Signs and Voices : Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts

4. “I Thought There Would Be More Hellen Keller": History through Deaf Eyes and Narratives of Representation

“I Thought There Would Be More Helen Keller”: History through Deaf Eyes and Narratives of Representation 43 KRISTEN HARMON 4 The purpose of this letter is to express extreme opposition to the proposed Smithsonian Institution/Gallaudet University exhibit titled “DEAF: A Community of Signers.” —AN AUDIOLOGIST 1 This exhibit must be cautious in presenting any viewpoint which would encourage withdrawal into a small, confined, and poorly informed cultural entity. —A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL2 Please—the Deaf community has a rich culture with intense bonds. I ask you to let the world experience, as only the Smithsonian Institute can do, a glimpse into this unique, beautiful, and fascinating cultural group. —A HEARING ASL STUDENT 3 1. Letter to the Smithsonian, November 27, 1995. Gallaudet University Archives. Due to restrictions placed upon the research-related use of this archival material, the letter writers to the Smithsonian in this exhibition-related collection are cited as anonymous. For the same reason, logbook entries are also cited as anonymous. 2. Letter to the Smithsonian, November 27, 1995. Gallaudet University Archives. 3. Letter to the Smithsonian, June 19, 1996. Gallaudet University Archives. 44 Kristen Harmon I do not care what the “deaf culture” do with their lives. If they want to go off into a ghetto, that’s fine with me. Just don’t try to drag me, and others like me, along with you. —A LETTER TO SILENT NEWS, A DEAF COMMUNITY PUBLICATION4 Thanks to Deaf culture, I have thrived as a Deaf person. . . . Deaf culture is real and is a part of American history. —A DEAF ADULT WHO USED PURE ORALISM IN HIS EARLY YEARS5 YOUR PROPOSED EXHIBIT OF DEAF AMERICANS EXCLUDES ME!! [Followed by a picture of a child.] PLEASE REMEMBER THOSE OF US WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO BE AURAL AND ORAL—WE ARE PART OF THE HISTORY AND THE FUTURE —A PARENT6 The Smithsonian . . . is in a unique position. You have the opportunity to strike down barriers and open up doors. . . . For those who are not familiar with deaf culture and the deaf community, you have the rare opportunity to open their world. To paraphrase Jesse Jackson, the problem is not that the deaf can’t hear, it’s that the hearing world doesn’t listen. —A HEARING VISITOR TO THE SMITHSONIAN7 In the early 1990s, Gallaudet University and the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., planned a joint production, a permanent exhibition called “DEAF: A Community of Signers.” However, as a result of a series of conflicts over the original conception, the focus changed, and the exhibition became a traveling installation called “History through Deaf Eyes.” A committee based at Gallaudet University handled the design and fundraising, and the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building eventually became the host site for one of the exhibition’s early postings. In moving from “DEAF” to “Deaf Eyes,” this particular exhibition sheds light on American d/Deaf identities and the conflicted nature of representation. It also shows how hearing, deaf, and culturally Deaf people define and describe themselves 4. Wells 1994. 5. Letter to the Smithsonian, April 22, 1996. Gallaudet University Archives. 6. Letter to the Smithsonian, February 16, 1996. Gallaudet University Archives. 7. Letter to the Smithsonian, May 27, 1996. Gallaudet University Archives. “I THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE MORE HELEN KELLER” 45 and others in relation to the concept of a subjectivity that sees through “Deaf eyes.” In its original conception as “DEAF: A Community of Signers,” the exhibition set out to provide a series of short narratives that would inform and educate a hearing audience. As such, it was intended to focus upon signing Deaf people as members of a unique sociolinguistic community. In the early stages, the planning committee deliberated on what one idea, one concept, they wanted visitors to understand. That one idea was to show the audience an alternative narrative concerning Deaf people, a group that many hearing visitors would know simply as a subsection of the disabled population. Hearing people with no knowledge of the Deaf community or of Deaf history were the intended audience of the original exhibition. According to exhibition director Jean L. Bergey, viewers would feel as though they had “met” a Deaf person.8 As we shall see, the ensuing controversy arose by asking a simple question: What sort of Deaf person is the visitor meeting? Please stop the myth that the deaf are mute...