" (Smith 16) Because of the Act's wording it was to be interpreted by the Judges, lawyers and school board members that oversaw the trials. One Judge on the lower court level had found equal opportunity to be the standard that properly grasped the concept that Congress was trying to achieve. He ruled that Amy was to have a sign language interpreter in order to have equal opportunity within the school system. The school board, however, thought otherwise. Instead of accepting the lower court's order to provide Amy Rowley a sign language interpreter, the school board appealed and argued over the definition of "equal opportunity" versus "full potential or appropriate education" that went all the way to Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the judges of Supreme Court did not analyze the Act that was passed in Congress, and they decided that Amy's tests scores proved she was getting an "appropriate education" even without a sign language interpreter. .
The long battle the Rowleys endured opened and closed many doors. One door that was often left open was the door for oppression. Oppression was a commonality within this book. Smith documents many stories and scenarios where the family endured run-ins with the courts, the media, professional advisors, lawyers, teachers, and even their followers. Even Smith confesses to ignoring many of the cultural differences between the deaf and the hearing. Smith demonstrates often throughout this book the disadvantages that the deaf endure simply because the hearing view them as being disabled because they cannot hear. Smith learned that feeblemindedness was the common source of oppression when it came to deaf and hearing. He discovered that this is something that the Deaf _World has known all along and that it is going to take a long time before this wall is recognized by our hearing society. .
Michael Chattoff, the Rowley's attorney ran into many situations that did nothing but work against him as a Deaf professional.
