Gallaudet Disability Rights Movement

All throughout the entire "Deaf President Now" movement, the message was clear that deaf people have the self-determination and capability as any other hearing person. To watch hundreds of deaf students and supports protest from Gallaudet University to our nation's capital, using American Sign Language as their only medium of communication. Only shows the effect of the "power and intelligence" (Van Cleve p. 173) behind sign language. "With similar unity in the future, they may move into a

In the United States today, there are over fifty-one million disabled adults and children. Throughout our nation’s history, we have not allowed the best treatment and care for these numerous citizens. But, in the recent past, the government has passed laws, made exceptions, and thoroughly tried to provide accommodations to these people with special needs. While this is true, America, as a whole, still views this group as strange or different. Even though this is exceptionally normal, it is not correct. The United States needs to be opened up to the truth about their fellow American citizens. The people of America ought to understand that these disabilities affect not only those who are disabled, but that it affects the family and friends

In 1817, the American School for Deaf was founded in Hartford Connecticut. This was the first school for disabled children in the Western Hemisphere. Although this was not the beginning of the Disability Rights Movement, it was a start to society, making it possible for people to realize that there were those with disabilities out there in the world and something had to be done. The Disability Rights Movement fought for equal access, opportunity, consideration, and basic human respect along with dignity for those born blind, deaf, or anyone with other forms of physical or mental disability. The purpose of social movements is to provide social change regarding a specific issue in which a particular group of

If you saw a person in the mall in a wheelchair, would you judge them? Or would you look at them like they are a normal human-being? People who have a disability whether they are physically disabled, mentally disabled, or learning disabled, are still themselves. Nancy Mairs was forty-three year old woman with multiple sclerosis. She wrote an essay, “Disability”, that explained her views of her physical disability.

In 1988, students at Gallaudet University came together to formed a single "voice" that was heard, but more profoundly seen, by the world. Now known as "DPN" ("Deaf President Now"), these deaf students formed a community with a cause. They affected pedagogy: abandoning classes, closing the gates to the school, refusing to budge until their demands were met. They altered the power structure and strengthened their own community: rejecting the newly appointed president and having many of the faculty join their cause. Not long into the protests, deaf schools in Canada and West Germany closed on their behalf, and the media swarmed in, fumbling in its attempts to get interviews from students who didn't speak and to record rallies in which

The Deaf President Now movement and Gallaudet University protest did not only achieve its aims, this revolution brought unity to the Deaf Community and awareness to the general public. This revolution grew into a civil rights movement, consequently enacting legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and The Telecommunications Accessibility Enhancement Act of 1988, to benefit deaf and hard of hearing citizens as well as many other disabled Americans. The events of February and March 1988 are still a great source of pride and enlightenment that are still nostalgically looked back on by this generation of deaf citizens. The Deaf community can be described as being a relatively private community, consisting of many people with various ranges of hearing loss. Like any culture, the deaf have their own community, culture, language, and essentially a separate world from the hearing majority. However, it has only been in the last few decades that there has been awareness and acceptance of this culture, nevertheless there is not full acceptance and understanding of this community and deafness in general. Prior to this revelation, deaf people had been oppressed and ostracised throughout history. Dating back to Ancient Greece, deaf people were seen as a subordinate minority. Aristotle theorised that people could only learn through spoken language, therefore deaf people were seen as being unable to learn and were not given an education. This was a common

Individuals with disability have had a long history of maltreatment in America. From being thought of as possessed individuals in need of exorcism, targeted for heinous experiments, unknowingly sterilized, being labeled imbecile, feeble minded, and retarded, to being shipped off to state schools or mental asylums, those with disabilities were given no consideration as a valuable and able to contribute member of society. In a speech to congress, Frank Bowe, a highly educated deaf-man highlighted this claim by stating, “we are not even second-class citizens, we are third-class citizens” (Bowe, F. 1977--need citation), and Jim Cherry (2001) furthered the ideal in his words, that prior to “1970 we [disabled citizens] had no right to education, to employment, to transportation, to housing, or to voting. There were no civil rights laws for us, no federal advocacy grants. Few people looked beyond our medical needs” (Cherry, J.L, 2001 http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/0701/0701cov.htm). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 attempted to fundamentally change how disabled people were reguarded.

The Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet University is essentially a call for action or change from the barbaric ways of how the school was run. The school is credited with being the first and only university for the deaf in if not just the country, then the world. Gallaudet offers those who cannot hear or for better terms, hard of hearing, a chance to gain an education in an environment which caters to their specific needs. The students in the university attend classes with other deaf students which also helps strengthen their sense of community. One of the biggest reasons why the Deaf President Now movement stands out is because the movement eventually leads to the creation of the “Americans with Disabilities Act”. The creation of the

The overall outcome with the protest was a victory and the protestors received all four demands. The person who filled the presidents chair was a man named Dr. I. King Jordan, becoming the eighth president of Gallaudet University. In the grand scheme of this, the deaf president now protest contributed immensely not only impacting the community but making history in the United States. Further, this event gave hearing people insight to the deaf community allowing to bridge the gap between two

A movement had happened at a Deaf college, known as the Deaf President Now movement. This happened at Gallaudet which is the first Deaf school in the U.S. named after Thomas Gallaudet. For over 124 years Gallaudet has had a hearing president to represent the school, on March 6, 1988 that all changed. A angry mob of Deaf college students had have enough and a protest against the College for electing a hearing president began. The Deaf students of Gallaudet had had enough and started a protest leading to a movement. Finally, it seemed, the world’s only liberal arts college for the Deaf would have a Deaf president.

There is a lot of history behind Gallaudet University which was founded in 1864 and was the world's only university for the Deaf and hard of hearing. In history there have been many events that have taken place where people feel misunderstood and don't have their voices heard in the obstacles they have faced. On March 1, 1988 was an important date in history of Deaf President Now it was on that day where many organizations and the Deaf community came together to be apart of the first organized rally. Many of these people wanted their voices heard by emphasizing how important it was that the eighth president of Gallaudet University should be the first Deaf person.

The Deaf President Now movement and Gallaudet University protest did not only achieve its aims, this revolution brought unity to the Deaf Community and awareness to the general public. This revolution grew into a civil rights movement, consequently enacting legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and The Telecommunications Accessibility Enhancement Act of 1988, to benefit deaf citizens. The events of February- March 1988 are still a great source of pride and enlightenment that are still nostalgically looked back on by this generation of deaf citizens. The Deaf community can be described as being a relatively private community, consisting of many people with various ranges of hearing loss. Like any culture, the deaf have their own community, culture, language, and essentially a separate world from the hearing majority. However, it has only been in the last few decades that there has been awareness and acceptance of this culture, nevertheless there is not full acceptance and understanding of this community and deafness in

The students felt that it was time that Gallaudet University had a Deaf president. Students protested and wouldn’t let anyone into Gallaudet’s campus (Anderson). They had four demands. The demands were that Elisabeth Zinser had to resign and a Deaf person had to be appointed as Gallaudet’s president, the chairperson of the Board of Trustees had to resign, there had to be a 51% majority of deaf people on the board, and no reprisals (Lane et al. 129). There was a lot of protesting and dedication by the Deaf community, but they eventually won and all of their demands were met (Anderson). Among many other things, the Deaf President Now movement helped to make Gallaudet University very well known. A lot of people know about the Deaf President Now movement and it happened at Gallaudet University, so Gallaudet University got a lot of attention after the Deaf President Now movement. Even if people did not know about

All they want is to take part of society as a normal individual. The disability-movement has fought for the disabilities rights throughout the years and has achieved goals such as accommodation of architectural infrastructures to serve better people who are physical impairments. The public policies have been great accomplishments because it has helped people with disabilities to be part of society. The disability-movement points out the healthcare finance policies have taken freedom away from the disability community, “ Health-care financing policies force disabled people into Institutions and nursing homes rather than funding independent living. Income-maintenance and public health-insurance policies include “disincentives” that penalize disabled individuals for trying to work productively.”(p.4). The government has done a great job on protecting disabled individuals’ rights. However, the health-care system has isolated this group even more by restricting the level of productivity that they have within the system, as a result this medical model marginalizes this group of people and this program available for this community does not fully address their issues.

All people who have brown hair are not alike. All people who have disabilities are not