Posted on 10/29/2006 6:19:47 PM PST by kokonut
WASHINGTON — The board of trustees of the nation's premier school for the deaf voted Sunday to terminate the appointment of the incoming president, who had been the subject of protests, the board announced.
The vote at Gallaudet University came after a daylong closed-door meeting that followed a month of protests by students and faculty members. Jane Fernandes, the school's former provost, had been selected in May to take office in January.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Interesting story about... me!
I was born with a very severe hearing impairment. Probably about 95% deaf. Can hear with the help of hearing aids but still have to "lip read."
Back before Kindergarten, my parents had to make a decision. Whether to send me to a deaf school and learn how to sign or send me to a public school where I would have to learn how to join the hearing world. They were told that if I learned to sign (which is way easier than lip reading), it would be near impossible for me to join the hearing world as an adult.
So my parents threw me into the public school and I learned the hard way to communicate with hearing people. I can actually speak well and have conversations with many people. But to tell you the truth, I rarely ever see deaf or other hearing impaired people.
I always wondered if its because they refuse to join the real world and instead stay in their own small world with little opportunities.
Imagine the very worst of the shrill, intolerant Left boiled down into a very few nasty, vindicative people who make it their life's work to make life miserable for those they disagree-with. Add a chip on their shoulder the size of Gibraltar, and you've got the Deaf Community.
_________________
Beautifully done.
I was threatened with death, accused of all manner of criminal activity, scorned and hated by nearly everyone in a position of authority over me, lambasted in the Baltimore Sun, investigated by the State Attorney, and much much more.
Why? Because I sought to elevate the poorest and most devastated deaf to lives of independence. The Gallaudet crown was livid. Their contempt is based in a rigid classism that denies the very existence of the most isolated deaf, those with little or no education, skills or opportunity, the so-called "low deaf."
It will take another 50 years to begin to penetrate the sheer lunacy of this bunch.
Boy, I'd hate to be the one to have to tell her the bad news. Then again....
Galluadet seems to be a strange place. This sort of protest and controversy has been going on there for years and years.
Some in the deaf community say they should develop a separate culture and the hearing folks should reach out and respect that idea. Others say the deaf live in a hearing world and should assimilate, learn lip reading, wear strong hearing aides and go for the cochlear implants if medically possible. The Galluadet radicals favor the first way and reject the second.
Most of us hearing people are neutral and we mostly respond to the deaf who follow the second way. Most Americans are hard pressed to learn Spanish, let alone sign language.
Galluadet was founded to help all deaf, not just one group. They (the radicals) need to compromise a bit.
One could argue that if these folks wanted to be part of society and deal with their deafness they would not be at Gallaudet in the first place but would be at other universities assimilating with people and learning to function well in society. They've obviously found their own little refuge from the world and how dare someone come along and try to disturb it.
The students and some alumni agitated against her because she wasn't monolingual ASL.
The great blot against her is that she learned to read lips and speak English as a child and only later learned ASL.
What a travesty! How dare she! /s
It has become impossible for hearing persons to be deeply involved in leadership/administrative capacities with deaf people. My family served this population for 85 years. We were finally rejected because we were deemed not deaf enough. My father's parents were deaf from early childhood. Like my father, I grew up in the deaf community.
My supervisor, a District Superintendent of the United Methodist Church, took the side of these Bolsheviks. My work with deeply isolated deaf was repudiated by her and others. She said, "Those people are like sheep. They will follow you anywhere." This, from one Christian minister to another.
I was stunned and dismayed to hear open opposition to Christ's admonition that we feed His sheep, from a leader in a major Christian denomination.
There is a profound mental and emotional imbalance in the thought processes of these people who demand their way or charred remains. They brook no dialogue, no compromise, no reason, and no care for the well being of others.
These are the fascists we have been warned about. To save them and us from their terrorism, we must learn how to teach the unteachable,lead the unleadable, and love the unlovable.
I'm not trying to be snarky at all, but is there some kind of psychological....psychosis?...attachment disorder?...that can result from isolation/lack of communication with those around you? Such as one sees in orphans who are housed in facilities where there is almost no contact with caregivers? I can think of no other way to explain such behavior.
I've no real experience working with the deaf, but I do with the blind. They, as a whole, do not talk and act like these radicals.
With all due respect, this is not entirely true. There were also true and valid concerns about the way the grammar and high schools were being run; for example unqualified teachers and dismissal of the parents concerns, such that - they moved their kids out of the school. So there is more to the story than the MSM is reporting.
Victimhood forever if all they are doing is passing out ASL cards and asking for 1.00 each.
However, I know many deaf people who choose not to implant and are fine with their deafness.
John,
I moved to PA because it has one of the best residential schools for the deaf in Pittsburgh. My 14 year old attends school there. She is deaf, uses ASL and has a cochlear implant. Back in the 90s, insurance did not cover CIs plus she was having seizures and I woudl rather have a deaf kid than a brain damaged one (exacerbating it by the implant). It's great that this worked out for you. And you're right, many deaf do have a small circle of friends - but you know what - at least they HAVE friends.
And oral language is very hard for a deaf person, as you said....and signing comes naturally to a deaf person, for the most part.
But depending on the school program, like ours - and the transition opportunities they offer, will determine what a deaf kid does after HS. Four of our guys graduated at the top of the Votech classes in HVAC and collision repair and construction. They won't be in a small little world.
regards,
Mary
Regarding your story - I did send my kid to deaf school and she loves it. I had to do what was best for her, not me. She was one of five deaf/hh kids in a southern CA school program....the only deaf one; the other four were HH and hispanic. At her school, she participates in everything. We went back to visit her friends after a year for the 8th grade graduation. One kid is being held back and had joined a gang. The other boy joined a gang too. The girl didn't know where she was going to go to HS.
I think its a matter of perspective.
Best,
Mary
Glad it worked out for you and your daughter.
Sisku
There is a kid who goes to my daughter's deaf school out in PGH...a local family. She was adopted at age 8 by this family. So it was kind of late for her to become oral (that means speaking). After two years at the IU, they threw their hands up and decided for her to go to PGH where she was in a class for emotionally disturbed kids. It has finally been decided that she has a reactive detachment disorder...compounded by her years in the orphanage. She has been unable to bond with her adoptive family. The sons in the family want her to get a CI but they do not understand the extensive auditory rehabilitation one must go thru to understand sounds. Having driven my daughter to appointments for over 2 years, I do know of what I speak :)! But its been worth it.
I can honestly say my child has no detachment disorder even if she is out in PGH. Sure, its hard during the week when she's out in PGH, but she loves it and comes home SO happy. The staff does a great job keeping in touch during the week and I can talk to her on the VRS.
Jerry Nailor, Republican, was instrumental in the developmnet of our outreach center and has been in the forefront of making ASL an official foreign language.
If you're ever interested in meeting people in the deaf community, let me know.
I also equate some in the deaf community to our respect for other cultures who share a language and way of life ... like the Amish. Many deaf do not care to embrace technology, although they love their sidekicks and blackberries.
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