Abuse at Schools for Deaf--Canada compared to USA?

lemontree

lemontree

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Just saw this in the news and wondered if there's been any thing like this in the USA?

CBC News - Manitoba - Deaf students put in dog cages, suit claims

I see all the time how people protest if Schools for Deaf move to close in USA, but not about sexual or physical abuse?

The lawyer doing this in Canada (Tony Merchant) says 61,500 students at Schools for Deaf across Canada between 1955 and 1996, and possible all of them faced sexual and physical abuse from both teachers and other students. That's a lot! :shock:

CBC News - Saskatchewan - Former students allege abuse at Saskatchewan school for the deaf

But many people I know that went to Schools for Deaf told me they did not have sexual or physical abuse from teachers or staff. They are honest with me and said there was a lot of sexual activity and bullying among the students, just like in any "regular" school. They could go home whenever they wanted, no one force you to stay. They are also surprised at some of the stuff being said and think someone is lying somewhere just for money.

I was bullied and teased by other students in regular school, got hit on the hand by a teacher with a ruler for not paying attention, had to write on the blackboard "I will not...", and had detention many times. So why am I not suing my school for letting that happen? :hmm:

Anyone have any thoughts or opinions about this and whether Schools for Deaf different in Canada and USA?
 
1970s, 1980s... enough said. Abuses in residential and missionary schools were common among aboriginals in Canada until 1970s and early 1980s. So I am not surprised it happened in the deaf population as well.

As for the ASL thing... it fits the timeline of what some of the American deaf adults spoke about. However, I know that the Manitoba School for the Deaf used the Rochester system until 1950s. And my grandmother's neighbour who went there was proud to be a graduate of the Manitoba School for the Deaf, and encouraged everyone who have deaf children to go there.

I went to the Manitoba School for the Deaf during the summers for a few years while I was being mainstreamed in Lethbridge... so.. I am not really sure what to make of the lawsuits.
 
Abuse widespread at schools for the deaf nationwide

Source: Special report: Abuse and Silence: Examining America's schools for the deaf

Rumors of rapes and molestations on the campus of the 115-year-old Washington State School for the Deaf circulated for years among parents of students. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer investigation identified dozens of child-rape victims over a half-century and raised serious concerns about the residential school's continuing failure to protect children.

Response to the P-I's report was immediate and fueled an expanded investigation. The P-I found that at least half of the nation's 50 taxpayer-funded schools for the deaf have been embroiled in controversies about sexual and physical abuse over the last two decades.
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Sexually Abused Deaf Students - It Happens Internationally

Source: Sexual Abuse of Deaf Students - Abuse at Schools for the Deaf and Other Programs

Some Schools

Sexual abuse has taken place at schools/programs for the deaf for many years. To date, these schools are known to have had sexual abuse incidents:

Amherst School for the Deaf/Halifax School for the Deaf, in Canada
Arkansas School for the Deaf
Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Maine
Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Canada
Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf/Central North Carolina School for the Deaf (closed)
Margaret Sterck School for the Deaf, Delaware
South Africa - Limpopo school for the deaf
Washington School for the Deaf - This school has been the subject of an entire newspaper series by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Oregon School for the Deaf
St. Rita School for the Deaf in Ohio (alleged)
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Deaf School abuse 2theadvocate.com | News | Deaf School abuse — Baton Rouge, LA
 
There is sexual and physical abuse in schools everywhere and in schools of all kinds. There are also plenty of schools that don't have sexual/physical abuse going on in them. It's a matter of the school's individual employees and students.

Claiming schools for the Deaf do or don't have sexual/physical abuse take place is just as absurd as claiming all Canadians are murderer-rapists or not one single Canadian is a murderer-rapist. People are murderers, rapists, sexual/physical abusers, not entire institutions, groups of institutions, or countries.
 
FSB, (Florida School for the Deaf/Blind) is one school that has had their share of sexual abuse....It was all over the News.
 
I agree with CJB...people r the abusers not the schools. To label all deaf schools as places of abuse is like calling me an abuser since I work at one.
 
I read from an article that it is alot hard to predict sexual abuse in other countries. But easier in the U.S.A. If I can find it, I'll post it.

Yes there are abuse.. but not in schools, but in other places as well.

BUT everytime we find a abuse, we tend to take extra measure to prevent it from happening again.


edited:

Sexual violence occurs throughout the world.
Although in most countries there has been little
research conducted on the problem, available data
suggest that in some countries nearly one in four
women may experience sexual violence by an
intimate partner (1–3), and up to one-third of
adolescent girls report their first sexual experience
as being forced (4–6).
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<---- this is close to what I was talking about http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap6.pdf
 
shel90 said:
I agree with CJB...people r the abusers not the schools. To label all deaf schools as places of abuse is like calling me an abuser since I work at one.
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Where did anyone label all deaf schools as places of abuse? Did I miss something?
 
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rockdrummer said:
Where did anyone label all deaf schools as places of abuse? Did I miss something?
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Well, I wouldn't be surprised if nearly every school (public, private, institution, etc) have went through at least one case of sexual abuse in the past.

However, what makes the difference is that some schools are notorious for it. For instance, Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in British Columbia.
 
However, what makes the difference is that some schools are notorious for it. For instance, Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in British Columbia.
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Well not exactly....... It's not like you attended and you instantly got raped.
Sex abuse happens when there are a ton of "causative factors that all come together at once.
Sexual abuse was more common back in the old days. It's less common now...
 
deafdyke said:
Well not exactly....... It's not like you attended and you instantly got raped.
Sex abuse happens when there are a ton of "causative factors that all come together at once.
Sexual abuse was more common back in the old days. It's less common now...
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Try telling that to the students who attended Jericho.
 
I'm not saying that the abuse didn't happen or that it wasn't a bad school.
Its more like............the way you could grow up in a shitty town/area like East St. Louis but have nothing too bad happen to you. It may have a horrible reputation......but its like the way that while some girls at my jr high/high school were raped not everyone was. It really is a combonation of causative factors that creates abuse....not just one or two things.
Those studies and articles are fairly recent. What would you consider "back in the old days"?
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Well, to clarify, sexual abuse was more common in the old days overall, (for the whole population, AND for ALL kinds of boarding schools/insistutions.....sexual abuse was notorious in Catholic insistuions, and places like orphanages) That doesn't mean that it doesn't still happen.........Just that it's a lot less common, and b/c of built in protections, its more akin to a sex/rape scandel at a public school.
 
Abuse should not be tolerated, period!
 
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Banjo said:
Try telling that to the students who attended Jericho.
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Well said, Banjo.

deafdyke, please take it easy with the sweeping generalisations. Catholic churches are not the only religious facility that participates in sexual abuse, there are others.

its like the way that while some girls at my jr high/high school were raped not everyone was. It really is a combonation of causative factors that creates abuse....not just one or two things.
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You need to clarify yourself here as I am quite confused reading this post. What way would a girl in your high school would be raped? Clarify please.

Once again, deafdyke, take it easy with the sweeping generalisations.
 
deafdyke said:
Well not exactly....... It's not like you attended and you instantly got raped.
Sex abuse happens when there are a ton of "causative factors that all come together at once.
Sexual abuse was more common back in the old days. It's less common now...
Click to expand...

Where did you get that idea from?
 
deafdyke said:
Well, to clarify, sexual abuse was more common in the old days overall, (for the whole population, AND for ALL kinds of boarding schools/insistutions.....sexual abuse was notorious in Catholic insistuions, and places like orphanages) That doesn't mean that it doesn't still happen.........Just that it's a lot less common, and b/c of built in protections, its more akin to a sex/rape scandel at a public school.
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Just because there aren't boarding schools any more doesn't guarantee sexual abuse is less common. Sexual abuse happens in homes and at day schools too. The only difference between then and now is the relationships between the abusers and abused.
 
deafdyke said:
I'm not saying that the abuse didn't happen or that it wasn't a bad school.
Its more like............the way you could grow up in a shitty town/area like East St. Louis but have nothing too bad happen to you. It may have a horrible reputation......but its like the way that while some girls at my jr high/high school were raped not everyone was. It really is a combonation of causative factors that creates abuse....not just one or two things.
Well, to clarify, sexual abuse was more common in the old days overall, (for the whole population, AND for ALL kinds of boarding schools/insistutions.....sexual abuse was notorious in Catholic insistuions, and places like orphanages) That doesn't mean that it doesn't still happen.........Just that it's a lot less common, and b/c of built in protections, its more akin to a sex/rape scandel at a public school.
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Untrue!
 
Um first of all, I didn't mean to single out Catholic insistuions......Simply using them as an example.
Just because there aren't boarding schools any more doesn't guarantee sexual abuse is less common. Sexual abuse happens in homes and at day schools too
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Yes I know. But for years and years residental insistutions like orphanages, schools and "homes" for mentally retarded folks, were really notorious for sexual abuse.
As a matter of fact, I seem to recall reading that the Public Schools (the really ritzy boarding schools in the UK like Eton etc) back in the old days were hotbeds of rather unsavory sexual activity.

What way would a girl in your high school would be raped? Clarify please.
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To clarify, the gym teacher at my jr high would develop " relationships" with girls. He had realtionships with two girls when I was in high school. (and apparently had more in the past) He would prey on them, and "groom" them into thinking that they had a real realtionship....then he'd convince them to have sex. It was both statory and real rape (he forced himself on one of the girls)
Thing is........most of the time, even when a place is known as a "hotbed" of rape or sexual abuse it's usually the work of one (sociopathic) indivdual. I actually remember reading about the Oregon case, and it was the work of a VERY distrubed student who should have been in a mental insituion.
 
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