Join me as I delve into the powerful memoir "The Butterfly Cage" by deaf author Rachel Zemach. I recently connected with Rachel and was struck by her insights into the world of deaf education, having taught in both mainstream and deaf schools. This video explores her experiences, the challenges faced by deaf students (like young Lazlo's early ASL journey and a surprising incident with the principal), and the critical questions surrounding the future of deaf schools, including Gallaudet. It has something to do with IDEA law and other factors. Let's discuss the urgent need for change in our deaf education system.

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Transcript: I met the deaf author of this book just last week over Facebook. She became deaf at age 10. She taught at both a public, mainstream school and a deaf school. The back of this book reads: “Rachel Zemach has been Deaf since age 10. She taught for 10 years in a public school before switching to the dramatically different environments of a renowned, all-Deaf school. She retired with a sense of urgency to write this book and lives in Northern California.” She’s on point. Many deaf leaders and deaf administrators lack this sense of urgency.
The book is titled “The Butterfly Cage—Joy, Heartache, and Corruption: Teaching while Deaf in a California public school,” a memoir by Rachel Zemach.
Corruption in deaf education. Corruption due to negligence or oversight, and who knows, even premeditated corruption.
I received this book via Amazon just this afternoon and have read two chapters so far. It's a good read. The first chapter, “The Language Bubble,” is basically about a seven-year-old pupil named Lazlo Hidalgo. He's a very eager student who always looks up to his teacher. Rachel was his primary guide for learning ASL. Lazlo’s parents are hearing and use both Spanish and English at home. As soon as Lazlo arrives at school early, he runs to Rachel and asks her how to say something in ASL. Chapter two is titled “The Principal and the Hamburger.” This same student, whom Rachel knew as a good and harmless pupil, got into trouble with his principal. Because of a simple miscommunication, he threw the hamburger he was eating towards the principal.
Published two years ago. Right around that time, I began my quest to answer questions, including why deaf schools, including Gallaudet University, are dwindling. Don’t tell me it’s because the deaf population is going down, or because of cochlear implants or a cure, or because deaf schools are outdated. It is IDEA. It is not the fault of hearing stakeholders. It is on us. Often, it is on us. For example, Alice Hagemeyer learned that 23 public libraries in D.C. did not have a single book about deaf people in 1976 when she began working there. Guess what she said? It was our fault, not the hearing community's. Okay. Aren’t we going to do something about it? LEAD-K is the closest thing we have done to fight language deprivation. A podcast called “The Art of Medicine with Dr. Andrew Wilner” interviewed the author Rachel Zemach last year.
Notice how ignorant Dr. Wilner was. He holds a Ph.D., presumably in neuroscience like me, and he asked a somewhat stupid question, suggesting that he may not know how a teacher communicates with deaf students. Now imagine state legislators and other public officials – what does their knowledge about deaf issues look like?