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Foreword
- Gallaudet University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Foreword These past several decades have been a time of advance for the deaf community in the United States. Deaf and hearing individuals alike have learned about the history and culture of the American deaf community through an increasing number of movies, plays, books, and more recently, websites. In addition, deaf adults, like women, African-Americans, and other minorities, have invigorated their efforts to counter prejudice and discrimination in society at large. Many in the nation closely followed deaf students who, in 1988, led the bold campaign that galvanized deaf citizens and brought Gallaudet University its first deaf president. Less prominent, but no less significant, are the ongoing campaigns to promote American Sign Language (ASL) and increase the educational opportunities of deaf children . Similarly, deafadults joined with others on behalf of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), whose passage in 1990 established workplace rights for deaf and other qualified adults. These efforts have increased the linguistic, artistic, educational, and employment vii viii Foreword opportunities for deaf individuals-and enriched the nation. Given the efforts that have made these advances possible-as well as the obstacles remaining before deaf Americans-it should be no surprise if some deaf and hearing readers are troubled, ifnot angered, by this book. Paradoxically, Dennis Buck, the articulate and self-revealing author, would likely understand any bewilderment or betrayal engendered by this brief and engrossing autobiographical narrative. It is possible that several readers may have seen or even encountered the author at his preferred work site for much of the 1990S: Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As the title indicates, Dennis Buck was neither a uniformed concessionaire nor a harried airline employee, buta self-described entrepreneur who put in long, hard days to offer his varied wares to travelers in one of the world's largest and busiest thoroughfares. The author, however, was not a typical vendor who might sell candy, magazines, or other sundry items at inflated prices. Rather, as the author himself acknowledges , critics will likely charge that for ten years Dennis Buck sold himself or, more precisely, exploited his identity as a deaf, sign language-using inhabitant of a wheelchair, to sustain a steady-even lucrativecareer as a peddler.1 Moreover, it can be asserted that 1. See RobertScott, The Making ofBlindMen: A Study ofAdult Socialization (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1969), 110-12. For example , Scott argues that blind beggars"exploit for their own eco- [54.196.27.122] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:47 GMT) Foreword ix the author hurt others besides himself. Critics will contend that the author/s public activities may have damaged the standing of the deaf community. CX) Peddlers have typically been confined to a marginal existence at the periphery of economic activity and cultural life in the United States. From colonial times through industrialization and up to the current age of globalization, popular culture has almost always portrayed peddlers and peddling in a negative light. At times, peddlers have been characterized as persistent and unsavory dispensers of items both spurious and necessary: "snake oil" in the nineteenth-century frontier and flimsy umbrellas in contemporary New York City. At other times, peddlers have been depicted as troubled individuals a few steps removed from begging or homelessness. Black-and-white photographs of unemployed men selling apples or pencilsonstreetcorners during the Depression, for example, have become veritable icons. Rarely, if ever, have peddlers been considered examples of favorable entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, few in government, academia, social service organizations, or society at large have sought to study either peddlers or the dynamics of exchange between peddler and the public. As a result, peddling remains a phenomenon in which fact is not easily distinguished from folklore. nomic gain the emotions and fears sighted people have about blindness." x Foreword The organized deaf community, deeply troubled by these stereotypes, has consistently condemned peddling . Indeed, it may be accurate to say that among many deaf adults, the term peddler is as much epithet as occupation. To these critics, a deaf peddler exploits the erroneous pity of naIve, hearing passersby. Dennis Buck's story seems to confirm some of these stereotypes as it questions others. At one level, this is a compelling story of one man's "coming of age," in which he transcends external challenges and internal frailties to emerge-in the end-a respected member of his community. Certainly, readers will be heartened by the author's description of his youth and young adulthood . A hardworking, intelligent, even accomplished, learner...