SASL Newsletter - Fall 2017 Issue Issue 7 - Fall 2017 | Page 2
SASL Executive Council
2015 – 2017
President
Samuel J. Supalla
University of Arizona
[email protected]
Vice President
Deirdre Schlehofer
Rochester Institute of Technology
[email protected]
Recording Secretary /
Newsletter Editor
Andrew P. J. Byrne
Framingham State University
[email protected]
Treasurer
Harvey Nathanson
Austin Community College
[email protected]
Membership Director
Ron Fenicle
[email protected]
SASL Journal
Editor-in-Chief
Jody H. Cripps
Towson University
[email protected]
Members-at-Large
Russell Rosen
CUNY – Staten Island
[email protected]
Gabriel Arellano
Georgetown University
[email protected]
By Andrew P. J. Byrne
Mabel Bell’s Change of Heart
To follow up with the previous issue on Mabel Bell’s
perspective on American Sign Language (ASL) and deaf
people, this issue focuses on some changes in her thinking
and behavior towards the end of her life. She struggled with
herself as a deaf person for many years. As you will see in this
piece, a tragic event in 1897 was a starting point that took her
almost 25 years to finally accept the identity as an oral deaf
person. Did Mabel have a full change of heart? Not necessarily
so. I will explain.
The news of the death of Mabel’s father in 1897 came
as a crushing blow for her. While poring over his writings, she
did not realize how much he had done for the promotion of the
teaching of the deaf. For many years, Mabel's father was
actively involved in the American Association to Promote the
Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (now known as the Alexander
Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in
Washington, DC) and served on the Board of Trustees of the
Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts
(now known as the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech).
In a letter to her son-in-law, Mabel wrote:
I have now awakened to a realization that I have not
done my duty by the memory of the wonderful father
and mother who not only did much for their child but so
unselfishly labored for the benefit of other deaf children.
(Toward, 1996, pp. 237-238)
To pay a tribute to her father, Mabel collected his
writings and published a book entitled The Story of the Rise of
the Oral Method in America as Told in the Writings of the Late
Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard in 1898. As an editor, she wrote:
The story as told in this little book is gathered chiefly from
Mr. Hubbard’s writings. It has occasionally been found
necessary to make some changes in the phraseology in
order to make a connected story from the different
publications, but these changes have been few and
unimportant. Some additions have been made where they
seemed to strengthen or elucidate Mr. Hubbard’s story. All
statements of facts within Mr. Hubbard’s personal
knowledge and all opinions expressed by him are given in
his own words. ([Mabel] Bell, 1898, p. 13)
(Continue on the next page)
The Power of ASL
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Fall 2017 – Issue 7