Deaf President Now! The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University (Paperback)

~ (Author), Sharon N. Barnartt (Author)

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Product Description

Deaf President Now! reveals the groundswell leading up to the history-making week in 1988 when the students at Gallaudet University seized the campus and closed it down until their demands were met. To research this probing study, the authors interviewed in-depth more than 50 of the principal players.

This telling book reveals the critical role played by a little-known group called the "Ducks," a tight-knit band of six alumni determined to see a deaf president at Gallaudet. Deaf President Now! details how they urged the student leaders to ultimate success, including an analysis of the reasons for their achievement in light of the failure of many other student movements. This fascinating study also scrutinizes the lasting effects of this remarkable episode in "the civil rights movement of the deaf." Deaf President Now! tells the full story of the insurrection at Gallaudet University, an exciting study of how deaf people won social change for themselves and all disabled people everywhere through a peaceful revolution.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Gallaudet University Press; 1 edition (July 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563681528
• ISBN-13: 978-1563681523
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,097,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing about them without them, February 1, 2005

By	Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Deaf President Now!: The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University (Hardcover)

This book chronicles the events leading up to and the deaf president now revolution at Gallaudet University. As the world's only university for deaf and hard-of-hearing studentsm Gallaudet had revolutionary potential from inception.

When Dr. Jerry C. Lee announced that he was leaving the university, many students and faculty felt that this would be their year. Because the Gallaudet administration had consisted mainly of hearing people, these dissenters felt that they were being condescended to.

Not only was the sole hearing candidate Elizabeth Zinser picked, but critical snafus undercut her very brief administration. Then-board chair Jane Spilman allegedly said that 'deaf people are not able to function in a hearing world' ironically reinforcing the protestor cause. Zinser's academic training in rehabilitative sciences hinted at the 'medical model' of disability which many of the students found outmoded and problematic.

The students recieved national media attention, alumni (including the use of the alumni house as an organizing space) and Congressional support. He had initially given his own support to Zinser in an attempt to forge campus unity, but the other presidential candidate, I. King Jordan (then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences) withdrew his support. Zinser subsequently announced her resignation. Jordan became Gallaudet's first deaf president.

The DPN is an inspiring saga for anybody (particularly college students attempting to create their own campus chage). The actions of Gallaudet students later inspired me to challenge patronizing assumptions being made about my own community.