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Chapter 11. Momento de Verdad
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107 Chapter 11 Momento de Verdad Being the first deaf person and the second person ever to be elected to the top post of all three major professional organizations for educators serving deaf students—the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD), the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID), and the Council on the Education of the Deaf (CED)—was indeed a great accomplishment for Bob. Other honors came in quick succession, including election to the Alumni Hall of Fame at Hunter College and the Daniel T. Cloud Leadership Award from California State University at Northridge. Disappointed as Bob was with not winning the Gallaudet presidency, he had no time to think about it. The final report of the 1988 Commission on the Education of the Deaf (COED), established by Congress in the Education of the Deaf Act, had painted a dismal picture, similar to what the Babbidge Report had presented 23 years earlier. The COED Chairman Frank Bowe, a deaf regional commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), held the highest position ever attained by a deaf person in government—up to that time. The COED report concluded: “The present status of education for persons who are deaf in the United States is unsatisfactory. Unacceptably so.”1 Bob concurred with the COED report. Responding to this report had provided him with the opportunity to lead the Gallaudet Pre-College Programs in remaining current with the state of education of deaf people in the United States. Noting how other countries were effectively diagnosing and identifying deaf infants and establishing early intervention programs and preschool education, COED recommended improved early intervention programs for deaf children in the United States. 108 Moments of Truth It is commonly known that most children born deaf have difficulties learning to read. The COED report indicated that while progress had been made since the 1965 Babbidge Committee Report, it was not satisfactory. The report also noted that the federal government was doing much more for high-achieving deaf students than for those whom the nation’s schools had failed. The ironic result was that those who needed the most aid received the least. With its numerous recommendations, and its recognition of the unique language, communication and cultural status and needs of deaf children, the COED report was to become the blueprint for the reform of deaf education. As an administrator responsible for K–12 schooling in model programs within the Gallaudet campus, Bob had been deeply enmeshed in these issues. His national advisory boards for the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf often grappled with these concerns and he discussed them in depth with his friends and colleagues . Bob felt there was an acute need for better leadership in the government agencies regarding the education of children with disabilities. • • • Historically oppressed, the deaf community was implementing its own coming-of-age civil rights agenda. Research was helping achieve the recognition and legitimization of American Sign Language (ASL) as a language and as an appropriate medium by which to teach. Leaders of the deaf community, asserting “Deaf power,” were focusing on having deaf persons play greater decision-making roles. For all intents and purposes, the struggle centered on power-sharing between deaf and hearing persons, with the education gap between deaf and hearing children a major target. Deaf leaders decried decades of inadequate education of their community’s children resulting from the near exclusive decision-making by hearing persons. Bob had been at the forefront as a deaf leader for years. Now, as his term as president of CEASD came to a close in June 1988, William P. Johnson, Superintendent of the Iowa School for the Deaf, wrote to him and expressed appreciation for an outstanding job. “Without your diligent efforts, extraordinary commitment, and perseverance to seeing a successful conclusion to many critical activities, the organization would not be in the excellent position it is in today,” Johnson affirmed. “I want you to know that many of us truly appreciate what you’ve done with, and for, our organization.”2 Meanwhile, Bob was closely following the 1988 presidential race and he was particularly interested in how the candidates expressed sup- [54.234.124.70] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 16:39 GMT) Chapter 11—Momento de Verdad 109 port for disability groups. On April 14, 1988, only a week after the Deaf President Now events, Bob wrote to Vice President George H.W. Bush...