“Mama, do you want to know the title of the paper I’m writing for class?”
“Sure, Joey. Do tell.”
“It’s “Mentiroso Sordo.”
“It sounds interesting. What’s it about? Or should I ask who?”
“It’s about how certain people fibbed in a big way when they said deaf people can do anything. Yes, Mama. You know who they are – those people who said, “Deaf People Can Do Anything But Hear” They’re mentirosos. Liars. Evangelical ones at that too.”
“That’s quite the accusation, Joey – and I’m not sure I like it. What’s going on? What’s making you say this? I think I already want you to tone it down a bit?”
“Mama, remember, Jose? The skinny kid I used to play stickball with on the streets back home? Well, he emailed me. He said he was going to start his own mall in Tlaquepaque. And I’m sure you already know that our “City of Malls” doesn’t really need another mall especially when they’re quickly becoming a thing of the past. Anyway, Jose went on to ask what I thought of his stupid idea of marching into the Commercial Service at the US Consulate in Guadalajara and demanding assistance based on disability a la the American way.”
He lets out an exasperated sigh.
I wave my hands and with a look of concern, I motion for Joey to continue.
“Well, Mama. I squashed his dream to bits. Esta’ pensanda en las musaranas. His head was way up in the sky. I had to.”
“Running a business is never easy wherever you are.”
“I know, Mama. But we’re talking about Jose. And you know I love him like a brother. But there is just no way he could ever succeed. Maybe if he were more educated? Mexico isn’t America - and even in America, you really have to know how to read, write and multiply 4 by 4. One really has to know how to be a full participant in this hearing world to survive. And don’t give me bull about how hearing people need to at-ti-tu-di-nal-ly change.”
I express visual discontent.
“Sorry, Mama. Anyway, so that’s what I’m getting at. Jose falsely believes he can do anything he wants even though he cannot really read, write or effectively communicate. Too many of us deaf people have been misguided especially here in America.”
Misled. Duped. Fooled.
I mutter, “I think you may have done the right thing by bringing Jose out of those clouds.”
“And Mama - Las cosos no son como parecen. Things are not what they seem at Gallaudet.”
“Mama, a high-ranking senator has denounced Gallaudet’s actions and all FSSA can do is turn a blind eye. They’ve pulled the worst Helen Keller possible. Can they really be that oblivious to the implications?”I nervously chuckle and ask, “You mean, Senator McCain’s resignation?”
“Yes, and I’m certain it isn’t just the senator and those in his office who disagree. I’m convinced that there are government officials elsewhere who are beginning to realize that Gallaudet needs to be forced off its high horse.”
Entrada de caballo y salida de burro.
Enter on horseback, exit on burro.
Off with a bang, out like a light.
“And what happens if this Senator actually becomes President?”
Joey signs bubble. Big bubble.Head bobs in. And out.
Can see in. Can’t see out.
“The issue is not about the Gallaudet President or Provost. It is not about racism or audism. It is not about being deaf enough.”
The issue is that Gallaudet calls itself a world-class university when it should not.
To survive, Gallaudet has no choice but to admit the unqualified.
The stars shine elsewhere now.
“My proposed solution?”
He signs Gallaudet. A ‘G’ whizzes past his left eye.
Bubble. Same bubble. His large connected, cupped hands float.
Small door open. Scoop out culture.
“Set aside. Incubate or if preferred, season and marinate.”
I carefully acknowledge the culinary metaphor.
“Deaf culture and educacion. Two different things,” he gestures with the separation of his orbed hands.
“Gallaudet exists to provide higher educacion. Or at least, supposedly. Gallaudet is not Uxmal nor is it Jerusalem. Kendall Green is not hallowed ground.”
“Government does not measure culture or ASL. It measures only educacion.”
“Gallaudet has received poor marks. A big red F.”
Scarlet letter.
Another bubble. Big bubble.
“Secondary deaf educacion,” he says.
“Most schools for the deaf? Pedagogical failure. Despite decades of research, there continues to be no successful model for educating deaf children.”
Bubbles.
De la subida mas alta es la caida mas lastimosa.
The bigger you are, the harder you fall.
Pop. Pop. Adios.
Joey dramatically signs, “Perhaps we should think about closing Gallaudet. And closing the deaf schools.”
Timber.
“$107 million. Millions more in state and other funding.”
“Joey, if Gallaudet and these schools are shut down, what happens to Deaf culture or even sign language?”
“They survive. Set aside some of these millions to ensure their preservation and continuity. Decentralize and create nationwide cultural community centres with linkages to universities and secondary schools of varying caliber. Why can’t we have several deaf centres instead of one? Shouldn’t there be several places around this big country where one can play stickball and be amongst their own?”
Joey continues, “If Gallaudet were to close, many of today’s students would realize that they do not have the needed knowledge, experience or scholastic test scores to be admitted to other universities. Let students humbly accept their misfortunes - and in turn, work to raise the bar for future generations.”
He attempts to summarize, “In other words, let’s stop lying to students, alumni and more importantly, ourselves.”
“Gallaudet is not world-class. It never was. Its alumni should not be led to believe that they should mimic the arrogance or egos of Ivy League socialites.”
Pop.
“Pass some ‘Leave No Deaf Child Behind’ legislation. Require parents of deaf children to use adaptive child-rearing strategies that revolve around both sign language and speech therapy. The Darwinian philosophies of adaptation and survival also need to be factored in.”
Two floating orbs. Hearing and deaf. Combine. One.
Integration.
“Key” is signed to demonstrate emphasis.
“Joey, I’m sure you have more to say but isn’t this all a bit extreme? Shutting down Gallaudet would be abandonment. We can’t leave these kids behind.”
Joey concludes,
You know I’ve a heart of gold. And I would never purposely hurt another. And Mama, it was you who always said,
The truth hurts.
Pop.
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Yes the truth hurts.
But i do not believe that closing down Deaf schools is the answer. Mainstreaming can be very isolating and painful. I should know, as I was one. I grew up taking speech therapy, can i communicate vocally today, no. So all these years being pulled out of my class for speech therapy really helped very little, and i could have been learning important things instead of trying to say the alphabet perfectly three times a week. Also, to be the only Deaf student among hearing students can be a very scary thing especially once you are a teenager. I never had a problem when i was a child but once communication became necessary to date, to debate, to talk with your friends, classmates etc, it does get very… lonely. I lived through it, i dont have too many scars, but i do often wonder what it would have been if i attended a Deaf school or at least a Deaf program the entire time and got to experience socizlization at its fullest. I would be a different person. Sure, school is about education firstmost, but also it does teach children how to socialize with others which in turn does help shape their personalities in some ways, and i missed out on a great amount of that due to not being able to understand each other.
I do, however, agree that education at Deaf schools need to be improved. Yes. Wholeheartly. But shutting them all down? No. That’s just not the answer.
Another option is also schools that have a Deaf program where students have a choice between attending certain subjects in a Deaf classroom or in a hearing classroom. That way Deaf students still get to socialize with other Deaf students, and not feel so alone in a huge school full of students. I support this, but i also do think there should be Deaf schools as well.
Should we shut Deaf schools down, should not be the question, it should be: How can we improve Deaf schools [secondary, college, university] and Deaf programs? How can we improve the education? What should we do to ensure that we all recieve the education that we and our children deserve at a Deaf school?
Right after reading this Blog, I came across a New York Times article on another Blog by Leah Hager Cohen who explains why we need deaf schools:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....A962958260
Here is the link that will have several articles that are revelant to why we need deaf schools. They consist of articles by Leah’s father, NAD and a few more who spoke out against the inclusion movement. The titles on the link are as follows:
1) “‘Inclusion’ Should Not Include Deaf Students”
2) “‘Interpreter Isn’t Enough!”
3) NAD’s Position Statement on Full Inclusion
4) Bad teaching is easier to hide in Full Inclusion
5) Some school districts try to mainstream inappropriately
6) Mainstreaming leads to isolation - a testimonial
http://www.zak.co.il/deaf-info/old/inclusion.html
Juanita: A few thoughts in response to your essay. You’re a wonderful writer, but there’s some facts I’d like to share.
1. Knowing how to “participate in the hearing world” doesn’t mean giving up who you are - as you yourself demonstrate, by writing for an American website and still retaining your own culture. However, I do agree with you that if we as a people want to be accepted as a cultural group, we need to, after getting rid of the plague of language deprivation which has harmed the minds of so many, stop asking for help based on disability and start asking for affirmative action hiring procedures for Deaf people - qualified, professional Deaf people - to ensure that when we do get higher education and develop professional skills, our efforts are not wasted - the way so many of our talented professionals today are wasted.
2. The bilingual model has actually been proven to be successful in educating Deaf children fully, and is also used with bilingual hearing children (I’m a lot more confident with universal methods.) Unfortunately it has never been promoted adequately in America, where schools for Deaf people are still by and large controlled by people with the linguistic abilities of chickens on acid - and similarly logical agendas. A bilingual education means an education which strives for excellence in both languages, primarily using ASL, in order to achieve excellence in all subjects.
3. I do agree that we need more “Deaf centers” around the United States. There are indeed such centers of research springing up everywhere, at CSUN, RIT, ASU, Columbia, etc. etc. as units within other Universities. (I note these are all driven by ASL-users, by the way.) Despite this, I still feel there is a need for completely barrier-free education, and Gallaudet is the place for that to happen. Too many Deaf people are linguistically deprived as children, and this affects social and emotional development: it’s a kind of abuse. One can hardly expect even the best-educated child to cope well in the real world when they’ve been isolated in a mainstreamed program and have no concept of how people behave personally or professionally thanks to this isolation. Just as women feel the need to have women’s colleges where they can be free of oppression, and just as there are satellite schools for children of French parents, Jewish parents and Muslim parents, so too is it highly useful - and beneficial - to have a University where there are no barriers for Deaf people. Of course, the protests this Spring and Fall were because there ARE barriers at this University, and Edward Gallaudet’s dream has yet gone unrealized.
I’ve been saying this for years. Just because you are deaf, there is no reason you should not be pumping gas or bagging groceries if you have no other options. Welcome to the cold, hard, world of reality, where nobody gives a crap if you just happen to be deaf. I’d like plastic, by the way. I said plastic, deaf boy! not paper.
A touchy subject indeed, but, frankly, raising some questions that people seem to prefer to leave unanswered.
By the way, Deafph of Deafph is clearly a troll. Ignore.
I see a lively exchange between mother and son, an opinionated, excited son and an openminded, wondering, and interested mom. Congratulations! I wish to see similar relationships with all other deaf people and their parents, hearing or deaf.
Tell your gifted son, however, that just because a deaf person lacks an education it doesn’t mean that he is helpless to function in a hearing world. The deaf person who has intelligence and flexibility can do much with very little education…all he needs is a brain and two good hands with skills. There are many good examples of this in the deaf community, one example is the case of deaf immigrants who come to Norteamerica seeking equality and employment.
You write:
“Too many of us deaf people have been misguided especially here in America.”
I don’t want to try and change your mind, because I know it’s already set in stone. However, I admit I do take somewhat of an issue with how your posts, one after another, keep on depicting America as the land of spoiled brats who mistake privileges for rights. Personally, I think it’s better to be a bit deluded than deprived- meaning that I’d have a higher chance of winning that Boston marathon if I actually believed that my short legs could sustain a 5:00 running pace for two hours straight. At least I would have made the effort- instead of sitting back and going, “Oh, I’m so out of shape that I’m not going to even enter the race”.
That’s America for you, the land of Aspiration. Can you honestly call Deaf people misguided for simply wanting to move beyond their limitations?
I’ll be the first to admit that Gallaudet’s education seems rather woeful at times, and that graduates who succeed do so primarily because of how they were already reared- but I’m also grateful for the presence of this university in our Deaf community. It *is* hallowed grounds to many of us, but not necessarily for the (academic or cultural) reasons you may assume. I learned many of my life lessons as a MSSD student, and most (well, all) of them were outside the classroom. For example, I learned that it is okay to state my sometimes unpopular political beliefs - because on Kendall Green, people were interested in me for what thoughts I had to offer. As much as I support 100% inclusion and mainstreaming, I do know that it continues to leave a void in many deaf students that only a place like Gallaudet can fulfill.
I think the writer has a point about segregating deaf culture and deaf education. Why should American taxpayers pay for Deaf Culture? Gallaudet is not intended to be a repository of Deaf Culture, but an educational institution for all deaf individuals.
That, I completely understand. I am also tired of people trying to make Gallaudet out to be something it clearly is not; the holy grail of all academia.
People, however, who continually cite Bush (or the Iraq war) as their sole source of refutability, are those who have very few aspirations. :)
Besides supporting deaf people who are NOT disabled with SSDI, my taxes are also being used to subsidize all sorts of nonsense. Little I can do about that, except whine (which I won’t). We already know how far a single vote goes!
America already pays for public education and by not asking religious institutions to pay taxes does in some sense finance religious schools.
The trouble with aspirations is that it allows everybody to believe that they are actually going to get ahead in the game of life, no matter what their actual talents and skills are. Just look at our moronic president who aspired to succeed Daddy.
It seems principles don’t mean anything nowadays. Those opposite of principles seem to move up and if you want to get there, you have to play their dirty games.
America is the land of spoiled brats. We’ve enjoyed the highest standards of living ever recorded in human history. We’ve recently murdered 600,000 irackis just to save a nickel on a gallon of gas. Trust me, JT - 300 million misguided Americans and counting.
300 million Americans anesthesized by turkey and whole days of shopping in malls filled with bright lights and endless, shiny “bargains” cannot be wrong.
QED.
If you check this link, it also include other
articles. They consists of articles by Leah’s
father, NAD and a few more that’ll be revelant
to why we need deaf schools.
http://www.zak.co.il/deaf-info/old/inclusion.html
It seems principles don’t mean anything nowadays.
Those opposite of principles seem to move up and
if you want to get there, you have to play their
dirty games.
I asked for the above post to be deleted, not the other one where I posted under Anonymous. Thanks!
I agree with most of the post. I think Gallaudet shouldn’t exclusively be a Deaf center, because that limits its educational purpose to be an university for all deaf people. And, yes, academic standards do need to be raised. There’s no reason to accept deaf people with a 3rd grade reading level if it takes them six or eight years to graduate.
This is a political argument in most states. Deaf schools isolated from the mainstream are considered as segregation. I have been a Deaf school product until I was put in a “special class” and regular classes. I can compare based on my experience. Deaf schools are excellent because we can work together as students who can communicate using ASL. The bad part is that most teachers in the 1960-70’s era cannot sign. I speak well for a Deaf person and most of the time I had to interpret what the teachers were saying in the classroom.
Most Deaf students from that era were proactive in helping one another and you will see why most students became advocates later in life.
Special class program (self-contained) in middle school gave me an opportunity to learn language using a one-on-one method. After I completed middle school and went to high school. I had no interpreters and at that time there were no laws for that. I asked teachers to face me in the front of the classroom so I can try to read lips. Teachers tend to forget and speak while writing something on the blackboard. I got frustrated and gave up after so many reminders.
Today, I see many accommodations for students within the mainstream programs and this is an excellent option for students who which to chose this route. As for Deaf schools and they need to improve the communication system just like Gallaudet. I am not against any other communication methods used; nevertheless, if a student can communicate using cued-speech, spoken-English and including ASL. I believe in total communication and I know Deaf people will attack me for this comment. It is very important that a person can convey their messages to anyone who is listening and not just Deaf people only.
Gallaudet is a model and should include whatever language, modes, tools to help students achieve. Lambasting on students because they are using communication tools is really unjust.
Most students from hearing families most likely to do well in a Deaf residential schools and only if they are not communicating with their parents or siblings at home. Anyone who has strong communication skills will fare well in a mainstream school setting.
The bottom line is how much lag the Deaf child has with language delay. A language delayed child will not be able to compete with the hearing child in a hearing mainstream settings and this will possibility destroy the child’s learning process.
Therefore; Deaf schools are not segregated based on what most politicians think.