Thank you
President Hurwitz,
Board of Trustees,
friends, visitors, families,
the embassy representatives
here with us today
and all of my
fellow Canadians
and all of them who are
watching from afar in Canada,
and watching this online.
I thank you so much for
the warm reception
and the incredible honor it is
to be receiving
this Gallaudet university
honorary doctorate degree.
In recognition of a body
of work, work that could not
have been done, could
not have been achieved
without the communities
whose rights
we have fought together to
defend.
I feel very proud to have
the dedicated energy
in the direction that I have
over the last number of years,
and owe thanks and
support to my family,
the Canadian Hearing Society,
the Gallaudet community
and the Deaf and hard of
hearing communities
in Toronto and in
Ontario, in Canada
and internationally.
Let me take a
moment to congratulate
and salute the graduating
class of 2011.
It is a great honor to be
here with you today,
the graduates, families,
friends,
Gallaudet community, and all of
the visitors that are here
sharing this day with you.
It's an absolute privilege
and a great honor to be here
and to see
all of the barriers
that we are being able
to move forward and break down,
communication and
language barriers.
We have had the privilege
of making great strides
in all of this faced by Deaf
and hard of hearing children
and their families.
And I'd like to thank
Dr. Karen Strauss
also the recipient of a honorary
doctorate degree today
and her wonderful TDI team
for championing civil rights
for telecommunications
equality,
for deaf and hard of
hearing citizens,
and families globally, congratulations.
Gallaudet University
was founded in 1864.
That was three years
before Canada's confederation.
Gallaudet brought Laurent
Clerc from France
and Gallaudet and Laurent
Clerc worked together
to start to establish a
number of different schools
for the deaf, not
only in the United States,
but in Canada.
Which eventually led to
the establishment
of Gallaudet College.
On April 8, 1864,
a congressional bill
that allowed the Columbia
Institution to grant degrees
was signed by
President Abraham Lincoln
who of course we're all
aware championed
freedom and rights to equality.
The National Deaf-Mute
College was established in 1864,
and Gallaudet's
dream of establishing
a college for Deaf adults
became a reality.
Gallaudet was a leading
advocate in North America,
and throughout the world,
for educating deaf people.
The 1880 International Congress
on Education of the Deaf,
in Milan, Italy,
passed resolutions
banning the use of
signed languages
in the classroom in schools
for Deaf students,
and disallowing Deaf educators
and even hearing educators
with signed
language skills
to continue to
teach globally.
However, amazingly and
bravely,
Gallaudet continued to allow
sign languages to be used
in its classrooms, and continued
to employ Deaf professors
and hearing professors with sign
language skills.
Canadian David Peikoff
attended and completed
his degree at Gallaudet
university in 1928,
returning to Canada to
become a revered deaf leader
and Canadian
activist, a strong advocate
of education and employment
for the Deaf community.
He was one of the
founding members
of the National Society
for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing
renamed and now known as the
Canadian Hearing Society.
He was one of the
founding members
of the Canadian
Association of the Deaf as well,
He once wrote that the
"objective of education
for the deaf is not to develop
speech alone,
but to produce a
well-adjusted deaf adult,
capable of enjoying life
and functioning as taxpayer,
not tax consumer.
He defended the rights of
children to accessible language
and helped change laws to allow
Deaf drivers to drive.
After 30 years of
advocating for the rights
of Deaf Canadians to gain
access to sign language
and to higher education
and employment,
many Canadians were able
to attend Gallaudet University
because of that, and many of
whom returned
and were able
to receive gainful employment.
He and his wife, Polly,
returned to Gallaudet University
where he successfully
was able to work
with the Gallaudet
Alumni Association
in raising $1 million
in Canadian funds,
all of which was donated
to Gallaudet University.
He was a champion for
volunteerism through
the Gallaudet University
Alumni Association
for more than 20 years.
Dr. Andrew Foster
is an important figure
within the African-American
history and Deaf history.
Not only did he establish
many schools for Deaf students
in Africa, he was
also the first African-American
to graduate
from Gallaudet college,
and that was in 1954.
He encouraged and inspired
many Deaf and hard of hearing
graduates of African
Schools for Deaf students
to come here and subsequently
graduate from Gallaudet.
Now many Deaf and hard of
hearing African-American
Gallaudet graduates
are employed
at the university,
at the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf,
and in many schools for the Deaf
across North America and
Africa.
One such graduate, Wilma
Newhoudt-Druchen
was elected to the South
African Parliament.
After the World Federation
of the Deaf Congress,
Deaf Way I and Deaf Way II
conferences
and Gallaudet's Leadership Training Institute,
an increasing number of
Gallaudet alumni have entered
the political arena
both running for
government seats
and in senior management
appointments in the government.
Gallaudet University has
invested in its students
to become public
office holders.
In fact, more than ten
Gallaudet alumni
have been elected politicians
or have enjoyed
senior management positions at
all level of government -
municipal, state,
and federal.
When it was my time to
receive an education,
Gallaudet University
provided me with
the political and democratic
skills training
that I brought back to Canada.
and I'm so very proud to
become the first elected
Deaf parliamentarian
in North America.
That was an office I
held for five years.
After which I joined the
Canadian Hearing Society
and have been involved in
the senior management team
for more than 15 years,
but still
working with government
and government relations.
Today, we have many Deaf and
hard of hearing professionals -
whether they be
doctors, lawyers,
they participate
in leadership.
Examples of which Dr. Alan
Hurwitz, Gallaudet University,
Gerry Buckley,
National Technical
Institute for the Deaf,
Benjamin Soukup,
Communication Services
for the Deaf,
and Chris Kenopic, The Canadian
Hearing Society,
all of whom are presidents
and CEOs.
And there are many,
many more to come.
Gallaudet University
is truly a home,
and is an engine for higher
education that continues
to be an integral tool
in the building of thousands
of bridges between Deaf
and hard of hearing people
who use sign languages
and our general societies
including institutions at
all levels of government.
In July, 2010, Gallaudet
University delegates
along with
hundreds of delegates
from around the world, including
Dr. Alan Hurwitz, President,
Gallaudet University,
and I attended
the International Congress
of the Deaf in Vancouver, B.C.,
where we witnessed
ICED declarations that:
Rejected all resolutions passed
at the ICED Milan Congress
in 1880 that
denied the inclusion
of signed languages in
educational programs
for Deaf students;
they acknowledged
and sincerely regretted
the detrimental effects
of the Milan Conference
resolutions
and they called upon all nations
of the world
to remember history
and to ensure
that educational
programs accept and respect
all languages
and all forms of communication.
Our reaction was a tearful
and cheerful
feeling of liberation.
To date, over 147 different
countries have signed,
and 99 countries have ratified
the United Nations convention
on the rights of persons with
disabilities.
This is the largest ever,
first-time signing
and ratifying of
a convention.
the convention confirms
the rights:
to receive education and access
to information
in sign languages;
To have professional
sign language,
spoken language interpreting;
to accept and facilitate
the use of sign languages,
and to promote and
facilitate
the use of sign languages;
to promote the cultural
and linguistic identity
of the Deaf community; in addition to signed languages
are defined as languages
equal to spoken languages.
These are now powerful -- this
is now a powerful ammunition
in our fight for Deaf
education rights,
including the protection
of schools for Deaf students.
The removal of barriers
to higher education.
The elimination of sign
language cleansing
and our fight against audism
and all forms of discrimination
and our fight for
full and effective participation
in democracy globally.
The right to access language
and language acquisition
is a necessary
prerequisite for exercising
the right to human
dignity, freedom of expression,
and all
other human rights.
Deaf and hard of hearing
children have the right
to barrier-free access to
language acquisition
during the early years
when language
is readily acquired.
Sign languages in schools for
the deaf are not only options
but they're the
human right of deaf children
and students, and it is on par
with spoken languages
and sign languages need to be
accessible
to our deaf
children.
When I watched President
Obama's inauguration on TV,
I saw millions and
millions of people cheering
when he said:
We are shaped by every language and culture.
This not only aligns with
Gallaudet University's mission
but it sends a very
clear message globally.
The surcharge on foreign
students at Howard University
was
imposed in 1989.
That's when Congress
approved a recommendation
by the Department
of Education.
The Howard University
president Announced
to the special convocation
for South African
President Nelson Mandela
that Congress
has rescinded the tuition
surcharge
that had been imposed
on international students
at the university.
The rescission of the
surcharge took effect
with the tuition
charges in 1995.
The late Dr. Andrew
Foster,
the late Dr. David Peikoff,
along with Wilma
Newhoudt-Druchen and I are all
in the same company that
supports the removal of
surcharges for Deaf and hard of
hearing international students
who want to come and study
at Gallaudet University.
These international
students are our true hope.
They will become our
ambassadors of change,
the ambassadors of democratic
freedoms and the rights
for higher education,
and they
will become our future leaders.
We would like to ask the
Board of Trustees
and the president of Gallaudet
University to work
with the Department of U.S. Education
and the Congress
of the United States
to remove the surcharge for
Deaf and hard of hearing
international students
attending Gallaudet University
and the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf.
This should make it possible
for Gallaudet University
to recruit a larger
number of international students
and graduate more
international agents of change.
As President Clinton
mentioned right here
in his 1994 Gallaudet
University Commencement keynote,
What he said was that: Gallaudet
is a "national treasure."
And as an international
research university,
Gallaudet should not have
extra barriers
that serve to exclude
international students.
The change in policy is
enthusiastically supported
by students and faculty
at the University
and by university alumni
around the world.
To me, Gallaudet
University is clearly
an INTERNATIONAL treasure.
We know that Deaf and
hearing people
are working together on
the Gallaudet campus
and globally and the goal is to
build bridges,
to gain respect for one another.
And to form a strong,
unified front for the education
of all levels
of government, for local,
regional, provincial,
state, national
and global societies at large.
Gallaudet University plays
an integral role
in the higher education of Deaf
and hard of hearing students
and in achieving
the goals of:
equitable
enjoyment of global life,
effective civic participation,
the democratic and educational
rights of culturally Deaf,
deaf oral, deafened
and hard of hearing people,
a society free
of discrimination, audism,
and sign language cleansing.
full access to language
acquisition
and multilingualism, viable
educational placement
for our children.
Today, I ask you -
families, friends
and esteemed guests of the
2011 graduates -
along with elected
representatives
of U.S. Congress,
U.S. Education Department,
donors, sponsors,
elected Parliamentarians,
ambassadors
and representatives of the
embassies to join me
in thanking the Gallaudet
community
for its invaluable contribution,
and to join me in knowing
that your continued funding of
one of the most accessible,
higher post-secondary
education institution
makes possible
the education
of our future leaders and
this will reshape
and improve our societies globally.
In closing, let me tell
you what I believe
Gallaudet stands for:
G Global Access to
higher post-secondary education,
A Audism- and attitudinal
barrier-free society,
L Learning and liberation,
L Leadership in building bridges
and respect,
A Agent of change,
U Universal design,
D Democracy and true freedom
E Excellence - a true centre
of excellence
T Transformation - into full global citizenship,
participation and enjoyment.
Congratulations
again to the class of 2011
and to Gallaudet University.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Laurent Clerc,
President Abraham Lincoln,
Edward Miner Gallaudet,
Andrew Foster and David Peikoff
are looking down upon us today
with extreme pride
in what you have accomplished.
You've done it.
Congratulations!
We are -- I'm so very
proud of all of you.
Internationally, globally,
thank you, and
thanks to everybody who is
watching in Canada.
Thank you, thank you,
thank you to everyone.
Congratulations.
This page was last edited on 24 February 2024, at 17:45