Keith Nolan: The Fight to Fight

BY JOSEPH SANTINI



Keith Nolan, 29, of California, is angling to join the Army. He fought through the ROTC and impressed his instructors so much they gave him a uniform. So why isn't he being ushered in by the nearest recruiter? They say: because he's Deaf. I say: That's not a good answer anymore.

I'm going to fight my instincts on this one. I'm ready to fight the logic I'm being presented with. I'm ready to say, He's not asking for active duty! He just wants a desk job! He's from an active family background of independent Deaf folk who pull themselves up by their own bootstraps!

But this is a defensive stance for a writer, and part of me rebels at taking such a stance, because he SHOULD have the right to join the army in whatever capacity; we have the technology to make that possible, and he certainly has the ability and intelligence. And even without the technology, I honestly believe ability is enough; we can make up for our lack of hearing, and our abilities in other areas—especially visual, but also technological—makes us a potential benefit that shouldn't be overlooked, if one is smart enough to be able to deal with a diverse group of people.

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...I honestly believe ability is enough; we can make up for our lack of hearing, and our abilities in other areas—especially visual, but also technological—makes us a potential benefit that shouldn't be overlooked, if one is smart enough to be able to deal with a diverse group of people.

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Now, if I make that statement in conversation—that Deaf people should have the right to join the army—I'm always given stories. People give me hypothetical situations where a Deaf soldier misses a whistle or something and as a result everybody dies. Hearing people can't imagine being Deaf—just like men couldn't imagine being women in the army, for example. Problem with this is I can hurl hypotheticals right back - what if you need a wider field of vision - better pattern recognition - what if there's so much gunfire your entire troop is deafened or concussed - who would you want at your side - a Deaf soldier used to fighting for himself, from a tradition of making things happen, or some hearing guy whose previous loudness levels haven't exceeded Lil Wayne mp3s and who runs about clutching his ears! How about guys in camoflage—pretty sure we'd have a better chance identifying them and willing to test that in the field! What about intelligence? Deaf folk can and do exist in other countries—and we can go places, begging and signing, where no other group of people can go. We aren't just a group of disabled people whining for coins in exchange for alphabet cards on the street anymore. We are now a sophisticated culture with threads and chains around the world. (And don't get me started on our skill with technology; if you can chat, use video, or download on it, Deaf people probably know how to use it. We're the communication harbingers of the world. They should keep us on staff just so they know what to buy next.)

Clearly, sometimes it takes Deaf people to see the potential of Deaf people. All of these hypothetical arguments are based on what hearing people would do if they magically became Deaf. They're not based on the experiences of people who've lived Deaf lives, whether we have CIs, hearing aids, or use ASL. All kinds of Deaf people learn our limits and often teach ourselves how to compensate for them. Just as any other group does. This is common sense—and we shouldn't be holding ourselves hostage to the expectations of others. We'd come up with ways to locate that whistle or the people who made it—and, as it has in sports and computing, our inventions would probably revolutionize the world. (The football huddle, anyone?)

Our army's administration continually stalls at diversification. The "other races" got in. The women. Gays and lesbians don't have to keep it secret any longer. Even people with flat feet made a comeback. Now DEAF people want in? But this hysteria is counterproductive. Every time we've changed and grown the population of our army, it's become stronger, not weaker. People find their own roles. Women might be physically weaker than men... but they find ways to work out and overcome that weakness, or use tools, as we apes are wont to do. If I were a commander, I'd want a trained, seasoned group... of diverse people with diverse abilities, talents and skills. That would guarantee our ability to evolve and meet any situation.

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Every time we've changed and grown the population of the army, it's become stronger, not weaker.

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Online, some have responded that there's plenty of "exceptions" to joining military service—and this is true. But the military evaluates and re-evaluates these exceptions all the time, as my list of diversification showed. There are Deaf people I'd rather have at my side in a difficult situation than many hearing people I know. Maybe, if Deaf people are struggling to even get a desk job, it's time to make the case and re-evaluate this one.

In Keith Nolan's case, he's looking for a position in military intelligence. He's not looking to be on the front lines—though from his face, he looks like the kind of guy I'd rather have on my side. This means there's even more places he can be used—and none of those front-line hypotheticals even apply (although, as I've pointed out, maybe they shouldn't, anyway.) I hope that military leaders see his potential benefit and stop seeing his difference as a barrier; it's a potential asset. Keith Nolan stands as a shining example of going against the odds.


ABOUT JOSEPH SANTINI
Joseph Santini is a writer, artist, teacher and activist in the New York City area. A graduate of Bristol University, he has studied under Dr. Paddy Ladd and written, filmed and drawn on Deaf issues, education and social issues for many years. His work has been published in the New York Times, been seen on several blogs, and he was named Best Emerging Artist at the Superfest Film Festival for the short film "...let us spell it out for you" encouraging support for Deaf arts. Follow his news tweets @jrscoyote.

Should we keep hearing schools? A modest proposal

BY JOSEPH SANTINI

Hearing schools. We don't talk about them much, but what happens in the hearing community and the discourse that affects their schools strongly affects schools and politics in the Deaf community. We often forget that, focusing instead on Deaf schools, which are all bilingual to some extent (even many oral programs use sign language at some point!) In fact, this discussion applies to the widest possible range of Deaf children—since even programs in mainstream schools are affected by the political discourse about hearing schools. In the New York Times recently, articles from five scholars, only one a Deaf person themselves, attempted to discuss Deaf schools and whether they are needed. Let's talk about three ways that hearing community politics may be behind a recent series of articles from the New York Times and affect how hearing people perceive Deaf schools. In each case, we'll point out how a political issue in the American educational discussion affects the Deaf educational discussion—whether we realize it or not.

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In the New York Times recently, articles from five scholars, only one was a Deaf person themselves, attempted to discuss Deaf schools and whether they are needed.

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There's anti-language action in the hearing community, for example, often disguised by cost-cutting concerns. When so many hearing administrators in hearing schools are against including Spanish in their school curriculae, why are we surprised when there are similar arguments popping up against keeping institutions which, by and large, use bilingual strategies to teach, in fact in many cases demand those strategies? We Deaf Americans might not consider ASL foreign-but the attitude of English-speaking Americans insists on it. Two driving forces in American education - one firmly determined to maintain English as the 'only' national language, another determined to cut public school funding by eliminating everything "unnecessary" in school curriculae—have combined to get rid of foreign languages as unnecessary. In New York, for example, schools have eliminated foreign language Regents exams—and will not work to save those exams. In the last two or three decades, many of our protests and fights with Deaf schools and programs have been about the need to choose individuals who are both bilingual as well as bicultural to run bilingual deaf schools-while many public schools don't even offer foreign languages any longer. Ironically, considering the series that began this discussion, another discussion on the New York Times debate site criticized the American lack of rigor with regard to learning foreign languages. In complex issues, there's many areas people can create disconnect. We are a more multicultural society these days, but we're teaching less foreign language.

In hearing communities, there's been a huge issue where redistricting's concerned. Politicans get elected and change districts to beef up their voting numbers—but then, responding to their consituency, they change other kinds of districts. By setting up districts, politicians can manipulate the configurations of voting neighborhoods (making an area seem more Republican by moving the district to include more Republicans, for example.) They can also make beneficial changes to make sure schools have an equal number of students, for example—or to destroy powerful school-backing populations. In New York, for example, Deaf schools, schools for the Blind, and other programs have been threatened with closure, which would isolate Deaf children in local individual districts. Often the intent behind these decisions seems to be focused on breaking down communities. When schools funded by the 4201 law in New York saw their funding threatened, parents, students and educators came together to fight for their schools—and politicians often don't like such opposition. Oral programs to ASL-programs, it didn't matter; all manner of bilingual schools came together in support of each other. We see this happening in many places and with many groups (redistricting often happens for racial reasons) but we often forget how mainstreaming can break up the community surrounding Deaf schools and programs—and wind up disempowering parents, students, and teachers who work with Deaf people.

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...we often forget how mainstreaming can break up the community surrounding Deaf schools and programs—and wind up disempowering parents, students, and teachers who work with Deaf people.

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How about charter schools? Instead of getting government money to improve curriculae, schools are encouraged to leave the public sector and ask Coca Cola to sponsor their school (in exchange for making their kids drink more soda!) So why are we surprised when Deaf schools are attacked by politically conservative writers for being too expensive? They think ANY school is too expensive! (Maybe it's time for Deaf schools to be sponsored—by Purple.)

These are three issues out of many. But it shows why Dr. Ladd's concept of Deafhood is important. Deafhood forced me to place our school's issues in the context of issues happening elsewhere in this country. If we don't look at Deaf schools in the context of what's happening with hearing schools, we're going to miss a lot of the backstory. Just saying that hearing people are against ASL makes no sense, especially in light of research and the number of successful, intelligent, and fluently bilingual or multilingual Deaf people. There's other forces at work—and we ignore them at our peril.

Our response to a recent set of New York Times articles, as a community, rested on anger and frustration. This might have been because they included no Deaf people who are educators or Deaf people who've gone to Deaf schools— and presumably know why they exist! Those articles came from outsiders—not insiders. It would be tantamount to asking six men and a housewife why women should go to college. Of course they all responded negatively-especially when people brought up cost! Nobody could deny that well-paid teachers with job security would be a great thing for Deaf schools, for any kid, that we should try to create the best environment. More books, more technology? Fantastic! But hearing people don't give these things to hearing children; why should we expect them to give more to Deaf kids? As Josh Swiller notes, the kids are gonna have a hard time of it anyway! We should just accept their suffering is OK—just like we accept the suffering of hearing children who are gay, disabled, overweight, bullied... Right.

No school that has that kind of dismissive philosophy can do a good job—no teacher. Imagine a teacher who ignored a kid coming to class with bruises—and when questioned, said "Well, people get hit! Better they learn to deal with it!" But the New York Times didn't include any school teachers in that series of articles. When you work as an educator, you continually try to make life better for your kids, even if it's just by understanding they struggle with math. But the Times did what much of the debate in education in America does: it ignored teachers. Not one school teacher who works with Deaf kids was consulted in the writing of those articles. Here's my modest proposal: let's talk for once about how to spend more on all our kids, instead of focusing on inventing reasons to cut the little we do give.


ABOUT JOSEPH SANTINI
Joseph Santini is a writer, artist, teacher and activist in the New York City area. A graduate of Bristol University, he has studied under Dr. Paddy Ladd and written, filmed and drawn on Deaf issues, education and social issues for many years. His work has been published in the New York Times, been seen on several blogs, and he was named Best Emerging Artist at the Superfest Film Festival for the short film "...let us spell it out for you" encouraging support for Deaf arts. Follow his news tweets @jrscoyote.

In which I call out the National Association of the Deaf

BY NOELLE BELL

This article is cross-posted at Daily Kos.

I am very disturbed by the news that the National Association of the Deaf has decided to ally with Audism Free America, a militant deaf organization that has defaced private property belonging to the Alexander Graham Bell for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Audism Free America is a militant deaf organization that does not support the right of hearing parents to choose the right communication mode for their deaf children. They also do not support the rights of hearing parents to implant their deaf children.

They think hearing parents are so wholly uninformed about ASL , and that they believe that ASL is a natural language for ALL deaf children, and they want ALL deaf children to learn ASL regardless of the parents' wishes for their deaf child's education. They do not support parental choice to make the best decisions for their deaf child.

This is the kind of advocacy that Audism Free America does against organizations like the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, simply because AGBell favors the oral approach for deaf and hard of hearing children and is not against cochlear implants. I am not denying the history behind the eugenic approach of its founder, Alexander Graham Bell, but I am pointing out that this sort of militant approach in defacing private property and insisting that hearing parents should teach their children ASL only is the sort of approach that does them no favors in their mission of promoting ASL, and instead turns off hearing parents from wanting to learn about ASL.

This sort of militancy and anger towards hearing parents is what drove my mother away from the Deaf community. Here is my earlier post which was a response to one of my Deaf friends for thinking that Jamaican skin bleaching was like cochlear implantation:

Those making those kind of arguments are the ones I find to be ignorant, fearful, and unaware of what really goes into a hearing parent's decision to implant their deaf child. To be sure, there are a few hearing parents that think it's a miracle cure and their deaf child won't need accommodations, but on the whole, these hearing parents, just like my mother, consulted extensively with doctors, went to schools for the deaf, and even approached the deaf community for advice.

My mother saw insularism, ignorance, and anger in the ASL Deaf community when she reached out for help. She didn't want to expose me to that kind of environment if I was implanted because she saw the discrimination against those who were orally deaf and wore implants. She wanted me to have all the tools available to succeed in what is a world that is made for and designed by hearing people. She knew just having the cochlear implant wasn't enough for me. I would need extensive speech therapy, and to have access to the best resources for me to succeed academically. She made sure of that with help from my grandparents while she worked through the aftermath of a very nasty divorce.

I want every deaf child to have the best access to resources, whether it be the cochlear implant, hearing aids, ASL, Total Communication, SEE, and oral speech. I want these parents, whether they are deaf or hearing, not to be ostracized for the choices they make. I don't think it's wrong to implant your deaf child as it is to address a medical condition---deafness. I don't think it's wrong for Deaf parents to refuse to implant their deaf children as long as these deaf children have access to hearing aids, ASL, speech, and other communication modes with a strong support system in place that helps them out academically.

Why bash those who wear cochlear implants, and prefer to speak orally, or use other communication methods? In using these sort of tactics against the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the Deaf community, instead of gaining members, are losing potential members of the deaf community. It is rather insane to be angry with AGBell, whose stated mission is to promote oralism and cochlear implants, and to expect them to change that mission. Over the long term, the Deaf community is going to become obsolete if they keep using these tactics. Some groups, as I understand it, are beginning to understand this and are revising their tactics to talk up ASL and the benefits of bilingualism and the acceptance of those with CIs, whether they be adults or children, into the deaf community. Instead of attacking and protesting a rival organization, they should be promoting ASL and the benefits of bilingualism at the local, state, and national level, and asking for it to be included in ALL communication modes in legislation.

I hope more people in the Deaf community will come to understand this, and to save deaf culture, to positively promote ASL and acceptance of those who don't use ASL. It works to their benefit to have more supporters of ASL, whether they be hearing, oral, CI, deaf, even if many of those supporters don't use ASL.

And the National Association of the Deaf should be careful about who they ally with, like the founders of the Audism Free America, who see cochlear implants as evil and akin to genocide. Audism Free America is not a credible organization, and in supporting the protests of AGBell, NAD is damaging its own credibility as an organization that is supposed to be inclusive for all deaf and hard of hearing Americans. The founders and members of AFA forget that at the end of the day, when hearing aids and cochlear implants are turned off, we are all deaf, oral and ASL alike.

If you agree that the National Association for the Deaf should keep on being inclusive for all deaf and hard of hearing Americans, instead of allying with an anti-oralism, anti-cochlear implant organization, please contact the National Association for the Deaf here at @NADTweets.

Disclaimer: All views contained within this post are those of the author's, and they are not representative of anyone else, and this is not considered an endorsement.


ABOUT NOELLE BELL
Noelle Bell is a graduate of Smith College with a B.A. in Government, and was named as a Netroots Nation ’09 Scholar by Democracy For America. She is a former congressional staffer, and is the New Media Director for the Back to Basics PAC. She enjoys the use of social media on domestic policy issues, and can be followed on Twitter.

It takes a village: teachers and librarians can help students achieve academic success

BY NADENE EISNER

In 2009, twenty schools for the deaf were targeted for closings or budget cuts. Throughout 2011 the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has fought to protect schools for the deaf from closing. The NAD’s position statement on schools for the deaf recognizes their value both educationally and culturally but when we look at enrollment numbers more deaf and hard of hearing students continue to attend their local public schools, private schools, or public schools with deaf and hard of hearing programs than schools for the deaf.

While the NAD is fighting for schools for the deaf to remain open, who is looking out for the educational welfare of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students in public schools? We know the current learning situation is not working successfully for all DHH students. Research continues to show the average DHH student graduates high school with a fourth grade reading level. To combat this decades-old struggle to improve literacy and learning, research out of RIT supported recognizing and teaching to the unique learning styles of DHH students. With appropriate support, DHH students made academic gains relative to their learning level. Recommendations from this research included educating DHH students in an environment with teachers experienced in working with DHH students and supporting independent learning by providing opportunities for students to demonstrate knowledge of what they read and learned. Being encouraged to think independently helped students transfer knowledge from one area to another.

Who is responsible for teaching these independent thinking skills? Many articles about educating DHH students point to classroom teachers as the responsible parties in educating students. Those of us who subscribe to the theory of teachers as guides recognize “it takes a village” to educate our students. In a true collaborative team schools might look to the music, art, and physical education teachers to provide lessons that tie in to classroom learning. The special education staff supports specific learning needs while the school librarian ideally works with everyone to ensure students have the literacy and information skills to help them become life-long thinkers and learners.

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Who is responsible for teaching these independent thinking skills? Many articles about educating DHH students point to classroom teachers as the responsible parties in educating students.

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School librarians can play a tremendous role in improving learning in students who are DHH. Teachers are under a lot of pressure in the classroom to help students pass tests due to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Within the library, school librarians may have the freedom to do original teaching that can only improve the critical thinking skills students need to pass these standardized tests.

As with all teachers, school librarians need to be alert to the individual learning differences in their students, especially those who are DHH. This can be challenging when a school librarian teaches over 600 students each week, but by recognizing specific learning differences in students, lessons can be tailored to meet many needs at once.

What are the learning styles that define DHH learners? While many of us may learn best with a combination of learning styles, DHH learners may rely more on learning visually. Visual learners learn best with pictures, written instructions, sign language, and visual demonstrations. By contrast, auditory learners process information more effectively by listening, and kinesthetic learners do best in environments that encourage movement and tactile activities.

It’s important to understand that our brains are often expecting us to learn in a certain way regardless of how we are taught in the classroom. For example: as a deaf person I’m a visual learner; however, I became deaf at the age of three in the years before computers and captioned television. My brain was probably wired to learn by hearing but I could no longer comprehend everything I struggled to hear with hearing aids. When I looked for visual supports—pictures to demonstrate routines, written instructions, gestures, sign language, anything to fill this immense gap I was experiencing—here was nothing because I was educated in environments that didn’t differentiate for different learning styles. This didn’t change the fact that I was still an auditory learner who was now forced to learn visually without visual supports. The result for me was learning became tedious and boring.

Some DHH students in mainstreamed and self-contained classrooms today are having challenges similar to when I was a student. They may be in mainstreamed classrooms without efficient visual support. They may have teachers who don’t understand completely their very unique culture and learning needs. Students are moving from music, to art, to physical education, to the library to be taught by teachers who may be unfamiliar with their specific needs.

DHH students are not the only visual learners. We are seeing more and more visual learners in hearing students, which is terrific news for our DHH students who are educated in mainstreamed programs. Some point to technology as one reason for more visual learners. From an early age, children are surrounded by visual stimulation through television, computers, video games, and texting. As a result students also have become accustomed to receiving short bursts of information rather than long lectures.

Regardless of the reason, we are more aware of learning differences now than in the past, and we are better equipped to teach to these unique learning styles. Teachers and school librarians need to collaborate with each other to meet these unique learning needs. Students in kindergarten through high school need our guidance as they learn and we need to support students by recognizing their unique needs as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

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... we are more aware of learning differences now than in the past, and we are better equipped to teach to these unique learning styles.

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As a teacher-librarian I’ve looked to my own needs as an auditory/visual learner to create and present lessons that incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning while also encouraging the use of technology as it relates to specific learning goals. I was thrilled to see how successful these strategies were with my hearing students and because they incorporate so much visual learning they can be adapted in a DHH classroom, or a classroom with DHH mainstreamed students.

Evidence from RIT shows that many DHH students are not where they should be academically, not because they are unable to learn but because we are not teaching to their learning styles. The more we can differentiate to encourage our students to read and communicate the better they can strive for academic success.

To further meet the needs of DHH students and provide support they may not be receiving in the classroom, I have created a tutoring service, Signs of Success Tutoring, to work not only with DHH students but also with parents, teachers, and late-deafened adults to implement strategies tailored to the needs of DHH learners as illustrated in this article. My tutoring service includes support beyond homework help that encourages students to communicate with me through my website and engage in discussions. I provide links to websites that support student learning and instruct students in how to navigate the Internet. I collaborate with teachers virtually and face-to-face to create engaging curriculum-based lessons and exercises for DHH students.

While the NAD continues to focus on keeping schools for the deaf open my tutoring service provides educational support for DHH students at home who are learning in public schools and hearing colleges. With enough teachers and parents looking out for our students we can challenge the “fourth grade reading level” research and push our students to succeed.

Works cited:
Eisner, Nadene (2011). http://www.signsofsuccesstutoring.com

Gallaudet Research Institute (2011). Annual survey of deaf and hard of hearing children and youth, 2007-08 Regional and National Summary. Gallaudet Research Institute / Gallaudet University

Marschark, M., Spencer, P., Adams, J., & Sapere, P. (2011). Teaching to the strengths and needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 26(1), 17-23. doi:10.1080/08856257.2011.543542


ABOUT NADENE EISNER
Nadene Eisner earned her MS from Drexel University and her School Library Media Specialist certificate from the Universtiy of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's worked in several libraries throughout the years, most recently serving as the school library director and teacher in a hearing elementary school. She is completing her Certificate of Advanced Studies at UIUC. She lives in Illinois with her four children—and lots of books.