A Note from the President
By
Samuel
J.
Supalla
Lots of interesting things have happened since the first release of this newsletter for SASL last
March! I will just focus on the controversy surrounding the remark that Nyle DiMarco made in a
Washington Post article (click here for the article). He said, too many deaf children are deprived of
American Sign Language, which received a rebuttal from the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing President that was printed in the same newspaper (click here for
the rebuttal). Since Mr. DiMarco enjoys celebrity status through his stint on America's Next Top
Model and Dancing with the Stars, his remark on ASL carried weight and became a lightning bolt,
so to speak. This included a backlash from the deaf/ signing communities towards AG Bell's
rebuttal. A petition drive led to the collection of thousands of signatures with positions coming out
from various deaf-related organizations supporting Mr. DiMarco. Coincidentally, Gallaudet
University's President released an open letter emphasizing the value of bilingualism with ASL and
English. In the end, AG Bell President posted an open letter (on the organization's website, click
here) in response to the firestorm. The letter's content confirms their new understanding that ASL is
a "fully accessible, visual language".
This is where SASL comes in to the picture. Linguistic accessibility is a key concept that too
many people, especially those who are in the profession of serving deaf populations do not
understand or appreciate. If one looks at AG Bell President's letter to the Washington Post again, it
is easy to see where the unfortunate misunderstanding occurred. ASL is simply treated as a language
other than English, when there is much more to the equation. The fact that ASL is a signed language
(whereas English is not) has implications for how deaf populations should be best served in the
country. The letter that the AG Bell President wrote suggests a failure in understanding the special
status of ASL, especially as she explained that the signed language is only an option.
Why did this misunderstanding occur over something that seems to be so obvious? AG Bell
President's Washington Post letter included Deaf culture and bilingualism as a basis for their stance
with English. Apparently, the AG Bell President's thought that ASL and English are 'equal', which
set the stage for her comments that English can be the language for deaf individuals without ASL. I
must say that scholars and researchers advocating Deaf culture and bilingualism have not been
careful in emphasizing that ASL is a signed language, for several decades now. This needs to be
corrected. Currently, the public and government officials only see that ASL is controversial (and
perhaps something to avoid) as evidenced in the Washington Post fiasco. With SASL's mission
centering on linguistic accessibility, I sincerely hope that the bitter and distracting divisions among
American citizens will soon become a thing of the past.
https://www.facebook.com/Societyforasl.org/
The Power of ASL
3
Summer 2016 – Issue 2