Richard Ray
Presentation for ASL Celebration
Oh, what a beautiful day here! It’s a happy day that we are able to convene to truly celebrate our culture, our own ASL. ASL Celebration. It is a wonderful feeling — that we are able to talk so freely — in our language. It’s a wonderful feeling when we are free. Yes! We can express our joys through poetry. We can describe Albert Einstein’s theories so clearly and precisely in our own language. We can be thrilled, and describe the wonderful aroma of a flower — in our own language. Our language that is American Sign Language, or ASL. It is a wonderful language. It is a useful language. It is an important
language. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher from some 3,000 years ago said, “Communication is everything”. So ASL is everything for our people. We may succeed in life. We may argue a case in a courtroom. We may tell the world why we ought to vote for McCain, or for Obama. We can do anything, express anything. We have that freedom.
As President of the California Association of the Deaf, I must say to all of you that we are at war. A war against those who deny newly born children to be exposed to ASL. A war against communication abuse. A war against teachers of the Deaf with poor signing skills. A war against School Districts who are more concerned about keeping Deaf, yes, our Deaf children, within the district instead of transferring them out — simply because they do not want to lose money. Money is of greater importance to them than the quality of communication and education for Deaf children. This is cruel! This is wrong, and it must stop!!!
On a warm early morning, a plane, filled with people, flew over New York City. That plane aimed and crashed into one of the two World Trade Center (WTC) towers. Moments later another plane, also filled with people, crashed into the second WTC tower. Shortly after, both towers collapsed, crashing down. That terrible, horrible incident happened on September 11, 2001. Every single person who died on that fateful morning had a name. Every person had a life story. Every single one. Tall, majestic buildings came crashing down, building parts, body parts, all pulverized. From that day on, the world was never the same again.
In the year 1880, an international conference of deaf educators, the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf, took place in Milan, Italy. On the last day of the conference, on September 11, yes on September 11, the tower of freedom of sign language usage collapsed. No other event in the history of Deaf education had a greater impact on
the lives and education of Deaf people. At this conference, held September 6-11, 1880, a declaration was made that oral education was better than manual (sign) education. As a result of that, a resolution was passed banning sign language. The only countries opposed to the ban were the United States (represented by Edward Miner Gallaudet, Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, Issac Peet, James Denison, and Charles Stoddard) and Great Britain.”
Prior to the Milan Congress, most teachers and superintendents of schools for the Deaf were themselves Deaf. Gallaudet University has archives of Deaf people’s writings, and their mastery of the English language far surpassed that of most of us. After 1880, most Deaf superintendents and their Deaf teachers were let go of their employment,
and were replaced by hearing people, often poorly versed in Deaf culture and language. The Oral method was emphasized so that the Deaf could
function more like hearing people so that they could get along with hearing people better. And so the tower of well-educated Deaf collapsed.
The Second tower of freedom of sign language usage collapsed in 1975, as Congress passed Public Law 94-142 (Education of All *Handicapped* Children Act), now codified as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). In order to receive federal funds, states must develop and implement policies that assure a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to all children with disabilities. This led to mainstreaming of Deaf students in public schools. That led to the closure of a number of
residential schools for the Deaf. Collapsed because too many, if not most, teachers were simply not qualified at all to accommodate the Deaf. Deaf students living in a hearing environment proved to be a stifling experience, stunting both their intellectual and emotional growth. Residential schools were often staffed with Deaf teachers, and ASL was used, both in the classroom and elsewhere. Students enjoyed sports, government, Boy/Girl Scouts, drama — all in ASL. This provided them
with healthy self-esteem. Mainstream settings deny such freedom. Freedom to participate. Sure, some of them wore hearing aids or cochlear implants, but these kids remain “hard of hearing,* and experience haze or fog.
I can understand that when parents discover their child is Deaf, in most cases, their first reaction is grief. Out of grief, they seek a remedy, and they go to their doctors, who are themselves often inadequately informed about Deaf culture. So, very often an agenda is set for the child: that he/she is to function as hearing people. That is a gross and brutal scenario for many of us. It amounts to verbal or communication abuse. Many of us had to endure an environment of haze or fog. We missed out on many things when people tried to communicate with
us, especially teachers. ASL is the third most widely used language in the country, after English and Spanish, yet ASL is not recognized as an
official language. Instead, it is recognized as a foreign language. Does that make us foreigners? We were born here! Legislate, my friends, Legislate ASL as an official language of the Deaf. There are
several ways to do it. You can write to your congressman. You can write to your State Senator. You can write to your Assemblymembers.
Ladies and gentlemen in the world of education, please open windows and doors, and blow the fog out of the room. With ASL, we have clarity. With clarity, we absorb information like sponges. With information, we achieve our goals. Clarity! It is really amazing! We have a right to it!
I would like to close with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” We have work to do!
This is only a beginning.
Thank you
Richard L Ray
