How deaf is deaf? What kind of a question is that? you ask. Shouldn’t such a question matter only to the medical community when designating degrees of hearing loss? Why should it matter to anyone else the degree to which a particular person suffers hearing loss? Ah, but when you seek to be the president of a university for deaf students, a question like that matters, you see.
"The newly chosen president for the nation’s only liberal arts college for the deaf is drawing protests from faculty and students, some of whom question whether she is ‘deaf enough’ to lead their school.
"Last week, Jane K. Fernandes [pictured at right] was named to succeed I. King Jordan as president of Gallaudet University. She isn’t scheduled to take over until January, but already the school’s faculty has called a meeting for Monday afternoon to consider for a no-confidence vote against her and students have carried out a weeklong protest.
[…]
"She was born deaf but grew up speaking, and she didn’t learn American Sign Language until she was 23. She now characterizes herself as a ‘fluent signer’ who can understand and be understood by everyone on campus.
"’There’s a kind of perfect deaf person,’ said Fernandes, who described that as someone who is born deaf to deaf parents, who learns ASL at home, attends deaf schools, marries a deaf person and has deaf children. ‘People like that will remain the core of the university.’"
Apparently, according to the story, the "need" for a deaf university president at Gallaudet was "created" by student activists in the late 1980s, leading to the appointment of Fernandes’s predecessor as Gallaudet’s first deaf president. Now this created need is to become a litmus test against which all future presidents of the university will be judged.
Never mind the qualifications the candidate has in the education of the hearing-disabled. Never mind whether the candidate can be understood by students because he or she is fluent in ASL. Never mind whether the candidate might have deaf relatives of his or her own, which may have sparked the candidate’s interest in the education of the hearing-disabled. Either the candidate is One Of Us, or Need Not Apply.
Michelle-
I think you are a bit off base with this one. When we talk about the qualifications for Catholic university presidents, we often hope that candidates will embody a certain intangible Catholic character, reflect an active and orthodox Catholic lifestyle, and, frankly, pass the litmus test of being “one of us.”
I don’t see a problem here.
Anyone who wants to know more about the feelings of the deaf community should try to find the PBS special called Sound and Fury. I was amazed at how the “perfect” deaf community equates the cochlear implant with genocide. They truly see themselves as a unique cultural group, not as individuals who have to live with a “broken” body part that can in most cases be “fixed”. My pediatrician was featured in our newspaper for making the choice to have her daughter implanted and she received horrible hate mail for it.
jd—
Is that really a true comparison? What if a Catholic university passed over a perfectly Catholic candidate because he/she was a convert and not a cradle Catholic? Maybe someone who was baptized Catholic, but raised Protestant and reverted to Catholicism when she was 23. She now characterizes herself as a ‘faithful Catholic’ who can understand and be understood by everyone on campus.
The Catholic president comparison is not an effective analogy. Belief is of a different order than a physical defect.
I, too, have seen the protest that the cochlear implants are “genocide.” If that “reasoning” is not the very essence of insanity, nothing is.
Belief is of a different order than physical defect.
But Catholicism is more than belief. Deafness is more than defect.
Both Catholicism and deafness are also particular cultures, and the communities attached to those cultures have the right to determine who is an apt representative for them.
Would it be wrong to say that your logical objections may be falling on deaf ears?
Makes perfect sense to me. After all, for years we’ve been told by the aggrieved that a man can’t represent a woman, a white person can’t represent a black person, a stright can’t represent a gay, a Christian can’t represent a non-Christian, someone not of the aggrieved group can’t represent someone of the aggrieved group.
Guys, you got it all wrong, it has nothing to do with her being deaf or DEAF… She has been twisting the words that we’re trying to tell…
1) She is an ineffective leader, even as a provost for 6 years.
2) The system that got her on board was either rigged or flawed…..
jd, there is a HUGE difference between a ‘right’ and what is right. I doubt anyone here is arguing that the community doesn’t have the ‘right’ to pick whomever they please. The question is whether it is the right (or best) decision to have the criteria they have.
I think Michelle and C.M.W. nailed it.
Wow. I always thought that a truly deaf person is a person who truly can’t hear. She fits that bill.
No- this is not like ideology. This is like nominating an African American to a position, only to hear protests of “he’s not black enough” because he was adopted and raised by white parents.
If it turns out she’s been a bad provost, but was only hired because she was a woman, would that strengthen or weaken her case before the inquisitors of “authentic deafness?”
I thought we prized diversity in all its richness, but I guess some diversity is more equal than others.
PVO
“The system that got her on board was either rigged or flawed….. ”
Well, which is it, and what is your evidence?
I find this interesting.
In my own case, I would ask, “How blind is blind?”
There is actually a very broad spectrum of disability between “normal sensory function” and “total absence of sensory function,” for both hearing and vision (and, I’m sure, for the other senses as well, although perhaps the impacts are daily community life are smaller).
I would never consider myself a “perfectly blind” person, because I have partial sight. But,
I can’t fly airplanes,
it is dangerous for me to drive, and I cannot do any occupation that depends on driving
I could never be a waiter (unless you want your wine on the table, or your soup in your lap),
I am very clumsy in business meetings or travel (heck, I’m clumsy at home and in my office), because I have to learn my environment by “feel,” just like a blind person,
I cannot be an extraordinary minister of Eucharist because I can’t see the communion recipient (or the stairs in the sanctuary; so much for ordination!)
But, the average person that sees me might not assume I’m visually handicapped at all, because I know many clever tricks to adapt and get around (mostly), and I don’t wear dark glasses or use a cane, or read braille.
My visual defect is primarily in my visual cortex, in my brain, not with my eyes.
So I can read, or work with a computer (in my darkened, cave like office–no worries about competing for a window office). But I cannot do any sport that involves a ball, or good judgement of distance (like fencing).
And you don’t want me to park your car.
—
In summary, there is a wide range of sensory handicaps and impairments.
But what we have in this story is a sort of artificial delineation of “perfect sensory failure” and the forming of a political group based on that characteristic.
Which is fine if you want to play it that way. After all, society really does not understand.
(I mean, I’ve been hassled by police because I don’t drive. In LA this means something is wrong with you.)
I think we should go back to the old medieval system, in which students hired and fired faculty. Then we could take it a little farther.
Isn’t it obvious that all university presidents should be 18-22 years old and in the process of earning a degree? They should be paid the standard work-study pittance, to further allow them to stay in touch with the student body’s needs. 🙂
Old Zhou —
Heh! I’ve walked through LA. Boy, do you get looks.
(And if you say you’re riding the subway/train. And if you say you’re riding the bus. And if you say you’re riding the bus through a Hispanic part of town, even if it’s a decent neighborhood.)
But I’ve also ridden on the freeway in LA drivers’ cars. Now THAT’S insane.
You are incorrect that the students are looking for a person who has grown up in ASL. If that was true, then many, if not most, would have identified with Fernandes.
However, if you read this link and see this letter (JPG image), you will see that even the faculty who has grown up in the same environment of not learning ASL until 23 years old do not support Fernandes because she is unqualified for the position.
Moreover, all the three finalists were deaf, so deafness is not an issue. The other issues are that the Board of Trustees has engaged in a flawed presidential search that had wanted Fernandes to be chosen, which speaks of cronyism and corruption, as well as the fact that Fernandes is not involved in the Deaf community.
I can’t imagine an African-American chosen to lead a black college would be free to be uninvolved in the positive aspects of black culture, such as the fine arts.
Good link Michelle. I am sorry to see this whole issue being framed this way at this time.
In any case, some of the people posting here don’t know diddly about Deaf culture, though that does not prevent them from broadcasting opinions. For an overview of Deaf cultural issues, written in a way hearing people can get a handle on, see my “Our Decision on a Cochlear Implant”, American Annals of the Deaf 145/3, pp. 263-267 (2000).
Dear Dr. Peters,
This is a great line: “After all, they wouldn’t authorize surgery and therapy to turn their kids into Norwegians, so why try to turn them into hearies?”
I also like your phrase, “some level of disability.”
This is exactly what I deal with for vision.
I hear you.
Deafness seems to be entirely the issue, since failure to participate in the Deaf community is regarded as disqualifying.
This is tribalism, dress it up however you like.
PVO
OldZ: call me Ed. We’ve been cyberspace correspondents long enough!
For those who don’t have back issues of AAD around, some of the same themes are touched on in my on-line ASL liturgy article: http://www.canonlaw.info/a_signlanguage2.htm
Deafness seems to be entirely the issue, since failure to participate in the Deaf community is regarded as disqualifying.
Though, why should it not? Gallaudet was signed as a charter by President Lincoln as a university for the Deaf.
Although 5% of the students are hearing, Gallaudet is a university that recruits all kinds of deaf people (those with or without cochlear implants), and it is the only university solely for deaf people all over the world.
Fernandes, during her tenure as provost, has let the quality of education decline, as measured by the Federal Government. How can she be qualified to lead the university if she has failed to improve the university’s standings for the past eleven years?
You might suggest that the decline in education is due to the quality of the students that attend the university. But, some people have noted that students with hearing loss are regularly choosing to attend hearing universities that provide interpreting services because of the decline of education, all under President I. King jordan and Provost Fernandes’ tenure. Their failure to participate significantly in the Deaf community means that no efforts are being made to convince students to attend Gallaudet instead of other universities.
This whole discussion is timely. My beloved SIL is deaf from birth and is very active in the deaf community in a city in Ohio. She didn’t learn ASL until she was in her 20s (her parents sent her to a school in St. Louis to learn to read lips so she’d fit in better in a hearing world). All of her children are hearing, and all of them are accomplished musicians. She has never heard them perform. Never heard them talk or laugh or cry.
In an email two days ago she revealed that she is considering a chochlear implant. Never once did I consider the struggle she must be going through to make that decision, until I read this discussion. Now I know she needs special prayers because she will surely be shunned by some in the deaf community. All because, she said to me, “I want to hear the voices of my grandchildren.”
‘thann
CMW wrote:
Anyone who wants to know more about the feelings of the deaf community should try to find the PBS special called Sound and Fury. I was amazed at how the “perfect” deaf community equates the cochlear implant with genocide. They truly see themselves as a unique cultural group, not as individuals who have to live with a “broken” body part that can in most cases be “fixed”. My pediatrician was featured in our newspaper for making the choice to have her daughter implanted and she received horrible hate mail for it.
Posted by: C.M.W. | May 9, 2006 6:57:04 AM
This item reminds me of an old H.P. Lovecraft story called, “In the Land of the Blind”, in which the protagonist stumbles upon an Amazonian tribe of wholly blind / eyeless people. Since he is unable to perceive things in the dark, they decide that his malady is due to the two bulbous “growths” on either side of his nose, and are about to remove his … eyes. Sorry, I don’t have a URL for the story, but it has nothing to do with the Cthulhu mythos, so you all ought to be able to enjoy it.
Glenn
Pretty sure that was H.G. Wells who wrote that story JGC, showing that in the land of the blind the one-eyed (or two-eyed) man is not in fact king.
The example makes me think of the deaf woman who stuck a needle in the ears of her young grandson because he could hear and she wanted him to be part of the deaf culture. Clearly this deaf culture stuff can go too far.
BTW, “The Country of the Blind” if I remember correctly does not end despairingly with the man losing his eyes, but with him deciding to leave the blind community and running away. (not that I’m a big fan of Wells at all)
Here’s an example of just how far some people are willing to go:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200204/CUL20020402a.htm
I am resisting posting very much on this topic, but I have to say that SOUND AND FURY, or better, the two sets of people portrayed therein, are seen by many advocates of both positions as inarticulate, if not extreme. I learned things S&F, but I also worried that just-folks renting it are going to get a skewered idea of the debate.
I’m a hearing person who started learning ASL almost ten years ago. I’m a qualified interpreter in the State of Michigan. I teach a class on perspectives in deaf culture, education, and history – so this topic is of timely interest to me.
What a controversy! If Gallaudet’s board of trustees did indeed rig the system to get their own candidate, then it’s no different than the election of previous presidents (see “Deaf President Now!” by Christianson and Barnartt). If, however, Fernandes was selected by a just and reliable means, then Gallaudet faculty and students are engaged in a cultural norms and standards discussion that was clarified earlier.
There definitely is a danger of saying, “You must be THIS Catholic/Deaf/Jewish/Black/etc. to enter.” The concept of what it means to be Deaf is very fluid indeed.
I would also say that the concept of what it means to be a “faithful Catholic” is fluid as well.
Dr. Peters,
I too am resisting commenting further, but I will say that I agree that the arguments in S&F are extreme. Unfortunately that extremism is very real and vocal in the deaf community and not just isolated to the (extended) family “portrayed” in the documentary as evidenced by the people who sent hate mail to a respected doctor discussing her decision in favor of implants for her own child, not anyone else’s. I will say that I honestly don’t know how you can make the claim that “some of the people posting here don’t know diddly about Deaf culture, though that does not prevent them from broadcasting opinions” when you don’t know anything about our personal lives or our connection with the deaf community. You are very vocal about having a deaf child, but no one here has said that they don’t.
hi cmw: there are extremists in Deaf culture. so, what’s your point? or better, how does it negate what i actually said?
i surmise (that is nuanced verb) i surmise a person’s state of knowledge based on what they write. your criticism of my conclusions of about the knowledge of “some people” is as shallow as, well, as would be my retort that “surely you’re not claiming that everyone here is a direct participant in Deaf culture?” that would be a silly retort on my part, no? so is your attibution to me that i am claiming what amounts to infallible knowledge about the life experiences of all the people posting here.
btw: how do you conclude that i am “very vocal” about having a deaf child? i don’t even know what that would mean. “Hey, everybody, I have a child who’s deaf!” 🙂 i have published two short articles on ASL in liturgy (two areas I know something about, IN PART, through having a deaf child) and one balanced article about cochlear implants for other hearing parents of deaf kids (an article which extremists on both sides of that debate would not like precisely because it was so balanced) but it was not an article about “having a deaf child”.
People who don’t know the history of the Deaf in this country can’t understand the controversy at Gaullaudet. They should read up on it before forming an opinion.
I do know that whether or not the deaf community has historical grievances is a separate issue from whether or not Fernandes is academically qualified to run the school, but somehow the two issues keep getting run together.
If she’s a bad manager, that can be addressed and documented without reference to the history of deafness in America.
If the objections are cultural, then it remains to be shown how those cultural objections amount to more than tribal bigotry.
Some have charactised the deaf community as akin to a religion. I believe that there the current and past controversies about the presidency of Gallaudet indicate that there exists a group who would like to establish deafness as a religion; and are champing at the bit to demonstrate their power through a few defenestrations.
PVO
I hate to throw a spanner in the works, but I have heard that the more radical Deaf culture folks are also closely aligned with Gay and Lesbian “culture”, almost as if “gender experimentation” is expected.
Any truth to that?
It would make sense. They are both groups that have something wrong with them but often don’t want to admit it is a disorder, rather making it out to be an “identity” and even objecting to correction of the disability.
“there exists a group who would like to establish deafness as a religion; and are champing at the bit to demonstrate their power through a few defenestrations.”
Is that hyperbole?
Comments like “hearing disabled” and ” physical defect” reveal the true attitude of the person who uses such ignorant and rude remarks. It is no wonder to me why the Deaf community feels the way they do about hearing people in general.
I’m profoundly deaf. So this issue really is close to me.
And yet most people can’t tell I’m deaf, if I wear my hair down. Only the practiced audiologists can tell I “sound deaf”. But recently an audiologist thought I was post-lingually deaf. That’s a huge achievement 🙂 I’m learning ASL in college (it’s amazing how fast I can learn it).
Anyway, my point is that level of deafness shouldn’t matter. And yet it matters to the Deaf, because if they can’t run their own university, then what kind of image does that project to the country? But the DPN revolution this time is a little misguided. Now they’re just sending a message to the country that deaf people are these totally cliquish sort of culture. Like “Sound and Fury” showed. But I have to admit, that’s this family’s problem. Not everybody has the same problem with cochlear implants. (Heck, I have one. I got it at age 16).
But I’ve been in touch with Deaf people, and they don’t really care. Whatever works for you, is their mentality. And I don’t mind if they choose to be completely deaf. (Though I can’t imagine life without music). Anyway, us deaf people don’t think that “hear-os” are totally awful 😉 Most of the time we get along fine. Sure, people don’t understand…that’s why it’s my personal mission to educate people as the need arises. It’s when they continue to act ignorant that we get mad.