A Deaf Man Becomes President
The time is January, in an election year. The setting my first American Sign Language class, in fact my first class at all, in over sixteen years. Before the end of class I would receive my first writing assignment; a research paper on “Deaf President Now”. Having limited experience with the deaf community, I was completely unknowledgeable on the topic. During a year with a plethora of presidential hopefuls, I assumed that “Deaf President Now,” was a campaign slogan of a candidate I was unaware of. Upon my initial research, I was surprised to learn that “Deaf President Now,” was a protest on a deaf university campus. Gallaudet University, located in Washington D.C., was established in 1864 by an Act of Congress when President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter for the only university in the world that catered to the deaf and hearing impaired (Gallaudet 2015). After over a hundred years in existence, run by hearing presidents, Gallaudet University became the site of an enormous protest represented by the local deaf and hearing impaired community, including both students and …show more content…
The Board of Trustees continued to sort through the incongruities yet to be settled, and eventually named I King Jordan the first deaf president on March 13, 1988 (Andrews 2013). After eight days of continuous protests and a conglomeration of student, faculty and national support, the “Deaf President Now,” group had found success in their endeavors. Not only, did Zisner resign as president, making way for the first deaf president to preside over university procedures and finances; Spilman also resigned from her position, and was replaced by deaf board member, Phil Bravin (Gallaudet 2016). The original requests of “Deaf President Now” were coming to
The time is January, in an election year. The setting my first American Sign Language class, in fact my first class at all, in over sixteen years. Before the end of class I would receive my first writing assignment; a research paper on “Deaf President Now”. Having limited experience with the deaf community, I was completely unknowledgeable on the topic. During a year with a plethora of presidential hopefuls, I assumed that “Deaf President Now,” was a campaign slogan of a candidate I was unaware of. Upon my initial research, I was surprised to learn that “Deaf President Now,” was a protest on a deaf university campus. Gallaudet University, located in Washington D.C., was established in 1864 by an Act of Congress when President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter for the only university in the world that catered to the deaf and hearing impaired (Gallaudet 2015). After over a hundred years in existence, run by hearing presidents, Gallaudet University became the site of an enormous protest represented by the local deaf and hearing impaired community, including both students and …show more content…
The Board of Trustees continued to sort through the incongruities yet to be settled, and eventually named I King Jordan the first deaf president on March 13, 1988 (Andrews 2013). After eight days of continuous protests and a conglomeration of student, faculty and national support, the “Deaf President Now,” group had found success in their endeavors. Not only, did Zisner resign as president, making way for the first deaf president to preside over university procedures and finances; Spilman also resigned from her position, and was replaced by deaf board member, Phil Bravin (Gallaudet 2016). The original requests of “Deaf President Now” were coming to