The Deaf President Now ' Movement And Subsequent Gallaudet University Protest Affect Deaf Community

While reading " Deaf in America: Voices From A Culture " I notice the purpose of this book was to wrote about Deaf people in a new and different way. The book main focus is that Deaf people have a condition that they can't hear. The culture of Deaf people is what both authors want to begin yo betray. What I found interesting while reading is that the majority of indidivauls within the community of Deaf people do not join it at birth. While reading these chapters I've seen both auhtors try to present the culture from the inside to discover how Deaf people describe themselves and how they think about their lives.

The rich history of American Deaf culture in conjunction withlanguage displays the determination along with the brilliance of these people. Though the hearing world had called them sin, denounced them as dumb, these people rose up against their oppressors, making a new world for themselves.

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

Watching the film Through Deaf Eyes was eye opening to Deaf history and culture. The film was a great introduction and snapshot of what it is like to be Deaf and to live in not only the Deaf world but to also be a part of the hearing world. Watching the film and learning the history and the achievements that the Deaf have overcome was inspiring. It was also depressing to see the kind of oppression that Deaf people have faced and within their own community. One of the biggest things that I took away from the movie was that Deaf people can do anything they wish to do, besides hear. Seeing the way they stood up and demanded a Deaf president of Gallaudet University and that helping to influence the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act was inspiring. Whenever I would think of what it would be like to be Deaf, I thought of the immediate loses that a Deaf person would have and that just isn’t the way to look at it.

The purpose of this research paper is to answer the major question, what is Deaf culture? There are three sub-questions that will assist in answering the major question: (1) What constitutes Deaf culture? (2) How has American Sign Language impacted the Deaf community? (3) What are the major issues that are being addressed in Deaf culture today? With these questions answer, it will give a better understanding as to what Deaf culture is and that it is indeed a culture.

The Black Deaf Community seems silly to believe the existence of itself, but in reality based on surveys and observations, it seems rather smart. Going through the supplemental reading, I have noticed the Black Deaf community consists of strong and proud members of both, overcoming many issues thrown at them. This paper will discuss the issues and show how amazing the community really is.

accept the diagnosis that their child is Deaf. They are in denial that may last

deaf: working for the rights of all deaf people in this country, including education of deaf children.

The book also describes how life has changed for deaf adults through the years. Previously, many deaf adults were not able to get jobs in many places, because there were not many places that were accepting to them. These days, however, almost every business or company is looking for those that are fluent in American Sign Language, due to the simple fact that they would be able to accommodate that many more people and earn more money for their business. Also, there were not many outlets for deaf adults to use in relation to entertainment or basic needs, because again, mostly everything was catered to hearing adults only. However, they have recently developed many different ways for the deaf to communicate with the hearing and with one another, including TTY, full-keyboard, and internet phones and closed-captions on television stations and movies.

In the autobiography Deaf Again, Mark Drolsbaugh writes about his life being born hearing, growing up hard of hearing, to eventually becoming deaf. By writing this book, he helps many people view from his perspective on what it is like for someone to struggle trying to fit in the hearing society. Through his early years, his eyes were closed to the deaf world, being only taught how to live in a hearing world. Not only does the book cover his personal involvement, but it covers some important moments in deaf history. It really is eye-opening because instead of just learning about deaf culture and deaf history, someone who lived through it is actually explaining their experiences.

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

Gallaudet was founded in 1867 in Washington DC. The first superintendent of the school was Edward Gallaudet who is the youngest son of Thomas Gallaudet. Eventually an elementary school and a middle school were founded on the Gallaudet campus in 1969 to provide early education to the deaf community. The founding of Gallaudet and the American School for the Deaf has given Many new opportunities to the deaf community. The major thing that founding these schools has done is created American Sign Language. The creation of American Sign Language has made it so that there is a single uniform language for the deaf community across the the United States and Canada. The schools also have allowed people in the deaf community to have access to the same opportunities as members of the hearing community have access to. The founding of the schools also has brought awareness to the deaf community and deaf culture. A major deaf movement is the deaf president now movement. The deaf President now movement,The deaf Prsident Now movement was pushing for the which was a movement that was pushing for Gallaudet University to have its first deaf president. Eventually That lead to the the appointing of the first deaf president, Dr. I. King Jordan. Now the deaf president now movement represents to most of the deaf community being

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, an American minister and education reformer, played a very important role in the education of the deaf in the United States. When Thomas Gallaudet was only fifteen years old, he attended Yale College where he graduated at the top of his class before his eighteenth birthday. In the year 1814, he visited his family in Hartford, Connecticut. While there, he noticed young Alice Cogswell not playing with any of the children around her. He decided to find out why she was alone. When he met Alice, he discovered she was deaf. Gallaudet, taking an interest in the little girl, decided to try to communicate with her because he did not know any sign language. He pointed at his hat, and then he spelled

In searching for an article with a direct connection to the Deaf community I was shocked to see how many instances of Civil Rights violations have occurred recently in the United States. I could have easily referred to several stories that are similar to that of Mr. Abreham Zemedageghu.

Young DeafBlind Adults in Action was a one-week summer course that was occupied by six DeafBlind young adults. These six lucky individuals had opportunities to meet with legislators in Washington, D.C., as well as the current U.S president, Barack Obama. The participants learned about policy issues, communication / technology concerns, and leadership skills; then they applied this knowledge in the legislative field. Through the advocacy process, each young adult who participated learned how to identify and utilize their personal strengths as advocates and experienced the importance that teamwork plays in successful advocacy. Since this class focused on civic engagement and advocacy, it provided a focus for a participatory action research