Gallaudet University

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to grab lunch with my mentor at a really cool, modern restaurant in Midtown. It was also a little ironic in some ways because my mentor has very close ties with Gallaudet University as a CODA (child of deaf adult(s)) and I was scheduled to accompany a delegation from Japan there for my internship the same day.

First of all, I had no idea that Gallaudet was a university specifically for the deaf--it was only something I heard mentioned in passing. I was pretty excited to go see what it would be like and see the delegates interact with students and staff. One of the delegates was particularly interested to go because she has deaf family members and in Japan there are not as many opportunities for the disabled to lead normal lives and contribute to society--I didn't realize it was the opposite in the US, but it truly is I learned.

While the round table was interesting (I learned every country has its own standard sign language--makes sense!), the tour of the campus was my favorite part of the day at Gallaudet. We had one of the students give the tour and a sign language translator accompany us. He was so animated and excited to meet the delegates and hear about the deaf culture in Japan! I particularly liked the story of a well-loved statue on campus of the first deaf student and teacher.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet lived in Connecticut and when he passed his neighbor's house, he always saw a lonesome little girl playing in the yard while the other children played on the street and in the field. He became curious about Alice Cogswell and approached her one day. He put his top hat on the ground and wrote H-A-T by it three times, each time erasing the letters in the dirt and writing them again with his cane. He erased it a final time and then handed the cane to Alice. She wrote back, H-A-T. This is when Gallaudet realized that Alice was mentally capable and only lacked the means to communicate. He approached Alice's very wealthy father with a plan: to go to England and learn the techniques of their school for the deaf and bring them back to teach Alice. Dr. Cogswell agreed, but Gallaudet found that the English method for teaching the deaf was orally based (which he found counter-intuitive) and the school refused to share their methods with him. So, he went on to Paris where he discovered the French teaching deaf students how to sign. Striking a bargain with a professor at the French school, the professor taught him how to sign, while Gallaudet taught the professor English. The end result took 5 years and was translated from French, but well worth it. Upon seeing Alice, he taught her immediately how to sign her name, the significance of which she immediately understood.

The statue is beautiful, depicting Gallaudet teaching Alice the letter "A" in American Sign Language. It was a moving experience to be at Gallaudet, learn about the journey of deaf education, and interact with deaf peers. One thing that the Dean said at the round table, that the battle is not to teach the deaf how to interact with the world, but it is to convince the world that the deaf can interact with the world, really affected me. After visiting Gallaudet, I realize they had educated me and opened my eyes to a reality where "disabled" is only a technical label and not a representative adjective.

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