In May I received the outstanding researcher award from the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst. This was a great honor and I even got to give a 3-minute acceptance speech. While the speech starts with some of the challenges, the main point is that my deafness shapes my approach to science in ways that benefit my research. PhD student extraordinaire, Laura Fattaruso, made a video of me re-enacting the speech and here is the transcript:
Academic success was not always expected of me. I have a severe-profound high-frequency hearing loss and was language delayed in my early education. The letters on the page don’t match the sounds that I hear so it took until 2nd grade for me to figure out the basics of reading. I also had years of speech therapy to learn how to pronounce sounds that I can’t hear. Just before middle school, some visual-based aptitude tests showed I actually had some talent and I also started to do well in math. So, then teachers started expecting more of me and as you probably figured out, I caught up well enough.
Now, as a professor at a University that serves a predominantly hearing community, my broken ears are a nuisance sometimes. But this 3-minute speech is not about overcoming challenges. Instead, I want to talk about something called <signing Deaf gain>. This sign is translated into English as Deaf gain or Deaf benefit. This term coined by Gallaudet scholars describes the value that Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people provide to the larger community because of their differences. Our ecology colleagues tell us that more diverse ecological communities can better withstand stress than homogenous communities – so too with science communities. All of our differences make CNS stronger.
Here are three examples of deaf gain in my research approach
Deaf gain1: My way of doing research is intensely visual. My students know well that I have to show 3D concepts in the air with my hands and sketch whenever we do science. I don’t believe it until I can see it. We use the figures in our papers to tell the scientific story. In this way, my research is not about elegant verbal arguments and instead focuses on connections between ideas and demonstration of geologic processes.
Deaf gain 2: Deaf are known for being blunt. My students will tell you that my reviews can sometimes be painfully blunt. For deaf scientists, being understood is never taken for granted. So, we strive for clear and direct communication of our science.
Deaf gain 3: Being deaf in a hearing world requires stamina, courage, empathy, self-advocacy, a flexible neck to lip read people in the corners of the room and a sense of humor. An added benefit is being able to accessorize using blue hearing aids with blue glitter molds that match any outfit.
I’ve been lucky to have great students and colleagues who have join up in my Deaf way of science and we’ve had a blast. Thank you.
Do you share some of these characteristics? Are there ways that deaf/HoH gain has shaped your scholarship or research
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