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Illusions of Equality
From CHOICE Buchanan thoughtfully explores the plight of deaf Americans, a group generally ignored even in studies of social movements. Focusing on the period between the mid-point of the 19th and 20th centuries, Buchanan highlights the often-painful experiences of deaf men and women who sought to enter the workforce. In the process, they confronted all sorts of impediments, including many resulting from well-intentioned but paternalistic people. Most damaging of all, Buchanan convincingly argues, was the favoring by countless governmental and educational administrators of oral communication over sign language, something resisted by many deaf people and their champions. Gender and racial considerations also came into play, as deaf individuals of color and those who were female had additonal hurdles to overcome. The auhtor acknowledges that daf leaders were sometimes divided among themselves regarding the role government should play in affording employment opportunities, while pointing to incomplete reform efforts undertaken in a state like early-20th-century Minnesota and by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The marked success of deaf workers in industrial plants during WWII refuted theories regarding their purportedly limited abilities in the workplace. Recommended for all readers.
--R.C. Cottrell, California State University, Chico
Robert Buchanan is Professor of History and Director of the Individualized Interdisciplinary BA/MA Degree Program at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. ISBN 1-56368-084-X, 6 x 9 hardcover, 224 pages, references, index $45.95s
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