Deaf Way II: A Promise to the Future
By Andrea Shettle (andreashettle@patriot.net)
(Editor's Note: this is the second of two articles by Ms. Shettle reporting on the content and results of Deaf Way II, a comprehensive cultural event held in Washington,D.C. in July 2002.)
How a Conference Is Like a Sauce
Sometimes the best conferences are like a really, really good, but very complicated sauce. First, there's a lot of fuss and activity in the kitchen. You have people bustling around retrieving a long list of ingredients from various nooks and crannies. There's lots of measuring and pouring, and there's lots of arguing over how finely the herbs should be chopped. Eventually things go into the saucepan, though a few things are splattered on the counters here and there along the way. Then everything is stirred together, and the heat is turned on to simmer. There's more fuss and bustle while people clean up the kitchen until the counters gleam again.
Then everyone leaves. For those who can hear the difference, the room is quiet. For those who can see the difference, the room is dark. It would seem as if it's all over. The sauce is done... right? The Deaf Way II conference and cultural arts festival that brought nearly 10,000 deaf and hearing people from 121 countries around the world into Washington, D.C., last July was a grand event while it lasted, but that's over, too, now... After all, everyone has gone home now... But if it's all over, then what are these wonderful aromas that are only now starting to waft through the air? When you quietly sidle over to the stove, you find that the sauce is still there, slowly simmering, not nearly done. All that hurly burly of activity wasn't the main event, even though it might have looked that way from the outside. All that excitement was just preparation. The real results come when you ladle up the sauce and see how it tastes.
Similarly, a good conference isn't the main event either. If a conference is well conceived and well done, then it's really just an elaborate way of preparing many small portions of sauce for the participants to take home with them. The real results of a good conference don't happen when the participants gather together to meet. The real results happen after they go home because that's when the sauce starts to simmer. That doesn't mean that deaf communities in other countries will see immediate results from the July 2002 Deaf Way II conference and cultural arts festival. A good sauce takes a long time to simmer. Sometimes it can take years for an idea, a plan, or a project germinated at a conference to bear fruit. Until then, we can't really know how well a sauce will turn out. But we can still speculate: what will the long-term results of Deaf Way II be?
Impact of Deaf Way II
Deaf Way events were sponsored by Gallaudet University, which is the only liberal arts university for deaf students in the world.
The communities who potentially have the most to gain from Deaf Way II are communities in developing countries. They have the most need for the ideas, information, resources, and contacts that are created and exchanged among participants at any international conference. Deaf people in developing countries, as with other disability groups in these countries, have little or no access to education, employment, health care, and other important resources. Sometimes they are denied even basic human freedoms such as voting rights. Unfortunately, the people who most need a resource often have the most difficulty getting it. Attending any international conference is expensive. If the per capita income in a country is less than $400 United States dollars (USD) a person then not many people will be able to afford a $400 conference registration fee. Their lack of attendance hurts not only themselves but also conference participants from developed countries. People from more wealthy nations need to be exposed to the unique and rich stories, perspectives, and ideas that people from developing countries could offer them.
Bringing Participants from Developing Nations: Overcoming the Barriers
Conference registration fees are only one part of the expense of attending an international conference, but it is also the one expense that conference organizers are more likely to be able to control. Most Deaf Way II participants from the United States had to pay between $300 and $400 USD for their registration fee, depending on how early they registered. People from developing nations were charged $150. Those who were among the first 3000 registrants from outside the United States received a further $100 discount on their registration fees, bringing down their fees even further to $50. That can still be a hefty expense in the budget of a private individual who only earns the equivalent of a few hundred USD a year, but may be manageable for a reasonably strong deaf organization in a developing country.
Deaf Way II conference organizers were able to negotiate a discount with three local hotels for all traveling conference participants-but even with the discount, hotel rooms were $105 USD a night or more.
Fortunately for 147 participants from developing nations, Deaf Way II organizers were able to help them find cheaper arrangements. Six of them were able to stay with host families in the Washington, D.C., area for only $10 a night. The other 141 participants paid $30 a night to stay on campus at Gallaudet University; these individuals were able to meat all their meals at the Gallaudet cafeteria for free and also had access to a free shuttle service between the Gallaudet campus and the Washington Convention Center where many Deaf Way II events were held. "They were grateful that they were able to come here with cheaper housing," said Thelma Schroeder, Coordinator of the Low Cost Housing Committee, of the 147 participants who were able to take advantage of the program.
Colombia's Answer: Raise the Money, $10 At A Time
One creative approach to the problem of bringing participants from developing nations emerged within the Colombian deaf community. Dozens of Colombian expatriates in the United States and other individuals who wanted to support deaf Colombians coordinated efforts to raise the money themselves-often $10 at a time. These efforts were initiated and led by Danilo Torres, a deaf Colombian who had attended the first Deaf Way and strongly believed that more deaf people from home ought to attend the second.
Fundraising efforts took place in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, but also further away in the east coast states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Volunteers throughout the United States and Colombia coordinated efforts for two years leading up to Deaf Way II to translate conference materials into Spanish and publicize the conference in Colombia. Volunteers in the United States also held car washes, workshops, and other events to ask for donations and raise funds. In particular, many volunteers held parties in their private homes at which they asked each guest to contribute $10 towards bringing a deaf person from Colombia to Deaf Way II. Some volunteers organized more than one party, a few months apart, so they could raise even more money. Arrangements were made to fly participants from Colombia to Florida then to drive them on a chartered bus to a hotel immediately outside of Washington, D.C. Ultimately, approximately 180 participants came from Colombia; of these, more than 40 were supported by collective fundraising efforts.
Developing Nations Support Service (DNSS): The Beginning
In all, hundreds of participants from developing nations found one way or another to come to Deaf Way II, sometimes with a helping hand from overseas and sometimes through their own determined efforts. But simply being physically present at a conference isn't enough. Communities back home cannot benefit from sending delegates to international conferences if these delegates are not able to understand the workshops, or don't know how to choose the most appropriate workshops for their needs. Fortunately, help was at hand: more than 40 volunteers, working through the Developing Nations Support Service (DNSS), worked to ensure that Deaf Way II participants from developing nations were able to make the most of their experience.
This service did not exist at the original Deaf Way conference in 1989-to the frustration of participants from developing nations, said Senda Benaissa, DNSS coordinator. She indicated that the DNSS Session Team obtained important feedback from the members of the Greater Washington Association of Deaf Asians (GWADA), the International Students Club at Gallaudet University (ISC) and the English Language Institute (ELI) at Gallaudet that teaches English as a second language to students from other countries. These representatives identified several barriers that had made it more difficult for people from developing countries to participate in the full range of experiences available at the first Deaf Way conference, said Benaissa. These barriers included: language and communication barriers, difficulty understanding written materials including the conference program, confusion over which sessions to attend, the belief that it was not worthwhile to attend workshop sessions, lack of good interpreting, difficulty understanding interpreters because of lack of experience with lengthy formal interpreting, fast-paced lectures that prevented interpreters from helping deaf people understand new concepts, and the inability to understand international sign language (Gestuno).
"From there, the Session Team developed a list of items that needed to be addressed," said Benaissa. The result was a room set aside at the Washington Convention Center during Deaf Way II in which volunteers were made available to help participants from developing countries. Benaissa estimates that approximately 40 to 50 people came to the DNSS room each day. Some visitors were from developed countries but still needed assistance learning and understanding some of the international signs being used during the conference. "We opened the use of the service to everyone," said Benaissa.
The DNSS Teams
The 40-plus DNSS volunteers were divided into seven teams, each with five or six members: the Budget Team, Session Team, Volunteer Team, Sign Language Training Team, Media Team, Art Team, and the One to One Assistance Team. The Session Team reviewed all conference abstracts and chose approximately 150 workshop sessions that they thought would be most helpful to participants from developing countries. "Not all abstracts would benefit people from developing countries," said Senda Benaissa, who coordinated DNSS. "The Session Team tried to find the right abstracts that fit into the developing countries' needs." Some examples of workshops that were recommended for participants from developing nations included a session on how people in developing countries can better work with technical assistance agencies to secure funding, and a session on a project that trained deaf people in Thailand to teach sign language to isolated rural deaf children and their families.
The Sign Language Team included staff and students from Gallaudet University as well as people from outside the Gallaudet community. Participants represented countries from Asia, South and Central America, Africa, and Europe. The Sign Language Team developed international signs to be used during Deaf Way II to help participants communicate across linguistic barriers-even among countries that might share a spoken language in common, such as the United States and England, the signed languages in use are not always alike. "The sign language trainers, tried to avoid using European Signs because not many people from developing countries are familiar with the European Signs," said Benaissa. "It is a challenge to come up with a universal sign for psychology." The One to One Assistance Team trained volunteers who would be working directly with DNSS clients how to explain the key concepts used during the conference to participants from developing nations.
The DNSS Art and Media Teams
The art team, said Benaissa, "did dramatic work." A team of five artists created 12 posters, each representing a separate thematic strand in the Deaf Way II conference such as advocacy and community development, or education, or technology. Each poster included pictures to visually represent the concepts associated with a given thematic strand. These posters were used to help explain some of the various workshop session topics to participants from developing nations, particularly those who did not read English or who had little reading skills at all.
Also important was a videotape that taught some of the international signs associated with various topics covered during the conference. "Karunya Samuel and Monica Har from the media team were the ones who worked for hours and hours making sure everything happened for the tape's production," said Benaissa. "The process took about six months. The result, we believed, was outstanding. Not only was the information useful, but the signs themselves were taught to everyone in the Deaf Way II conference. Also, the concepts for each strand helped representatives from developing countries to understand context." Benaissa indicated that a search is underway to find funding that would allow Gallaudet to produce more copies of the tape for use at other international deaf conferences such as the upcoming World Federation of the Deaf conference in Canada in July 2003.
Individual Countries At Deaf Way II
With a few caveats, the people contacted for this story believe that delegates from their countries have been enriched by Deaf Way II, and have been slowly starting to have an effect on their communities at home. Indeed, these individuals are frequently strong believers in Deaf Way II: they all were active in efforts to help disseminate information about Deaf Way II within their countries and to help recruit delegates.
Belgium
One individual who wanted to bring deaf delegates from his country to Deaf Way II was Bernard le Maire from Belgium. "I spent six years at Gallaudet University and I really love it," said le Maire. "It was very important to bring people there because then they would understand that deaf people are very able to live like hearing people and to be independent. They are able to get good jobs in spite of their deafness. Belgian deaf people need to fight for their civil rights!"
And, was Deaf Way II a success for deaf delegates from Belgium? "Yes," he said. "Belgian deaf people are impressed and wanted to improve their lives afterwards. Since 1980, Belgian deaf people's situations have been improving. More and more deaf people have been entering universities and colleges for hearing people. Deaf Way II will help them become more confident in themselves for getting better lives later. They understand better the word 'leader.'"
India
For deaf people in India, the most urgent need is awareness of human rights, said Madan Vasishta. "Deaf people in India depend on hearing people for everything, including leadership, advocacy, and support," said Vasishta. Vasishta has lived in the United States for the past 35 years, but is originally from India and spends about six months of every year in India doing various projects related to researching Indian Sign Language (ISL) and training interpreters. "Unlike in America, deaf people in India do not have positions of authority. They are not even allowed to teach due to oral supremacy. ISL does not have any recognized role in deaf education. I hope that participation in Deaf Way II opened some eyes, if not ears," said Vasishta.
Due to bureaucratic problems, however, not all would-be Deaf Way II participants from India were given a chance to have their eyes opened. "The sad part is that a large number of possible participants could not come due to denial of visa by the U.S. embassy," said Vasishta. "It seems that the idea of deaf people traveling to the United States for some meeting was puzzling to the Embassy people in New Delhi and about 50 people were denied a visa. Therefore, I do not think a critical mass of deaf people from India attended Deaf Way II." Vasishta, however, is still cautiously hopeful for the future. "I think it had an impact," he said. "A very small number of deaf people attended Deaf Way II. However, I feel that a ripple effect will take place slowly. I have been talking with some deaf leaders in India and we are planning to have a large national conference of the deaf in India in the same line as Deaf Way II. I believe that having a large number of deaf people together discussing their problems and also offering solutions would be a wonderful way to start them thinking and moving."
Australia
Australia is another country that did not send as many representatives as it might have, though not because of visa problems. "I know a few people from Australia were planning to go pre September 11, 2001, and after that, I know a lot of people changed their minds and didn't go," said Julia Rees, who teaches at the Victorian College for the Deaf in Melbourne, Australia. Rees came to Deaf Way II, and helped disseminate information about the conference in Australia, after hearing about the positive experiences of a colleague who had come to the first Deaf Way conference in 1989. "My school planned to send students as well, but after September 11, we had to drop that idea, so I wanted to go to Deaf Way II and bring back information to share with the school community and with the wider Deaf community and teacher of the Deaf community."
"I'm sure those of us who went were enriched by the experience and had lots of experiences to share on our return," said Rees. The most prominent Australian at Deaf Way II was mime artist Robert Farmer, who performed in front of more than 7000 Deaf Way II participants in the opening night performance. "We were thrilled that Robert Farmer was such an outstanding success. He was a great ambassador for Australia." Soon, some of the students at Rees' school may become young ambassadors in their own right without leaving home. "I hope to set up some pen pals with students from schools for the Deaf around the world after meeting lots of different teachers at Deaf Way II," said Rees.
Iceland
The deaf community of Iceland was thirsty for knowledge. It seems they came away satisfied from Deaf Way II. "The Deaf in Iceland wanted to receive more information regarding the legal rights of the deaf and also receive more information regarding topics like adoption, education, technology, and Cochlear Implants," said Steinunn fiorvaldsdóttir, a representative from Iceland. "There were good speakers at Deaf Way II. I was surprised to hear from Gallimore." Laurene Gallimore, an educator and civil rights advocate from the United States, gave one of several plenary presentations during Deaf Way II. "She bases assessment of the state of deaf education today on parallels to two other groups, African Americans and Native Americans, both of whom have also faced educational challenges when dealing with the larger society. I learned a lot from her that it is important to use sign language to give deaf children the best education training."
Germany
Stefan Goldschmidt, who now works at the Institute of German Sign Language and Communication at the University in Hamburg, came to Deaf Way II partly for personal reasons. "I was a Gallaudet student from 1989 until 1994, so I wanted to come to see my old friends again," he said. "I missed the first Deaf Way. I often heard that the first Deaf Way was very successful, so I wanted to taste this huge festival." The needs of the deaf community in Germany, however, is also very much on Goldschmidt's mind. "It was important to bring people from my country to Deaf Way II to give them a taste what a cultural, social, and political festival is, so they can learn a lot from [the lectures]. I hope they will understand what the social and cultural events mean to them. Further, I hope that they will collect the additional experience from Deaf Way II that Germany doesn't offer them, for example, special [topic] areas like parenthood, the issue of adoption, counseling, relay services, and the issues of underdeveloped countries."
Goldschmidt hopes that there will be a long-term effect on the deaf community in Germany. "It won't happen quickly" he said. "It is a very slow process. Just 100 German people were at Deaf Way II, and they will tell their friends and deaf clubs about Deaf Way II. Almost all deaf newspapers will tell about Deaf Way II, so they can read the articles about deaf Way II. It is a kind of expansion of information and experiences. Also, we have cultural events in Germany every four years similar to Deaf Way I and Deaf Way II, just smaller."
Venezuela
For Eugenio Ravelo, a participant from Venezuela, Deaf Way II is, in a sense, a continuation of the spirit of the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement that occurred at Gallaudet in March 1988. During DPN, outraged Gallaudet students shut down the university for a week after the Gallaudet Board of Trustees passed over qualified deaf candidates to select a hearing woman as the seventh hearing president of the university in its 124-year history. As a result of DPN, the hearing woman-Elisabeth Ann Zinser-resigned to make way for the instatement of Gallaudet's first deaf president, I. King Jordan. "I wanted to bring [deaf people from Venezuela] to open their minds about the existence of the revolution in the Deaf community in the world," said Ravelo. "DPN is the key to empower Deaf people in the world. I took the great opportunity to be one of the liaisons for the Latinamerican region as I was able to give some tips and information to Brazilian people, who had no representative for Brazil."
Ravelo assisted in disseminating information about Deaf Way II in Venezuela and Brazil. He says his role was partly to help people in Latin America understand what Deaf Way II was; he translated between what he refers to as the "intellectual English" of Deaf Way II materials and the "common Spanish" used by his deaf peers in Venezuela. Ravelo credits his own efforts at persuasion for luring a Venezuelan deaf leader in local sports organizations to Deaf Way II. Although Deaf Way II did not live up to all of Ravelo's hopes, his comments were largely positive.
"My expectations did not coincide with the real results," said Ravelo, "Because the background of the people-the older leaders mostly-do not have a background of high education." Ravelo also pointed out that many leaders from his country do not know English or Gestuno (international sign language), both of which were used heavily during Deaf Way II. However, Ravelo thinks even this disappointment may have had a positive effect on delegates from Venezuela. "I think they 'woke up' that they need to improve themselves to get a better education, with adult education, as in organizing courses of International Sign Language or American Sign Language," said Ravelo. Ravelo said, however, that Venezuelan delegates who had more education were able to benefit more from the conference. "They had a big chance to get involved," he said.
Ravelo was also pleased with the rich opportunities Deaf Way II offered for making contacts with individuals and organizations from around the world. One important contact he mentions making is with Sprint Relay, Inc., a company that provides Teletext relay services for deaf people in the United States. A relay service enables Teletext users to communicate with people who do not own a Teletext; a communication assistant relays conversations between Teletext users and people who use speech on the phone. Sprint Relay, Inc., made an announcement at Deaf Way II that they were strongly interested in expanding services overseas, though they are currently at the research and development stage. Ravelo is hoping a partnership can eventually develop between Sprint Relay and Venezuelan foundations.
In addition to Sprint Relay, Ravelo and other delegates from Venezuela were able to make fresh contacts with the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD), which had already been involved in Venezuela four years earlier. CAD, Ravelo said, has been helpful with supporting training for interpreters and teaching curriculums. Also, at Gallaudet University, "We have made some meetings with the Center for Global Education which can provide partnership programs such as internships for Gallaudet students, or a workshop from the Deaf Studies department to review the Lengua de Señas de Venezuela curriculum," said Ravelo. In addition, "A regional association of the Deaf, a member of FEVENSOR-the national association of the deaf of Venezuela-has the cordial invitation from the organization commission of the next Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf. The regional association will send a Deaf theater group, founded last year in 2001."
Organizational Power: Making Connections
The hopes shared by Ravelo, le Maire, Vasishta, Rees, fiorvaldsdóttir, and Goldschmidt for the deaf communities of their countries are probably also shared by many of the other delegates from 121 countries around the world who came to Deaf Way II. One of their hopes is that the thousands of delegates who came to Washington, D.C., from outside the United States will bring home the knowledge they have gained, the new ideas they have acquired, and the contacts they have made, then share these resources with their local deaf communities. .
Two organizations that focus on deaf communities in developing nations were able to use Deaf Way II as an opportunity to raise their visibility in the international deaf community, make contacts, recruit new members and volunteers, and otherwise become stronger: Global Deaf Connection, and the Pan African Deaf Congress (PADCON).
Global Deaf Connection
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States, Global Deaf Connection (GDC) has already been working with deaf communities in Kenya, Jamaica, and the Congo since 1998. GDC has sent deaf and hearing volunteers from the United States and other developed countries to build schools and libraries for local deaf children, and has sent experienced teachers of deaf children to mentor new deaf teachers who are starting to teach deaf children. In addition, GDC has given scholarship assistance to enable deaf students in Kenya to obtain university degrees so they, too, can become teachers of deaf children. Deaf Way II, says GDC founder and CEO Kevin Long, has helped GDC become more able to help deaf communities in developing countries. GDC had a booth in the exhibition room during Deaf Way II.
"We wanted people to learn how they can become involved with supporting Deaf communities in developing countries," said Long. "Deaf Way II gave us an opportunity to clearly explain our mission." In particular, GDC representatives were able to clarify to interested individuals that GDC is not a Deaf ministry and does not do missionary work. They were also able to clarify that the native Deaf communities in developing countries themselves choose with which GDC programs they want to collaborate. "We had over 450 attendees who responded to the GDC survey. This survey will help us better market our programs and provide stronger support for Deaf communities in developing countries. We have developed contacts in six new countries that would like to work with GDC in the future and we doubled our database which will help us promote our international travel opportunities." GDC has a web site at
http://www.deafconnection.org.
Pan African Deaf Congress (PADCON)
The Pan African Deaf Congress (PADCON), existed before Deaf Way II. "PADCON has been in the works mainly through discussion on Deaf Africa for the past two years. Our goals, among other things, are to educate, advocate, and empower Deaf populations in Africa," said Maria Okwara, a PADCON representative. Deaf Africa is an email listserve for Deaf Africans who live throughout the world, and is not directly associated with PADCON. Deaf Way II offered a convenient opportunity for PADCON supporters from around the world to meet face-to-face for the first time. PADCON held a meeting, separate from the main Deaf Way II activities, one evening during Deaf Way II. the meeting attracted dozens of Deaf Africans from throughout the continent, Deaf African ex-patriates in the United States and other countries, and other interested individuals.
"We wanted to feel the pulse of Africa on our goals and thought it was a great place to get as many people from Africa as possible," said Okwara. Many of the individuals actively involved with PADCON are ex-patriates. "It took several months to plan. We started by sending out a letter to all Deaf associations in Africa and had it translated into French and Portuguese so we could get everyone to understand. We brought our ideas to people from about 14 countries and received, for the most part, a positive response. We were also able to use the facilities of Deaf Way. People were able to attend for that purpose who we otherwise might not have been able to reach. Deaf Way II also educated many of these people to understand better where we were coming from. Flyers helped us to get to people who we otherwise might not have been able to reach. We only had the Deaf associations to begin with, but now we have other contacts we can use to spread the word about PADCON and do our ground work in their respective countries."
PADCON: After Deaf Way II
PADCON hopes to be able to hold another meeting in association with the World Federation of the Deaf meeting that will be held in Quebec, Canada in the year 2003.
A new email listserve, PADCON, was initiated shortly after Deaf Way II for the purpose of discussing business matters related to the goals and formation of the organization. Participation in the listserve has been active and frequently passionate since it started in late July. PADCON organizers can be reached by email at PanAfricanDeaf@yahoogroups.com. "Our goal," Okwara said "is to help Africans in Africa by helping them become active and full participating members of their society."
Deaf Way II: Ladling Up the Sauce Around the World
When a sauce is still simmering on the stove, no one can know for sure how it will taste when it is done. Will PADCON be able to build a strong membership base and raise enough funds to accomplish the work it wants to do to improve the lives of Deaf Africans in Africa? Will GDC be able to continue expanding their programs into more developing countries throughout Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and other regions of the world as they would like? Will Sprint Relay, Inc., follow through on their current interest in order to implement solid plans for bringing telecommunications services to deaf communities around the world that do not yet have full access to the telephone? Delegates from Belgium, India, Australia, Iceland, Germany, and Venezuela are hoping to see ripple effects in their local deaf communities as delegates from Deaf Way II slowly spread the knowledge, ideas, spirit, contacts, and resources throughout their countries over the years to come. Will this ripple effect occur?
A few years from now, you might find yourself witnessing important changes in a deaf community in a developing country somewhere in the world. When you do, be sure to taste the sauce carefully, and ask yourself: Could this sauce have been made in 2002, in Washington, D.C., at the Deaf Way II conference and cultural arts festival?
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