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The sound of silence
Oct. 30th, 2006 01:29 amThey grew up in America, in American families that spoke English. They speak English, but we don't speak their language. Unless you grew up speaking it, you'd miss the subtleties, the regional accents and the slang. Knowing the language makes you part of a close-knit community of millions. Yet, when a deaf child is born, his or her parents often agonize over the decision whether to "mainstream" and make the child concentrate on learning to speak as hearing children speak, or to teach them American Sign Language (ASL).
My niece was an extreme preemie, her tiny body fitting in the palm of your hand. At the time, she was the smallest pre-term baby to survive at Dornboecher Children's Hospital in Portland. She still bears scars from numerous shunts. But the biggest scar was the product of too many hours in the oxygenated atmosphere of her high-tech crib: she lost her hearing in the first few days of her life.
I recall the long discussions my sister had with my mom about aural implants and sign language and deaf culture. In the end, they decided to get the implants, but to enroll C in ASL classes knowing that it lessened her chances of "spoken English immersion". They felt it was more important that she be a part of her culture, the deaf culture. The whole family took sign language courses to help her become more comfortable at home. When their second, full term, child was born, C taught her little brother sign language as well.
It came full circle years later when C's father, who had quit chewing tobacco 10 years previously, lost his tongue and half his jaw to cancer. He was unable to speak save through signing. C had given him an amazing gift of communication for the last two years of his life.
The students at Gallaudet University cheered the appointment of I. King Jordan in 1988, the first deaf president of the premier University for the deaf in America. He arose to his office on a wave of "Deaf President Now" protests. But now has come the time for Jordan to retire.
In May of this year, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet appointed Jane K. Fernandes as incoming president. The reaction of the student body was overwhelmingly negative. Fernandes is not new to Gallaudet. As Provost for six years, many believe her policies have caused the quality of Gallaudet's unique academic programming to suffer. Student recruitment has suffered during her tenure. They have found her to be insensitive to deaf issues. There were questions about whether the BoT had performed an adequate search for candidates. Fernandes is also at the forefront of the biggest controversy of all in the deaf community. She is deaf, but did not learn to sign until she took classes as an adult. Fluent signers say her ability to sign is close to a third grade level. Imagine life at a University where the president only spoke third-grade English!
The protest that erupted against Fernandes resulted in several days of total shutdown of the campus, along with 134 arrests among the student protesters. The students and faculty of the University voted overwhelmingly against Fernandes' appointment. Still, Fernandes refused to resign, holding strong in her belief that her appointment was what was best for the University.
Across the deaf community, there are frequent allegations that you are not accepted if you aren't "deaf enough". Like the "paper bag" test at the Cotton Club, those who are hard of hearing may be marginalized, and the deaf separated from the profoundly Deaf. In reading blogs of Gallaudet students and other deaf writers, one major concern is that mainstream media will color this conflict as prejudice that Janet K. Fernandes is not "deaf enough" for Gallaudet.
Her appointment and the subsequent protest are, rather, a microcosm of the debate that has raged continuously through the deaf community. Fernandes has made statements to the effect that she envisions a "New Deaf Order" and students as well as faculty fear that this order will exclude the deaf culture in favor of programs geared toward mainstreaming. As aural implants and medical technology improves to ameliorate deafness, the deaf see more and more pressure to mainstream deaf children. ASL is a complete and beautiful language in and of itself, and when taught to children at a young age they can be fluent. Do you push a child into a hearing culture where they might be marginally accepted, or into a world of people just like them, with a language tailored to fit their needs? Do you push a child to communicate in a language he or she will never completely understand nor become articulate in because the child cannot hear all of the nuances of the language just so that they can be a part of a mainstream culture? When able to fully communicate, children are more able to learn any subject, including sciences. Universities such as Gallaudet can allow such children to achieve their potentials.
The fervor of the protest at Gallaudet is the fire of a culture at risk, those people who had celebrated the acceptance of their way of life only decades before are fighting and risking everything to retain that acceptance. Those who can hear, however, have heard a resounding cheer emanating from Washington, DC. The Board of Trustees of Gallaudet voted Sunday to terminate the the appointment of Janet K. Fernandes.
We hope that the next appointment comes in cooperation with the students and faculty that form the heart of Gallaudet University. Perhaps it is time for the Board to truly listen to the unique population whom they are privileged to serve in the exquisite language of that proud culture.
My niece was an extreme preemie, her tiny body fitting in the palm of your hand. At the time, she was the smallest pre-term baby to survive at Dornboecher Children's Hospital in Portland. She still bears scars from numerous shunts. But the biggest scar was the product of too many hours in the oxygenated atmosphere of her high-tech crib: she lost her hearing in the first few days of her life.
I recall the long discussions my sister had with my mom about aural implants and sign language and deaf culture. In the end, they decided to get the implants, but to enroll C in ASL classes knowing that it lessened her chances of "spoken English immersion". They felt it was more important that she be a part of her culture, the deaf culture. The whole family took sign language courses to help her become more comfortable at home. When their second, full term, child was born, C taught her little brother sign language as well.
It came full circle years later when C's father, who had quit chewing tobacco 10 years previously, lost his tongue and half his jaw to cancer. He was unable to speak save through signing. C had given him an amazing gift of communication for the last two years of his life.
The students at Gallaudet University cheered the appointment of I. King Jordan in 1988, the first deaf president of the premier University for the deaf in America. He arose to his office on a wave of "Deaf President Now" protests. But now has come the time for Jordan to retire.
In May of this year, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet appointed Jane K. Fernandes as incoming president. The reaction of the student body was overwhelmingly negative. Fernandes is not new to Gallaudet. As Provost for six years, many believe her policies have caused the quality of Gallaudet's unique academic programming to suffer. Student recruitment has suffered during her tenure. They have found her to be insensitive to deaf issues. There were questions about whether the BoT had performed an adequate search for candidates. Fernandes is also at the forefront of the biggest controversy of all in the deaf community. She is deaf, but did not learn to sign until she took classes as an adult. Fluent signers say her ability to sign is close to a third grade level. Imagine life at a University where the president only spoke third-grade English!
The protest that erupted against Fernandes resulted in several days of total shutdown of the campus, along with 134 arrests among the student protesters. The students and faculty of the University voted overwhelmingly against Fernandes' appointment. Still, Fernandes refused to resign, holding strong in her belief that her appointment was what was best for the University.
Across the deaf community, there are frequent allegations that you are not accepted if you aren't "deaf enough". Like the "paper bag" test at the Cotton Club, those who are hard of hearing may be marginalized, and the deaf separated from the profoundly Deaf. In reading blogs of Gallaudet students and other deaf writers, one major concern is that mainstream media will color this conflict as prejudice that Janet K. Fernandes is not "deaf enough" for Gallaudet.
Her appointment and the subsequent protest are, rather, a microcosm of the debate that has raged continuously through the deaf community. Fernandes has made statements to the effect that she envisions a "New Deaf Order" and students as well as faculty fear that this order will exclude the deaf culture in favor of programs geared toward mainstreaming. As aural implants and medical technology improves to ameliorate deafness, the deaf see more and more pressure to mainstream deaf children. ASL is a complete and beautiful language in and of itself, and when taught to children at a young age they can be fluent. Do you push a child into a hearing culture where they might be marginally accepted, or into a world of people just like them, with a language tailored to fit their needs? Do you push a child to communicate in a language he or she will never completely understand nor become articulate in because the child cannot hear all of the nuances of the language just so that they can be a part of a mainstream culture? When able to fully communicate, children are more able to learn any subject, including sciences. Universities such as Gallaudet can allow such children to achieve their potentials.
The fervor of the protest at Gallaudet is the fire of a culture at risk, those people who had celebrated the acceptance of their way of life only decades before are fighting and risking everything to retain that acceptance. Those who can hear, however, have heard a resounding cheer emanating from Washington, DC. The Board of Trustees of Gallaudet voted Sunday to terminate the the appointment of Janet K. Fernandes.
We hope that the next appointment comes in cooperation with the students and faculty that form the heart of Gallaudet University. Perhaps it is time for the Board to truly listen to the unique population whom they are privileged to serve in the exquisite language of that proud culture.
