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PRESENTATION

ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROGRAM
FOR DEAF ADULTS

LAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

November 8, 1996
by

Fern J. Khan


PRESENTATION
ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROGRAMS
FOR DEAF ADULTS
November 8, 1996

I am so very happy to be here with you, my friends and colleagues, this
evening and so very honored to be asked to share my recollections of
the program's early beginnings. I do hope that you have had a chance to
look at some of the photographs which are on display in the lobby. We
all looked very different fifteen to twenty years ago. The photographs
also helped me to recall many events with ease and so were invaluable

as I reflected on those early days.

I can still vividly recall the day in the early 1970's when Ann Marcus,
my supervisor and LaGuardia's first Dean of the Division of Continuing
Education invited me into her office for a meeting. Some days or weeks
earlier, Dean Marcus had talked with Oscar Cohen from the Lexington
School for the Deaf. Oscar had suggested that LaGuardia should think
about making continuing education accessible to the deaf population. At
that time, no colleges in NYC provided continuing education courses or
programs for the deaf population. It so happened that the DCE was also
looking to expand in new program areas. So Dean Marcus asked me,
"Fern, do you know anything about deafness?" My response was, "No,
do you?" She said "No, but let's go find out from the experts".

Within a few weeks following that conversation, we flew down to

Washington and spent a day with Tom Mayes, the Dean of Continuing


Education at Gallaudet College at that time. Dean Mayes described his
model for making adult and continuing education classes accessible for
the deaf communities in his geographical area. Through ongoing needs
assessments, he was able to identify the interests and needs of the deaf
populations in D.C., in nearby Virginia and Maryland. He then
collaborated with existing adult education programs and obtained their
permission to place ASL interpreters in a rich array of courses enrolling

two or more deaf adults.

We learned an enormous amount about deafness and developing
programs for deaf adults in that one visit. This was also our first
experience in using an interpreter and we had no idea about how one
related to an interpreter. So, in addition to constantly looking from the
interpreter to Tom Mayes especially when she was voicing for Tom, we
sometimes addressed our questions for Tom Mayes to her. We didn't
know the protocol and felt somewhat confused without understanding
why. It was only months later in describing our meeting with some
colleagues and mentioning how exhausted we felt on the return trip to
New York that we learned about the interpreter's role and how to use
the interpreter. Because of that experience, I now first orient anyone
who is meeting a deaf person for the first time to focus on the deaf

person and not the interpreter!

Ann and I returned to NY with a strong sense that we should and could
design a program to meet the needs of the deaf community.
Accordingly, with Oscar Cohen's help, we invited representatives of the

deaf community to LAG to begin the process of community



involvement in developing a meaningful program. The group
included Al Hlibok, Phil Bravin, George Johnson, Oscar Cohen, Mary
Cheese, Irene Leigh, Berger Erikson, Dorothy Pakula. This group became
our Advisory Committee which met over several months. Following
their suggestions we offered courses such as tennis, yoga, auto repair
and improving communication skills. Later, Driver education was
added.

The Advisory Committee recommended instructors who were deaf to
teach and now we were ready to launch our program. Then questions
about outreach and how to inform and attract the deaf community
arose. LaGuardia Community College was not known within the deaf
community. The Advisory Committee again came up with the answer.
Have a big event with entertainment that's highly visual and then,
have the instructors talk about their courses. The first event held at the
Graduate Center featured George Johnston, a comedian who was well
known in the deaf community. We had a great turnout, almost 200
people, and George was terrific. We enrolled many deaf adults in
courses that night. Our next big event was at the Lexington School. Over
150 deaf individuals attended and close to 90 people signed up for

courses. The first phase of the PDA was underway.

During these early years, Ann and I talked with many individuals in the
deaf community to learn as much as we could. We also hired almost all
of the deaf professionals who then worked at New York University's
Deafness and Rehabilitation Center to teach or consult at one time or

the other.



As the months passed, there was concern that we were only serving a
small fraction of the deaf population in NYC, a well educated group,
and that we needed to reach out to those underserved and
undereducated deaf people who had no access to higher education. As
the program grew, the need for a Coordinator became a reality. The
Advisory Committee recommended that the coordinator be a deaf
person and the recruitment process began. With approval from the
President, the Advisory committee became the Search Committee
staffed by one college representative. This was a most unusual situation
but it underscored the level of commitment from the college and from
the Advisory Committee in the early development of the PDA. Glenn

Anderson was selected as the first coordinator of the PDA.

With Glenn's arrival, we began to focus more energy on reaching out to
inform. the deaf population about LaGuardia's program. As you all
know, Glenn has a great love for basketball and often while on the
courts, he would publicize PDA, frequently recruiting young people into
the program. Other outreach strategies to the N.Y.C. deaf community
included placing program ads in the "Silent News," preparing flyers and
brochures for circulation, visiting the social clubs to describe our
programs and establishing relationships with counselors for the deaf in
the NYS Office of Vocational rehabilitation. The OVR counselors for the

deaf were extremely helpful and supportive.

PDA staff also visited the schools for the deaf to talk about

collaborations and to inform students of real career and higher



education options. We wanted to build a bridge to post secondary
education for deaf students through the PDA and we also wanted to

have a sizable enrollment of deaf students each quarter.

Outreach was also made to federal, state and local government officials
and the state legislature to seek funds for the program. Prior to 1985,
President Joseph Shenker, Dean Augusta Kappner and Dean Judy
McGaughey were all closely involved in visiting and talking to
legislators about identifying more permanent funding for the program.
In the interim, Grants from NYS Education Dept. for vocational
training including American Sign Language training; from the JTPA,
their first ever to train deaf students in word processing, food services
and office skills, and the US Dept. of Education in 1981 enabled us to
expand the program's capacity to:

* increase staff
¢ explore and develop some additional program options
* provide comprehensive educational and support services

to deaf students.

The college's continued support of the PDA and its own outreach efforts
culminated in the well publicized visit of Governor Cuomo to the PDA
in 1985. In his remarks, Gov. Cuomo stated that LaGuardia Community
College reflected government at its best. He said that La Guardia "is

government doing the job of removing impediments and doing it

marvelously well." This visit brought a commitment of substantial and
much needed funding for the program allowing the college to continue

serving 500 deaf students enrolling each year in credit, non credit and



vocational training programs. LaGuardia's PDA now had a critical mass
of deaf students on campus and was also the program serving the largest
numbers of deaf adults and youth in NYC. LaGuardia was also then the
institution which hired the most significant numbers of deaf staff

members.

The college also initiated a collaboration with Lehman College in 1987
where graduates of LaGuardia's degree programs could transfer to
Lehman to pursue Bachelors degrees. Collaborations also developed
with Lexington School for the Deaf, CUNY colleges, the Queensboro

Public Library and many other agencies and institutions.

We also followed up on one of the recommendations which came from
our Gallaudet visit which was to conduct needs assessment or surveys
of the educational needs of NYC's deaf community. As a result, two
surveys were conducted as planning for phase 2 began. The first survey
of program participants indicated that they were very satisfied with the
courses offered. However, these participants also indicated a real need

for career counseling and assistance.

Another more extensive survey was then undertaken to determine
whether these needs were representative of the larger deaf population
or specific to the individuals then enrolled in the PDA. This survey
conducted by Dr. Frank Bowe, found that there were no specialized
career related counseling for deaf students in any two year college
program in NYC and that these services were vital to meet the

education and career related needs of deaf individuals, especially the



prevocationally deaf population. The results and recommendations
from the assessments led to a redesign of the PDA to provide academic
and vocational counseling and other support services as well as Adult
Basic Education, High School Equivalency preparation, college
preparation, study skills, English as a Second Language and ASL all of
which form the core of the PDA today.

Finally, a major influence on the success of programs must be attributed
to the staff who serve or work with the student population. In her book
Within Our Reach, Elizabeth Shorr talks about the lessons of successful
programs. She says that "successful programs describe their staffs as
skilled and highly committed..... Professionals in these programs are
perceived by those they serve as people who care about them and respect
them, people they can trust". In PDA, staff has always been concerned
with full accessibility for all deaf students. They worked hard to
advocate for their students and also prepared deaf students to be

advocates for themselves.

However, there were numerous challenges as the PDA took shape, grew
and expanded. In the early 1980's, we noticed that deaf students enrolled
in credit programs were repeating their English courses, were becoming
frustrated and were dropping out. We talked with students and decided
that a different and more supportive approach to teaching English was
needed. Dr. Sue Livingston joined our staff and worked with the Basic
Skills Department to develop a series of courses using ASL to teach
English while she provided professional development for teachers and

tutors in the non credit basic skills program. It was in Sue's classes that



many deaf students experienced the satisfaction of reading an entire

novel for the first time.

Another challenge related to the program's success in recruiting deaf
students. The federal grant received in 1981 enabled us to provide
comprehensive academic and support services. Over the next three
years, enrollment in both credit and non-credit programs increased

significantly.

Simultaneously, this growth presented us with a major fiscal dilemma.
There were no identifiable funds to replace the federal grant when it
ended in 1984. How were we going to provide ongoing ASL and oral
interpreter services in the degree programs where over 55 deaf students
were enrolled? I believe that my first gray hairs appeared during this

period.

The college rallied to our support and launched a massive campaign to
bring our work to Governor Cuomo's attention. This approach was a
major success. The Governor came to visit, was really impressed and
provided the necessary funding to continue the program's capacity to

provide post secondary education for the deaf population.

A third challenge related to the hiring of interpreters. Prior to 1986
there was no CUNY "line" for hiring interpreters. The college
successfully negotiated with the Central Office for a civil service title.

Within CUNY, the position of Sign Language Interpreter became a non-



competitive civil service title with four assignment levels each with the

required qualifications effective July 1, 1986.

Prior to my leaving LaGuardia in 1989, I worked with three directors in
the PDA. Glenn Anderson, Carole Lazorisak, Paul Menkis were all very
special people from whom I learned an enormous amount. Although I
read many books and articles about deafness, my real education came
from the staff with whom I worked and who were always so willing to

keep me informed.

Glenn taught me a lot about the sociology of the deaf community, the
variations within the deaf community and the politics of deafness. He
also introduced me to many key figures in the field and always
patiently answered my questions or kept me current about individuals,
the field or the deaf community. Carokttaught me to distinguish among
the range of language abilities and the communication modes among
deaf students. Carole also shared many rich vignettes about her
experiences and the experiences of her family in a hearing world which
I still use. Paul had a keen intellect, was an avid reader and shared many

articles or books which he had read with me.

Among the staff, I watched Dorothy Pakula become LaGuardia’s first
deaf graduate, receive her B.A. degree from Empire State College and
serve deaf students in a variety of ways as a valued staff member. She
taught me the importance of teaching idioms to deaf students. I also

watched Thomas Samuels as he moved from student to staff over the



years. Thomas’ versatility was remarkable and he always seemed to

know everything that was happening!

SUMMARY

The success of the Program for Deaf Adults at LaGuardia Community
College comes from the unique and wonderful collaboration which has
always existed among the college leadership, the staff, the deaf
community and supporters.

This collaboration has resulted in a comprehensive and truly accessible
program attracting deaf students at various levels of learning into a rich
and resourceful academic environment. It has also helped to form a
community of learners where everyone who has contact with the
program comes away feeling that he/she learned something new. By
continuing to develop and adapt flexible and responsive systems or
approaches, the goal of an enriched educational, personal and

vocational experience for deaf students will continue to be achieved.

I encourage you to continue to inform legislators about the PDA and
your student outcomes. You also need to do the same for the
foundation world who have not yet made the deaf population a
priority. Your strategies have worked well to date so you have a base
from which to work. Congratulations and thank you, President Bowen
and Dean McGaughey, for continuing to support a bold vision and
congratulations to Desiree Duda and the staff of PDA for successfully

implementing that vision and for doing an outstanding job. Thank you.

Fern J. Khan

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