Impacts of the Obsolete Name of a State School for the Deaf and Blind

By Justin M. H. Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB

Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury is an orientation and mobility therapist for the State of Hawai'i, Department of Human Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Services for the Blind Branch (Ho`opono), Adjustment Section, located in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

Abstract

Though the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind no longer serves blind students, it retains its name from the pre-integration era when it did. This provides a case study where the obsolete name creates community confusion about where blind children and adults access education and rehabilitation services. The name unnecessarily ties the blind to a highly publicized sexual assault scandal at the school. Advocacy efforts to remove blindness from the name are discussed.

Keywords

School for the blind, school for the deaf, segregation, integration, education, language immersion

 

Introduction

After the 1975 passage of the Education of Handicapped Children Act, P. L. 94-142, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), blind students were allowed to attend and receive special education services at ordinary public schools in their home districts (Keogh, 2007; Weintraub, Abeson, & Zettel, 1977; Zettel & Ballard, 1979). Nordstrom (1986) wrote that teacher training and school quality had improved enough by 1900 that deaf and blind students began to be integrated into public schools. At that time, the integration of blind students was substantially lagging behind the integration of deaf students. Proponents of local public-school education argued that institutionalization can lead to dependence upon the segregated school, and, since it had been proven that blind and deaf children could be educated, their full integration into society could be supported by integrated education (Lowenfeld, 1973). For blind students in Hawai‘i, as with students in many other states, this led many students to leave the segregated learning environment of the special school for the blind. This process is often called "mainstreaming." Some states, such as North Carolina, continue to operate a residential school for the blind (Lohmeier, 2005). Other states, such as West Virginia, continue to operate residential and day schools for the deaf and blind on a combined campus (West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, 2019). Yet other states, like Florida, operate a single, combined residential school for the deaf and blind, which continues to enroll students who are deaf, blind, or deaf-blind, and families often relocate so that they can enroll their children in the school while living at home (Florida School for the Deaf & the Blind, 2019).

Hawai‘i was previously one of the states that combined the deaf and blind populations into one specialized school (Wai, 2019). Today, the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind, located in the Kapahulu district of Honolulu, is a public school in the Hawai‘i Department of Education designed to serve students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind (Haw. S.C.R. 10; Haw. S.R. 9).. Historically, students who were blind attended the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and the Blind, but, in recent decades, the school has limited enrollment to students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind and who use American Sign Language for communication (Haw. S.C.R. 10, Haw. S.R. 9; Wai, 2019). Thus, it functions similarly to a language immersion school, which is also popular in Hawai‘i for Hawaiian language immersion schools (Reyhner, 2010; Slaughter, 1997; Tedick, Christian, & Fortune, 2011; Warschauer, Donaghy, & Kuamoÿo, 1997). Wai (2019) reported that all students in Hawai‘i who are blind attend mainstream schools in their local districts or other schools of their choice. Though the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind could theoretically serve students who are deaf-blind, no such students attend the school as of spring 2019. Thus, blindness is no longer a qualifier to attend the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind.

As of the end of 2018, at the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind, the signs marking the rooms of the building still did not have braille on them. This was a requirement established by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). This can produce two logical realities: either the State of Hawai‘i Department of Education chose not to implement blindness-related ADA requirements in the school housing blind students, or blind students have not been present in the school since before the passage of the ADA.

According to Hawai’i senate resolutions (S.C.R. 10; S.R. 9) and Wai (2019), there still remain some blindness-related functions of the School for the Deaf and Blind. The school acts as a storage facility for extra braille and large-print books owned by the Hawai‘i Department of Education. Teachers of the visually impaired can also store some of their other instructional devices and materials in the otherwise unused space at the school. The storage of blindness-related items at the school functions completely separately from the student body.

The Confusion

This school is no longer functioning as a school for the blind. Nonetheless, the name on the building remains the same. It creates confusion in the local community, where people often assume that this is where blind children and adults in Hawai‘i access blindness-related services.  Hawai’i senate resolutions (S.C.R. 10; S.R. 9) explained that this confusion originates from a societal assumption that the name of the school describes its student population, leading people to believe that its education program includes blind children and adults. Thomas and Thomas (1928) explained that if something is perceived to be real, then its consequences are real, whether or not the thing itself is real. In this case, the connection between the blind community and the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind is perceived to be real, so it creates real consequences, even though the school no longer serves blind students. When teachers working for the branch of the vocational rehabilitation agency serving the blind introduce themselves to new people, they are often asked if they work at the school for the blind in Kapahulu. Furthermore, when eye doctors and other community members attempt to refer adults who are experiencing vision loss to an agency that can provide them services, they often tell them about the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind instead of the vocational rehabilitation agency or another agency that actually provides blindness-related services.

Advocacy for a Name Change

The naming and renaming of schools has evolved as a process of its own. Moran (2004) described the evolution in cultural phenomena involved with the naming and renaming of schools in Missouri. An ideological shift occurred in the 1980s. Before that point, names were chosen by a small group of privileged elites, and the names themselves were mechanisms of control that perpetuated segregation. This Missouri example focused on schools defined by geographic areas with racially segregated communities and schools segregated by the ethnic makeup of the corresponding community. By the 1980s, the prevailing ideology recognized that a school was an important institution in a neighborhood and that the local community members should be able to influence the selection of a name. Moreover, the newer ideology held that the name should come from the community and, if it is to be a commemorative school name, honor an individual whom the members of that community considered worthy of recognition. In the Missouri case, this often generated entirely different names than what the elites wanted to name the schools. Symbolically, the school district began responding to the different voices of the city, minority voices that were previously unnoticed and disregarded by school officials. In the case of a school that now only serves students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind, it would logically follow that the corresponding community would participate in the naming of the school.

Back to the Hawai‘i case, to change the name of a school housed within the Hawai‘i Department of Education, the complex area superintendent must recommend the name of the school, in consultation with the school principal, to the superintendent, who will recommend the name of the school to the Board of Education for approval (Hawai‘i Board of Education, 2016). Senator Rhoads introduced two resolutions in the Hawai‘i State Senate, “Requesting the Department of Education to Explore the Possibility of Updating "Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and the Blind" to "Hawai‘i School for the Deaf" to Reduce Confusion and Identify where Students who Are Blind May Access Appropriate Resources and Services” (Haw. S.C.R. 10; Haw. S.R. 9).  

Kishimoto (2019) testified in opposition, writing only, “A change in the name would be restrictive and limit the array of placement options for students with disabilities.” Paradoxically, the name of the school does not mention other disabilities that students at the school may have, such as learning disabilities, physical disabilities besides blindness, or developmental disabilities; other disabilities do not disqualify students. MacDonald (2019) requested that the name be changed to “Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Deaf-Blind,” with hopes of including any deaf-blind students who may arrive in the future.

Wai (2019) testified in support, asserting that there were no longer any blind or deaf-blind students at the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind and asking that a working group be developed to investigate the topic further. Khan (2019) also testified in support, writing “Some teachers of the blind in Hawai‘i don’t even know any of the people who work at the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind. If they don’t know each other, attracting people to that school is counterproductive.”

Perpetuation of Segregationist Thinking

As vocational rehabilitation professionals attempt to rehabilitate blind adults and help them transition into competitive, integrated employment, society needs to accept the idea that they should be integrated as full participating members (Omvig, 2002; Salisbury, 2018). Segregationist thinking is still strong in Hawai‘i. This is not exclusive to the blind but affects them nonetheless. The plantation era is only recent history, as the last Hawai‘i sugar plantation was only closed in 2016 (Associated Press, 2016; Kai-Hwa Wang, 2016). Until the early 1900s, the plantations had a method of segregating workers by race to keep them disenfranchised (Brower, 2016; Ogawa, 1976; Smith, 1970). There still remain vast differences in income and social power between ethnic groups (Hofschneider, 2018; Kaholokula, 2014; Okamura, 2008). Segregation is widely tolerated as a fact of life, thus making the segregation of people with disabilities more palatable.

Sexual Abuse Scandal

For decades there were complaints of sexual abuse at the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind. Sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adults with disabilities has been a longstanding problem throughout history (Hershkowitz, Lamb, & Horowitz, 2007; Sobsey & Doe, 1991). Zimmerman (2013) described a $5.75 million settlement that was awarded to students who were sexually assaulted at the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind. For more than a decade, school administrators and students covered up the issue of children between 12 and 16 years of age being frequently robbed, raped, sodomized and gang raped on campus and school buses. Perpetrators were not punished by the Department of Education, even after attacks were recorded on video and attacks resulted in pregnancy. Pang (2011) and Alston, Ferrer, and Melchinger (2016) reported that 35 students were frequent victims at the school enrolling 70 students on a five-acre residential campus. After investigation related to the lawsuit, some charges were filed, and the principal was placed on leave by the Department of Education. Daysog (2016) discussed the release of previously confidential information, which was made public after a former student of the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind sued the Department of Education after being sexually assaulted at a mainstream public high school in Hawai‘i, as well. There was a widespread practice within the Hawai‘i Department of Education of not reporting cases of students being sexually assaulted.

Shame is a primary pillar of the culture of Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i culture is dominated by East Asian cultural ideals, especially those of Japan and, to a lesser extent, China, due in part to the predominance of Asian and Pacific Islander peoples in Hawai‘i (Saranillio, 2010; Ogawa, 1976). Fu and Heaton (2000) explained that Japanese people came to Hawai‘i in the nineteenth century for the sugar industry and have deeply influenced the cultural outlook of the Hawai‘i islands, becoming the largest ethnic group in the early 1900s and dominating the contemporary legislature and government, public education, business, and professions. In Hawai‘i, Japanese people have the highest per capita incomes, the highest rate of homeownership, the lowest civilian unemployment rate, and the lowest poverty rate in a state where White people have a poverty rate greater than the statewide average poverty rate (Hofschneider, 2018; Research and Economic Analysis Division, 2018). Japanese Americans first seized control of the power in Hawai‘i in the Democratic Revolution of 1954 (Peng, 2017). Benedict (1946) described Japanese culture as a "shame culture.” In a study of Japanese, Korean, and U.S. children, Furukawa, Tangney, and Higashibara (2012) measured shame, guilt, and pride, observing that Japanese children scored highest on shame. Okano (1994) wrote that people are often reluctant to talk about their own shameful experiences and feelings. Morrison (1989) wrote that shame generates concealment out of a fear of rendering oneself unacceptable. Since shame is emphasized in local culture, people attempt to conceal or distance themselves from shameful experiences and feelings.

In Hawai‘i, it is common for local residents, when meeting new people, to ask them where they attended high school. It is often used to measure up the other person, to draw conclusions about their social status, and to attempt to identify mutual friends and connections. When meeting a blind person, since it is common to wonder if blind people attended the school for the blind, the question is often framed as “Did you go to the school for the blind?” Khan (2019) wrote that this instantly makes many blind people uncomfortable, and that blind people deserve to be distanced from a scandal that is not known to have involved students who were blind.

Implications for Practitioners and Families

There is no productive reason to maintain the reference to blindness in the name of the Hawai‘i School for the Deaf and Blind. It creates confusion in the community and clouds the path to accessing blindness-related services. Housing a room full of braille books does not make the building a school for the blind; it is a storage location. Retaining a name that communicates that the school serves blind students inaccurately creates a public image of a connection between that school and the blind community. Therefore, for better or worse, the phenomena that occur at that school will be inaccurately connected with the blind community. In the Hawai‘i case, there is a highly publicized sexual assault scandal shrouding the school with shame. This shame would be a problem in any community, but the local Japanese-dominated culture in Hawai‘i is especially sensitive to that shame, which compounds upon the existing cultural shame attached to blindness. This misdirected shame is one dysfunction of the perceived connection between the blind community and the school that once served its children generations beforehand. In another state, the retention of an obsolete name could attach the blind community to other phenomena, but inaccurate information is problematic no matter what. Even if the school that no longer serves blind students is honored for a positive achievement in the public arena, this could mislead the public to believe that the blind students in their state are being served more effectively than they actually are, leading to a reduced incentive to direct educational resources toward the blind students in that state. Misinformation creates problems.

Community input can be gathered to help determine the new name of the school, but it will only help people who are blind or visually impaired if the reference to blindness is removed. If practitioners in other states ever end up in a situation where their school names retain the mention of blindness but no longer serve blind students, they should consider updating their names to reflect the current purpose and student body of the schools. If these schools do continue to serve as a sign language immersion school, practitioners may consider a new name to reflect this fact. If the community served by a school wishes to honor a special person as its namesake and no longer reference disability in the school's name, this could offer yet another solution. Schools are powerful institutions in a minority community, even if their participation within that community is imagined rather than real. Just as the blind deserve to have input and influence on the services provided to them (Schroeder, 2010), the relevant disability-based population should also be given those same considerations when renaming their school.

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