A Hearing, Student of ASL's take on the Gallaudet Student Protests of 1988

So, recap for those who don't know what this was. Gallaudet University is a college in Washington DC that is for the deaf. It was made as an act of congress in the time of Lincoln. Anyways, in 1988 with the choice of a new president of the University, the students wanted change. The board's choice of president was not only hearing, but could not converse in American Sign Language or See Sign. The students said that she could not have the student's interests in mind if she couldn't even converse with the students, and would need a translator to speak to them at any time. The students also found the continued choice of hearing presidents a mark of paternalism towards the Deaf Community. They demanded a difference, and protested and disallowed anyone from entering the university or attending classes until a change was wrought. Eventually, the board of trustees complied with their four demands (that the chosen president resign, a deaf president by chosen, the board of trustess must be at least 51% deaf at any given time, and there be no repriesals for their acts of not attending classes).

In ASL class, we discussed these students' choice and then further discussed the second, smaller, non-student-body-whole-encompassing protest, which happened when another presidential change happened, and the chosen president, though deaf and a fluent signer, her family could not converse in ASL.

Here is a hearing, student of ASL's opinion (my opinion):

I can understand that we needn't hold paternalism over them, and I can also understand their demands that their president be able to sign--after all, it's not too much to ask that the president of a university and the students have no huge roadblocks in communicating. I can even understand to a point that there need to be some deaf members on the Board. However, it is really much to much to much to ask that their president must ALWAYS be deaf. The goal is not that we have two worlds: a deaf world and hearing world. The goal is that we have one world where we are all equals. If the deaf people want to be part of the hearing world, then they must allow us to be part of their world. If a hearing person cannot be the president of a deaf university, then it follows logically that a deaf person cannot be the president of a hearing university. But that's like make a men-only or white-only writing magazine. It's okay to make black-only or women-only. But the other way it's racist, or sexist, or discriminatory or whatever.

The second revolt, my class decided and our teacher agreed (and I agree) that their requests were silly, snobbish and uncalled for.

Comments

george & clarine review said…
Do You know ASL, or are you taking a class in it? A Yes answer means I honor you for undertaking how to communicate with another segment of our society. gwh
October 29, 2007 at 6:16 PM
p said…
There is a movement among the deaf that makes them ever more insular and just among themselves. It goes so far as a good chunk of them claiming they wouldn't accept hearing if it were possible, that there is nothing wrong with them or missing in their lives.

This is the viewpoint driving that school
October 29, 2007 at 6:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over-analyzing Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid--Why Eric is White.

Image
I have recently noticed a trend of just purely over-analyzing Disney movies.  In this category, I also include the fascination with photoshopping Disney characters to swap genders, races, or eras, as well as making princesses have "realistic" body shapes (which is something I could write a whole other post about, and it wouldn't be pretty.  Spoiler alert:  I find it to be one of the most unempowering trends of recent years).  However, I sometimes wonder at how much people are reading into Disney movies.  Today, I'm going to over-analyze their over-analysis. I recently read that the fact that Eric is a white prince is a representation of how we white-wash racial expectations for our children.  I'm not even sure what that sentence means.  It seems to have a lot of buzz words.  But I'm going to show you today, using evidence from the film, why Prince Eric is, in fact, the correct color. (I will, however, say that Eric is the only Disney prince who legitimatel
Read more

Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz. So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the mean
Read more

What does it mean to be a Russell?

Image
As many know, most European families (not all, but most) have a coat of arms, a crest, a motto, all that good stuff. So, I decided to look a bit into what being a Russell means. And maybe I'll do the same for Hatches, because I am a Hatch too. The last name Russell is Scottish and means "Red-headed" and derives from the Norman name of Roussel. The Russells are a well-respected Highland Scot clan, complete with Scottish crest and tartan: The motto on the crest "virtus sine macula" means "Virtue without blemish." As Scotland incorporated more and more into England, the Russells became nobility in that world as well, and were thus presented with a coat of arms: And yes, the motto written on that one is "che sara sara." You've got to admit, that's pretty gosh-darn cool. It really does mean "Whatever will be, will be." And in honor of that:
Read more