EagleBear, LeRoy H.

Grew up on an Indian reservation in South Dakota; his Indian name, bestowed at age 5 or 6, was Niyake Kte. Did not enter school until age 11, when he went into the South Dakota School for the Deaf, graduating 1966. He remained at the school as a "dorm parent", working summers in maintenance and groundskeeping at SDSD. Left the school in 1988; after several miscellaneous jobs, became a community service specialist at Communication Service for the Deaf in Sioux Falls, SD. After years of alcoholism and unsuccessful treatments at "hearing" treatment centers, he finally went sober after attending the Minnesota Chemical Dependency Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals in 1993, and became active in substance abuse recovery among other deaf persons.