw other kids his age running around the school and goofing off with each other. These children were not segregated from the rest of the school. They worked in classrooms throughout the entire school. After meeting the students, he saw how much fun he could have in a place where no one discriminated against deaf people. The conference opened his mind to the possibilities. Eric realized that the students in the public school would never change. He felt they would always take out their problems on him because he was different.
	Deaf: When capitalized, "Deaf" signifies a community of people linked together by the use of ASL as their main means of communication. This community shares common beliefs, values, and a cultural identity. When deaf is lower-case, it signifies the physical condition of hearing loss.