News Articles: “Fitchburg Girl Honored for Deaf Olympics Feats” and “Tammy Marcinuk, A Winner”

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Title

News Articles: “Fitchburg Girl Honored for Deaf Olympics Feats” and “Tammy Marcinuk, A Winner”

Catalog Entry

A deaf Olympic skier named Tammy Marcinuk won five gold, one silver, and three bronze medals in six universal Deaf Olympic Games over a multi-year time span. Her journey is described here through both a newspaper artifact and an essay. Two differing points of view create who Tammy Marcinuk is and what made her so special.

The first artifact, a newspaper clipping titled “Fitchburg Girl Honored for Deaf Olympics Feats,” describes the many honors Tammy Marcinuk received. The newspaper clipping appears to be from around 1971 and most likely from the Fitchburg Sentinel, although no exact date is seen on the artifact, it can be assumed around this time as Tammy Marcinuk was honored by Mayor J. Harold Lemay who was mayor of Fitchburg during the years 1971-1972. The artifact itself praises Tammy Marcinuk and her accomplishments as “winner of three gold medals and one silver at the international Olympics” and her being “honored by local, state and federal officials” ultimately being “awarded a key to the city by Mayor J.Harold.” This artifact as a whole demonstrates the appreciation of Tammy Marcinuk despite her disabilities as well as the amount of respect that the city of Fitchburg had for her.

This article demonstrates that there are no limitations to success with the right mindset. Tammy Marcinuk demonstrated that her perceived “disability” did not hold her back as seen in the newspaper clipping because she was still able to reach great heights of success despite being deaf. The audience of this article will see an inspiring story of a young woman who grew up in the same town as them, but who did not let her one difference, her seemingly strong limitation, keep her from pursuing a successful future. Ultimately, the article's main focus was inspiring a town of people, inspiring those with similar characteristics, and demonstrating the possibility of beating out any obstacle in the way.

The second artifact is an essay by Kirkpatrick titled “Tammy Marciunk, A Winner,” which develops an elaborate picture of her skiing journey through detailed descriptions of her demanding schedule and lengths she went for skiing. The essay was written in 1967-1968 and contains information about Tammy's younger ages as well as more personal characteristics.

Tammy, deaf since birth, was picked to compete in the winter games. She and the other 14 skiers who were also deaf went over to Berchtesgaden, Germany by means of a $1000 collective donation. And after having early struggles, Tammy was able to become a decorated skier despite the struggles she faced. 

Since the rise of awareness of deaf culture, more people are learning sign language as a way of communication. Individuals like Tammy were often misunderstood during her time. However, people who are deaf are more than capable of holding long-term jobs and full-time careers, communicating with others and learning at high levels. In the past, those with impaired hearing would be considered ignorant or foolish in any aspect of life. Although being deaf is very common among individuals, there is a lack of historical evidence about their daily lives and how they viewed other people like Tammy. There was not a large amount of representation of people with disabilities in the Olympics during this time and it is due to the fact that they were viewed as less capable than an able-bodied person.

Many deaf people enjoy talking about how people are becoming more familiar with deaf culture. The deaf culture contains hard of hearing people and fully deaf people. This community demonstrates that their lack of a sense is not a disability. They have the same amount of social skills and are often very educated because they do not allow their lack of sense to act as a barrier even though society expects them to. They might have a hearing impairment, but it does not stop communication as a whole. By changing people's perspective of the word “deaf,” they also try to remove the word disability from the typical stereotype that society places on them.

Some people see the deaf community as disabled and not capable of everyday tasks. Tammy proves this wrong in so many ways with her skiing journey. Many people still view deafness as a life-altering disability but it is becoming more apparent that people can lead "normal" lives despite being deaf.

Artifact Owner

Fitchburg Historical Society

Artifact Condition

Yellowing discoloration; address 81 View St., Fitchburg, MA typed out on a typewriter

Artifact Material

Newspaper

Catalog Entry Author(s)

Kylli Wade, Student, Fitchburg State University

Editor(s)

Abby Murphy, Student, Fitchburg State University

Collection

Citation

“News Articles: “Fitchburg Girl Honored for Deaf Olympics Feats” and “Tammy Marcinuk, A Winner”,” Cultural Heritage through Image, accessed March 29, 2024, https://culturalheritagethroughimage.omeka.net/items/show/93.

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