Gallaudet Fulbright scholars conduct research and take action in China and Israel

[Harold Schiffman]

Inside Gallaudet
Fulbright scholars conduct research and take action in China and Israel


Brayde Ridenhour, a 2007 graduate with master's degrees in
administration and deaf education, is working with schools for deaf
students in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Jiujiang, China. Her goal is to
research present deaf education practices in China and share current
practices in the U.S., as well as to promote bilingual sign
language/written language policy in schools for deaf students.

"I applied to the Fulbright program because I wanted to get involved
with deaf education on the global stage. Through advice from
professors and past Fulbrighters, the program seemed the perfect way
to achieve this goal. My interest in China grew from working with the
nonprofit organization Partners in Excellence [PIE] with Drs.
[Richard] Lytle and [Simon] Guteng and others while at Gallaudet, and
PIE advocates for improving deaf education, employment, and other
social needs internationally. This put me in touch with Chinese
students and staff at Gallaudet and built connections to Shanghai.

"I don't particularly know what I was expecting of life and work in
China, but the transition has certainly been—and continues to be—an
adventure! It still feels surreal to look out my bedroom window and
see Shanghai sometimes. I am slowly navigating the waters of culture
shock and learning how to conduct research, business, and just daily
life in a foreign society. Working and socializing in the deaf
community feels a little more familiar, though, so I am definitely
enjoying my project.

"After more or less getting settled in, I began visiting each of the
five schools for the deaf here in Shanghai. On each visit, I observed
a few classes to assess teaching methods and teacher-student
interaction. I also interviewed administrators and teachers to
determine language policies—specifically regarding sign language
use—and priorities, strengths, and weaknesses of deaf education in
China.

"In a separate but related activity, I am meeting regularly with a
deaf gentleman at the Shanghai Dong Fang International Sign Language
School for a Shanghai Sign Language-American Sign Language exchange. I
originally planned to learn Chinese Sign Language, but I was informed
that the majority of SSL is different from CSL. Because the bulk of my
work is and will be in my home base of Shanghai (though I also plan to
travel to other cities), the gentleman with whom I do the sign
language exchange strongly recommended I focus on SSL, so that is what
I have done.

"Now that I have visited all the schools for the deaf in the area, I
am settling down to write articles and give presentations on deaf
education in the United States. I am also collaborating with a deaf
teacher to teach English. He is actually an art teacher, but due to
emergency circumstances, he is substitute teaching the elective
English class for the year. His own English skills are at a basic
level, but he also knows some ASL, so between our shared efforts at
learning SSL, Mandarin, ASL, and English, we seem to manage fairly
effectively! In addition to these activities, I am looking to
establish a sustainable product from my Fulbright project, such as
establishing a sister school program between schools for the deaf in
China and the United States."

Daniel Nead, a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology from Dayton, Ohio,
is working in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he is affiliated with the
psychology department at Tel Aviv University. He is conducting
research for his dissertation, "Comparison of Traumatic Stress
Symptoms in Deaf and Hearing Israelis" to learn about how deaf
Israelis react to traumatic situations, compared to deaf Americans. He
is also working with The Institute for the Advancement of Deaf People
in Israel to set up an interpreter certification system, working with
the organization's deaf crisis intervention program, and teaching ASL.

"My freshman year of high school I lived in England, and found out how
much there was to learn about the world. Since then I've always been
keen on moving overseas again but, for one reason or another, never
had the opportunity. The Fulbright program is a way that I could take
everything I've learned so far about psychology and deafness and build
on it by experiencing an entirely different part of the world. It
allows me not only to use the knowledge I've learned, but to see it in
different ways and learn to adapt it to the situation and people here.
Psychology and deafness aside, it's also been quite a lesson in
politics, discrimination, international relations, history, culture,
language, and more. It definitely has reinforced the old adage, 'The
more I learn, the more there is to know.'

"As someone who studies trauma and emergency response, I was naturally
drawn to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Having never been to
Israel before, or even to the Middle East, I saw it as an experience
that was sure to be different than the one I've become accustomed to
in the United States. I also thought it was important to experience
life in a conflict zone, as it were, if I am to understand the effects
of it. Though the situation here is generally very calm (especially in
Tel Aviv), it's interesting to always have the thought of threat in
the back of your mind whenever you get on a bus or are in a crowded
market.

"Also, I have professional contacts here in the fields of both
psychology and deafness who are willing to help me with my project.
This is very important as it gave me an "in" before I had even
arrived, and gave me a network I could use once I was here to meet
people and get some background on things.

"I honestly didn't have any expectations coming to Israel. Having
never been here, my only knowledge was second-hand from friends and
from the American media (I trust the former far more than the latter).
While this provided some basic ideas, I purposefully left myself open
to whatever Israel had to offer; both the good and the bad. To me,
that was the point of picking up my life and moving to Israel for a
year: to experience what life here was like.

"I think I've dealt more with other people's expectations than my own,
since arriving. Many of my friends had expectations of bombs flying
overhead, terrorist attacks on buses, and wars in the streets. No
doubt last summer's war with Lebanon did little to change those
perceptions. Since arriving, I've had many conversations with people
about the status of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on a daily basis,
as opposed to what's in the news; how I feel about my own safety; what
the food/weather/clothing here is like; what it's like to be a non-Jew
in the middle of Israel; and what the terrain is like. Before I came
to Israel I didn't really follow the news about what was going on
here, so I really had little information on which to base any kind of
expectations and, I think, that really has been a boon to finding my
niche here: with no preconceptions, I was able to come unbiased and
completely open-minded.

"My faculty sponsors are Dr. Carolyn Corbett, Department of
Psychology, Gallaudet University, and Dr. Amatzia Weisel, Department
of Psychology, Tel Aviv University. Both of them have been kind of
consultants in their individual fields of expertise. Dr. Corbett has
been instrumental in helping me get my proposals ready, instruments
chosen and bought, and grants applied for. Dr. Weisel has helped me
adapt things to Israel, given me more background in which to frame my
research, and put me in touch with researchers in both deafness and
psychology. I have to say that, without their help, this whole process
would have been much, much more difficult. They also make sure I'm
eating healthy and wearing a coat. You know, the basic stuff."

(For more on Nead's experiences in the Fulbright program, read his
blog: http://lifeonspringhill.blogspot.com/)


Posted: 21 Nov 2007


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