Pat Southern Article (Nebraska)

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http://www.4hearingloss.com/archives/20 ... _does.html

Disability doesn't stop pole-vaulter's success at NU


Senior Pat Southern is not average. With every plant of his pole, every invert and every 15-foot fall, Southern may seem like the average pole-vaulter risking death, but there is much more to him than that.


Southern shows extraordinary ambition.


Born deaf, Southern could have let his disability hold him back. But he has never viewed it as a weakness and has used his talents as tools to assimilate into his surroundings.


"My father always told me that you have a hammer and a nail and you have to make your own road and your own city of accomplishments, with people who look up to you," Southern said. "But the key is that you have to start somewhere."


The road to his accomplishments started on a school track in Indiana.


Now, a few years later, Southern has his city. He is the 2005 Deaflympic Games gold medalist, a Big 12 academic honoree and has cleared 16 2/3 in the pole vault.


At the Deaflympic Games, which included 75 countries and 15 sports, Southern made a winning jump of 15-7, only one inch short of the world record.


Although a little disappointed, Southern was thrilled to be one of the United States’ 32 medalists.


With his positive attitude and numerous successes, it would seem Southern has had it easy, but the road to accomplishment has been long and frustrating.


Over the years, communicating with others has been Southern’s biggest problem.


Now, even though a conversation with him may take a little extra attention, he has the ability to read lips and speak articulately.


Much of this success in communicating came through therapy. But Southern also had a hearing device, or cochlear implant, put in his left ear when he was in ninth grade.


With the device, Southern’s hearing improved immensely, and he could hear things such as his name and a telephone ringing for the first time.


The device also helped his performance on the track. Since he could take it on and off, he discovered that removing it during competition allowed him to pole vault undistracted.


There wasn’t enough time for the disability to become an issue when Southern first started pole vaulting.


Southern’s career began by chance during his freshman year of high school.


At one of his meets, Southern’s coach asked him to pole vault because no one else was participating in the event.


Southern placed third in the event, and his coach saw potential.


By that summer, he was attending camps, one of which was run by NU Pole Vault Coach Rick Attig when he coached at Kansas.


"Nothing really stood out to me," Attig said. "I felt like he was an athlete that was a pretty decent runner and had good body awareness, but a lot of times athletes will learn quicker than him because of the communication difficulties."


Though when they first met Attig was worried about communication, he asked Southern to be a Cornhusker.


But before Southern came to Nebraska, his career nearly ended.


"A couple days before my senior season started, I pulled my hamstring," Southern said. "I couldn’t compete at all in the preseason, but I did compete in the postseason. My father was kind of pessimistic, but I didn’t listen."


Southern’s senior season became the most successful of his high school career, when he placed seventh in the Indiana state meet with a 15-foot jump.


Now a Division I athlete, the constant need for improvement weighs on Southern’s mind.


Even with all of the therapy and the device in his left ear, Southern hasn’t made his world perfect.


He still struggles to understand some concepts, especially ones dealing with pole vaulting.


"One of the pros (of being deaf) is that I don’t get distracted by sound," Southern said. "But a con is that I have a coach who cannot communicate with me very well. He uses a lot of special terms that I cannot understand or pronounce."


In practice, Southern and Attig watch and analyze every jump through video. This way, they can communicate by pointing out certain frames and using body language to describe problems.


According to Attig, pole vaulting depends on an athlete’s body awareness. As a coach, the key is to find what feels uncomfortable to an athlete – the problem is, Southern cannot efficiently communicate problems.


"As an athlete, when someone tells you to do something, it may not feel right," Attig said. "But a word or phrase can trigger something that fixes the problem. It’s difficult to know how to communicate that with Pat."


So far, the only accommodation Southern requires is having Attig face him when talking to the group of pole-vaulters so Southern can read Attig’s lips.


Other than that, Southern has it the way he likes it – he’s treated just like everyone else on the team.


Like most people, he wants to keep his individuality, but Southern also wants to fit in with his peers.


Pole vaulting has given Southern a way into what he calls "the hearing world."


"My only access to fit in was through sports," Southern said. "By doing sports, I was able to come to college and get my other talents recognized."


During this year’s outdoor season, Southern soared to a new career-high – 16 2/3 – at the Emporia State Relays in Kansas on April 9.


But it’s only a number to Southern, who has gained more than accolades during his time in Lincoln.


When Southern graduates in 2007, he plans on teaching math and coaching pole vault at a high school. He hopes he will be able to pass on to children, especially those who are deaf, his attitude toward having a disability.


"I think kids need to know that any way you can and with any talent you have, you should use it to become part of the world," Southern said. "I don’t think there are two worlds necessarily because the mind is the same."


"The only difference is that parts of my ears don’t work right, but (deaf children) should know that they can accomplish things just like anyone else – including pole vault."


By Katelyn Cohen, Daily Nebraskan