DPN

A long, long time ago....just kidding, only back in October...Lige started a National History Day project with his friends Carmen and Joseph. His entire middle school participates each year, and it's a fun project for him. His goal was to win the school competition this year and make it to the County competition, so our family helped brainstorm topics. We all know choosing a good topic is critical!

The perfect idea came from Dad: the first Deaf President of Gallaudet, a university for Deaf students. We were shocked that this was such recent history, but were fascinated by the story.

Lige's team did a great job. Along with all their research, they interviewed branch members who were at Gallaudet at the time, some of whom were very much involved in the protests. 

As with all amazing projects, deadlines get in the way. They worked pretty frantically up to the last minute (ever so literally) but still had so much more undone. 

The next week, his teacher emailed the team and said they were finalists for being chosen for the County competition, and he wanted to know if they were interested in going, should they be chosen. It was a tough moment - the team was burned out. They were behind in their other classes. They wanted to win, but they just couldn't put any more work into the project. They made the really tough decision to not stay in the competition.

Walking away from glory is tough. I'm proud of them for choosing balance in their lives. It wasn't quitting or giving up, which I was impressed with. They showed a lot of maturity. But still, it's sad that the story they have to tell is stopping there. 

Last week, a friend in the branch who had been involved in the protests and knew Lige was working on this project messaged me about 30th anniversary commemoration events being held on campus. The night before, I asked Lige if he'd like to skip school and go. After he picked his jaw up off the ground, he managed to sputter out an eloquent, "Yes!" So, we went.

We walked in and they gave us souvenir pins. I mean, getting to watch a presentation from people you've really come to look up to is amazing, but getting a free pin, too? Beyond amazing. And it just got better from there. After the presentation, they had free cookies. And you could take pictures with the leaders of DPN. And they were all really nice and told Lige how impressed they were with his choice of project :) And we both signed really poorly because we were so in awe that we were actually talking to these legends. And they totally acted like they didn't notice. It was pretty sweet.

Of course, my picture came out horrible. I thought the official picture taking people were going to email me a picture that they took...I think I didn't understand something, cuz they didn't send it to me. So, here's our fuzzy remembrance of a lovely event:

Sam is being held up by Dr. Jordan, the first Deaf president of Gallaudet. He was great with kids, not that you can tell from Sam's awkward picture face :) Next to him is a man who was a deaf member of the board of trustees at the time, in the strong minority. The other three were student leaders of the movement.

My favorite part of the event was at the end when Bridgetta Bourne-Firl did a DPN chant with the audience, retelling the story in legend-style. Lucky for me, she explained how it worked in length, giving me time to get my camera out.

That's the theme of DPN - I can, you can, we can. Being Deaf doesn't mean you can't. 

This is a magnificent story. It's one more people need to know about. It's a common experience - every group has had to stand up at some point in US history and say, "Yes we can, and we will." Martin Luther King Jr. led one of those movements. Ceasar Chavez led another one. And for all the Deaf Americans, this was their moment.

Lige's webpage never got completely finished, and it won't be on the NHD system forever. But until they take it down, you can learn more about it: http://23700814.nhd.weebly.com/