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Deaf Students Face Alienation at Columbia | Columbia Spectator
There’s a community within our community that you might not know about. It is a culture, but it’s not a religion, nationality, or ethnicity. In fact, many people consider those within the culture to be suffering from a disability. This culture is Deaf culture, and according to Keri Horowitz, a graduate student at Teachers College, “Deaf people can do anything that hearing people can, except hear.” Horowitz was born profoundly deaf, the cause of which is still unexplained.
She was “mainstreamed” since childhood—Horowitz has spent very little time in any specialized schooling for the deaf—but she learned American Sign Language at age 16 and identifies as part of the American Deaf community.
“The government views deafness as a disability, and because of that, they give us services. So politically it is considered a disability,” Horowitz said. “But as an identity, I consider myself deaf, not disabled.”
According to Horowitz, a lack of understanding of Deaf culture leads to awkward situations. “I notice a lot of people don’t approach me; they seem intimidated,” she said.
Chloe Kroeter, BC ’08 and president of CU Sign, which provides free ASL lessons, agrees that Deaf culture needs to be better understood at Columbia. “The main issue is just to be aware ... how it is different from generic American culture, and what deaf people’s needs are.” Kroeter, who is hearing, organizes a weekly ASL lesson as well as Deaf events throughout the city.
Kroeter believes that understanding the Deaf community at Columbia is a crucial necessity. “We have a shamefully low number of deaf students, compared to other universities,” Kroeter said. “It’s just another element of diversity. Having deaf people would just add one more layer to the intellectual community, just like having Muslim students, or people who are Democrats or Republicans.”
One of the obstacles to awareness may be the common misconception that ASL is not a real language. In fact, ASL is considered by linguists to be a language just as valid as English or Chinese. The Ethnologue, an encyclopedia of languages put together by the SIL International, recognizes ASL as a language with dialects and native speakers. It is different from Signed English, a manual form of English using English syntax and grammar.
But while ASL classes are offered by Teachers College, NYU, Brown, and many other American universities, Columbia University still hasn’t recognized ASL as a foreign language, nor does accept ASL to satisfy the foreign language requirement. A Columbia student hoping to study ASL must cross-register at TC and pay the hefty per-credit fee of $935 or commute to NYU.
Kroeter was part of a committee that petitioned the Committees on Instruction at Barnard and Columbia to have ASL accepted as a foreign language. According to Kroeter, Barnard has taken the matter under consideration, and a decision is pending, but she accused Columbia College of lagging behind.
“We met with several deans, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they’re pursuing it at this point,” said Kroeter, who added that the faculty needed was already in place at Teachers College. “It wouldn’t even require hiring additional faculty, which is often a barrier to these kinds of things,” Kroeter said.
Horowitz, who left the University of Vermont after a failed attempt to get ASL recognized as a foreign language, is happy with her accommodations at Teachers College. While she now commutes from Long Island, her former dorm was equipped by the TC Office of Disability Services to include a doorbell that flashes a light when it is rung and a video-phone that she could use with a relay service to make phone calls.
“I’m so lucky to have professors here [at TC] that have experience with deaf students that know how to communicate with me,” Horowitz said. She also said that she feels more comfortable participating in classes since TC provides her with interpreters, a luxury she was not afforded during her undergraduate years downtown. “At NYU, I didn’t participate in class at all; I didn’t feel comfortable.”
Kroeter agreed that Teachers College creates a more welcoming environment to deaf students.
“TC is so open to deafness,” she said. “It would be nice if we could have the same acknowledgment [in the undergraduate schools], that deafness is worth studying.”
There’s a community within our community that you might not know about. It is a culture, but it’s not a religion, nationality, or ethnicity. In fact, many people consider those within the culture to be suffering from a disability. This culture is Deaf culture, and according to Keri Horowitz, a graduate student at Teachers College, “Deaf people can do anything that hearing people can, except hear.” Horowitz was born profoundly deaf, the cause of which is still unexplained.
She was “mainstreamed” since childhood—Horowitz has spent very little time in any specialized schooling for the deaf—but she learned American Sign Language at age 16 and identifies as part of the American Deaf community.
“The government views deafness as a disability, and because of that, they give us services. So politically it is considered a disability,” Horowitz said. “But as an identity, I consider myself deaf, not disabled.”
According to Horowitz, a lack of understanding of Deaf culture leads to awkward situations. “I notice a lot of people don’t approach me; they seem intimidated,” she said.
Chloe Kroeter, BC ’08 and president of CU Sign, which provides free ASL lessons, agrees that Deaf culture needs to be better understood at Columbia. “The main issue is just to be aware ... how it is different from generic American culture, and what deaf people’s needs are.” Kroeter, who is hearing, organizes a weekly ASL lesson as well as Deaf events throughout the city.
Kroeter believes that understanding the Deaf community at Columbia is a crucial necessity. “We have a shamefully low number of deaf students, compared to other universities,” Kroeter said. “It’s just another element of diversity. Having deaf people would just add one more layer to the intellectual community, just like having Muslim students, or people who are Democrats or Republicans.”
One of the obstacles to awareness may be the common misconception that ASL is not a real language. In fact, ASL is considered by linguists to be a language just as valid as English or Chinese. The Ethnologue, an encyclopedia of languages put together by the SIL International, recognizes ASL as a language with dialects and native speakers. It is different from Signed English, a manual form of English using English syntax and grammar.
But while ASL classes are offered by Teachers College, NYU, Brown, and many other American universities, Columbia University still hasn’t recognized ASL as a foreign language, nor does accept ASL to satisfy the foreign language requirement. A Columbia student hoping to study ASL must cross-register at TC and pay the hefty per-credit fee of $935 or commute to NYU.
Kroeter was part of a committee that petitioned the Committees on Instruction at Barnard and Columbia to have ASL accepted as a foreign language. According to Kroeter, Barnard has taken the matter under consideration, and a decision is pending, but she accused Columbia College of lagging behind.
“We met with several deans, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they’re pursuing it at this point,” said Kroeter, who added that the faculty needed was already in place at Teachers College. “It wouldn’t even require hiring additional faculty, which is often a barrier to these kinds of things,” Kroeter said.
Horowitz, who left the University of Vermont after a failed attempt to get ASL recognized as a foreign language, is happy with her accommodations at Teachers College. While she now commutes from Long Island, her former dorm was equipped by the TC Office of Disability Services to include a doorbell that flashes a light when it is rung and a video-phone that she could use with a relay service to make phone calls.
“I’m so lucky to have professors here [at TC] that have experience with deaf students that know how to communicate with me,” Horowitz said. She also said that she feels more comfortable participating in classes since TC provides her with interpreters, a luxury she was not afforded during her undergraduate years downtown. “At NYU, I didn’t participate in class at all; I didn’t feel comfortable.”
Kroeter agreed that Teachers College creates a more welcoming environment to deaf students.
“TC is so open to deafness,” she said. “It would be nice if we could have the same acknowledgment [in the undergraduate schools], that deafness is worth studying.”
