Lala, Frank James John, jr.

Born into a hearing family at Los Angeles, CA; deaf at 5 from an ototoxic drug given to combat tonsillitis. Attended several hearing schools before entering the California School for the Deaf, Riverside at age 9. One year later, his father died, and his divorced mother lost her hearing from an ear infection; this cost her her job, drove her and her son into poverty and her into abuse of alchohol and drugs, from which she eventually died. His experiences growing up convinced Frank that he needed to help other people overcome substance abuse. He was one of 4 co-founders of a recovery program for deaf and hard-of-hearing substance abusers in southern CA. PhD. from the University of California at Los Angeles; wrote his doctoral dissertation about deaf substance abusers.