http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060508/ap_on_re_us/gallaudet_president

Says she isn't "deaf" enough. My litmus test would be that if she can't hear the protests, it should be all good. :p

It doesn't talk about it here (but it implies re: the no-confidence vote), but it's not just the students that don't like her. The faculty thinks she's a bad fit as well.

<<<Will spend today googling how to sign "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the not-deaf-enough prez has got to go!"

I've heard that about deaf culture; either you're "perfectly" deaf, as it shows in the article, or you're not deaf enough. It's really silly.

Don't get me into whether someone is "black" enough. Ick.

Do deaf-from-birth people get more brownie points than those who attained their level of deafness later?

:yes: , at least at Gallaudet.

http://www.nbda.org/images/download/NBDA_Position_paper.pdf

Wonder why Dr. Glenn Anderson was eliminated from the process and not one of the finalists for the positions? Seems pretty qualified to me. Especially since he was on the Board of Trustees for 16 years basically over seeing the Prez who is stepping down. He's also the first deaf African American to earn a doctrate.

:yes: , at least at Gallaudet.


No way. Seriously?

Wow. That's effed up.

Try and find "Sound and Fury" a great documentary on deaf culture and the controversy over cochlear implants.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/index.html

There are clearly some people in the deaf culture who put too much emphasis on deafness as a part of their identity. Some people in the documentary will go to great lengths to remain in the deaf culture and keep others from leaving their culture, even to their own or their childrens' detriment. It's quite complicated and interesting.

Ah, I have heard something about that.

No way. Seriously?

Wow. That's effed up.

No kidding.

The thing with being born deaf, apparently, is that if you were once a hearing person, then you aren't as "pure" (I'm not sure they'd use that word).

It's very interesting to walk across the campus (I'm less than a mile away), or to find yourself in the midst of a group of Gallaudet folks at the store, etc. There is a definite air of inferiority cast upon those who are hearing and don't sign. It's been an unusual experience for me.

Humans are weird :)

What if you are a born again deaf person?

^^^Noone will teach you the secret handshake and you have to sit at the children's table.

Ah, I have heard something about that.
Oh! :lol:

Glad someone finally got that.

Here's a sarcastic but well written rant against "deaf culture."

http://www.misanthropic-bitch.com/deaf_as_i_wanna_be.html

Oh man..that is some scary thinking. I love the references to race and deafness...yeah, because that's the same. :rolleyes:

If she said "deafness is a disability" at Gallaudet, I think they'd stone her.

I have spoken to some sign language interpreter, and they don't really agree with the cochlear implants either. Not because of the 'deaf community', they are hearing and thus not part of that, but because the deaf children with the implants are often not able to hear good enough with them to be any help, so they end up between the two 'communities', they aren't deaf, and haven't learned sign language, but can't hear very well and often can't communicate with hearing people very well either.
If this is really the case in many of the situations, I can see the controversion with the implants.

Interesting...
There is a very large deaf population at my school (somewhere like 15% of the students I believe are deaf)

Here deaf students are in the normal classes but are provided with a sign language interpreter and a notetaker who sits in the class to take notes for the deaf students in the class.

ETA: I just looked it up and there are 1,100 deaf and hard-of-hearing students and 14,000 hearing students at my school, so it isn't as large as I had originally thought.

I have spoken to some sign language interpreter, and they don't really agree with the cochlear implants either. Not because of the 'deaf community', they are hearing and thus not part of that, but because the deaf children with the implants are often not able to hear good enough with them to be any help, so they end up between the two 'communities', they aren't deaf, and haven't learned sign language, but can't hear very well and often can't communicate with hearing people very well either.
If this is really the case in many of the situations, I can see the controversion with the implants.

That's explored in the documentary I mentioned, too. But I guess that implants are getting better and better, so that will expose some people who have other motivations as well.

No kidding.

The thing with being born deaf, apparently, is that if you were once a hearing person, then you aren't as "pure" (I'm not sure they'd use that word).

It's very interesting to walk across the campus (I'm less than a mile away), or to find yourself in the midst of a group of Gallaudet folks at the store, etc. There is a definite air of inferiority cast upon those who are hearing and don't sign. It's been an unusual experience for me.yeah, that's about it, my ex went there, she was strongly integrated and they even discourage lip-reading, there's a view that ASL is "our language". I think she was happier just going to OSU which is large enough that they can accomodate just about any student.

There are clearly some people in the deaf culture who put too much emphasis on deafness as a part of their identity. Some people in the documentary will go to great lengths to remain in the deaf culture and keep others from leaving their culture, even to their own or their childrens' detriment. It's quite complicated and interesting.
Reminds me of an article I read about cochlear implants. Some deaf people went as far as to call it genocide.

Kind of sucks because if they don't learn English they tend to have really poor reading skills.
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Products/Sharing-Ideas/deafed/tsq.html

I have a picture I took last weekend before the tent city came down. There were signs all over the front lawn, mostly regarding the Prez specifically. However, hanging on the front gate entrance to the campus was a large poster with "Injustice anywhere = injustice everywhere". Really? Dr. King? I get that they don't like the lady, but " injustice" seems a bit over the top.

I've occasionally wanted (but been fearful) to ask why there is such a difference between deafness and other "disabilities" :sealed: I know several folks who are in wheelchairs, are blind, have MS....none of them claim superiority or that their condition is an "alternate lifestyle" (or any of the other euphemisms that the uberdeaf use). I'd wager that few/none would choose to have their child suffer the same fate. Hm.

Dunno, Jen... "One of the things Candy and Sharon, a deaf lesbian couple who purposely conceived two deaf children, think about is how much more a hearing child would cost. "It's awful to think that, but it'll be more expensive!" Sharon acknowledges."

I hope these two are an anomaly. That article screams bias, but still. I'd never heard anything about this "deaf culture" before. It's rather interesting and weird. I'd always thought it was a given that lacking one of the most important senses would be considered a disability. Choosing not to view it that way is one thing, but taking it to the level of a whole other culture/race is overkill. No wonder it leads to this sort of elitism and discrimination.

I do agree with one thing the misanthropic bitch said. If all deaf people want to be a culture and not disabled, they should stop taking advantage of public funds for the disabled. (situation isn't that simple, but a valid principle)