A few thoughts - or maybe just justifications for bad behavior

I've been feeling badly that I haven't updated this recently. I have been challenged this year by depression and health issues. I'm about 1 year away from being eligible to retire from my current job with a local government agency. Although nobody else has a job, my workload gets bigger and bigger, the agency pushes us harder and harder and, face it, I'm not getting younger so I don't have as much energy to use to get through the day. When I got to this stage of Tad's story I pictured myself going thru all the material and presenting conclusive arguments proving my opinion that Tad's experiences and the publicity in the newspapers at that time were germinal to the Americans With Disabilities Act. My grandfather made the State of South Dakota pay for Tad's education by appearing before the legislators and proving Tad was capable of learning; therefore, according to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, the State had to provide him with an education. I have books with my grandfather's notes in the margins that date from that time. [These have been donated to Perkins Institute's Archive.] My grandfather was the son of a newspaper publisher and knew that the way to keep the funding was to publicize my uncle's accomplishments as a result of that education so there are many newspaper articles that I plan to scan and publish. Some of these have had the name of the newspaper &/or the date cut off, so I have not been able to use them as citations for Wikipedia so that I can correct the Wikipedia entry about Tadoma, but I still hope to properly attribute them at some point.
My head started saying, "Who are you to do this? No one will pay any mind. What does it matter?" I have given considerable thought to how to pick myself up and begin to write again. I have decided the best way forward is to return to my original plan - let the material speak for itself. I will scan &/or transcribe and then post what I have. Those that are interested can read what they wish and I'll leave any conclusions or results up to the strength of the material and to God. Give me time - retirement is coming and my depression is lifting.

Statement of Purpose

My purpose is to share information about the Tadoma Method and Tad Chapman who was the first to use the method exclusively to communicate throughout his lifetime. Tad was consistently compared with Helen Keller throughout his lifetime and, to this day, if I tell someone he was blind and deaf I get a response of "Oh, like Helen Keller". His achievements, however, were very different from hers. Tad achieved a normal life away from the spotlight. In his youth he was put in front of audiences to demonstrate the Tadoma Method and to show that someone who is deaf-blind can live a productive life. In his young adulthood his parents became aware that this was affecting the quality of his life and they sought other alternatives and goals. It is my hope that by sharing his story I can bring to light his germinal contribution to the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as introduce today's families with deaf-blind children to possibilities they may not have previously considered.

Currently, it is my plan to let the letters and newspaper articles speak for themselves by scanning and/or transcribing the letters that my grandfather wrote as he searched for answers and sought support as well as the responses to his inquiries. My grandfather, Winthrop Severance Chapman, kept carbon copies on onionskin sheets (usually half sheets) of all the letters he wrote - or at least all the letters he wrote regarding my uncle. I may or may not comment upon them. I'm not a writer. I was formerly a word processor and copy editor, so discovering my "voice" as a writer may be part of this process. I DO RESERVE ALL RIGHTS TO THE MATERIAL SHARED HERE. It is my intention to publish the contents in some form, perhaps a book, in the future, so please regard the material as copyright.