TOW #8 - IRB "Seeing Voices"

Three sections in and Sacks' argument, the concept of language should not be limited to oral or spoken, is quite clear. So deep into the world of the deaf, one should have a new appreciation for language, as Dr. Sacks intended. He argues language is a system of generative grammar and syntax, capable of an infinitely variable range of expression. The Gallaudet student revolt marked a victory for deaf people everywhere. From this to the 1988 student strike at Gallaudet University, in which deaf undergrads demanded and got a deaf president, is a logical move. His final section makes his point with a thump. He saw it all, even a young woman signing to her dog right there on the campus that invented the football huddle. You have to know that, at Gallaudet, ''only a minority of the faculty ... is deaf" (90) and "ASL, for the most part, is either not known to, or not used by, hearing teachers.'' (93). As Sacks writes of the thousand Gallaudet students signing freely in the great plaza in front of the Capitol, one appreciates the beauty of another language and how discomforting not being able to use it to deal with hearing people. But after a week of turmoil, the deaf students had won a great symbolic victory, as King Jordan who had been deaf since the age of 21 was elected president, in their fight for respect and recognition of the integrity of deaf culture. Stuck between the debate of whether it is better for deaf children to learn only sign or just speech and lip reading, or eliminate the enormous burden imposed on those children and teach everyone ASL at an early age. Dr. Sacks, whose heart is in the right place, wants the deaf to have all they need, but most of all, their own natural and private language. He brings to our attention a problem that is never easily going to be solved.