state budget cuts raise oralism/signing tension in Indiana

[Mark A. Mandel]

In the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/us/27deaf.html


July 26, 2011
Among Twists in Budget Woes, Tensions Over Teaching the Deaf
By MONICA DAVEY

INDIANAPOLIS -- Politicians have seen plenty of demonstrators outside the 
Statehouse here. But the crowd that gathered last month was a bit different 
from the usual shouting protesters.

Scores of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families assembled to 
complain in American Sign Language. Parents also have confronted new board 
members of the state's school for the deaf in pointed, awkward exchanges. 
And more objections are expected when the board convenes next month for 
what had, until now, been ordinary meetings on routine school matters.

At the root of the tension is a debate that stretches well beyond Indiana: 
Will sign language and the nation's separate schools for the deaf be 
abandoned as more of the deaf turn to communicating, with help from 
fast-evolving technology, through amplified sounds and speech?

And in the struggle to balance depleted budgets, Indiana and other states, 
like Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota and West Virginia have 
called for cuts on many fronts in recent years, including for state schools 
for the deaf -- a group of institutions with long, rich traditions.

Some advocates for the schools now worry that financial concerns could push 
the debate toward sending deaf children to "mainstream" schools, which 
would, in the eyes of some, ultimately encourage methods of communication 
other than American Sign Language, or A.S.L.

"Speaking and listening classrooms across the nation are known for their 
forced exclusion of A.S.L. and expressly forbid any contact with the 
culturally deaf adult role models," Marvin Miller, president of the Indiana 
Association of the Deaf, who is deaf, said in an e-mail interview.

"We view this as inflicting violence upon thousands of innocent deaf and 
hard-of-hearing babies -- taking away their language and pinning their 
hopes on dismal success rates of cochlear implants," he added.

The two approaches -- sign language and the so-called listening and spoken 
language approach -- are both in wide use. Many people do not see them in 
conflict with one another, and view the two approaches simply as a matter 
of personal choice.  But shrinking state budgets, with less money to be 
spent on programs for the deaf, are hardening the debate because they are 
turning preferences into policy decisions.

Advocates for those who use technology to hear and speak say their option 
can be one answer to the budget constraints.

"Kids in the mainstream save society, taxpayers, a significant amount of 
money in the short-term and in the long-term when it comes to being 
integrated into the hearing world," said Naomi S. Horton, executive 
director of Hear Indiana, which supports families who use listening and 
spoken language to communicate.

"There is a financial benefit, but at the end of the day it has to be a 
parent's choice," Ms. Horton said.

Here, the clash began this spring, when Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, 
filled four empty slots on the board of the Indiana School for the Deaf, 
which was founded more than 165 years ago and promotes what it calls a 
bilingual, bicultural philosophy that includes American Sign Language and 
English. Some 340 students go to the school, which provides outreach 
services to hundreds of others.

Parents complained that three of the appointees were not themselves deaf. 
Two of the new board members (both of whom have a deaf or hard-of-hearing 
child) drew particular anger because families said they were dues-paying 
members of Hear Indiana and were perceived to favor an educational approach 
of amplifying sound and encouraging speech over sign language.

The appointments, they said, signaled that the state was now picking sides 
-- against American Sign Language and deaf culture.

"It has become crystal clear that these selections were premeditated, 
planned and executed in a style befitting the most savvy of politics," said 
Kim Bianco Majeri, who is deaf and whose daughters -- one deaf and one hard 
of hearing -- attend the Indiana School for the Deaf.

Ms. Majeri said the school provided them with language skills of all sorts 
but also the nurturing environment and true peers that she said she missed 
out on.

"My husband and I grew up mainstreamed and we would never wish that on our 
children," she said.

Two of the board members who have faced criticism did not respond to 
requests for comment. A third, Mary Susan Buhner, whose husband serves on 
the board of Hear Indiana, declined to respond to specific questions about 
her views, but she did say she believes in the stated mission of the 
Indiana School for the Deaf to be "the premier comprehensive center 
providing education, services and resources" for Indiana's deaf.

The Hear Indiana group lauded Mr. Daniels' appointments, saying in a news 
release that they represent "the growing diversity of 21st century parents 
and children living with hearing loss" and a long-overdue inclusion of the 
views of people who use technology like cochlear implants.

"Today less than 20 percent of all families choose traditional American 
Sign Language," the release said, "the remaining 80 percent want their 
children to enjoy the full range of sounds and to be able to listen and 
speak."

Kristina Swatts and her husband, Chris, got a bone-conduction hearing aid 
for their son Isaac when he was 9 months old.

Now 22 months old, Isaac sings, dances and says scores of words, and the 
Swatts, who are not deaf, said they intended to send him to mainstream 
schools.

"We want what every parent wants for their child," Mrs. Swatts said.

The clash over the two approaches is complicated by conflicting and 
shifting statistics -- for example, cochlear implant advocates say the 
devices have a far higher success rate than critics claim, while A.S.L. 
advocates say the popularity of such devices is drastically overstated.

Advocates of A.S.L. say they worry about cuts to the state budget, which 
included a 13 percent cut this year to $16.3 million to the School for the 
Deaf, and that more might be in store.

But Hear Indiana says the financing is already lopsided against a spoken 
approach, spending far more, the group says, on the students attending the 
school than on the rest of the state's more than 1,800 deaf or 
hard-of-hearing students, who go to school elsewhere.

"At the end of the day, this entire conversation is about right-sizing the 
budget for deaf education in Indiana," Ms. Horton said. "No one wants to 
take the ASL option away; we simply want to see that parents who choose 
listening and spoken language instruction (over placement at the Indiana 
School for the Deaf) have equal access to a free and appropriate public 
education."

A spokeswoman for Mr. Daniels said that no one in his administration has 
been comparing the cost-effectiveness of teaching sign language versus 
using amplification tools because no effort is afoot to change the School 
for the Deaf's model of teaching. That said, Jane Jankowski, the 
spokeswoman, pointed to disappointing assessment results from the school, 
and added that the governor had no intention of undoing his appointments to 
its board.

"We frequently appoint individuals to our boards and commissions who take a 
fresh look and bring new perspective and ideas," Ms. Jankowski said.