TTMW Issue #62
REALITY VS. DREAM Ryan Commerson Allow me to shine some light into this glorified dream so you can see the grim realities behind it. "They were made up of the 'Hearing Schools' that we continually struggle against in the fight for Deaf children." What fight? Once the fight is won and the Deaf child is enrolled into Michigan School for the Deaf, can they communicate with the hotshots, the old team members, the coaches with efficient clarity? They don't know how to bat, throw, catch, so, can they play? Do the Players even view the children as the future players of their own team? Does Ms. Winkler? When the Bilingual/Bicultural educational approach was thrown on the table in a meeting with Cecelia Winkler, she shook her head with revulsion and simcom'ed furiously, "Look at what happened to Indiana School for the Deaf! I will lose my job!" When the Bilingual/Bicultural educational approach was thrown on the table in a meeting with Beth Steenwyk, the Executive Director of Michigan School for the Deaf, her response was, "That will never happen here." Now, does Ms. Steenwyk even know what BiBi Education entails? "We are all on the same team. We need to pull together to win. When my team complained to me about the backbiting and arguing, I just told them to stop and get along. I did not realize the division that was being created." Have we all been on the same team for the past 150 years? Or were the Deaf staff/teachers taught to keep quiet amidst the hearing majority? When I handed out a memo to the administrative team, I was called in to a meeting with Cecelia Winkler and her team. The memo was a detailed list of audism-related oppression at MSD and a plea for the leader of the school to take a stand on the issues presented. I clearly stated that I did not feel I could support an administrative team that continues to oppressively suffocate MSD. And Cecelia's reaction was, "I don't understand the point of this." The school interpreter, a CODA, sitting next to her nodded in agreement. I was dumbfounded by the reaction but after a moment of awkward silence I regained composure and asked one fateful question, "Do you view Deaf people as disabled?" Her response was, "Yes." Same team, indeed. And this is termed "backbiting and arguing"? The division was clear and present for so long that it was comical and na?ve of her to say, "I did not realize the division that was being created." She knew, and commented on it more than once. "To my shock and dismay, when I looked up I saw that the person who had caused the damage, the person wielding the bat was the new kid, the 'powerhouse' we had all welcomed so enthusiastically. Just before the start of the game, he let me know he had decided not to play with us after all and was moving on to another team." Cecelia, did the "powerhouse" have the bat in his hand? This new kid that you have glorified as the "powerhouse" did not have any power. "Just before the start of the game"? The game started 100 years ago after Alexander Graham Bell and the likes of him took on the reins. Remember, this "powerhouse" had challenged the team captain to take a stand on the issues. More than that, no space was given for resolution of issues. Every good coach knows that mediation between team members is of utmost importance. Well, this coach did not go to bat. Instead, she took a broom and swept the dust of the field under the bases. And we tripped over them repeatedly. That was where the bruises came from. "As always, the Michigan School for the Deaf team rose to the occasion. We taped limbs, bandaged wounds and limped out onto the field. We tied. No ground was gained. No ground was lost. *But we survived.*" Cecelia Winkler and her hearing players survived. Did the Deaf staff? Deaf Children? Is Simultaneous Communication still practiced at MSD? Have all teachers at MSD scored above Advanced Plus in the Signed Communication Proficiency Interview? Do the Deaf staff understand everything that goes on in the staff meetings without flinching? Do the Deaf children understand their own teachers? Do the teachers understand their own students? The Players of both teams might have tied. Perhaps no ground was gained or lost. The Players might have survived. But the children did not win. Two Cents Worthless Wow, talk about totally missing the point. After reading the dialogue between "She and Me," I found myself first feeling slightly annoyed. I felt the writers of that didn't really take the time to closely read "The Ideal Deaf Principal" and therefore were unable to have an in-depth discussion. It felt rash. But after reading it several times, that annoyance faded away and turned into something similar to pity. "Gee, they really don't *get* it, do they," I thought. There are three things I feel I must point out. First, Ryan never once said the principal had to be Deaf. He asks, instead, for a principal that is fluent in American Sign Language and respects the language enough to use it full time. That is the *ideal.* The responsibility does not fall on the principal alone, but serves to model to the rest of the population that the language and culture of the Deaf child is of utmost importance. That's where your I. King Jordan falls short, my friend. Second, Ryan isn't arguing a non-existent problem. The problem exists, certainly. It is a problem of incidential learning. You see, children learn so much through osmosis. They see, they take in everything. They hear, they do so too. Now with a principal that signs at all times (using ASL, not simcom), three things will happen. First, the child will feel important and a part of the group. Second, the child will be able to actively participate in the discussion without the time-lag of an interpreter and will have open access to her language. Third, the burden of communication falls back on the parent, where it should be in the first place. The parent needs to see how much the school values the child's language before he or she will feel the need to become more fluent, too. Never understimate the power of group pressure. Third, there was some discussion about a "dose of reality." Huh? When 90 percent of Deaf children have hearing families, what makes you think they don't "get" that in the world out there there's no interpreter walking around waiting to interpret for the hearing people full time? What's real about a school full of Deaf children, anyway? Do you dispute the existence of schools for the Deaf simply because the whole world isn't Deaf? The WHOLE point is feeling a stronger sense of self-worth, feeling that it is not MY responsibility alone to communicate with people, feeling that others support you in the belief that your PARENTS should be fluent in ASL if that is your preferred language. Who are you to say that isn't reality? Why shouldn't I be able to go out into the world and communicate in my language and have people around me-- hearing or deaf-- do the same? There's nothing wrong with having this high standard of expectation with understanding that the majority of people don't live up to it. After all, as a woman you expect to have the same rights to any job as your fellow man. You know you are worthy of it. That doesn't mean you'll always be treated equal. But it's still a good expectation to have. Recovering While I understand the point that Cecelia Winkler is trying to make with her dream analogy in TTMW #60, I am extremely wary of the way she signed her letter. I have the utmost empathy and sympathy for the "Recovering" part of "Recovering Audist." Still, one wonders what could happen to her Deaf colleagues/students if she were to "fall off the wagon." Paula Bukowski
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