Diseases Of Schools For The Deaf

Comments seen about views of ASL made by teachers and administrators in recent months:

"This student does not have any language. He cannot learn. He doesn't understand what I am trying to teach him. He needs to move to a slower class."

A new student from mainstreamed school who never learned ASL before enrolling into the school for the deaf. The thing was the student picked up ASL very quickly, was able to interact with his peers BUT this hearing teacher's signing sucked, so he moved to a slower class. Who did the supervising teacher listen to? This teacher with bad ASL over objections of several others with whom this student had classes and were making good progresses.

This teacher concluded that this student was slow based on his lack of progress in HER/HIS class and the tragedy of it was the supervising teacher listened to this teacher because he made great progress in all of his other classes.

Diagnosis: Audism on part of both the teacher and the supervising teacher because 4 out of this student's 5 teachers were deaf.


"ASL is a social tool for deaf students. We don't have to use ASL in classroom because it is not a teaching tool."

A teacher's view on ASL. This teacher uses SimCom and considers this a tool of classroom teaching although all of her students are multi-disabled and all have varied degrees of mental retardation. These students have no intelligible speech capabilities therefore would not benefit from an oral/aural approach.

Diagnosis: Ignorance

"SimCom is still the best tool for classroom teaching because some students do benefit from listening to spoken words for some new or some familiar words they heard before but not in fingerspelled form or printed form."

This from a DEAF teacher who grew up in a mainstreamed setting. He/she doesn't believe oralism is effective but continues to believe spoken language has benefits in classroom instruction. The majority of his/her students were not oral/aural students. He/she had a few of them but those students didn't require speaking to understand language - in fact with expanded definition and prior experience using ASL, those students caught on to the what those words were rather than simply listening to the spoken version because by themselves, those spoken words are meaningless.

This deaf teacher has good speech and wears hearing aid devices daily. He/she uses speech when conversing with hearing staff.

Diagnosis: Ignorance and possibly audism.

"Fingerspelling is not important because it is not part of ASL. They only need to learn words in printed form."

Surprisingly, this was said by a deaf teacher.

Diagnosis: Ignorance

"My child can hear and speak well. That's why he/she is in the top class."

This from a deaf parent. Brainwashed parent who was told time and again that spoken language capability in a deaf student is associated with level of intelligence by his/her teachers while growing up.

Diagnosis: Ignorance and misdirected audism

"This student can hear so well. I don't understand why he is in that class (slow class)? His hearing should help him acquire language."

This from another hearing teacher who, again, associated hearing ability with intelligence.

Diagnosis: Ignorance

"Why aren't you wearing your CI? It teaches you to learn language. You need to keep it on all the time."

Of course, another hearing teacher, over student's objections that the sounds in the classroom were distracting for him/her. This student never had AVT therapy, parents who did not sign at home and had no insurance for AVT therapy, and she/he stopped wearing CI in grade school. This student doesn't speak. In fact, there are many like this student at this school. If this student never had AVT therapy following the CI surgery as a toddler or infant, it is pretty much pointless to continue wearing CI device other than hearing environmental sounds rather than language. This student's mother makes him/her wear CI at home to keep her/him safe when he/she is outside the house.

Diagnosis: Ignorance

"We are having a private conversation."

Hearing teachers' reply to a student who asked them why they were not signing in the cafeteria during their breakfast duties. This student commented that when deaf teachers needed to speak in private, they went to other place where students could not see them; it was not fair the hearing teachers took advantage and speak without signing in front of deaf students which was rude.

Diagnosis: Pure audism

"Audism is not even a word. It is a made-up word by deaf militiants."

This from an administrator during a meeting.

Diagnosis: Ignorance and audism

"We cannot teach ASL exclusively because the majority of the students in the classroom benefit from oral/aural instruction therefore we cannot teach to benefit one student but to all."

An administrator in a meeting in regards to instructional approach where he shared his educational philsophy and promoted that teachers continue with SimCom approach.

Diagnosis: Ignorance because he/she has not incorporated or accepted research data that disproved this theory that SimCom had to be implemented to meet all the needs of the individual student within a classroom. Research had showed that students with speech/aural abilities benefit from ASL instruction and even more than they would have if taught only in SimCom or even in oralism.

"ASL is not a valid classroom instruction tool because it is still in research stage."

By a supervising teacher in a meeting, essentially rejecting the ideology of CAEBER and its 10-15 years worth of research.

Diagnosis: Audism - rejecting proven data in favor of comfort zone of using SimCom to benefit themselves over the students' benefits and/or needs.

All this is happening in the recent months, not years ago. There are STILL people in employ at schools for the deaf with those attitudes and views on ASL.

To quote a parent:

"Excuse me, is this an oral school or a school for the deaf?" in reference in the school's overt emphasis on speech and audiological training and lack of focus on academics as well as apparent disregard or lack of respect for ASL.

Folks, this is not unique to ONE school but schools all over.

Ignorance and audism are diseases that are ailing those schools.