For those who don't know the Hearing and Speech Center is:
one of the largest of its kind in the DC area and provides a wide array of services to the Gallaudet community, their family members, and the local community. Services include: an Assistive Devices Center, audiologic evaluation, aural rehabilitation, cochlear implant services, hearing aid services, speech reading classes, and speech-language pathology services.The Center is a full service, urban clinic that serve the Gallaudet University community and the greater Washington DC area. A full service commitment to all those communities whether deaf, hard of hearing, Deaf, or hearing.
You know what? I think having those signs in place as designed provide an important strategic outcome for the Deaf community. First, those signs help hearing parents of deaf/hh children find their way by directing them to the location of the Hearing and Speech Center for their appointments. You get new clients and patients all the time and many of them are not familiar with Gallaudet University campus layout. Those directional signs on campus help point the way. While parents with their kids wind their way through campus they would get to see a campus full of kids, students, staff, and professors signing as they make their way to the center. You have exposure right there. Imagine if Gallaudet University didn't have that full service Hearing and Speech Center? All those kids with hearing aids or cochlear implants would not ever step foot on the campus of Gallaudet University but instead it'd take place at another hearing and speech service elsewhere whose grounds and offices would probably be sterile of any signing exposure. Not only kids but adults who use Gallaudet's HSC would also be exposed to a signing community probably for the first time, too.
Many of those directional signs are placed together with signs for buildings such as "The Field House," "Ely Center," "Gate House," and "Sorenson Language and Communication Center." All in all, I say at the end those directional signs are a way to help bring more exposure to deaf and hard of hearing kids (and their parents) and hearing people by helping to direct them through a campus full of signing people by making it friendly and inviting for those arriving on campus for the very first time. What better way to slowly introduce them to a signing community and culture?
5 comments:
Great point you got there, Mike.
Exposure to sign language and deaf culture!
Thar's a silver lining in those signs, by golly.
Ann_C
That's true. Like I said in Candy's recent blog that many hearing loss people who have never met or do not know how to communicate with any deaf people need some help. They would face a "culture shock." That's okay for them do that and understandable.
At this point, if I go to the Middle East and see no English around the place, I would not know how to communicate with them. Regardless of any people with hearing or hearing loss, I am not sure using some body-language/gestures that would work for non-English-spoken people to understand me and others. I wonder about that sometimes.
White Ghost
I explained what was going on on Amy's blog, but rather than read about the reasons for the signs, they'd prefer to just rant and rave and declare it the end of the world. Fine. So be it. There are loads of things to complain about at Gallaudet, but signs directing people to the Clinic isn't one of them.
SK3,
You make a valid point about there are many other (and more important) things at Gally to complain about than some signs posted for the HSC. Wish the hysteria could act more on the more serious problems that tend to get swept under the rug there, but go "unseen".
For example, Mike has blogged about the higher rate of rape incidents at Gally than at other colleges and he's wondered why, but ppl have accused Mike of going all negative on Gally. Mike's a Gally grad himself. It's understandable to have some concern over a growing problem at an alma mater, for it does have some impact on how a college is perceived. Penn State, for example, is already having a major PR nightmare because of the Sandusky case. :(
Ann_C
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