Delicate and blonde, Ilona s face and hands sketch an unusual story of life in the former Soviet Union, immigration, and starting over. Ilona Mironenko remembers growing up in the Ukraine. There were about 300 deaf students. The teachers were both hearing and deaf, and they all used sign. They were very strict, much more so than in the U.S. or Canada.
Students have it much easier here.
Ilona s school offered vocational training such as wood working, sewing, and other skills for employment. Graduates found jobs in the community, and there were no options for higher education. However, in 1991, with the fall of the Iron Curtain when Ilona was 16, she and her parents and her younger sister, who is hearing, immigrated to Toronto, where they have relatives. As much as they loved the Ukraine, Ilona s parents feared for Russia s future. Ilona was mainstreamed for the first time.