SASL Newsletter - Fall 2017 Issue Issue 7 - Fall 2017 | Page 3

The writings by Mabel’s father had a profound impact on her. For the first time in her life, she had
begun to show her interest in the education of the deaf (Bishundayal, 2002). What Mabel continued to
resist is the signing component of deaf children. With American Sign Language or ASL, deaf children
enjoy full access leading to mastery. Ease of learning and full participation in discourse are part of the
experience that deaf children share when it comes to a signed language. Mabel continued to uphold the
idea that deaf children could imitate hearing children and become 'speakers'. The fact that she heard
English before she became deaf gave her an advantage over many other deaf children. Mabel was not
sensitive to this disparity when she advocated oralism. The oral method as mentioned in the title of
Mabel's edited book demonstrates her belief that spoken language can supplant signed language,
which has been unproven and counter-intuitive. As part of following her father's footsteps, Mabel
became active by serving on the Board of Trustees at the Clarke School for the Deaf and encouraged
her family members “to assume a personal responsibility in maintaining the high standard of the school”
(Toward, 1996, p. 254). Also, for the first time in her life, she wanted to be remembered as a deaf
person. In a letter to her daughter, Elsie, two years before her death, Mabel wrote:
I think the gist of the letter [to Elsie’s husband, Gilbert, a day before] was that having taught you
all my life to forget that I was deaf, I now want you to remember it, at least to the extent of
looking on the Clarke School as a sort of family affair whose welfare is a family concern.
(Toward, 1996, p. 240)
After her husband’s death on August 2, 1922, Mabel discovered that she had cancer. Five
months later, on January 3, 1923, she died. “Some say she died of a broken heart, but whether it was
that or the cancer her death was a great blow to all whom had known her” (Bishundayal, 2002, pp. 77-
78).
After digging through books by various authors and Mabel’s family letters, I could see that she
worked hard to act like a normal hearing person. Mabel mingled with the society of “[her] natural
equals” as if she could hear but when she used her voice, her disability was suddenly exposed. No
matter how hard she worked to conceal her disability, she was always deaf. According to Watson and
Watson (2016, July-September), “Mabel recognized that being able to talk enabled her to communicate
with anyone, but the person she liked to talk with most was her husband” (p. 13). From what we know
about Mabel’s personal history, it would not be a surprise that communicating with Alexander allowed
her to experience the least mitigation of her disability.
In reference to my preceding Editor's Corner, Mabel seemed to have changed from disliking the
idea of herself as a deaf person to accepting the fact that she was deaf since she was five. She also
seemed to have finally embraced deaf education based on one condition, that is, oralism is superior as
compared to manualism. This includes the conviction that deaf children must follow hearing people as
the 'norm' regardless of their disability. Differences including the use of ASL were intolerable. Mabel’s
perspective on ASL never changed. Her father’s rejection of ASL from the moment she was discovered
to be deaf was passed on to her, who held it till her death.
What is important for consideration at this point is that during Mabel's life, signing and signed
language such as ASL were increasingly under attack. There are sufficient historical accounts about
how many public schools for the deaf once the bedrock of ASL gave away to oralism. It was not
possible for Mabel to think differently about ASL over time, and it was not until much time had passed
after her death that ASL came back with respect and vigor. As mentioned in my preceding Editor's
Corner, Mabel's father's commented that Mabel would be "condemned to a life of isolation" had she
become a signer. This is quite understandable considering the climate in society at that time, especially
since the concept of civil rights was non-existent. The tide rising against ASL was, in fact, so strong that
the utopia known as Martha's Vineyard experienced a backlash with an increasing number of tourists
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The Power of ASL
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Fall 2017 – Issue 7