ASHEVILLE — I. King Jordan, who made history when he was appointed as the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., will speak at UNC Asheville this week as part of the university’s first Disability Awareness Week.
Jordan, who is president emeritus of Gallaudet after serving as its president from 1988 to 2006, will address “The Deaf Community at a Crossroads,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Highsmith University Union. The talk is free and open to the public.
UNCA Provost Jane Fernandes, former provost at Gallaudet and deaf since birth, said Tuesday’s address is a don’t-miss for deaf and hearing community members.
“In the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed the charter creating what is now Gallaudet University, still the world’s only university serving deaf, hard-of-hearing and deaf-blind students,” Fernandes said.
“But from its beginning in 1864 until 1988 — 124 years — every president of the institution was a hearing man — that changed when Dr. I. King Jordan became Gallaudet’s first deaf president,” she said.
In his 19 years at the helm of the university, Jordan witnessed and was part of many changes affecting the deaf community — cultural, technological, medical, political and demographic, Fernandes said.
“Among his many accomplishments was championing the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that has improved accessibility for many U.S. citizens, including those without disabilities,” she said.
“Today, Dr. Jordan sees the deaf community at a crossroads, and the decisions the community makes in response to a convergence of social forces will determine its future and perhaps even its survival,” Fernandes said.
The struggles of the deaf community today are reflected in similar struggles occurring in the wider hearing world, she said, “thus all people can learn and benefit from attending his talk.”
Jordan said he plans to speak about his strong feelings that deafness — and disability — is “one kind of diversity that should be included when we talk about how important diversity is in our society. ...
