Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part I

Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part I.

It was a little more than a few years ago that a dirty little secret exploded onto the scene where numerous deaf students at a few deaf residential schools (i.e. “School for the deaf”) were exposed to sexual harassments or molestations, sexual advancements, and sexual assaults by a few deviant employees and, most often, the students themselves. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer investigation identified numerous student rape victims spanning over a half-century. This raised serious concerns and questions about the nation’s own residential schools where some continue to fail to protect children at deaf residential schools. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer began their investigation into the world of sexual abuses of deaf students at the Washington School for the Deaf beginning in 2001 which uncovered wide-spread sex abuses. It took a string of five reported student-on-student rapes in 1999 to spur safety improvements at the school. Five lives were destroyed because of ignorance by the school.

Why many of these reports of sexual abuse were never reported 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago or longer? It was usually because many deaf students who were victims feared that their own “cherished” deaf schools would close down if they ever try and report the sexual abuses that went on. For example, according to Linda Hill, a Vancouver Island psychologist who has counseled some the victims of sex abuse at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Vancouver, British Columbia (not the same school as Washington School for the Deaf in Vancouver, Washington) the students were “…kept quiet because they feared a scandal would result in the school's closure” (As allegations fly, School for Deaf finds itself at crossroads 'Child safety can't be secondary,' one official says Thursday, April 26, 2001 Story by Ruth Teichroeb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff). "The abuse was the trade-off for the fluency of communication," Hill said. "It was better to live in a dysfunctional deaf world than an isolated hearing world." Even Professor Donna Mertens at Gallaudet University exclaimed to the extent true of one of the reasons why abuses do not go reported. She said, “…denial is fueled by everything from blaming the victim to believing that 'the deaf don't rat on other deaf ' (Donna Mertens, an education professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., who wrote a 1996 study on sexual abuse at a school for the deaf. Abuse and Silence: Examining America's schools for the deaf Sex abuse plagues schools for the deaf nationwide). In short, victimized students wanted to ensure that their Deaf culture and sign language were kept alive for social reasons.

These are strange and disturbing statements but not altogether unexpected why some would go to nearly any length to protect their very personal and sociable Deaf world. So precious was their Deaf world they allowed these dirty little secrets to continue its terror on new and unsuspecting deaf students unfamiliar to the school’s history. The emotional and psychological costs of these abuses spanned over many generations producing many dysfunctional Deaf people as they grew up into adulthood only to carry the emotional baggage. However, some have learned to use their past rape experience to do something positive.

In published research studies (Knutson-Sullivan, 1993., Sullivan et. al., 1991, Boys Town Research Hosp., Annals of Oto/R/Lynx) clearly indicated that deaf children at residential schools have a significantly HIGHER CHANCE of being sexually abused than deaf children in mainstream programs. In short, deaf kids at residential schools are exposed to a multifold higher danger of getting sexually abused that should literally scare the pants off of any parents of deaf children who are thinking of sending their deaf kids to a deaf residential school.

For awhile, nearly 40 percent of deaf children have gone to state-run residential schools until 1975 when a federal law ordered local school districts to provide services to disabled children. Over the years the number of deaf children attending state residential schools for the deaf has dropped to one out of 10 students. As of 2001, approximately 6,900 deaf children attended schools for the deaf in the United States. (Deaf say special schools needed, Wednesday, April 25, 2001 By Ruth Teichroeb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter). Despite the falling numbers of deaf students who attended residential schools the abuses didn’t stop with the falling numbers.

In 1982, former Baxter (on Mackworth Island near Falmouth) students accused staff members from the 1950s through the 1970s of rape, beatings and intimidation. A state study was set up to find out whether the allegations were true. They were. Three top administrators resigned as a result. Victims later petition the Legislature for the right to sue and demand a formal apology. However, prior to the investigation, many former students of Baxter school hesitated about testifying about the alleged abuses that occurred there, fearing the school might be shut down as a result of the controversy ( “In Maine, a step toward healing.” A Maine bill would allow compensation for students who were abused at Governor Baxter School for the Deaf. Thursday, April 26, 2001. By Ruth Teichroeb – Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter).

As Patricia Sullivan explained "There is a shroud of cultural silence around physical and sexual abuse in residential schools for the deaf. (Patricia Sullivan, a psychologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Neb. As allegations fly, School for Deaf finds itself at crossroads 'Child safety can't be secondary,' one official says Thursday, April 26, 2001, Story by Ruth Teichroeb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff). It's a bunker mentality. It's very easy to be shunned in the deaf community," said Sullivan, who has done extensive research about abuse of disabled children.

According to Sullivan’s research children with disabilities are more than three times more likely to be mistreated. The risk of abuse is even greater in residential facilities such as deaf residential schools. And because deaf students value the social cohesions at deaf residential schools, they develop this irrational fear of seeing their deaf residential school shut down and lose their Deaf culture. Many Deaf communities were willing to keep a dirty secret about their deaf residential schools. “They accept the ‘total institution’ as a home where a shared language community and friends are to be found." (Evans, Donald and Falk William (1986) Learning to be Deaf Berlin Mouton de Grayter).

"The most significant aspect of residential life is the dormitory. In the dormitory, away from the structured control of the classrooms, deaf children are introduced to the social life of deaf people. This unique pattern of transmission lies at the heart of the culture." (Padden C. and Tom Humphries. (1988) Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture). This is what makes Deaf culture attractive, the socialization aspect and would do almost anything to preserve their culture, even to the demise of others.

Not only has rape or sexual abuse occurred at some of the schools for the deaf for younger students but also at older institutions such as Gallaudet University. Rape and other sexual violence are an unfortunate reality that many are not intimately aware of or how to respond in such a case. Even the victims’ are unsure how to respond or report the violence.


Next week: Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part II.

© Copyright 2006 Mike McConnell