Posted by Ed Seedhouse on 06/05/07 13:42

On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:46:47 -0400, Ed Mullen <ed@edmullen.net> wrote:

>Ed Seedhouse wrote:
>> On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:03:32 -0400, Ed Mullen <ed@edmullen.net> wrote:
>>
>>>> As I read that story it doesn't say she is not deaf.

>>> To quote from the article (with emphasis added):

>>> Fernandes, who was selected by the board of trustees last week and is
>>> scheduled to take office next January, *was born deaf* but grew up
>>> speaking and did not learn American Sign Language until she was 23. Sign
>>> language is the preferred way of communicating at 1,900-student Gallaudet.

>> That's what I read, and it doesn't say she is not currently deaf. Lots
>> of deaf folks grow up speaking without ever regaining their hearing.
>> Some go deaf after learning to speak and still keep speadking. In fact
>> the complaint that she is not "deaf enough" implies strongly to me that
>> she is deaf to some extent at least.

>She was born deaf, she IS deaf. She didn't learn American Sign Language
>until she was in her 20s. That fact, and charges by students of her
>being "autocratic" led them to charge that she is "not deaf enough" and
>to the protests and her ouster.

That's how it struck me when reading the story. That's why this
particular case is not, it seems to me, what the OP was referring to.
There was a "Student Revolt" at Gallaudet where the complaint was that
the new president was not deaf at all. The OP seemed to be conflating
the two, which was why I commented.

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