Moments of Truth: Robert R. Davila: The Story of a Deaf Leader

Chapter 4. A Rough Start

37 Chapter 4 A Rough Start The irony of Bob’s deafness opening the doors to a bright future was not lost on him as he looked back, decades later. “My deafness was actually a blessing in disguise….I had opportunities that my brothers and sisters didn’t.”1 His mother so fully appreciated the capabilities of the CSD teachers that she later told Bob that she had wished CSD would accept his hearing brother, Ray, so that he would be blessed with the same quality schooling. Bob thought of this all his life. “It is a sad commentary that the plight of minority children sometimes can be addressed only in the event of a catastrophe or extreme happening.”2 Thus, in terms of his education, Bob was actually fortunate to have become deaf since he was provided this singular opportunity in his family to receive an excellent education. His brother Ray, although he was hearing, never had the opportunity to complete his schooling since he needed to work to support the family. The perception of deafness as a blessing in disguise is indeed enigmatic , yet it is one shared by many deaf people in different contexts. While the onset of deafness has made life difficult for most deaf children, in some cases it has opened doors of opportunity and enabled children to escape a life of poverty. When Bob enrolled at Gallaudet in the fall of 1948, there were 250 students attending the college, including hearing graduate students who were in the teacher preparation program. The Gallaudet faculty was so small that the same professor taught such diverse subjects as Latin, American history, psychology, and methods of teaching reading. Bob’s family did not need to pay tuition, a lucky break considering that they certainly could not have afforded his college education. Gallaudet was a government-sponsored institution where individuals 38 Moments of Truth with disabilities such as deafness could receive funds to further their education through the Vocational Rehabilitation program, at no cost to their families. The federally-funded Vocational Rehabilitation system in the U.S. was established in 1920 by an Act of Congress primarily to assist in the rehabilitation of individuals with physical disabilities, especially those injured in World War I. In the 1940s the system was expanded to include individuals with developmental delays, emotional problems, and other disabilities. One focus was to support training programs; thus deaf students who were eligible for vocational rehabilitation services could also receive tuition assistance to enable them to attend Gallaudet College. Gallaudet then was a very different college from the Gallaudet University we are familiar with today. At the time Bob entered, members of the faculty were not required to sign. The groundbreaking work of William Stokoe recognizing American Sign Language (ASL) as a language was not published until the 1960s. So spoken English was the primary language of instruction, and Gallaudet in 1948 had few deaf faculty and administrators. Bob was the first Hispanic student at Gallaudet. During the next two years, several other Hispanic students enrolled, including Ramón Rodriguez from Kansas City, Dolores Ramirez from Arizona, and Art Montoya from New Mexico. Bob’s ethnic background didn’t seem to matter to his classmates. If anything, Bob felt different because of his poverty. Though he doesn’t recall encountering any overt discrimination, Bob constantly was reminded of his family situation simply because many of his peers came from more affluent families. He often would go on long walks off-campus, sometimes even trekking into neighboring Maryland, to collect bottles along the roadside. He would carry them back to campus, take them to the dormitory basement, wash them, and then deliver them to a grocery store for small change refunds. As he explains: My pop bottle business was known only to myself and to a few guys who just happened to walk in when I was washing the bottles in the basement. And that was for essentials, not spending money per se. Not entertainment, but basics like paper, pencils, etc. School supplies were not provided.3 • • • Like most of the incoming students, Bob was placed in the “Preparatory Year” program to give him an extra year to prepare for the more rigorous work that occurred at the baccalaureate level. To prepare for advanced study Chapter 4—A Rough Start 39 on the college level, Bob took geometry, algebra, social studies, art, and physical education. He...