Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University

Our week-long ACI conference was held at the Kellog Conf Hotel located on the campus of the lovely Gallaudet University.  It is unique in that it is the first university dedicated to the education of those in the deaf community and hard of hearing. It is officially a bilingual university - English, and ASL (American Sign Language).

Gallaudet has made its own mark in the Disability Rights movement. In 1988 deaf students were outraged after the appointment of yet another 'hearing' president for the university and started 'Deaf President Now' movement. After all the underlying principle of the disability rights movement is "Nothing about us without us."

What was interesting was that many of the staff at the hotel were also from the deaf community. My gluten-free loaf of bread had been kept in the hotel's fridge and we went to request for it before breakfast on the second morning. The receptionist immediately gave us a piece of paper and pen to write our request. Similarly, the restaurant also was staffed by folks that were deaf, their workaround was simply to point to messages on their badges or ask us to write our requests. It was an interesting interaction and very efficient actually. No wasted words.