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Ohio could set up dates for Ohio Deaf History Month
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A lawmaker panel has signed off on legislation establishing Ohio Deaf History Month, setting up a floor vote on the measure.
Senate Bill 27 was approved on a unanimous vote Tuesday by the Ohio Senate’s Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee after testimony from supporters.
The bill calls for the special designation annually between March 13 and April 15, the same weeks designated by Congress as National Deaf History Month, “for the purpose of celebrating deaf history and promoting awareness of American deaf culture,” according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Service Commission.
Irene Tunanidas, a retired Youngstown teacher, offered proponent testimony to lawmakers Tuesday. Speaking using sign language, she provided a brief history of deaf education and described her efforts to promote a better understanding of deaf history and how people who cannot hear communicate.
“During my teaching days at Woodrow Wilson High School in Youngstown, Ohio, I proposed an implementation of deaf history as part of the deaf-program curriculum,” she offered in her submitted testimony. “This was an eye-opening experience for deaf students who asked if they were allowed to make choices in life. They were unaware that deaf pioneers made their mark in the mainstream community, such as education and technology.”
Tunanidas also recounted visits to libraries and a lack of “books by deaf authors or researchers who conducted studies on oralism versus American Sign Language and sociology of deafness.”
“We pay taxes to keep libraries open for public use, and I feel it is time to have new books on the history of the deaf to bring public awareness on the 200 years of progress in deaf America. This is the purpose of having the Ohio SB 27 on Ohio Deaf History Month.”