Letters to the Editor

Comments, Questions, and Answers Alan B. Crammatte Editor, Comments The Comment, Question, and Answer department is published as a service to professional readers and parents of deaf children. It is an attempt to provide practical information on the basic aspects of deafness, particularly in relation to education. Although all questions submitted cannot be used, those considered to be of greatest interest to readers will be published. Answers are prepared by competent authorities. Material submitted must contain the writer's name and address. Address questions and comments to: Alan B. Crammatte, 897 Windsong Dr., Arnold, Md. 21012. COMMENT—The Rowley case, decided by the Supreme Court June 28,1982, was not a victory for Amy Rowley and her parents. Amy was denied an interpreter by a 6-3 decision. However , the decision cannot be considered a total loss, says the National Center for Law and the Deaf in a recent analysis of the case. The positive aspects are summed up by the Center by a statement that "The Supreme Court upheld the fundamental tenets of the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142): (1) individual instruction, (2) sufficient support services to benefit from education, (3) such instruction and services to be at public expense, (4) parental involvement in development of individualized education program, (5) due process rights for parents and (6) judicial review." Although it was found by the Court that Amy did not have to have an interpreter, this does not mean that parents of other deaf children would not be able to demonstrate that their child did need an interpreter. For a detailed analysis of this decision contact the National Center for Law and the Deaf, 800 Florida Avenue, N.E., Washington , D.C. 20002, phone 202-651-5454. COMMENT—Great American Thomas H. GaIlaudet will be recognized as such by the U. S. Postal Service with a stamp in the Great Americans series to be issued late in 1982 or in 1983. The portrait for the stamp, by artist Dennis Lyall, was unveiled at the Gallaudet College alumni reunion in June. Another postal celebration at that reunion was the hand stamping of a first-day cover featuring Ole Jim, the College's newly restored gymnasium to serve as an alumni house. The stamp and the cancellation were sparked respectively by alumnus Kenneth Rothschild and his committee and honorary alumnus Albert Hlibok. The art for the first-day cachet was created by alumna Ruth Peterson. COMMENT—A new attempt at tactile interpretation of speech for deaf persons was brought to notice June 27 by an open house given by the Ear Three Systems, parent organization for a manufacturing concern and a franchising organization, which will manufacture and market the simulators. The firms are not yet into production. COMMENT—It may be getting monotonous but one cannot resist announcing that the Editor of the Annals is not the only member of the staff to occupy the Doctor Chair (1979-80 as reported here June 1979). This time it is Alan Crammatte. Send your COMMENTS to him at Gallaudet College, Washington, D.C. 20002. Letters To The Editor To The Editor: Anyone who has taken the trouble to learn even a little of the beautiful language of the deaf A.A.O. I October 1982 735 Letters to the Editor people in the United States is forced to recognize its magnificent qualities: clarity, grace, explicit expression, artistic beauty, and speed. Why is it not accepted in schools and programs for the deaf? Because it does not conform specifically to English word order and grammatical patterns. Spanish has this same characteristic, but Spanish is not thought deficient because of its difference from English. Why is ASL considered (primarily by hearing educators) to be somehow inferior because of its differences from English? The reason, of course, is that most of these educators wish to reserve sign language as a slave to English, with all the beautiful signs reduced to the status of symbols for words, devoid of independent meaning of their own. Their purpose is good: to teach English grammar. But the price is high: the necessity of teaching almost every spoken and written English word, and the exclusion of sign...