ABC7: C.I. Protesters Speak Out
ABC 7 News at 5 pm–WJLA-TV, Washington, DC,
Friday, October 27, 2006, segment began at 5:28 p.m.
KATHLEEN MATTHEWS (anchor): The stand off between students protesters
and administrators takes a new turn at Gallaudet University.
LEON HARRIS (anchor): Tonight, both students who use sign language and
those who have cochlear implants are coming forward in opposition to
Jane Fernandes.
MATTHEWS: The protesters say they are united in their fight and John
Gonzales is live outside Gallaudet with the latest on what those
protests–or where those protests are now headed. John?
JOHN GONZALES: Well Kathleen, in the past, Dr. Jane Fernandes said that
this protest really has more to do with students discriminating against
other students who use those cochlear devices. Well today, members of
the deaf community who use that device are joining in on the fight
against the incoming president.
WILLIS MANN (voice of interpreter): There’s no such thing as a “New
Deaf Order.”
GONZALES (pre-recorded): Gallaudet alumni with cochlear implants came
to the school today to prove to Dr. Jane Fernandes that this protest
has nothing to do with the division between those who use the fairly
new technology versus those who don’t.
MANN: With my implant, I’m still accepted in the world of the deaf.
GONZALES: These devices, which were first seen about ten years ago,
connects the brain to the auditory nerve, allowing the deaf to hear
sound. Dr. Jane Fernandes is a huge proponent. But these alumni who
use them say there’s no such thing as “not deaf enough.” And they, like
the students and most of the faculty here, want the search process
re-opened.
LEWIS SCHWARZ (voice of interpreter): She has not really acclimated
herself in the deaf community. I feel like she’s isolated from us.
ALAN SHEFFIELD (voice of interpreter): And I hear Jane Fernandes, you
know, saying that the protest is because she’s not deaf enough, I’m
thinking to myself: How could she say that? We are the same.
GONZALES (live): Back here live now. We’re told that this was the
final press conference and march before the entire Board of Trustees
meets in what they’re calling an “emergency meeting” this Sunday.
Faculty members and students tell us this is unprecendented and they
expect something to happen. Live at Gallaudet University, John
Gonzales, ABC7 News.
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
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How can Jane Fernandes be a “huge proponent” of cochlear implants if she doesn’t have one herself? What a hypocrite!
It goes to prove it’s all about money from the medical establishment community.
#2 was in response to Tom Willard.
Generally speaking, I am glad these C.I.
users have come forward and put an end
to one of many lies Fernandes have spewed to the media. She is a divider in attempt to weaken the entire community.
What makes me angry is that Fernandes, along with the current administration have furthered the damage of the world’s image of the Deaf community. It is time for all of them to go and start anew with new leadership, who can repair it and bring us all to where we should be.
THIS GOT ME WALKING FROM ONE PLATFORM TO OTHER SHOWING MY SUPPORT FOR THE CAUSE. I AM A COCHLEAR IMPLANT USER AND LEARNED SIGN POST GRADUATION. NOW I KNOW THE WHOLE SITUATION HAS NOTHINGTO DO WITH STRONG DEAF VS CI/ORALISM. THIS HAS TO DO WITH THE DEAF,dEAF, HOH/CI DEAF, ORALISTS VS THE CURRENT GALLAUDET ADMINISTRATION.
FORTHE FIRST TIME WE AS A DIVERSE GROUP IS UNITED WHILE AT THE SAME TIME RESPECT AND EMBRACE THE DIFFERENCES AMONG US.
YOU HAVE AN ADDITIONAL SUPPORTER!
Not all the people at this conference were CI users. There was 1 oral deaf, 1 late deeafened, and 1 HoH(deaf) but oral and 4 CI users
I am the HoH individual. They cut off huge part of my quote which takes from the pwoer of the statement.
The bottom line of JKF’s claim of “new order” of the Deaf world is money. She is talking about Deaf people with cochlear implants (CI). Implicitly she means money from not only batteries the CI users spent in order to “hear”, but also funds from private foundations aiming at fixing or correcting the raison d’etre of deafness.
Is Fernandes on Cochlear Implant Corporate’s
payroll?
N, really? That makes me so glad to hear that. So many of us came from different backgrounds. I see from the responders of the entry, three former oralists, including me, one C.I. and one HoH. Jane’a defense was a moot, just a red herring to distract the outsiders from the real issues.
Most of the young kids have C.I. now. so in ten years or so, many will go to Gallaudet. However, Gallaudet always have different people coming in to study and learn sign language and this won’t be any different.
Katherine and J.B., interesting points I’ve not considered before…
*Shrug*. I am a deaf woman, mainstreamed, who does not know ASL, and I do not support JKF’s bid for presidency.
However, there still IS a big problem with “not deaf enough” that still rumbles underneath — has been there before this protest and will be there after — extant in the Deaf community. You label me “oralist” (a term I do not accept) and tell me I’m not a part of your community because I don’t know ASL — and yet I am deaf, consider myself deaf and if y’all can’t accept that, it’s your problem, not mine.
Greetings to all of the Gallaudet students-friends, I congratulate your marvelous proclamation upon Gallaudet Green that you are taking back what belongs to the deaf community!
A Note to the American intellectuals and supporters from one of the Gally alumni (Class of ‘82), I read and analyzed many different vibes I was getting from the different corners of the deaf community. The issue that I got me brooded over the protests and some of the statements which Dr. Jane K. Fernandes made in the month of October gives me a better perspective of what has been going on. I view Dr. Jane K. Fernandes’s capacity is that she may be intellectually qualified but may not be Socially Qualified. Someone who has to have the deep exposure to the deaf community during all of one’s life (can it be?). Someone has to be able to flow with the deaf community; in other words, to understand, know how, to fit into, be familiar with, grafted into the “deaf” skin or be rooted into the “deaf” blood. Someone is going to be a great leader living in two worlds – be intellectually qualified and yet socially qualified. Therefore, the President of Gallaudet University is the prime leader for the world’s only liberal arts for the deaf and hard of hearing, period. Am I making it clear to the general?