Just Doing It
Deaf educator on a 14,000-mile biking adventure for children who are hearing-impaired

By ANNE C. HEYMEN
Features Editor

	Anne C. Heymen Anne C. Heymen

	MICHAEL TUCCELLI, deaf since birth, described his 14,000-mile bike trip several days before his July 2 departure. Tucelli, who worked at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, is now a professor at the University of Florida. By By ANNE C. HEYMEN, Staff

University of Florida instructor Michael Tuccelli of St. Augustine lives by the creed "if you think you can't do something, do it."

That's why Tuccelli, 56, profoundly deaf since birth, set out July 2 on his third annual motor scooter charity ride. This year's ride is a 24-day, three-country run to raise funds for deaf infants.

In those 24 days, Tuccelli plans to cover 14,580 miles on his 2002 Honda Silver Wing, traveling an average of 700 miles a day.

He spent the first night in Key West at the southernmost point of the United States. From there he set out for New Brunswick, Canada, then it's on to the Arctic Circle, down to Seattle, San Diego then through Mexico and back to Florida.

The trip will be done, says Tuccelli, without an escort vehicle and without a phone to call for help.

The purpose of the journey is to raise money for cochlear implants for deaf children.

	MICHAEL TUCCELLI is making his 24-day motorcycle trip on his 2002 Honda Silver Wing. He plans to travel from Key West to Canada, the Arctic Circle, down to Mexico and back to Florida to bring awareness of cochlear implants to North America. By By ANNE C. HEYMEN, Staff

People are invited to join him on any part of the trip they wish, says Tuccelli, but he doubts there will be many takers.

It's a pretty hectic pace, says the former community education coordinator at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. Tuccelli now teaches American Sign Language at Florida, a language, says Tuccelli, an accomplished lip reader, that is "the world's most exciting foreign language."

One trait which Nancy Stavropulos, director of outreach services and Tuccelli's superior at the time Tuccelli was at FSDB, recalls is his energy.

Stavropulos is now director of diagnostic services at the school.

She's still amazed, she says, that he managed to hold down a full-time job at FSDB and also went back to the University of Florida to get his Ph.D.

"As a hearing person," she said, "he probably taught me more about a deaf person's life from their perspective. I was always challenged, in a very positive way, just by his energy and his knowledge. I learned something new from him every day."

Tuccelli, who also speaks well, took private speech therapy in Jacksonville, having attended both elementary and high school there during his father's service in the Navy. "I was a military brat," he said, "but I call Florida my home."

The 2004 ride, says Tuccelli, is more of a "public relations" jaunt, a trip to get people excited and want to join in the 2005 adventure. This year's trip is "go, go, go," he says.

Supporting cochlear implants is quite a departure for him, says the father and grandfather. Until recently, he said, he, "like most deaf people," was "adamantly against" the implants.

"However, the fact that most families will not learn sign language" as he wishes they would and that Med-El, Bionics and Cochlear, manufacturers of cochlear implants, are sponsoring this trip and have products vastly superior to those of just a few years ago, have caused him to support cochlear implants.

Tuccelli has posted his trip on his Web site -- www.AlaskaBikeRun.com .

He has secured, and is securing, sponsors to pledge from 1/10 cent per mile up to 2 cents per mile to benefit the cochlear implant team at the University of Florida.

Cochlear implants, Tuccelli, said, are "devices for children with permanent hearing loss who receive limited or no benefit from conventional hearing aids."

Audiologists at the University of Florida Speech and Hearing Center, Tuccelli said, "have been serving cochlear implant patients since 1985." This is the "largest implant site in North Florida and South Georgia.

Hearing loss affects millions, Tuccelli said.

"If all the deaf people in the world were gathered together, they would comprise the third largest nation in the world."

He also said that 92 percent of infants born deaf are raised by hearing families, 96 percent of whom will not use sign language.

"Research shows," Tuccelli said, "that these deaf infants will achieve only a third-grade reading level by age 20."

Following in his father's footsteps as a biker enthusiast, Tuccelli has been riding motorcycles since age 14.

This cross-country trip is his fifth, and he plans to visit his father, now living in California, during the 24-day tour.

At 90, says Tuccelli, his father continues to ride his bike on a daily basis.

This year, says Tuccelli, he will be riding on mostly interstate highways. To compensate for his deafness, "I watch the general flow of traffic and check the rear view mirror often.

"AAA says," he explains, that "driving is 99 percent visual."

In contrast to this year's fast-paced trip across country, Tuccelli predicts that next year's will be a scenic trip, with lots of two-lane roads on the itinerary and some "absolutely irresistible photography."

He plans the 2005 trip to also be a cochlear implant benefit, but with a "qualified yes," as to an absolute benefit. There are still details which must be worked out, he said.

Tuccelli also hopes to be able to give speeches along the way next year on deafness and implants.

Another dream, he says, is to have a major sponsor for the 2006 ride, a sponsor who would follow the riders on their trek and film the story.

A cochlear implant isn't in the near future for Tuccelli, he says.

Cochlear implants today consist of internal and external components, and "I don't have enough hair to hide it," he said.

As products develop, he says, "things become smaller and smaller, so I'm sure they will have an internal one" at some point.

Exactly what is a cochlear implant?

One Internet article describes it as "a highly technical, medical device that electrically stimulates the hearing nerve."

There are currently two components. The external component is worn on the head, over or next to the ear and includes a microphone which converts sound into an electrical signal, a speech processing strategy and a transmitter which sends the coded electrical signal to the internal components.

The surgically implanted components include a receiver and an electrode array which stimulates the cochlea with electrical current.

The systems are powered by batteries located in the speech processor.

The current general candidacy criteria for children, according to Internet sources, are 12 months to 17 years, profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, limited benefit from hearing aids, failure to progress in auditory skill development, and no radiologic or medical contradictions.

"We have about 55 kids here with cochlear implants," says Rick Coleman, assistant parent information director at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Coleman said that FSDB probably has "the largest collection of cochlear kids in the country because this is the largest school for the deaf and the blind in the United States."

Michael Tuccelli and Coleman worked closely when Tuccelli was at FSDB. "He and I used to travel a lot. He's an awesome speaker," said Coleman, the father of a 24-year-old daughter who was born profoundly deaf.

Coleman also describes Tuccelli as "a perfect example of what a deaf kid can become, and that's what it's all about."

-- Anne Heymen