New at Reason

Radley Balko | November 8, 2006

Cathy Young looks at the Gallaudet protests, and the troubling, activist "deaf culture" behind them.

Comments

Deus ex Machina|11.8.06 @ 5:13PM|#

The activists also oppose research into cures for deafness through gene therapy and other means.

In the same vein I've heard that there are some quadriplegic activists who oppose research in the treatment of paralysis for the same reason. They raised a similar furor when the late Christopher Reeves was featured in that Superbowl ad were they made him walk again.

|11.8.06 @ 5:16PM|#

I think this article calls for a post from the misanthropic bitch

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

|11.8.06 @ 5:20PM|#

Then there are "autism rights"...

|11.8.06 @ 5:21PM|#

I neither know nor care if the activists speak for the majority of deaf people. If they wish to celebrate "Deaf Culture", so be it.

They have no more right to dictate to other deaf people than I do.

Jeff P|11.8.06 @ 5:27PM|#

It should be noted that the Deaf Culture activists who demanded for a deaf couples right to render their unborn child deaf via pre-natal surgery did not stop at the concept of Deafness being akin to skin color, but insisted that Deaf Culture was ethically superior to mainstream culture. Many Deaf Culture advocates are similar to Indigo Kid parents who insist that they are better or more advanced than the rest of us on a metaphysical (and wholly unmeasurable) level. They see the concept of a "cure" for deafness as a form of genecide.

If a tree falls on a Deaf Culture Activist...?

|11.8.06 @ 5:32PM|#

To them, attempts to "fix" deafness amounts to nothing short of genocide.

Wow. That attitude is too stunning for words.

Rhywun|11.8.06 @ 5:35PM|#

I had to google 'Indigo Kid' - what a hoot. Do they all have platinum blond hair, too?

Jeremy Mahler|11.8.06 @ 5:37PM|#

I know there's a pun or alliteration involved with what I'm about to say, but....

huh?


are you KIDDING me?

YOU CAN'T HEAR A CAR COMING UP BEHIND YOU THAT MIGHT KILL YOU. THAT COUNTS AS A DISABILITY IN COMPARISON TO SOMEONE THAT CAN CROSS A STREET KNOWING FOR SURE THAT THE CAR BEHIND HIM IS NOT MOVING.

This is insanity - schools targeted because they teach ORALISM???? (as an aside, where can I sign up my girlfriend? oh.... sorry, wrong... I apologize now) Why HANDICAP the DISABLED?



Maybe, as a differently-abled person (I have both ears, eyes, and relatively intact senses), I just am not relating to the issue. Maybe I'm just an insensitive jerk... but... come ON...

|11.8.06 @ 5:41PM|#

*shakes head*

Nothing makes a better argument for a new age of oppression, tyranny and intolerance than a morning read of Reason.

(kneel before) Jeff P|11.8.06 @ 5:49PM|#

Rhywun: I've heard that there were plans afoot to make a movie about Indigo Kids. Sort of a reverse Children of the Damned where a bunch of angelically-tuned pre-teens usher in an age of innocence.

BTW, as a lanky Scotsman with a congenital birth defect that prevented nine of my adult teeth from developing, I am better than all of you.
Jennifer is mildly bow-legged. I am pond scum compared to her.

|11.8.06 @ 5:50PM|#

Why are they just stopping at deafness? Why not wipe out a few other senses too? Then they can really celebrate their *truly* diverse nature.

Here's to burning out your olfactory glands!

|11.8.06 @ 5:56PM|#

The President of Gallaudet has issued this statement:

"The media claims that the students are protesting my leadership, but *I* haven't heard any complaints.

"The protesting students are simply part of the vocal minority.

"Nevertheless, I promise to give a full hearing to their concerns.

"We have nothing to fear but ear itself."

Rhywun|11.8.06 @ 5:58PM|#

Sort of a reverse Children of the Damned where a bunch of angelically-tuned pre-teens usher in an age of innocence.

Yeah, right. That's what they want you to believe.

I dated a deaf guy once. I learned that lip-reading is only about 50% accurate. Speech is of course hit-or-miss, it varies by individual. Frankly I can understand the impetus to remain inside a 'niche' culture without all the hassles of dealing with those damn hearing people. But if I had kids you could be damn sure I'd want them hearing.

muchsarcasm|11.8.06 @ 6:05PM|#

Deaf Culture activists who demanded for a deaf couples right to render their unborn child deaf...

Any parents who would purposely deafen their unborn child and thus deny them the joy of music is sick.

|11.8.06 @ 6:11PM|#

I wrote this shortly after the incident:

The student and faculty of Gallaudet University, a college for deaf students, have given the boot to president Jane Fernandes.

According to news reports, Fernandes was not "deaf enough" for the protesting students and faculty. She has been able to speak since birth and didn't learn American Sign Language (ASL) until she was 23. Oh, and the search process was not "diverse" enough.

Let's set the stage. Gallaudet apparently receives more than $100 a year from the federal governmant, was rated "ineffective" by OMB and less than 50 percent of undergraduates earn a diploma. Normally, this type of evaluation is reserved for colleges with a top-25 football or basketball team.

Unhappy students, faculty and staff effectively shut down the college via a "blockade." They burned Fernandes in effigy. While the students claimed the issue was about about Fernandes' leadership, it's pretty clear that Gallaudet was struggling before her tenure. There's also the little matter of the chair of the Board of Trustees resigning due to what she called aggressive threats. Oh, and reports that attempts to settle the matter failed because the protesting students changed demands, reneged on deals and essentially sandbagged the mediation process.

So, in the end the protestors got what they wanted... the ouster of the president and what I am sure will be participation in the search for a new "really deaf" leader. Of course, this is the second time the kids at Gallaudet have forced out the college president... the first was in 1988.

Colleges in America are these little islands of unrealty, but they do have common features. After tossing Fernandes, the deaf but otherwise able-bodied protestors were apparently packing beer by the case to celebrate. What may seem different to some is the status of Gallaudet as a college for disabled persons. (Forgive me, but I'm not sure what desciption is PC. My brother-in-law, a quadriplegic, is not much help because he's so politically incorrect.)

So, what does make of this mess? Yes, the students, faculty and administration at Gallaudet have the right to protest and otherwise behave like asshats in the long, proud tradition of American universities. The Board of Trustees has the right to fold like a cheap card table under the pressure. I am left to wonder, however, how much any one person--even a new president-- can make the college suck less. I mean, honestly, the college is not doing a great job by the standards one normally measures institutions of higher education. Is hiring someone more authentically "deaf" going to right the ship? And maybe it is just me, but could part of the problem be students who are more concerned about the "Culture of the Deaf" than about grinding out the work necessary to earn a degree?

Of course, someone will ask: Why in the Hell are the American taxpayers shelling about $100 million a year for this dog-and-pony show? Well, folks, there is no shortage of federal money spent on all kinds of higher education trainwrecks... in fairness, the deaf are just getting a sliver of this particular pie.

My gut feeling reading about the Gallaudet situation is that it is yet another example of identity politics. The irony here (as quite frequently elsewhere) is that group demanding inclusion quickly becomes one demanding exclusion. The "not deaf enough" is not materially different from "not black enough" or "not white enough." Once one buys into the notion of a deaf culture, there will be gatekeepers as to what is and what is not acceptable in that culture. There will be professional activists, bureaucratic structures and the inevitable funding by the state. I would guess that even if medical science eliminates deafness, a deaf "culture" with all its trappings would remain long afterwards.

I hope American society evolves where identity politics are simply not relevant. I hope we come to a point where institutions like Gallaudet are odd relics of a different era... but it's only Monday.

John Markley|11.8.06 @ 6:33PM|#

Anonymouse,
I'm not sure the comparison with the autism rights/ autism culture crowd is entirely correct. Autism, at least in the high-functioning/Asperger's form, sometimes has certain compensating benefits, and is often part of a person's thought processes and personality in a way that a missing sense (or a missing limb, or whatever)probably isn't. So, while I certainly don't deny that autism (along with its various comorbid conditions)is a disability, I don't think it's really analogous to deafness; at least, not in all cases.

Jeff P|11.8.06 @ 6:42PM|#

All I ask for is the chance to round up a bunch of Deaf Culture activists, strip them naked, and drive them through the streets by torchlight like the freaks they are.
And there should be children throwing fruit...

|11.8.06 @ 6:49PM|#

The President of Gallaudet has issued this statement:

"The media claims that the students are protesting my leadership, but *I* haven't heard any complaints.

Mad Max that is gold and is going straight to the pool room.

Sandy|11.8.06 @ 6:52PM|#

John: don't believe the propaganda. Not all autistics are Rain People who have wonderful gifts to share. Many are just like you and me, except they can't relate socially (or are even worse at it than we are, since we're on teh Internets).

Dead Baby|11.8.06 @ 6:58PM|#

dictate to other deaf people

Finally I'm out of the limelight.

|11.8.06 @ 7:25PM|#

I've noted that people often seem surprised by the bigotry of so-called minorities. ie, a (stright) woman I know was shocked to hear a story about gay men who'd discriminated illegally against straight people. I got a vibe that she was having trouble reconciling that image with the pleasant, gracious gay folks she knew socially. As if gay guys couldn't be anything but snappy dressers who are charming at dinner parties.

Maybe paternalism is really the ultimate putdown of people in "speciality" groups. Maybe playing the victim/identity card is a double-edged sword. If you act like you're in need of special help, people will assume you're kinda helpless, like a child.

I never gave it much thought before, but I wonder if such mass madness as Cathy mentions might approach end-game for the victim/identity concept? For whole groups of people, including otherwise sane adults, to cause themselves harm in order to be accepted by some "in" group - wouldn't that eventually be self-destructive? I guess gang initiations might be sort of the same thing.

|11.8.06 @ 9:24PM|#

If they're taking nominations for a new president, may I suggest: Dante Smith

|11.8.06 @ 10:27PM|#

Sheesh, this is like insisting that you have the right to live in the middle of the US, speak only Basque and no English--and then get miffed that you can't find a job?

I predict that as the implants get better and better, these people will be more and more hysterical...and fewer and fewer. Parents who love their kids will go for the implants.

|11.8.06 @ 10:33PM|#

What?

|11.9.06 @ 12:32AM|#

Many Deaf Culture advocates are similar to Indigo Kid parents who insist that they are better or more advanced than the rest of us on a metaphysical (and wholly unmeasurable) level

Then I guess Helen Keller would be the ideal of human perfection. Or would be if someone would've busted her kneecaps, of course.

Alexehente|11.9.06 @ 1:00AM|#

At first I read "Decaf Culture". Whew. Thought I'd missed something.

|11.9.06 @ 1:36AM|#

Oliver Sacks wrote a book called "Seeing Voices" that gives an interesting (I thought) perspective on the linguistic feats and 'niche' culture that can come with deafness - can't say I'm without sympathy for those at Gallaudet.

|11.9.06 @ 3:34AM|#

Sounds like the problem at Galludet isn't the deafness so much as the stupidity.

Hopefully, this will lead to the establishment of a college for deaf people who actually care about getting an education.

-jcr

|11.9.06 @ 4:35AM|#

If the Gallaudet students take JW's suggestion, and start blinding themselves and stuff, they'll be unstoppable at intercollegiate pinball.

Kevin

|11.9.06 @ 4:42AM|#

Hopefully, this will lead to the establishment of a college for deaf people who actually care about getting an education.

I think those are called normal universties.

ed|11.9.06 @ 8:36AM|#

Are we still allowed to say "deaf"?

|11.9.06 @ 9:04AM|#

Why are they just stopping at deafness? Why not wipe out a few other senses too? Then they can really celebrate their *truly* diverse nature.


So put in your earplugs,
Put on your eyeshades,
You know where to put the cork!

|11.9.06 @ 9:04AM|#

Dammit, Kevrob beat me to it.

|11.9.06 @ 12:18PM|#

This article is disappointingly idiotic. A person with little knowledge or understanding of the issue contributing an uniformed rant.

I am also impressed with the # of unthinking responses to the somewhat subtle issue. It is easy to make the "they're just crazy" argument about any extreme position (e.g., libertarianism), but taking the time to figure out why people think is usually worth the effort.

"Taxation is theft"
"Deafness does not make you or your culture less worthy of respect"

Yeah, these guys are the crazy ones.