What he said wasn’t that bad, except for the “absolutists” part. There are some, but more and more are realizing that to insist that there is only “one” way to be deaf is in itself divisive and that’s not going to fly anymore. That comment showed how out of touch he is with the community, because it is in such a state of flux that no one should go by paradigms that were true 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

His NAD convention speech… Oh, gad, that was horrible. He fumbled around looking for the mike, when it hadn’t been visible all night. He found it and, I felt, made a point of displaying it prominently. His signing was so horribly choppy, I decided to start listening to see how his voice sounded (I tend to tune that kinda thing out if there’s signing present). Unbelievable. Choppy and unnatural. (Like I said in my entry on his speech, at least he mangled both languages.) But what struck me was the steel in it. I thought I detected a few drips of anger, and the tone sounded patronizing to me. Maybe others with more training will wanna chime in on this, but I left furious, because it was so clear he was playing the role of the cuckold. That was more important to him than building bridges.

This recent article in the WaPo sounds so much like a spoiled child, sitting on the floor, scowling, arms crossed, flailing legs spread out in a V, “I WILL get my way OR everyone’s gonna be miserable!” It’s sad, really. He had a chance to help begin the healing or to just exit gracefully. But, no, he writes this childish editorial that is not going to help his successor nor the community. Talk about a legacy in tatters.

Wikipedia defines “chutzpah” as having audacity, for good or bad. That’s the definition I used in this post. It would have taken courage for Dr. Jordan to completely reverse himself and realize he erred, if not in action, then in terms of how he communicated during the protests.

It takes balls to stand your ground. We all know people who have “balls” (for some reason, the guys on the Jackass TV show come to mind) to do things that are dumb, pigheaded or obstinate. The way I read Dr. Jordan’s missive, it seems he is simply parroting his thought processes during the protests and holding himself up as some demi-god at Gallaudet.

It takes courage to truly reflect on one’s actions and report honestly back to others on the results of those reflections, regardless of what the end result is. I do not believe his op-ed is the result of such reflections.

Thanks.