Echoes of childhood: growing up between worlds of quiet and sound

The first steps toward organized state care and education for children with hearing and speech impairments in the former Yugoslav states began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia leading the way in estab-lishing specialized institutions. In contrast, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), North Mac-edonia, and Montenegro only began opening such facilities after World War II. One of them was the Institute for the Education of Deaf Children in Reljevo, a suburb of Sarajevo, where the parents of Jasminka Proho, a fifty-five-year-old professional sign language interpreter, met during their schooling in the late 1950s. This article explores Jasminka’s childhood and growing up during the 1970s and early 1980s in Sarajevo, as a hearing child in a family where both parents had hearing and speech impairments. Her parents, despite their impairments and with support from their close environment, de-veloped creative, non-verbal parenting strategies to raise her. The article highlights how “silence” functioned not as a lack, but as a unique framework for care, communication, and emotional connection within the family. Entering wider social settings exposed Jasminka to both supportive and challenging experiences shaped by her parents’ senso-ry impairments. Balancing the demands of two contrasting worlds—one of silence and one of sound—was a constant challenge for Jasminka, even from an early age. These experiences ultimately motivated her to become a professional sign language interpret-er and an advocate for the rights and visibility of this social group. The article is based on data collected through interviews with Jasminka, as well as archival material and relevant scholarly literature related to the care and support for children with hearing and speech impairments in the former Yugoslav states.