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LYNNE MCCONNELL wo years ago this summer, more than 6,000 people from eighty-one countries gathered in Washington, D.C., for The Deaf Way Conference and Festival , a first-of-its-kind event. They came together to share information about their language, culture, and history through both scholarly presentations and artistic expression. During the week-long occasion, participants attended presentations of more than 500 scholarly papers in meeting rooms and auditoriums in the Omni Shoreham Hotel in downtown Washington. Each evening, artistic events were performed on Gallaudet University's Kendall Green campus, including plays, storytelling , dancing, song signing, and a variety of other activities that focused on deaf people, their sign languages, and their cultures. The week-long, milestone event took more than two years to plan, with 300 people working to make it a reality, and cost about $1,500,000. Major sponsors for The Deaf Way were Ronald McDonald Children's Charities and AT&T. Substantial support was also received from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Coca-Cola Foundation, and the Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Just days after The Deaf Way Conference and Festival ended, its staff organizers began receiving letters of praise. In letter after letter, deaf people described the event as the happiest time of their lives and spoke of memories they would cherish forever. But today, The Deaf Way has become much more than memories. It continues to make an impact on the lives of deaf people throughout the world. In many countries, deaf people have new communication systems, a new network of deaf friends, and an awareness that, as deaf people, they have the potential to attain levels of education, employment, and artistic expression equal to that attained by hearing people. "The Deaf Way was sort of an outstanding exclamation point in terms of reaffirming the 'can do' attitude or positive contributions that deaf people and deaf groups can make for themselves," says Eli Savanick, director of the International Center on Deafness (lCD). "A remarkable number of places, people, and groups created very organized reporting procedures. People didn't just have a good time. People literally went back and reported on this. We've seen it in pictures in magazines, in the number of people asking for materials, and in the letters we get here." This article, from the Summer 1991 issue of the periodical Gallaudet Today, reports on some of the long-range effects The Deaf Way had on participants. More Than Memories The event had an effect on the Gallaudet community as well, says Jean Lindquist, coordinator of special projects with the Division of Development and formerly assistant coordinator for The Deaf Way. "The campus was united in making The Deaf Way succeed , and virtually every department was involved in the conference and festival," she says. "Students, faculty, staff, and alumni put in downright heroic efforts to make our international guests feel welcome." The final product, says Lindquist, was a state-of-the-art event that was as accessible as possible to all participants, and one that set a new standard of accessibility for international meetings of deaf people. The Deaf Way also helped introduce both technology and interpreters to some countries. "For most deaf Brazilians, the first time they ever saw a TOO was at The Deaf Way," says Renato Sindicic, who last May became the first student from that country to graduate from Gallaudet. "I told them, 'Buy it. It is important for you.''' Sindicic's friends were skeptical. It took some persuasion, but finally they bought TDDs. One friend, Roberto Pascucci, bought TDDs for himself, his parents, his wife's mother, and his sister. A few days after The Deaf Way, Pascucci told Sindicic that the people who bought TDDs were using them daily in Brazil. "[Pascucci's] very proud to show the other staff at the bank where he works how to use the TOO, and that he can get along without an interpreter," says Sindicic. "For the first time, he can have a private phone conversation with his wife or daughter. Now he's developing a directory of all the deaf TOO users in Brazil. I think he has about eighty names." If it were not for The Deaf Way, says Sindicic, deaf people in Brazil would not have interpreters, either, or the limited captioning and interpreting they now have on television. Some deaf Brazilians are even trying to start a newsletter for the deaf community in Brazil. They also have increased their interaction...

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