Miss-Delectable
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Advocate for deaf community talks at UNCA | CITIZEN-TIMES.com | Asheville Citizen-Times
UNC Asheville student Kelly Doyle was not most impressed with what I. King Jordan said during his talk on campus Thursday. It was how he said it, the junior women’s studies and Africana studies major said.
“I really like how he communicated with humor,” she said.
Doyle’s focus on Jordan’s skills, rather than his disability, illustrates the central point of his talk in Karpen Hall, which was open to the public.
Jordan was the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and after retiring in 2006, he continues to work as an international spokesman for the deaf community and people with disabilities.
“I want people to understand we are different, but not less able,” he said. Jordan, who spoke and signed as someone typed captions for a projector, said the most difficult barrier is not related to communication. It’s related to attitude.
He suggested that everyone “just try to get to know somebody with a disability without thinking about the disability.”
“Don’t spend your time talking about the disability … learn what the person is like,” he said.
Jordan’s appearance comes after last year’s appointment of Jane K. Fernandes, a former Gallaudet University provost who also is deaf, as the university’s new provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
“Her success helps everybody who’s deaf,” Jordan said.
UNC Asheville student Kelly Doyle was not most impressed with what I. King Jordan said during his talk on campus Thursday. It was how he said it, the junior women’s studies and Africana studies major said.
“I really like how he communicated with humor,” she said.
Doyle’s focus on Jordan’s skills, rather than his disability, illustrates the central point of his talk in Karpen Hall, which was open to the public.
Jordan was the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and after retiring in 2006, he continues to work as an international spokesman for the deaf community and people with disabilities.
“I want people to understand we are different, but not less able,” he said. Jordan, who spoke and signed as someone typed captions for a projector, said the most difficult barrier is not related to communication. It’s related to attitude.
He suggested that everyone “just try to get to know somebody with a disability without thinking about the disability.”
“Don’t spend your time talking about the disability … learn what the person is like,” he said.
Jordan’s appearance comes after last year’s appointment of Jane K. Fernandes, a former Gallaudet University provost who also is deaf, as the university’s new provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
“Her success helps everybody who’s deaf,” Jordan said.