Chap­ter 9: Frowned Upon by the Gods explores the long-stand­ing chal­lenges and debates with­in the edu­ca­tion sys­tem regard­ing the most effec­tive way to com­mu­ni­cate with deaf stu­dents. Cen­tral to this debate is the long­stand­ing con­flict between sign lan­guage and oral com­mu­ni­ca­tion, with edu­ca­tors his­tor­i­cal­ly divid­ed over which method best serves the needs of deaf learn­ers. Lin­da Adams’ real­iza­tion that her son Kei­th craved lan­guage serves as a poignant reminder of the two cen­turies of neglect that the deaf com­mu­ni­ty faced. For much of his­to­ry, deaf voic­es were ignored in edu­ca­tion­al deci­sions, and their meth­ods of com­mu­ni­ca­tion were side­lined, affect­ing their social and edu­ca­tion­al lives. This ten­sion high­lights the dif­fi­cul­ty that deaf indi­vid­u­als faced in assert­ing their own iden­ti­ties and advo­cat­ing for their rights in a soci­ety that often over­looked them.

Draw­ing from the work of schol­ar H‑Dirksen Bau­man, the chap­ter presents deaf his­to­ry as akin to chas­ing fire­flies in the dark—glimpses of under­stand­ing punc­tu­at­ed by long peri­ods of igno­rance. Although sign lan­guages devel­oped inde­pen­dent­ly in var­i­ous cul­tures, they were often unrecord­ed, which led to debates about whether they pre­dat­ed spo­ken lan­guages. Ancient ref­er­ences, such as those by Socrates and the obser­va­tions of deaf indi­vid­u­als in the Ottoman Empire, show the dif­fer­ent ways soci­eties viewed deaf­ness. How­ev­er, in many cas­es, deaf indi­vid­u­als were mar­gin­al­ized, fac­ing exclu­sion and dis­crim­i­na­tion not only social­ly but legal­ly. The chap­ter paints a pic­ture of a soci­ety that, for much of his­to­ry, strug­gled to accept and include deaf peo­ple as equals.

Through­out his­to­ry, Euro­pean soci­eties exhib­it­ed a deep-seat­ed belief that deaf indi­vid­u­als were inca­pable of faith or intel­lec­tu­al engage­ment. This belief led to their fur­ther exclu­sion from main­stream social and reli­gious activ­i­ties. How­ev­er, the tide began to turn in the eigh­teenth cen­tu­ry with the ground­break­ing work of Charles-Michel de l’Epée, who estab­lished the first pub­lic school for the deaf in Paris. His work in teach­ing sign lan­guage and advo­cat­ing for deaf edu­ca­tion sig­nif­i­cant­ly changed the per­cep­tion of deaf­ness in Euro­pean cul­ture. De l’Epée’s con­tri­bu­tions laid the foun­da­tion for the devel­op­ment of deaf edu­ca­tion sys­tems across Europe, mark­ing a shift from see­ing deaf­ness as a defi­cien­cy to rec­og­niz­ing the poten­tial of deaf indi­vid­u­als when giv­en the prop­er tools for com­mu­ni­ca­tion.

Despite these advances, the 1880 Inter­na­tion­al Con­gress of Edu­ca­tors of the Deaf in Milan marked a sig­nif­i­cant set­back for the deaf com­mu­ni­ty. The con­gress result­ed in a ban on the use of sign lan­guage in schools, a deci­sion heav­i­ly influ­enced by the par­tic­i­pa­tion of Alexan­der Gra­ham Bell, who argued against the use of sign lan­guage. This deci­sion had a last­ing impact, as it fur­ther dis­tanced deaf com­mu­ni­ties from their lin­guis­tic her­itage and rein­forced the stig­ma sur­round­ing sign lan­guage. The ban on sign lan­guage in schools led to gen­er­a­tions of deaf chil­dren being taught to com­mu­ni­cate sole­ly through oral meth­ods, often with lit­tle suc­cess. Even in envi­ron­ments where Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage (ASL) was preva­lent, indi­vid­u­als like Ken Wat­son faced oppres­sion, with schools penal­iz­ing the use of ASL and dis­cour­ag­ing stu­dents from using their nat­ur­al lan­guage.

The nar­ra­tive shifts to the per­son­al expe­ri­ences of Kei­th Adams, who ben­e­fit­ed from the inclu­sive, all-deaf envi­ron­ment at the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf. In this sup­port­ive set­ting, Kei­th was able to thrive, devel­op­ing strong social con­nec­tions and expe­ri­enc­ing sig­nif­i­cant per­son­al growth. Unlike his ear­li­er expe­ri­ences, where com­mu­ni­ca­tion bar­ri­ers imped­ed his devel­op­ment, Kei­th was able to ful­ly par­tic­i­pate in the learn­ing process, fos­ter­ing a sense of iden­ti­ty and pride in his deaf­ness. This high­lights the impor­tance of an edu­ca­tion­al envi­ron­ment that rec­og­nizes the needs of deaf indi­vid­u­als and sup­ports their use of sign lan­guage. The chap­ter ulti­mate­ly under­scores the ongo­ing strug­gles and tri­umphs of the deaf com­mu­ni­ty, from ear­ly mar­gin­al­iza­tion to the even­tu­al embrace of their unique cul­ture and lan­guage, embod­ied in Keith’s jour­ney and the broad­er impact on deaf edu­ca­tion and iden­ti­ty.

This chap­ter empha­sizes how far the deaf com­mu­ni­ty has come, yet how much work remains to be done in ensur­ing that deaf indi­vid­u­als are ful­ly inte­grat­ed into soci­ety. The bat­tle between sign lan­guage and oral meth­ods of com­mu­ni­ca­tion has shaped the edu­ca­tion and lives of many, but the growth of a gen­er­a­tion like Keith’s shows the poten­tial for pos­i­tive change. With con­tin­ued advo­ca­cy and sup­port for the use of sign lan­guage, the future holds promise for a more inclu­sive and equi­table soci­ety where the deaf com­mu­ni­ty is ful­ly rec­og­nized and val­ued. Through his­tor­i­cal reflec­tions and per­son­al sto­ries, this chap­ter offers a pow­er­ful reminder of the impor­tance of lan­guage in shap­ing iden­ti­ty and fos­ter­ing inclu­sion.