I know, I know... it's a subject many people consider to be old news. However, I have to disagree. It is an ongoing problem, it is still happening in some places and nobody's doing anything about it. I should know because I used to attend a school for the deaf.
For many years, I have never been a firm supporter of residential schools for the deaf. I've made that clear, no doubt about that. I personally don't believe a child should be away from home for 5 days a week. Children need to live at home with their families; living in a residence with house parents is not what I consider a healthy environment for a child.
There's a reason why dozens of children aren't meant to live together especially when the age range can be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager. House parents are often uncertified and unqualified to deal with personal matters especially molestation.
I was a day student by choice, but that didn't stop me from learning more about what goes on behind closed doors at the residence building. It's a subject you never speak of at the school because people strongly discourage it. In fact, I was once a peer helper and they even discouraged the students from discussing the past cases of sexual abuse. I once asked a teacher if there had ever been a case of sexual abuse at the school I attended. The teacher said that there have been cases then I asked for more details and the request was declined. Therefore, I was forced to do some research online and I managed to find some of the legal cases involving some cases. I'm grateful that we are able to access a large number of legal cases on the Internet in Canada.
As many of you people should be aware, teenagers are full of sexual hormones. If a teenager was basically raised by a series of house parent its whole life that person is more likely to have the wrong idea of what sex is about. It's the duty of the parents to have a bond with their children and to educate them about life. The house parents are just there for the money, nothing more. Many house parents are uncertified in these fields. I know there are some people who were born into broken and dysfunctional families, but you have to remember that sexual abuse is not a joke either. Yes, there are biological parents who abuse and molest their own children which is a horrific act of violation against one's will but that's another subject.
I'm a good friend of a former house parent; this friend of mine had some horror stories to share with me and some of these that I wish I were never told in the first place. Though we shouldn't ignore these because that'll only make us ignorant to the problems in today's residential schools. Deaf children are basically stripped of their rights and they cannot defend themselves from the monsters. They have no voice and I do know for a fact that quite a few schools imposes severe restrictions on what a student can use the Internet for. Especially when it come to instant messaging applications. It's quite a sad state they are in.
Anybody remember Jericho? It was one of the worst cases in the history of deaf education. It was like a sex club in there. This was a provincial school in the province of British Columbia. In fact, it's one of the factors in the shutdown of the school back in the early 1990s. Even worse, not too far from where Jericho is, there was another school that was just as bad or worse. It took place in the state of Washington, a newspaper in Seattle did a major coverage of it in the 1990s and they were unsuccessful in getting the stories verified but by the victims.
Though I have heard that the school has gone under a change of administration and a great deal of improvements were made in recent years. I hope it's for good and that they never let such an incident from taking place again under their watch.
If you wish to learn more of what happened at Jericho, more information can be found on the Internet or you can e-mail me and I will provide you some information on some Canadian legal cases and incidents that happened in some schools across Canada.
At one particular residential school for the deaf, the other students told me of one wheelchair-bound student who was violently abused on a frequent basis. He was anally raped and often attended the infirmary with a swollen anus. The nurse made attempts to protect the student, the administration swept it all under the rug. The nurse ended up resigning from her position. On some nights, he made attempts to escape through the window and crawl onto the ground in hope of escaping from some of the students who had violated his body against his will. He wasn't able to walk; he used all of his strength to crawl away from these monsters.
In many cases, male students were often molested by older male students and in some cases, female students. There have been some cases where they were molested by house parents.
At the school I attended, when I was a student at the secondary building on the campus; I was made aware of a series of activities behind closed doors at the residence building. One of them being a sexually charged version of 'truth or dare' game. There is several sexual abuse cases I know of that were never reported to the authorities. None of these cases should ever go unreported because it's wrong, just plainly wrong. No people should go unpunished for their crimes they've committed. The top reason why a victim doesn’t report is because of the fear of what would happen to them if it became public. Many of you know that other students because of malicious gossiping and backstabbing often target the victims. I don't condemn them for being scared but they do need the courage to report these crimes because these people may be hurting somebody else.
I'm not advocating the shutdown of residential schools for the deaf, though I do think it would be a great benefit if they didn't have a residence but that would only force the schools to shut down due to the low enrollment rate. If you want to save the schools from being shut down, you should take great measurements to ensure that the students are well protected from being abused.
I know this is a sensitive topic for many deaf people out there, but people need to realize that it is a problem and it shouldn't be swept under the rug. It has been tackled at some schools for the deaf but I don't believe many are making the efforts to ensure that their students are well protected. I'm not looking to attack people nor am I looking forward to being attacked by people. I just believe that people need to spread the awareness of these problems and that they need to be resolved now. I consider myself to be Deaf and I do take in how the others may feel toward some subjects but I don't believe in beating around the bush. People shouldn't be pretending that it's not happening. Nobody has spoken up for the deaf students, just like nobody spoke up for the deaf during the holocaust.
We may be known as the invisible minority, but our problems shouldn't be invisible.
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11/13/2006 10:52 AM
Thank you for shining a much-needed light on this sensitive issue. As you may already suspect, this tragic tale is also replayed out in countless other places housing juveniles, such as private schools, orphanages, juvenile institutions, etc.
Thankfully, more and more Deaf schools are recognizing the potential for problems such as these, and have taken proactive measures, such as background screening, restrictive and punitive laws, more pay (to attract better-qualifed people), etc. And they have taken appropriate reactive and decisive measures in response to any molestation, alleged or real.
But, the single biggest and the best move they've done is to abolish weekend stay-overs, sending children home instead. This breaks up continuity that may be conducive to a molestive situation, and re-establishes the vital family bonds between the Deaf student and their families.
Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution, other than abolishing the dormitory life. Even then, there's teachers that may still engage in unlawful acts towards students. Rather, we all optimistically hope that preventative and proactive measures will contribute to a healthy and safe learning community in Deaf schools all over.
11/13/2006 11:29 AM
It seem that I have high amount friends who tell me they don't like the ideal for child being away to live with school.
11/13/2006 2:46 PM
I am not surprised about sexual molestion in residental schools for deaf, but it can apply to mainstreamed programs as well (especially with bus drivers or other students.) There was a report written by a group of mental health counselors about sexual abuse among deaf children. It is very good, very informative. http://www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/edu_materials/FactsonTraumaandDeafChildren.pdf
I remember being told that ex students return to the school as house parents, upon generations in a vicious cycle of molesting children and some of those children return to work at the school..you see the cycle. Also according to that report, children don't learn how to say NO and don't know how to report abuse because they don't know any difference. A lot of hearing children would hear on television, parents and overhear conversations about molestion, its wrongness and how to report it. A majority of deaf children don't get the opportunity of getting appropriate information what to do related to molestion and abuse. I worked as a counselor and I had a lot of clients who would tell me their experiences of being molested in residental schools for deaf and they didn't know it was wrong until they become adults and THEN found it was wrong. Sad.
11/13/2006 6:33 PM
The 3 comments above about sum things up.
However, the specs for a Student Life counselor these days have changed. There is a video interview before hiring to check out ASL ability. There are background checks. Many SLC nowdays are college graduates and continue on with their education with the schools' financial help. In fact most deaf schools require this. SLC nowdays are usually deaf themselves or CODAS. AND when an SLC see's or suspects a sexual transgression they are to report it immediately to the CPS, NOT to their supervisor. This prevents the crimes from being swept under the rug by a nervous administration.
Children belong at home with their families. Many times these sexual perpetuators are taking advantage of a child who is merely "Looking for love in all the wrong places."
As far as I know, students of residential deaf schools do not spend weekends in the dormitory. EVERYONE goes home, there is no weekend staff. The sexual misdeeds are committed during the week under the noses of lackluster staff.
Which brings us to the fact that many residential schools REQUIRE that employees join the union. And because of this closed union shop there is alot of dead wood kept until they are old enough to retire or (sometimes) when the administration gives them a nudge to "retire early" because of their poor work ethics. This happens both with the teaching staff AND the dormitory staff.
SLC now also teach Independent Living Skills. SLC have to participate in twice-yearly IPP's. They work closely with the teaching staff, often assisting in the classroom. The days of the bored houswife going to work as a "Houseparent" for spending money,are over, thank God.
11/13/2006 8:07 PM
I appreciate all of the contributions, it's great to see that there are some other people out there who give a hoot about what's going on at some of these schools.
Jules, I'll read that document file you just linked here as soon as I get home from work. Yes, you are right it can apply to any student in any sort of school.
Though I do feel that residential schools are somewhere of a bigger problem because the children, like you said aren't taught to say no and realize if something wrong is being done to them.
It's quite sad. :-/
11/15/2006 11:55 PM
Are deaf children molested at a higher rate than hearing children? Seems I've read that somewhere..
Anyways, I don't know if making 'em all day students is the answer. It seems a good portion of the student's families live a good distance from ANY residental schools. I don't know how many parents or students would put up with a 6 hour total daily commutes.
I don't think "they need to be with their families" takes in the reality that a LOT of deaf kids' parents are hearing, and a lot of them either don't sign or have very poor signing skills. So that point is pretty much moot for most. I don't think that situation would improve had the kids become/been dayers, as all of my fellow students(not mainstreamed) were day commuters and only three of them had ANY parent that signed beyond fingerspelling and the occasional sign. On the other hand, several had NO family member at all that could even fingerspell.
Could one of the problem facing the deaf victims is "fear of Authority"? They are told to listen to and to do what they are told by these persons- or get punished. Plus they would have to face them the next day.. which can add to the fear, what if they are not believed or understood? That case of the wheelchair bound student seems so extreme to be believable but there it is.. that definitely could put a kibosh on any thought of other victims to come forward.
11/15/2006 11:57 PM
Oops, a correction, me and my fellow students WERE mainstreamed. I meant not residental.
11/19/2006 2:47 PM
The problem with dormitory living, alot of it, is favortism. The staff will always have their favorites and the least
popular students get left out. Often the staff actually COMPETE for attention from certain students.
If you think the boy in the wheelchair is an unbelievable story, well you better not dive into investigating residential schools for the deaf. I presume that you have not read Tom Bertling's books?
There is a big difference between being "mainstreamed" and being a "day student". When you are mainstreamed you live at home and go to a publc school with classes specialized for the deaf. A Day Student is one that attends the residential school and is taught by their teachers, but who goes home at night. There are drawbacks to both.
11/22/2006 3:17 PM
Having grown up in the state of Washington during the negative period of Vancouver School for the Deaf, my parents choose not to send me to the residential school for many reasons. The quality of education, proximity to home, and the ability to keep a watchful eye on my safety, were all factors.
The challenges I faced as a student in my formative years as a teenager were many, but never once have I ever felt in danger or subjugated by anyone. Thanks to my parents and my network of people who cared about me. If you are a parent of a deaf child, seriously consider the development of education. Education does not begin at school. Education is developed and supported by parents at home. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have today if my parents didn't keep an eye on my homework and ensured that my dates and times were spent with quality people.
Cheers,
Echo
11/25/2006 9:18 PM
Good for your parents! It is so comforting to know that there are people out there like them, who can raise a child to adulthood without that child feeling underpriveledged. A strong support system is a MUST for any deaf child and so few receive it!