Try Listening to the Gallaudet Protests
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The second paragraph of Fred Hiatt's May 15 op-ed column, "Signs of Change at Gallaudet," bespeaks his bias in the matter of the faculty, student, staff and alumni (FSSA) protest at Gallaudet University. Hiatt frames the protest as indicative of societal changes in the past 18 years: "changes in our perceptions of deafness and disability and about how progress in medical science may shape more change in the future."
If you seek an example of "audism" (discrimination against the deaf) and hearing privilege, you need look no farther than Hiatt's words. In usurping and externalizing the driving forces of the protest as those stemming from the changing perceptions of a hearing society, Hiatt has effectively marginalized the deaf voices behind the protest. And, yes, all deaf persons have voices -- they are just not always spoken.
Furthermore, Hiatt's view of the protest through the filter of a medical model concerned with technology and science, and their effects on "the nature of deafness," distorts the core issues and leads one to wonder if he and others have been paying attention to the deaf protesters and their hearing allies. Contrary to repeated statements from outgoing Gallaudet President I. King Jordan and the trustees' choice to replace him, Jane K. Fernandes, the Unity for Gallaudet protest is not about who is "deaf enough" or what it means to be a deaf person in the 21st century.
Read our lips: At the heart of the protest are issues of social justice, empowerment and a university leadership that listens, in the best sense of the word.
Much dialogue needs to occur on the Gallaudet campus and in the deaf community, between and among all kinds of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The FSSA Coalition has encouraged and facilitated that process. It is counterproductive to perpetuate dissension and cliquishness by continuing to focus on identity politics and deaf-ness. Who is truly listening?
-- Lillian M. Tompkins
Laurel
The writer is an associate professor at Gallaudet University.
