An Educator’s Bond With Those in a World of Silence
LA Times
29th June 2026
An Educator’s Bond With Those in a World of Silence
By May Zhou
Kathryn Johnson’s connection to China started with a Chinese family in her community in 1999, when a child of Chinese heritage died in a swimming pool. At that time, she was a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing at a public school in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
“I wanted to help the family out in some way. So, we got white carnations and sold the carnations to help pay for the funeral,” Johnson says.
That led to her students’ curiosity about China. To make up for her lack of knowledge, Johnson joined a delegation that traveled to China in the summer of 2000. The trip was organized by Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., a university primarily for deaf students.
“I was 35 years old at the time, mom of three young kids, but I went on a three-week abroad program with Gallaudet,” Johnson says. During that trip she attended conferences and dealt with numerous universities and deaf communities in China.
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