the meaning of deaf
14 October 2006The protest at Gallaudet, for me, raises questions of audism and inclusion, but not in the way it apparently does for the protestors.
What does it mean to be deaf? Is there one kind of deaf person?
The meaning of deafness is different for every deaf person, and thus, by definition, there can no more be a monolithic deaf community as there can be a monolithic society as a whole.
So it troubles me when I read things like this and other thinly veiled criticisms of Dr Fernandes’s deafness and ASL and how deaf she is.
Leave aside the questions of her so-called problems and failures at Gallaudet. To people concerned with them, I am not interested in stories or insults or innuedo or letters. Proof. Concrete proof. Evidence. And a very damn good reason why no one came up with these before the official selection. There was ample opportunity. Lacking any proof, there is nothing. Just stories. And to be frank, I don’t take stories at face value. Your mileage may vary.
And to those interested at all in learning more about what’s going on, this list of facts and myths about the protest is a good place to start.
Back to the subject matter.
I’m interested in deafness. How the Gallaudet protesters have judged Dr Fernandes’s deafness. Here’s how Dr Fernandes has responded to this. You can see her thoughts here in the Washington Post.
My thoughts?
They have consistently criticized when she learned ASL, how well she speaks it, her style of speaking, the fact she (at her deaf parents’ choice, as is the case for every deaf child and their parents) grew up oral, that she didn’t graduate from Gallaudet. So on. So forth.This is inclusion? This is recognition and acceptance of diversity? This is how we treat other deaf people?
It is a fact that most deaf people do not grow up using ASL. I am one of these deaf people.
It is a fact that most deaf people do not grow up within deaf culture and the deaf world. I am also one of these deaf people.
It is a fact that 90% of deaf people are born to hearing parents. Thus, for most deaf people, deaf culture and ASL are things that are discovered and learned and chosen. This too, is true for me.
It is a fact that when Dr Fernandes, she at 23 and I at 13, learned ASL, we both became involved in the deaf world in our own ways and we incorporated ASL into our daily lives.
And we, apparently, are not deaf enough.
I have a problem with that, let me tell you.
You want to talk about audism? It’s insulting to constantly be assumed to be hearing at Gallaudet, because you have good English. I cannot begin to count how many times people have looked at me, with skeptism and a whiff of waiting for me to tell them I was just kidding, when I say I am deaf.
I hear less than virtually every deaf person, based on my audiogram. I will never understand spoken words, even with a hearing aid.
I went to the Illinois School for the Deaf. I graduated valedictorian. I learned ASL there, and speak it well enough that I’ve been told by a fourth generation deaf person that I spoke ASL better than she did.
I chose to go to Gallaudet, even though I’d been offered a 75% scholarship to a hearing university. I have a Gallaudet degree. I have worked at Gallaudet in various capacities. I have taught and tutored ASL and ASL linguistics.
What does it say about the deaf community that the amount I (don’t) hear, the deaf school pedigree I have, the Gallaudet exposure, and the quality of ASL I speak does not gurantee equal regard or access within the deaf community?
When will I be deaf enough?
Brilliantly written, Fraro.
Fairy, if you aren’t deaf enough, then I have no hopes of ever being deaf enough.
You and I are so very alike except for two things. I do not have the ability to *sign* ASL in ASL grammar order. I did not attend a deaf institute full time, only sprodically. I was one of those mainstreamed deaf children.
“Oh no! A mainstreamed deafie! Must get the cooties off!! Get away from me! Can’t sign ASL either? That’s even worse!! Shoo!! I don’t want to be friends with that girl.”
That’s what I saw occur everywhere on the Gallaudent campus when I attended Gallaudet from ‘94 to ‘00. When I heard about the new program to admit hearing UNDERGRADUATE students, I hoped that this meant there would be more acceptance and less discrimination against the ones who hadn’t learned the ability to sign ASL. Speak ASL.
I see now that this is not so.
I am saddened that these people who have faced discrimination in so many ways from so many ways and places, are practicing their own form of discrimination, without regard to what they are actually doing.
I, personally, am extremely skilled at reading and understanding ASL. I just cannot sign it. Does that make me non-deaf?
I cannot hear, so that makes me non-hearing.
Where do I belong?
If Fairy is so skillful at signing ASL, at reading it, at teaching it, etc etc… and has no place in the deaf world, then where does that leave ME and the many others who are like me? The many who cannot sign ASL in “proper ASL order” but can sign ASL signs in English Order, for example? Or can sign perfect beautiful SEE signs (Signing Exact English)? It can be rapid and beautiful, but it is not a language, it is a visual mimickry of the spoken English language.
I pray tell. Do we have to create our own world that lies in the void of the galaxies and look onward between the “first-class” citizens (the hearies) and the “second-class” citizens (the deafies)? Be the “third-class” citizens?
I know what *I* want. I want IDIC to become true. Infinite Diversity Infinite Combinations.
Without diversity, we would not be where we are. Just remember that, you all.
Fraro, I do not wish to discount your experiences. They are real and they hurt, I’m sure. But I think the Gallaudet protests have forced us to look at the divisions in the deaf community. They have forced us to address the fact that yes, we do look down on each other. In that way, this could eventually be positive for the community if we participate in honest, open dialogue that involves listening with respect.
It is important to recognize, though, that it is not just one group oppressing another. I have lost count of how many times I’ve been looked down on because I graduated from a residential school and because I choose not to sign in English word order. ALL groups have some jerks who choose to oppress each other in the ways you’ve described. The converse is also true: ALL groups have wonderful people that are genuinely accepting of others, no matter what language and/or communication mode one grew up with, family relationships, schooling, yada, yada. I agree with you - this divisive attitude has got to STOP… but not just for “strong-culturally-deaf” people. People who look down on others because they don’t speak or because they went to a school for the deaf or whatever have got to quit it too. ALL of us who participate in looking down on others are perpetuating this problem.
Now on to the protest - Um, I would like to swat the student who said it was about Fernandes not being deaf enough. It is NOT what the protest is about. The protest is about a flawed search process. (I grant you that probably the protest would not have happened if another person had been selected, but the evidence shows {at least to me} that there were serious flaws in the process.) It is about choosing someone who has been proven to be an inept leader, one who intimidates her subordinates and instills such deep-seated fear in them tha they can’t have dialogue. There are more and more people coming out of the woodwork, describing the horrors they have had to go through working for her. I heard from so many people who had worked for her - and I heard these stories *before* she was selected as the next president. The third reason is that the administration is unbelievably corrupt and people are afraid that with this selection, the status quo will be maintained. (Again, there is ample evidence, if you talk with the right people.) Those three reasons are the main reasons why the majority of the protestors and many in the community at large object to this choice. Yes, there are probably some who persist in the flawed belief that she’s not deaf enough, but they do not constitute the majority - far from it.
The Gallaudet PR machine has issued out-and-out lies. For example, Jordan was in negotiations with the student leaders to make some compromises when the PR person announced that he would never ever agree to any of the suggestions. Talks broke down immediately due to this move. Another example is when they issued a press release stating that no pepper spray had been used, when there were pictures and videos distributed on the Internet that showed injuries from pepper spray. So the sources you cite are extremely suspect because they come from the PR machine of a corrupt administration.
You may disagree with all I’ve said, and that’s fine. I do think you and I are on the same page about one thing, and that is that we need to be able to come together as a community and respect each other’s varied upbringing and experiences. *smile*
In my book, you’re more than deaf enough because you consider yourself part of the community and you sign. That’s enough evidence for me!
I wish my brother would write down his thoughts like you have.
When the protest is reduced to tit for tat actions and attitudes, the message get lost.
Thank you for making this lovely post.
A Voice,
I don’t think there was ever a message in this protest. That’s a major reason why I’m not supportive of this protest.
A protest of anything cannot be effective if it has no consistent message - if observers must ask “What are the reasons for the protest?” - if one side is mudslinging and the other is not (preferably neither side would not be mudslinging at all).
DPN was effective because it had one simple message. “Deaf President Now” The protesters held to that. They had a consistent group of leaders, they had consistent demands, they stuck to whatever they agreed to. In short, they were behaving peacefully, broke no laws, made sure no one got harmed, and most of all, made sure their word was solid.
The Black Rights movement in the 60’s? Led by MLK? Same thing. Consistency, honesty, non-violence.
Right now, I’m not impressed by the protesters at Gallaudet University. Not by their behavior. Not by their so-called claims. Not by their actions. Not by their words about the current president and the future president.
Why not?
Simple. There is no known leader of the protesters. There is no respect of anyone. They wouldn’t even allow the DIRECTOR OF THE GALLAUDET INTERPRETER SERVICE to get through so she climbed over a fence. And in the process, broke *both* her feet. Man, that’s committment to her job, to interpreting for *ungrateful* brats at Gallaudet University.
Do you, the protesters, even realize how difficult it is for interpreters to interpret? How difficult it is for each interpreter to gain a certification to interpret? And you stopped this woman from getting to her work so that she could help make sure the interpreters would know where to go, when to go? Now, she can’t do that for a few days. Wonderful job, I say!!! Oh yes. You must be feeling so proud of yourself. *sarcastic face expression*
And this word, “audism”, that you all are throwing around? Hardly. It means that one is discriminating against a deaf person in preference for a hearing person, in the strict definition of the word.
What is actually going on is more like, “deafism” - where it’s deaf against deaf…
A deaf person discriminating against another deaf person due to ASL/Deaf culture. In this case, I would say these protesters are discriminating against IKJ and JF because they didn’t grow up in the Deaf culture and didn’t grow up signing ASL, etc etc.
So in essence, the more ASL/Deaf Culture you have, the more Deaf you are. Which is the most stupidest thing I have ever heard.
Jane Fernandes grew up in the hearing world (schools, etc) but had deaf parents. She is deaf. She clearly understands what it is like to be deaf in a hearing world. She has been in deaf schools in various capacities, so she clearly understands what it is like to be in a deaf world as well.
Having these multiple perspectives will aid her in being a wonderful and effective leader for the Gallaudet University community. She must speak with hearing people, with deaf people on many different topics. Not only that. She will also have to be able to put herself into *their* shoes for a few moments so that she may be able to communicate the best with them.
Some deaf people she meets with will speak SEE. Others will be oral. Yet others will be ASL. And many others will be of the Total-Communication (I believe this is known today as something else, SimCom?).
With the hearing people, she will have to be aware of the hearing culture’s manners and rules. They are different from the Deaf culture manners and rules.
Here’s just one example - one that I just cannot get away from. Pointing. My husband is hearing, I’m deaf. He is constantly telling me, “don’t point.”
I am constantly telling him, “It’s ok to point.” But but but… It’s not ok in the hearing world and it’s ok in the deaf world.
There are many rules and rules like this that conflict. What if Jane Fernandes did not know both sets of rules and was a pure ASL deaf user. Then she risks alienating the hearing people she meets with for fundraising. Losing that money for Gallaudet. Or if she was completely hearing and did not know anything about the Deaf culture and so forth. She risks the same but on the Deaf side.
Keeping this in mind, be aware that I.King Jordan has been the most effective fundraiser for Gallaudet. From 10 million dollars in 1986 to over 70 million dollars in 1997. Imagine what that endownment fund is now! See the Education Of The Deaf Act & TITLE V of The Higher Education Act Hearing (July 15, 1997)
With JF’s additional contacts elsewhere, with her ASL knowledge, who’s to say that she won’t be more effective at fundraising and all these things that a President does?
I just want you all to keep that sort of thing in mind.
Sometimes, diversity is truly the way to go, not inclusion. Like the Vulcans say: IDIC (Infinite Diversity Infinite Combinations).
If we all were the same, then how can we learn from each other? That’s the point of having diversity.
And having hearing undergraduate students at Gallaudet is essential for two simple reasons. You all want more teachers who can sign better? More interpreters? What better place for these future teachers and interpreters to begin? How can they become proficient in ASL if they don’t get to practice with you? How can they understand that you are truly capable of doing anything but hear if they don’t get to socialize with you?
That is why so many teachers currently lack - the understanding that the deaf student is truly capable of achieving oh so much more, but only if he’s asked to and expected to. Pushed to do so.
So many interpreters who can’t interpret worth shit because we don’t speak up and ask for interpreters who can interpret properly. So there’s no true impeteus for every interpreter to be certified, nor for that certification to be nationally standard. Yes, we have a national certificate, but it’s not mandatory.
See why there is a need for more hearing people to learn ASL?
Congratulations, you protesters.
You just made a very bad image of Gallaudet seared across many people’s minds. They’re going to be thinking things like, “Why should I learn ASL? They won’t talk to me because I’m not deaf, so why should I bother?”.
I, as a Gallaudet Alumni, am majorly disappointed in the protestors. In the students *AND* parents/staff/faculty who are protesting.
I am, however, proud to have graduated from Gallaudet University in the year 2000, with I.King Jordan as the President.
I truly hope the protesters’ actions do not backfire upon them, in terms of creating hardships later on because of arrest records, suspensions, being fired or expelled (due to certain behavior - starting fires, for one thing, that’s a bit extreme and very much unprofessional), among other things.
Before supporting or not supporting this protest, please do have actual examples or proof to back up yourself when you’re talking about it. Being general is not a good way to get anybody on your side. Think of your math classes in school when you had to prove *how* you reached your answer. Same prinicple.
I believe I have supported and backed up my mini-posts here and elsewhere with good examples and whathaveyou.
As for naming myself, fully, the owner of this blog knows who I am, has met me in person, so I am not an anonymonus person mouthing off.
So I’ll remain plutogirl here and elsewhere, wherever I can maintain the nick.
Bravo. Beautifully put.
Your eloquence is astounding, and I truly hope that words such as yours find their way to the eyes of those that need to read them.
This is a nice post. I had had the good fortune to work with a number of deaf people in a corporation awhile back. I got to know a few of them pretty closely and was lucky enough to get invited to lunch with them, etc.
I was amazed at some of the things one of the gals in particular told me about the deaf world, etc. She went to Gallaudet and I think she ended up quitting because she said she felt discriminated against and she never fit in. She said it had something to do with the fact that she didn’t fit into the culture. She described not being deaf enough, too, and I never understood how the community would have her feel that way. I think it had something to do with the fact that she could speak, or something like that…
[...] “Leave aside the questions of [Fernandes’] so-called problems and failures at Gallaudet,” Frarochvia writes . “To people concerned with them, I am not interested in stories or insults or innuendo or letters. Proof. Concrete proof. Evidence. And a very damn good reason why no one came up with these before the official selection. There was ample opportunity. Lacking any proof, there is nothing. Just stories.” [...]
its sad to see fellow deaf people believe jane fernandes’s comment that this protest is about her being not deaf enough. it is far from the truth. my mother learned ASL when she was 15 years old - she grew up oral in a hearing family. i have many deaf friends who learned asl when they entered gallaudet, and many of them are also protesting. i don’t really care that jane learned asl at age 20, what i do care is that she has done nothing in any kind of policy for ASL use by teachers, she has alienated students, staff, faculty, and alumni, and she has not raised academic standards. the faculty recently voted against her, 138 to 24, for her to resign or be removed. do you think the faculty, the majority being hearing, wants her to resign because she’s not deaf enough? no.