Electronic technology and deaf culture at Gallaudet: an irony waiting to happen
The impact of technology on culture in general and education specifically has probably no better example in the recent confluence of technologies that were used to comment on and protest the new President Ferandes of Gallaudet University, in Washington, DC. When the new President gave her ‘inaugural speech,’ hundreds of deaf students wirelessly alerted the deaf community from around the country; within minutes protests were being held; the internet was swamped with criticism from the deaf community who oppose her appointment. Is this progress? Does this mean that the deaf can communicate as efficiently as quickly as hearing people (something not possible with the primitive telephone age. But there may be a downside, and it was voiced by a Gaulledet student. He is concerned that members of the deaf community–who do not ’speak’ to one another when together in the same physical space–will now have no reason to be together physically, palpably, tactilely, etc. Is this an enrichment of a culture or the impoverishment of one?
Explore posts in the same categories: web log