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Mark Drolsbaugh grew up
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just four blocks away from Pennsylvania School
for the Deaf's old Mt. Airy campus. He attended hearing schools while his slowly
progressing hearing loss took him from hard of hearing to deaf. Often, he would
hop on his bike and go watch PSD football games, wondering what it would be like
to be a member of the deaf community.
In 1989 he had his answer
when he enrolled at Gallaudet University, the world's only university for deaf
and hard of hearing students. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A.
in School Counseling and Guidance, after which he returned to his roots at PSD
as a school counselor.
An avid reader, Drolsbaugh
was bitten by the writing bug and "as far as pen and paper go, I can't shut
up." He has been a columnist for national deaf publications such as DeafNation,
Silent News, and most recently SIGNews. He has written articles that have been
published in The Philadelphia Daily News, Kaleidoscope, Parents for Deaf Awareness,
and The Tactile Mind. He wrote and published his first book, Deaf Again,
in 1997 (a second edition was published in 2000). Deaf Again is currently
required reading in numerous ASL/Deaf Studies classes throughout the United States
and is also an underground hit in England, Australia, and Germany.
In 2004 Drolsbaugh published
his latest book, Anything But Silent, an anthology of his best articles
written between 1997 and 2003. Advance reviews have been overwhelmingly positive
and the book includes a Foreword by Dr. I. King Jordan, the first deaf president
of Gallaudet University.
On the horizon is a children's
book, The One Hundred Dollar Hearing Aid Battery, based on a true story
and an excerpt from Deaf Again.
Drolsbaugh currently lives
in North Wales, Pa, with his wife Melanie and their two boys, Darren and Brandon.
Among his hobbies are the martial arts, reading, almost any form of exercise,
following Philadelphia sports teams as much as possible, and annoying his wife
with all of the aforementioned hobbies.
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