Michael's Story, Parts 1-3 | ETV Classics

September 26, 2025

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In the 1983 documentary Michael's Story, we find Michael Tecklenburg in his first year at Honors College at the College of Charleston. Producer and host, Tom Fowler introduces us to Michael, and we learn of his early journey as a child with profound hearing loss to that of a young man going to college with hearing peers. 

The documentary contains photos and interviews with his parents, family, friends, and teachers, taking us through the time at which we find this young deaf man navigating his first year in college. The interviews recounted the difficulties that were experienced finding a diagnosis for the speech and language delay, as well as the quest to find an educational setting that would meet Michael’s needs. 

Michael’s is a story of separation, determination, patience, and devotion. In this documentary we also learn about the auditory/oral approach to deaf education and mainstreaming.

Michael's Story: An Update

The 1984 episode of SCETV's nightly magazine Carolina Journal, revisits Michael Tecklenburg, now a junior in the Honors College at the College of Charleston, and shares clips of the SCETV documentary Michael’s Story. Michael Collins interviews Michael and we learn more about the mainstream process and the challenges that the families of deaf and hard of hearing families face when trying to find a program to best meet the needs of the child and the family. Michael noted that it takes a great deal of support and hard work on the part of the child to learn to lipread and use the aural approach.  

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At the time of this interview, programs for the aural approach were still limited, and not all children would be given this opportunity. Michael’s hearing loss was diagnosed when he was four and a half, and he encourages early hearing screening so that children can be diagnosed before the age of two and placed in proper programs to help them achieve their potential.

As an advocate of the aural approach, Michael observed that the methodologies opened more doors for him into a more universal community, that of the hearing world. Additionally, learning speech and its underlying grammar, which was part of the aural curriculum experience, helped him to also excel academically. Michael talks about how the small class sizes at the honors college facilitate his learning experience. 

In the next segment of the journal, contributing editor, lawyer Harvey Golden talks about alimony and child support in divorce and disparities in income, and the discretion of judges. 

Last in the lineup, the NASA Space Shuttle Columbia was to go goes back into space in March 1986 to learn more about Halley's Comet and with a canister containing a group of experiments provided by South Carolina middle school students. As an update to this segment, NASA suspended space shuttle flights following the Challenger disaster, and the STS-61E mission, which was planned for Columbia, was canceled. 

 

Michael's Story: Follow Up

Our production crews at SCETV followed up with Michael Tecklenburg in 1988 to find him pursuing a career in law and politics while continuing his education at Columbia University Law School and succeeding as a deaf man.

The video delves into Michael's history by way of photos, clips, and content to establish the background for this update. 

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While at St. Joseph's, Michael received auditory training and intensive therapies to learn to speak with an eye to Michael becoming a mainstreamed student in a normally hearing school environment.

After graduating from St. Joseph’s, Michael remained in St. Louis living with Carol and Jim Spehr, while attending Chaminade Preparatory College as their first mainstreamed student. Upon graduating from Chaminade, Michael attended the Honors College at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, where he became its first deaf student, thriving alongside of his hearing peers. During his junior year, Michael traveled to China for a six-week exchange program. 

Afterwards, Michael did his internship with Senator Fritz Hollings and thereafter, Michael would find himself in Chicago, Illinois, working for the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, as an advocate for oral education. Our story ends with Michael attending the Columbia School of Law.  

To learn more about Michael's storied career after graduation, see Side Notes.

Side Notes

  • Total Communication approach is an inclusive philosophy that utilizes all available communication methods, including verbal, sign language, gestures, and visual aids, to maximize an individual's ability to communicate effectively
  • Communication Considerations For Children With Hearing Loss.
  • SC Department of Public Health - Hearing Screenings
  • Facebook - Columbia Law School Post: Meet Michael Tecklenburg ’89. After graduating as CLS's first deaf student, his impressive career included jobs in the White House, the Justice Department, and as counsel for Nancy Pelosi.  - Meet Michael Tecklenburg
  • Post and Courier - The Other Tecklenburg: The Brother of the Charleson mayor advises Pelosi as she becomes speaker.
Connie Robinette
Connie Robinette
Writer and tape librarian for South Carolina ETV's vault.
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