A Chance Encounter with Dr. Robert Davila

My first time meeting Dr. Robert Davila just happened by chance. My girlfriend and I were just getting ready to get out of the car when I saw Dr. Davila get out of a car across from us. I introduced myself along with Mary-Beth and we started telling a little bit about ourselves from the deaf perspective. Mary-Beth told of how she attended RIT when Dr. Davila presided over NTID and I explained that us both were cuers, even though we were conversing in sign language. We continued the small chit-chat into the hotel ballroom where Dr. Davila would be giving his speech to a group of mothers as part of the Illinois Hands and Voices’ Moms Inn Night.

Before that day I had all these ideas of what Dr. Davila would be like, yet I knew that I had never met the man before so therefore I couldn’t make any assumptions about him. I’ve watched Dr. Davila on Gallaudet TV when I stayed overnight with a friend in March last year, but I didn’t know the story behind the ninth president of Gallaudet University. Through his hour-long speech I would learn so much more about the man, and come to admire the man in a way I never expected to.

Throughout his speech Dr. Davila highlighted personal anecdotes from his life, such as how he wanted to get a PhD just for the bragging rights and the opposition he faced in his nomination to be the assistant secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. There were plenty of instances where the audience found themselves laughing and smiling as Dr. Davila told of his journey from the California School of the Deaf in Berkeley to his return to Gallaudet University as its ninth president. Signing and speaking at the same time of his life experiences Dr. Davila reached out to the group of mothers, who all chose different approaches for their deaf/hoh children.

Dr. Davila took me by surprise when he brought up Cued Speech and the fact that he supervised a Cued Speech elementary school program in New York. He extolled those children’s success and asked the question “Why are those kids so successful? What was the common denominator in those kids?” He then explained that the reason why those kids did so well in school was due to the fact that the program placed so much emphasis on communication in the family. He then expanded the importance of communication to all modalities, stating the need for children to connect with their parents and family.

Gallaudet University, according to Dr. Davila, has a new challenge today in recruiting deaf students. As a result of the federal mandate that all universities must provide full access to people with disabilities, more deaf students are inclined to attend other universities such as MIT. Dr. Davila confesses the recent protests hurt Gallaudet’s image, regardless of whether that negativity was invented by some reporters. Despite this recent turbulent period, America needs Gallaudet because of the great contributions the university has made to education. At this point Dr. Davila expressed his happiness in his unexpected return to Gallaudet, coming out of retirement to serve Gallaudet at a time when quality leadership was needed.

When the floor was opened to questions, one person asked what the difference was between NTID and Gallaudet in terms of the communities at each school. Dr. Davila explained that to understand that, one has to go back to when Gallaudet was pretty much the only option that most deaf people had in terms of undergraduate education. Now each school focuses on different fields of studies, NTID involving more math and sciences while Gallaudet centers around liberal arts studies. Another point to make was that the majority of students accepted to both schools come from mainstream education. Highlighting the variety of experiences Dr. Davila stated that the deaf community is a small community, but that we are becoming more tolerant of each other. According to Dr. Davila, intolerance might have played a role in the recent protests at Gallaudet, which is something that is improving as he presides over Gallaudet.

In the end Dr. Davila left a lasting positive impression on me. I found myself connecting with him on a personal level, identifying with much of what he had to share. Now I can see why he was picked out of all the others to bring Gallaudet out of the fray and reaffirm its status as the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf and hard of hearing. Dr. Davila truly comes across as a force of unity and not a divider, a quality that is so important at this time and age of deafness.