In the Spotlight
Deafness Debate
Seven preschoolers sang along with teacher Garrett Adams as he made a squirrel puppet bob along with the words. Donning paper headgear and tails turning them into crows and squirrels, they sang, "Gray squirrel, swish your bushy tail, wrinkle up your funny nose, hold a nut between your toes." They were in a classroom at Northampton's Clarke School for the Deaf, where sign language is not on the curriculum.
"Many people think that if you're deaf, then you must sign," said the school's Director, Dennis Gjerdingen. "We think it's an advantage for them to be able to hear and speak. Call it what you will, they don't have to conform to a deaf stereotype," said Gjerdingen, who has severe hearing loss at high frequencies.
Across the state in Framingham, The Learning Center was the first school in Massachusetts to depart from the "oral" method of education and to advocate the use of sign language in addition to spoken English. Principal Michael Bello says that although the school is bilingual and bicultural, sign language remains important, and he bristles when people question why many deaf people opt for sign language at a time when technology makes it possible for more to learn speech. "It's America's monolinguistic obsession that the whole world's got to speak English or else," he explains.
As technology offers new possibilities with sophisticated hearing aids, cochlear implants and newborn screening, deaf education is in flux. Differing viewpoints have been in the spotlight due to the turmoil this fall at Gallaudet, the liberal arts university for the deaf in Washington DC, where protests over the selection of a new president ended in the termination of incoming president Jane Fernandes. Student protesters at Gallaudet complained that although Fernandes is deaf, she is not committed enough to deaf culture. The protesters want students and teachers to communicate exclusively in American Sign Language, and they want to preserve an identity that sees deafness as a cause for celebration rather than a disability.
Louis Abbate, president of the Willie Ross School, said he believes in exploring multiple approaches on his school's campuses. "So much of education for the deaf has the word 'versus' in it. We should concentrate on removing the 'versus.' The camps need to be dismantled, and we need to realize the value of differing approaches."
One of the school's graduates and now a teacher there, Dulce Goncalves, sees the value of speaking both languages. "As a deaf individual I can use ASL or simultaneous communication or just speaking. If I'm speaking to individuals who identify themselves as part of the 'Deaf culture with a capital D,' I sign, but I do not consider myself capital D," she said. The 28-year-old is technically hard of hearing; a hearing aid allows her to hear well in close conversation, but she had an interpreter while attending the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where she graduated in 2001 with a degree in psychology.
Mastery of ASL and skillful storytelling are highly valued in "Deaf with a capital D" culture. "We consider it a beautiful language," said Edward Peltier, director of the American School for the Deaf, in West Hartford. At the school, "Sign language is used consistently," Peltier said. Still he said, "teachers encourage students to use their residual hearing and to learn speech when appropriate."
With 96 percent of deaf children born to hearing parents, many choose cochlear implants for their children at a young age, and 81 percent mainstream their children into hearing classrooms. The implants are surgically placed in the inner ear and connected to a receiver around the ear which picks up sound and transmits electrical impulses to the brain.
About 100,000 people worldwide wear cochlear implants, including 22,000 adults and 15,000 children in the US. Peltier said that about 12 percent of students at the American School for the Deaf have cochlear implants, up from about 3 percent 10 years ago. "It's impacted how we provide related services," he said.
But over at The Learning Center, Bello said that although deaf people understand the importance of learning to speak in order to succeed in the hearing world, he perceives great risk in not learning sign language. "No one can predict how well a child will learn with a cochlear implant," he said. "Without teaching a child sign language, you risk the child being orally retarded." Also, he said, "It's odd that people would take a child who is profoundly deaf and not help them communicate with other deaf people."
Joshua Walker, a sophomore at Gallaudet University, sees no use for cochlear implants. "You're saying deaf people are not good enough; we need to be fixed," he signed in an interview with The New York Times. "I don't need to be fixed. My brain works fine." The deaf pride movement traces its beginnings to Gallaudet, where the outgoing president, I. King Jordan, was the school's first deaf leader. He was named in 1988 after a round of protests.
Over at the Clarke School, Gjerdingen welcomes the recent debate. "It has heightened the awareness in America about what deafness is. I don't condone what happened there," he said of Gallaudet, "but I understand it."
Gallaudet Protests: What Were They All About?
Nearly everyone insists the real issue with Jane Fernandes was DeafCulture-ness (Dr. Fernandes is deaf, but often speaks with her voice rather than signing). Nevertheless, faculty member Lynn Jacobowitz is on record about other reasons for discontent with Dr. Fernandes' appointment (namely: the need for racial diversity in the job search, Dr. Fernandes' style of leadership, and lack of consideration for issues dear to students and faculty). Most people have assumed that the "other reasons" were window-dressing, cosmetics, and not the face or soul of the protests.
I find it impossible to measure the extent to which the other issues were genuinely a part of the protests. Dr. Fernandes, an already familiar player on the Gallaudet scene, is reported to not be a "people person" - a strength credited to the previous President, Dr. Jordan. During the years that I attended Gallaudet in the 1990s, Dr. Jordan's people skills went a long way toward moderating, but not resolving, discontent - acrid and active as well as smoldering discontent - related to the centrality of American Sign Language and Deaf Culture at the University.
Dr. Jordan played the historical role of being the first deaf president, leaving many contentious issues on the back burner.
Ever-shrinking funds of Gallaudet programs, the increase in cochlear implantation of children, the wider integration of deaf students on other campuses, have all added new ingredients to the ever-simmering pot of questions about the role of American Sign Language and deaf culture in hiring, admission, curriculum and research decisions at the University.
The extent to which the students and faculty felt ignored in the process may have aggravated and magnified the Deaf Culture issues. There needs to be a scientific and non-politicized analysis. The fact that the "deaf card" has been played in the past (and I have personally seen this occur at Gallaudet) does not provide a clear explanation of the events related to Dr. Fernandes' appointment and its unraveling.
It is important that we pay attention to the authentic driving reasons for the protest and for the trustees' decisions, rather than view all events with the lens of our opinions and biases related to Deaf Culture. We in the deaf and hard of hearing community need to understand ourselves and one another so we can be united on advocacy issues of communication justice.
Gallaudet Accrediting Decision Put Off
A decision on Gallaudet University's accreditation has been postponed, with an oversight group expressing serious concerns about recent developments at the school for the deaf. The university is still accredited while the decision is delayed.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education asked for additional information, and it plans to visit the school, in Washington DC, in January. According to a statement from the commission, it is taking the action because of "institutional statements and press reports that have raised serious public concerns," a 2005 federal report "that deemed Gallaudet University 'ineffective' in certain areas," limited attention from the university to matters to be reported to Middle States, limited university response on information the commission requested and "failure to inform the Commission of matters affecting the institution such as the Federal report."
It is another challenge for the school, which is in the midst of major leadership changes after a tumultuous autumn. The longtime president will step down at the end of 2006, and the Board of Trustees has selected an interim president, Robert Davila, to take over in January. He could serve up to two years.
This fall, the campus was consumed by protests over the incoming president, whose appointment was then rescinded by the trustees in October. In mid-December, administrators met to talk about the issues. Janet Pray, who chaired the committee that developed the report for Middle States this summer, said they did not include information about the federal report in their most recent submission because the Office of Management and Budget agreed to do another assessment.
The commission asked for evidence of the academic rigor of the degrees, a long-term plan, a list of procedures for ensuring that issues affecting the school are disclosed fully and promptly, and an enrollment plan that includes how to attract and keep students and ensure they graduate. Pray said officials need more information about what's needed. She noted that the school wrote about enrollment issues, with a plan, in a substantial 10-year report in 2001. So officials didn't discuss those issues again in their report to Middle States in June.
Accreditation is a voluntary process meant to ensure that schools meet certain standards; a loss of accreditation signals problems. The commission questioned whether Gallaudet is in compliance with standards on integrity, leadership, mission, admissions, retention, educational offerings and assessments. "As with other challenges, we're up to meeting them," Pray said. Not to say it won't be a rough road, but when you fight difficult challenges, you come out stronger in the end.