The Influence of Gallaudet University on the Leadership Development of American Indian Women

Introduction

A qualitative phenomenological-narrative study was conducted with five American Indian women ranging from ages 30 to 75 who are established leaders in their communities (Paris 2012). Through interviews that were conducted by video communication and in the homes of the participants, data was collected on the factors that contributed to their leadership development, including education, community, tribal influences, employment and spirituality. Approximately twenty-one common themes emerged as a result of this study. In addition to interviews, each woman had an opportunity to provide a visual artistic rendering depicting their perspective of what leadership meant to them as women who come from two cultural backgrounds: Native American and Deaf.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the stories of two study participants who were influenced by their experiences at Gallaudet University. Both participants credit the University for influencing their leadership development. Prior to this discussion, it is important to provide a brief overview on demographics, historical parallels of oppression between the two cultures, historical connections with Gallaudet University, Native American perspectives on leadership, Native American women leadership and Deaf leadership. The research design, and the narrative stories of each woman will follow. A summarization of the implications and future recommendations will conclude the article.

Demographics

There is a paucity of data pertaining to the leadership of American Indian and Alaska Native Deaf women. This lack of data is compounded by the fact that there appears to be very little consistent data specifically estimating the number of Native Americans who are Deaf and female. In fact, demographic data on Native Americans who are Deaf have been largely overlooked, and is usually generalized to people with all ranges of hearing loss, not focusing exclusively on Deaf Native users who are primarily ASL users and consider themselves part of the Deaf community. The most recent annual national survey compiled by Gallaudet Research Institute shows approximately 0.7% of Deaf and hard of hearing children who attend K-12 classes in residential school settings were identified as American Indian or Alaska Native during the 2009-2010 school year (Gallaudet Regional Institute, 2011). This data is not inclusive of all Native Americans who are Deaf, since it is dependent upon reporting by all schools who serve Deaf and hard of hearing students, and it is unclear whether schools on the reservations contributed to the report.

In 2004, the University of Arkansas (UARK) Research and Training Center produced a monograph on improving rehabilitation service provision for American Indians and Alaska Natives who are Deaf. After reviewing several studies that indicated hearing loss was higher among American Indians and Alaska Natives r than the general population, the monograph estimated that 180,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives with a mild to profound hearing loss (Miller, 2004). The higher prevalence of hearing loss in American Indians and Alaska Natives appears to be further corroborated by a NCHS 2006 survey (Pleis & Lethbridge-Cejku, 2007), which reported that 25.3% of Native Americans over the age of 18 have a hearing loss ranging from mild to profound. These resources for demographic information related to hearing loss do not always distinguish the number of Native Americans who are male or female. Without specific numbers, it is difficult to determine the number of Native American Deaf females.

Parallels of Oppression

While the American Indian and Deaf Community members differ in many regards, there are parallels in how the two communities have experienced, or overcome, oppression. Both communities have endured tactics to homogenize their cultures into the majority, or dominant, community. In 1880, the Milan Conference passed a resolution that deaf students should be taught through oral methods (once referred to as the German method), banning sign language in schools (Monaghan, 2005). For almost a hundred years, the native language of Deaf individuals was suppressed. Reports of students being forced to sit on their hands, or have their hands slapped when they were caught signing, or put into isolation as punishment for the use of sign language were wide-spread (Durr, 1999; Strong, 1999). In 1879, one of the first Indian boarding schools was established to remove Native American children (often forcibly and under threat of jailing their parents) from their tribal communities into schools that expected students to change their clothing, cut their hair, and discontinue use of their native languages (Fey & McNickle, 1959). Many of these schools, under the guise of helping Native Americans assimilate into the European-American culture, would quell resistance of students through starvation, physical beatings and public humiliation (Child, 1998). Many of these children were quite young when separated from their families, and were not allowed to contact them until after they graduated. Once they became adults, they did not return to their tribes and many of the customs and languages became dormant, or disappeared altogether.

Attempts at genocide impacted both cultures. While boarding schools were one way of committing genocide, the actual use of biological warfare has been alluded to by Native Americans, who often refer to stories about settlers giving smallpox blankets to tribes to reduce their numbers. Some historians, however, debunk these stories as myths (Ranlet, 2000). Regardless, the prevailing viewpoint in the mid-1800’s was that the “only good Indian was a dead Indian” (Meider, 1993). Whether from smallpox blankets or from war, the drastic reduction of the number of Native Americans over the centuries cannot be ignored.

This is not dissimilar to the Eugenics perspective in the 1800’s in which advancement of the human race was a key priority. One of the most famous eugenicists, Alexander Graham Bell, published articles that actively discouraged marriage between Deaf people in order to reduce the inheritance of deafness (Edwards, 2007). There have been published reports about the abuse, sterilization, and murder of Deaf individuals during the Holocaust from 1933-1945 in Hitler’s quest for a master race (Ryan, 2005).

Despite the efforts of dominant communities to weed them out, both cultures have survived and even thrived. Thanks in part to William Stokoe’s breakthrough research on American Sign Language (Farnell, 1995; Padden and Humphries, 1988), Deaf people have become empowered to use their native language. As a result, they have transcended societal perceptions to become doctors, lawyers, researchers and professors. Similarly, there is a resurgence of Native traditions, and some of the tribes have fared better as they have become empowered to establish businesses. Tribal historians are documenting languages with increased urgency before they are lost altogether.

Both Native Americans and Deaf Community members have visual languages. Native American Sign Language (also called American Indian Sign Language) has existed for centuries, for a variety of reasons that include tribal and spiritual customs, communication with other tribes and communication within the tribe during hunting or war. American Sign Language has evolved over centuries in America, partially influenced by French Sign Language, Martha Vineyard Sign Language and a blend of home signs that contributed to the language since the establishment of the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Interestingly, Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) which has been shared by both deaf and hearing members of tribes that were formerly known as the Plains, has been studied for its contributions to ASL and approximately 50% lexical similarities have been found in earlier varieties of ASL and PISL (Davis, 2011).

Historical Connections between Gallaudet and Native Americans

There have been discussions among those who serve Deaf Native Americans in a variety of contexts (social services, linguists, Native studies) about the connections between Gallaudet University, deaf students and American Indian tribes that use signed languages. Davis (2011) hypothesized that between the years of 1847-1890, publications that described the lexical features of American Indian Sign Language were distributed and used by educators of deaf schools through the American Annals for the Deaf and Dumb.

Thomas H. Gallaudet used the Dunbar (1801) and Long (1823) publications regarding Indian Sign Language to communicate with deaf students. Additionally, tribal communities that were near schools for the deaf likely communicated with deaf students providing an exchange of signed languages between the two cultures. American Indians who were deaf and born into tribal communities likely learned their tribal signed languages first, then learned ASL as a second language when attending schools for the deaf (Davis, 2011).

It would be logical to assume that deaf students from those schools brought varied forms of American Indian Sign Language to Gallaudet College, further impacting the sign used by the Gallaudet student body.

Further, Gallaudet was where a well-known researcher of Indian Sign Language, Garrick Mallery, conducted a publicized experiment with 7 tribal members of the Ute tribe with native ASL users in 1881 (Farnell, 1995). With a test given by Thomas Gallaudet, Ute members and deaf students provided narratives that were to be translated by ASL and Ute interpreters. Mallery concluded from the results that the “Indian pantomime and the gesture of deaf-mutes” were the same, with different dialects. The perspective of the time was that signed languages were gestures of primitive or lower intelligent members of the species.

Native American Leadership

At the core of traditional Native American leadership is spirituality, followed by strong oratory skills, as most tribes continue to practice oral history and storytelling to impart historical and social information to their communities (Metoyer, 2010). Native American leadership is complex, with tribal leaders facing problems not typically found in mainstream leadership such as federal regulations, sovereign issues, casino regulation and a vast number of social service needs from within their communities (Metoyer, 2010). Leadership within the Native American community hinges upon the collective tribal needs (Portman & Garrett, 2005). Many American Indian and Alaska Native men and women do not view themselves as leaders in the traditional sense of receiving recognition or rewards, but feel instead that they have an inherent duty to lend their skills to the betterment of their tribes (Barkdull, 2009; Portman & Garrett, 2005).

Leadership of Women in Native American Cultures

Since colonial times, discussions of American Indian leadership have focused on male tribal chiefs and have been written primarily in patriarchal terms. Often these discussions paint a picture of chiefs presiding over their councils, dispensing grandfatherly advice (Portman & Garret, 2005) and are written from the lenses of European-Americans (Tsosie, 1988). Over the past two decades, a growing number of studies have been published on the leadership development of American Indian and Alaska Native women, and their unique role in the leadership of their tribes (Barkdull, 2009; Fitzgerald, 2010; Metoyer, 2010; Muller, 1998; Napier, 1995; Portman & Garret, 2005). Much of the focus has been on the growing need to encourage Native American women leaders back into their pre-colonial traditional roles in their communities A number of recent studies focus on the views of these women in order to increase the literature in Native women leadership and combat over four centuries of historical documentation that has been written from a patriarchal, or white feminist, perspective (Kawulich, 2008; Lajimodiere, 2011).

Leadership by Native American women encompasses different issues. Many tribes were matrilineal before the advent of colonial rule in America (Portman & Garret, 2005; Prindeville, 2004; Muller, 1998). As tribes increasingly lost access to the land and their civil rights, Native American women experienced a major loss of social status as European perspectives of women in general were that they were to be subordinate to men (Portman & Garret, 2005; Prindeville, 2000; Prindeville, 2004; Muller, 1998). In actuality, both European-American men and women perceived that the behavior of Native American women, particularly those from the Cherokee tribes, displayed a lack of moral restraint (Perdue, 1998).

In recent years, emerging studies on Native American women leaders have centered primarily on the cross-cultural experiences they have walking between the dominant and traditional cultures (Barkdull, 2009; Prindeville, 2000; Prindeville, 2004). Divergent themes appear to be evident in the completed research on Native American women and cross-cultural leadership. Some research studies address the discrimination and sense of alienation that these women experience when among members of the dominant culture (Barkdull, 2009; Portman & Garret, 2005), while other studies explain how women “switch” between the two cultures, assimilating as necessary in order to function in what is largely a foreign, but dominant, social structure (Fitzgerald, 2010; McLeod, 2002). One study highlighted Native American women’s experiences of alienation within their own tribes when they obtained higher education degrees and advanced in their careers (Napier, 1995).

Deaf Leadership

Currently, there is a dearth of empirical studies about the concept and experiences of Deaf leaders, and even fewer on Deaf women leaders. Most publications focus on biographical life stories of individuals who have been identified in the community as leaders through their observable accomplishments (Baynton, Gannon & Bergey, 2007; Moore & Panara, 2006; Najarian, 2006; Van Cleve & Crouch, 1989). Several articles have been written addressing thelack of Deaf leadership for people of color in educational administrative positions (Anderson & Miller, 2004; Andrews & Covell, 2006).

In a study on shared traits in leadership programs for the Deaf, Kamm-Larew and Lamkin (2008) found that these programs valued empowerment (75%), Advocacy (50%) and decision making skills (37%). An interesting aspect of this study was that little emphasis was reported on the traits of honesty (0%), integrity (12.5%) and social justice (12.5%) (Kamm-Larew and Lamkin, 2008). More empirical studies encompassing concepts and definitions of leadership is necessary to understand and document a philosophy of leadership as it presently exists within the Deaf community.

The Study Participants

Five American Indian women from five distinct tribes were interviewed to understand their perspectives about the influences on their leadership development. The five women were given the opportunity to pick their own pseudonyms and their tribal names were omitted in order to protect their identities. However, for the purpose of this article, only the stories of two women who attended Gallaudet University during different decades will be discussed. These two participants are:

Zabrina is a Deaf American Indian female in her early 50’s. She is a member of a tribe that covers several mid-western and western states. Cortelia is a Deaf American Indian female in her early 60’s and is a member of a state affiliated tribe. Her first language was a form of Spoken English that evolved specifically in her tribe and was compared to Cajun English.

Research Design

Using a transcendental phenomenological approach with narrative inquiry, the study was compiled using a non-fiction, storied framework. Phenomenology is the exploration of a single occurrence, or phenomenon, as experienced by the viewpoints of several individuals (Connelly, 2010; Creswell, 2007). In the case of the study, the phenomenon addressed is leadership development and the factors that influenced these women to become leaders.

Hendry (2010) defined narrative inquiry as meaning “to account” for information, and that “the oral storytelling traditions of earliest man were narrative inquiries that sought to address questions of meaning and knowing” (p. 72). Clandinin & Connelly (2000) define narrative inquiry as “collaboration between researcher and participant, over time and in a place or series of places, and in social interaction in milieus.” (p.20). Narrative inquiry typically involves the imparting of information, usually life-based stories, through oral or verbal means from an individual to one or more people (Hardy, Gregory, & Ramjeet, 2009). Narratives are best used when focusing on the lived experiences around a phenomenon of one or more individuals (Creswell, 2007). To capture the essence of each participant and their viewpoints, their stories will be shared in narrative story-telling style with direct quotes where appropriate.

Zabrina: An Executive Director Encourages Balance, Harmony and Healing

Zabrina is a Deaf American Indian female in her 50’s. Born to a mother whose tribe comes from the western and Midwestern regions, and a father of Canadian French descent, Zabrina was not born on a reservation, nor has she experienced life on one. Her father was in the military and she grew up moving to a variety of places in America as well as the pacific islands.

Zabrina’s mother had German measles while she was pregnant with her. As a result, Zabrina was born Deaf. The only member of her family with a hearing loss, Zabrina was mainstreamed and relied upon hearing aids and lipreading to get through her early educational experiences. She did not learn sign language, nor was she exposed to other Deaf adults until she was thirty-seven years old. Her experience in public education as a Deaf person who did not know sign language, nor could benefit from an interpreter, was very difficult.

Zabrina is a proud mother of four children and eight grandchildren. She is currently unmarried but is in a relationship with another male Deaf Native who is not from her tribe. Zabrina currently works as the Executive Director of an agency that serves Deaf Native Americans.

Zabrina described her early upbringing as “abusive and dysfunctional. There is some drama there.” These experiences provided her with an early reliance on herself and resiliency to get through future hardships. This helped her develop independence and self-sufficiency, and also enabled her to develop compassion for others who go through difficult childhoods. Because of the abuse she experienced at home, she left home at age 15, dropping out of school for a while. Her life became even more challenging when she found herself pregnant and had to go a Catholic unwedded mother’s home in another state.

Feeling alone, scared of the prospect of caring for a child at a young age and unemployed, she had to learn to be self-reliant and depend on her determination to survive. As a result of the abuse and her homelessness during her adolescence, it took her years to grow into the wisdom of accepting help from other people and trusting them.

Zabrina also commented that most of her leadership came from learning coping strategies, particularly since she did not have interaction with others who faced communication barriers. She stated that she had to “learn things on my own. I had to teach myself many tasks.”

Zabrina felt that Deaf Natives are more vulnerable to abuse because of a lack of critical information that gets lost with communication barriers. She continues to travel to urge communities to develop more resources for this population to reduce potentially abusive situations. Zabrina believed that she demonstrated, to the best of her ability, cultural sensitivity, and that one demonstrates courtesy and respect. She has become more aware of culturally important traits that influence her leadership and identifies them as “beliefs, morals, traditions and preserving our culture and language.”

Early in Zabrina’s interviews, she underscored the need to be honest and humble. Specifically, she stated that Deaf American Indian women leaders should be peacemakers. Zabrina further expounded: “Humble, honest and listens. A good leader is willing to admit that they make mistakes and is not arrogant, nor brags about their accomplishments.”

Zabrina said that she was uncomfortable with the notion of being called a leader. She reflected on this issue for a while and then shared her perspective about non-formal leadership, what she does, and why she found the label of leadership uncomfortable:

I guess I don’t really label myself as a leader. I just do for my people. I provide support and empower them. I don’t really see that I lead them, I just help them. I see the pros and cons of this label and recognize that what I do fits into that definition, but I guess I have a hard time with calling myself a leader because it feels like bragging and I am not comfortable with that. I need to be humble. Not be in the spotlight. That is our strong spiritual side too….Indians don’t tend to say “I” or “me”, we tend to say “we” or “us” or “our people” because we are a group--a family.

Zabrina believed that an attribute of leadership is to be willing to stand up and fight for injustices that occur with Deaf Native Americans. Zabrina used a term“Warrior Women” and stated that these women show confidence and pride in their tribe as they stand up for them. Cherokee women were called “Beloved women” or “pretty women”, which was the highest honor they could achieve, recognizing their leadership skills and bestowing upon them the right to pardon or inflict punishment where necessary during wars (Lajimodiere, 2011). These warrior women fought alongside their brothers and husbands during battles (Portman & Garrett, 2005).

Tribal influences

Zabrina stated during the interviews that she began connecting with her tribe in her 20’s. Part of this connection occurred through mentorships with Medicine Men and Women, as well as tribal and traditional influences. “I had a lot of encouragement by Medicine People and Elders, who provided counseling and feedback. I still do. They are all very proud of what I have accomplished.”

There is movement to preserve the tribal language, and Zabrina is learning in order to continue tradition. However, of greater interest to Zabrina is the need to preserve American Indian Sign Language (AISL) since it is also becoming extinct across tribes that used a visual language system. “We need to work heavily on preserving this language since many people in my tribe uses the tribal AISL—that is how they communicate with me and other Deaf Indians. We can’t use an interpreter during times when tribal languages are spoken.”

Gallaudet University --Opportunities for Leadership Development

Zabrina credited a number of internship and mentorship opportunities that provided her with skills to develop her leadership. As a non-traditional student who went to college later in life, she attended Gallaudet during the 1990’s. An internship in Africa while at Gallaudet provided her with an opportunity for growth, but was also a forum from which she could influence the perspective of women and Deaf individuals in another community. Zabrina provided the following information about this internship experience:

My goal and dream was to work with exotic animals. That is my passion. I went to Africa for an internship working primarily with animals. The wildlife services— interesting—never accepted outside people to work with the animals, not only Deaf, but people in general from outside of the area. I was the first one, so I felt a lot of responsibility to represent people in the US. I was thrilled! I had no interpreters; I had to choose interpreters from the Kenya area. I interviewed them. The language was different—it was KSL. After one week of learning their sign, I knew enough to manage. Working with wildlife—really zoo animals—and they were all over the reserve. I was the only woman, with all men working there—we were called rangers and we traveled all over. Kenya wildlife had over 30 national parks. When they would call about a hurt animal, we would have to drive out there. Africa was another country, where women’s roles were not to work, and I had to prove to them that a woman could do the work. When I finished my internship, they hired me to work full time. I had to really prove to them that I could do this, regardless of being Deaf and a woman. It’s sad because in their culture, they hid their Deaf people. I was proud of myself that I was able to do this… I overcame this oppression and proved to people that a Deaf woman could do the job.

Gallaudet University was a place where Zabrina could learn more about Deaf culture and educate faculty and students about Deaf Native American issues. She became involved in an on-campus organization for Native Americans, and through this experience, learned how her identity was evolving. As a person who first identified with her tribal community in her 20’s, then became involved in the Deaf community years later, she feels that Gallaudet has been instrumental in helping her coincide both her American Indian and Deaf cultures. This ultimately led her to her passion in advocating for the needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations Deaf and hard of hearing tribal members.

Zabrina’s leadership experiences at Gallaudet gave her an opportunity to grow into her role as an advocate, and also be in tune with nature through her work with animals and birds in Africa, Canada and the United States. She credits Gallaudet with helping her continue

maturation, which increased her own understanding of her spirituality. In addition to her employment and volunteer roles, Zabrina serves as what she calls a “Spiritual Nourishment Provider”. She believes that spirituality is an integral influence on her and other leaders who are Native American. Zabrina shared the development of her spirituality and its influence on her:

I did not grow up attending a church, nor did I have a religious background, although I experienced a strong spiritual influence internally while growing up. My spirituality developed young. Before, I grew up in a military world, but when I was in my 20’s, I went back to the Indian world. That’s when I began to continue my spirituality growth. There was a strong pull there. Now, however, I am involved with a church.

Zabrina considers Christianity and Indian belief systems as two separate concepts and connects the two parallels in her spiritual life and that “without spirituality, one cannot survive the path that goes through the outside world. We have to practice healthy behavior to maintain our spirituality. If you don’t have all four aspects (mind, body, spirit, emotions) you will deteriorate. Your life will become chaotic.”

Cortelia: An Advocate Promotes Winds of Change

Cortelia is a Deaf American Indian woman in her early 60’s, and is from a southern tribe, which she believed had over 50,000 enrolled members. Her family has been with the tribe for several hundred years. Cortelia said that her tribe adopted the European-American culture soon after the first contact with them. They adapted English into a tribal dialect that was compared to Cajun English. This dialect was her first language, and she is proud of this, despite the perspective that “we were not that smart, not that articulate.” Cortelia said that her tribal Elders still speak the language and the younger members of the tribe are preserving it through documentation.

Cortelia is the second oldest of five children. She has two brothers and two sisters. Two of her siblings still live on the reservation. Both of her parents are deceased. Cortelia is married to a Deaf man who is not Native American. They have two children. Both children are hearing.

At age two, Cortelia lost her hearing from a fever. When asked how she was diagnosed with a hearing loss, Cortelia responded “I would be outside playing and mom would call us in and my sister would respond, but I would not.” A visit with the doctor confirmed that she was Deaf. Deafness in her family appears to result from a mixture of hereditary and late-onset causes. A few of Cortelia’s cousins are Deaf and ASL users, while the remainder of her relatives lost their hearing from industry related jobs or natural causes.

Cortelia grew up on the reservation, and did not leave home to go to a residential school for the deaf (RSD) until she was eleven years old. She vividly recalled the first time she was exposed to sign language at the school:

It was a weird experience at that time. When I arrived, all of the girls were White. I looked at my mother and looked at the girl and I said “It’s the first time I met all White girls. And they talk with their hands.” My mother said “Yes, I know.”

Cortelia currently directs outreach services for several residential schools. She has also established a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities train to become proficient in the government and advocacy process. Cortelia has an impressive resume that includes non-profit organization directorship, and a vast number of volunteer activities in the Deaf, Deaf Native American and political organizations.

Cortelia believes that the perspective of serving the community is integral to Native American women who are leaders. “Generosity is a strong characteristic among these women,” said Cortelia. “They always give food and support to their tribe, and anyone who came to their home.” Cortelia has integrated this value into her own family, and believes that caring for people is important.

“Leadership entails good character and competency,” said Cortelia. She felt that leaders need to have these strengths in order to “help, encourage and support people.” To demonstrate character and competency, one can “lead, promote and show people the way.”

For Cortelia, leadership involves the performance of service for the community, particularly in areas where more education for the community is needed. Cortelia is an advocate for increasing voter awareness among people with disabilities. To her, being involved in the political process is paramount to participating in the improvement of services for Deaf and hard of hearing Native Americans. “Leaders should expose them and encourage their involvement because this affects our everyday life,” said Cortelia.

Cortelia considered one of her strengths, and a strength needed by Deaf American Indians, is to stand up for themselves and address oppression. “I don’t back down when people try to oppress me. I will push back,” she said. Cortelia noted that her father supported the rights of their tribal community, and growing up watching him, she learned the value of advocacy.

Cortelia identified self-confidence and adaptability as other strengths she has as a leader. As a small child, she would entertain herself on her family’s farm. She said:

I asked a lot of questions when I was growing up. I would always keep myself busy doing things, just like my father… I would make a house out of mud and I would hunt for interesting things, in fact I found a lot of Indian arrowheads in the swamp behind our home. I was self-confident-- I had confidence when I went out…I had no fear. My brothers and sisters wouldn’t go out much, they would say things like “Oh there are snakes outside” but I always wanted to explore. I found that by nature I was a hunter and explorer.

It was this early exploration on her farm that led Cortelia to eventually adapt to a life off the reservation, and in different states throughout her career. It also provided her with the ability to promote and build resources for other people. “I am a people builder, a people promoter, “said Cortelia. “I look for talents and then I support and encourage them.”

Cortelia felt that her determination, independence and self-sufficiency were characteristics that contributed to her leadership development. “I was good at mimicking,” she said. She would look at her mother’s hands as she sewed or cooked, and then learn from her methods by observation. “I could do a lot of things independently. I did a lot of hands on tasks,” said Cortelia.

These traits also helped her when she transitioned from her tribe’s Indian school to the residential school for the Deaf when she was eleven years old. Cortelia noted that the Indian school had no resources to support her, and as a result, she was unable to read or write until she was enrolled at the residential school. When she arrived, she made friends with the other students in her age group, but when it came time to go into the classroom, she was stunned to be steered to remedial class, and felt the impact of being different from her peers.

Cortelia recalled the incident as painful and worked hard to catch up. Within two years, she was placed with her peers from her age group. Cortelia stated that this early determination to succeed, despite her delay in scholastic activities, provided her with the skills to tackle the advocacy needs of both her Deaf and Native American communities throughout her career.

Growing up on her tribal reservation there were no other Deaf American Indian women who served as a role model for her. However, the women in her tribe had an influence on Cortelia. “There were many Indian women around me, but I think of my father’s sisters who were all beautiful women and very outspoken.” Cortelia recalled an incident in high school when she had an opportunity to meet another Indian woman who was a lawyer. “I was impressed by her. She was a leader. I realized then that women could become leaders.”

Cortelia was both excited, yet chagrined by the fact that her tribe has only recently had its first woman tribal council chair, who stepped in temporarily when the former chair was let go. However, when the tribe held an election, she lost the bid. Despite this historical lack of leadership opportunities for her tribal women, Cortelia looked to the non-formal leadership, yet traditional, roles that women have held. She stated:

My aunt was married at 14, had three children and ran her household while it seemed the Indian men did nothing around the house. I was inspired by that knowledge of learning how women in the tribe led while the men did not. My father was an exception and one of the few. Women’s role was really in the home domain and their focus was on families. Their planning and discussion was around leading their households. Now many Indians run their own businesses, so that women are increasing in this leadership. There are more Indian professors, bankers, and lawyers. There are still more Indian men than women in these professions. However, they have women serving in tribal council now and lending some voice to these councils.

She further explained that while men had their leadership groups and women had the home, not every Indian was designed to be a leader and there seemed to be some balance there. When the tribal government was established, Indians became very active in the community. Prior to the 1960’s, White men would lead Indian communities, but after the 1960’s, tribal members became stronger and took over the leadership. Women saw this happen and eventually become involved with the government bodies during the 1970’s and 1980’s so that today there is more balance.

When Cortelia went to the RSD, located approximately two hours from her reservation, she was one of the few Deaf American Indians attending the school. She was, however, influenced by a male Deaf Cherokee and his White wife. Fondly recalling this experience, Cortelia stated:

I remember looking at him and felt a connection. He was my role model. His wife taught me many things. She was sweet, like my mother. [Name omitted] was an explainer, and sometimes he was rough in his criticism, but he toughened me up and challenged me and my way of thinking. He was a leader in the community and did many things. They were my role models at the school for the Deaf.

Cortelia reflected on the different leadership traits that she saw in Native American women and the Deaf community. She believed that both communities want to promote the interests of their members, but the characteristics of leadership differed. She saw strengths in the Deaf community, and their cohesiveness, yet stated that there individualized leadership perspectives as well. “There is more of an attitude of ‘What’s in it for me’ among Deaf leaders,” said Cortelia. “The Deaf community seems to want to take credit for themselves more often.” According to Cortelia, Native American leaders, particularly women, focus more on families and promoting each other.

Cortelia recognized that the concept of the “crab theory is there in the Deaf community, but it is getting better.” She acknowledged that she enjoyed interacting with both communities but that she was more cautious about sharing information with her Deaf peers, because while she believed in the virtues of giving to others as encouraged by her tribe, she saw that with was giving too much. Based on her experiences with the Deaf community, Cortelia learned to hold back. “If you developed something new or unique, it was better to wait until it was established before sharing it with the Deaf community. There were too many times that others would take credit for my work.” Cortelia hoped that this will change in the future. “I believe that when you give of yourself, you always get something back. I am trying to improve this mentality in the Deaf community.”

Cortelia emphasized that she did not want to portray the Deaf community in negative light. “Even though they don’t practice the same support as I experience in the Indian community, giving is always good. I can get and give support in the Deaf community. It is a matter of learning how to work around these issues.”

Gallaudet University Influence on Leadership Development

Cortelia credited both the American Indian and Deaf community with an influence on her leadership development. “The Indian community instilled strength, value, and a cultural belief system. But the Deaf community made it easier for me to go up and beyond in my career.” Successfully blending both worlds into one holistic identity, Cortelia felt that she had equal footing into both communities. She explained:

I feel that I incorporated both cultures into one. I am Native Deaf. It’s hard to separate the two. Indian is part of my heredity, while I have been Deaf since age two, so I don’t know any difference. If I was Deaf much later, I would probably answer that differently. In the Deaf world I mingle every day with many different diverse groups among the Deaf world. In my Indian world, I go home and I deal with one kind of Indian. Its [Indian world] more culturally related. In my own home I do some things that combine both. At home, I talk and do things the Indian way. I cook Indian food and my daughter and son pick up on some of my [tribal name withheld] language. They sign too. I adapt to both worlds.

Cortelia has experienced discrimination and oppression based on societal perceptions of her as a Deaf American Indian woman. One experience was through her in-laws while she was dating her European-American, Deaf husband. “They did not accept me. At first it was okay, and then as we continued to date, they started encouraging him to date different women.” Cortelia said that sometimes the remarks that they made in her presence were blatantly discriminatory. It was not until after they married and began having children that their perceptions of her seemed to improve.

While she was at the RSD, there were several prejudiced teachers who made Cortelia feel oppressed. Recounting one incident, Cortelia said:

A lot of times people would tell me that I couldn’t do something. “You can’t…you can’t,” and I would say “I can!” I remember a chemistry teacher in high school during my sophomore or junior year, and he looked down on me, telling me “Your SAT scores were low… you will not succeed.” I passed the college entry exam, and I passed a lot of things.

Proud of her ability to prove her chemistry teacher wrong, and pursue a post-secondary degree, Cortelia arrived on the Gallaudet campus in the 1970’s. As with many of her age group who grew up watching the impact of civil rights movements for minorities, she entered at a time when social justice was beginning to bloom. Cortelia felt that Gallaudet fostered that sense of community advocacy, with a faculty that were attentive and supportive to the success of deaf college students. She has found opportunities to network through campus leadership programs. This support from the university opened up doors for her to eventually establish a non-profit organization focusing on the promotion of people with disabilities who want to run for political office.

While at college, she served as a peer advisor and was involved in many student activities. Upon graduating with a Bachelor in Arts, she began working for a residential school for the Deaf near Gallaudet and this eventually opened up an opportunity for her to get a Masters in School Counseling through free education benefits from her job. She credited Gallaudet in part for providing an opportunity to grow, particularly in a large city away from the reservation. Her resulting self-confidence as a Gallaudet graduate allowed her to branch into non-profit organization management in a nearby state several years after graduation.

Cortelia stated that Gallaudet has evolved since the 1970’s. During her time, there was not an organization specifically for American Indian students. Over recent years, she has seen a change on-campus and at one time, noted there was an active American Indian student organization.

Cortelia stated that there are still areas that Gallaudet could look into to improve services not only to Gallaudet students who are American Indian and Deaf, but also to serve as resources to tribal colleges that may have deaf students. In her recent advocacy efforts over the past few years, she has encouraged an opportunity for the university to connect with a tribal college to discuss recruitment and services to Deaf Native Americans. This connection demonstrates her ability to see the bigger picture as a leader, and know that collaborations among organizations can best serve the needs of a small, remote population.

Discussion

This article reviewed the lived leadership development experiences of two American Indian Deaf women who went to Gallaudet University. The range of educational backgrounds, communication modes, geographical locations and tribal affiliations were distinct.

Despite these differences, there are major influences to leadership that are found across the lives of these two women. One factor in leadership development was the resilient nature of the participants. Each of them had to overcome obstacles that threatened to prevent their growth as valuable contributors to their communities.

Among the Cherokees, the concept of “Beloved Women” and “Warrior Women” arose to describe one of the highest honors accorded to women of that tribe who had proved their leadership skills (Portman & Garrett, 2005). In this sense, Deaf Native women leaders have demonstrated some of the characteristics befitting these warrior women and have not been defeated in the face of overwhelming suppression by outward perspectives.

The Native viewpoint of role complimentarily can be seen in the responses of the participants. Barkdull (2004) said that in many Native communities, gender roles “are proscribed but not devalued because they are different” with role complimentary necessary to community function at a harmonious level (p.123). Native American women believed their leadership was often more informal (Barkdull, 2004) and respect was given to leadership that occurred “behind the scenes” (p. 123). The two Deaf Native women leaders valued their traits of nurturing and service to their family and community members. They were humble about the label leadership, expressing discomfort about the title and viewing their roles as simply helping others.

That these women belonged to multiple communities was evident in the stories of the participants. The journey to find their identities as Deaf, Native women while navigating through mainstream society, was a distinct path for each of these women. There are varying views of acculturation pertaining to indigenous people, most of which focus on a linear model that moves from a minority culture to full immersion into a dominant culture (Lee, 2006). However, any treatise on acculturation theories must be approached with great caution, with sensitivity to the historical forced assimilation practices upon indigenous cultures and the imposition of Oralism on Deaf individuals. Instead, a concept of evolving identities may be more appropriate.

While these women formed their identities within two or more cultures, their successful adaption along a diverse range of culture “patterns” led to self-confidence and a strong sense of belongingness to the Deaf, Native and Deaf Native communities, even while acknowledging what they viewed as some of the less palatable characteristics of those communities.

The Medicine Wheel and the interconnecting relationship to all things are prevalent to Native American perspectives. Medicine Wheels vary from tribe to tribe, but the majority of them use the concept as a process for holistic healing, while the circle of life represents the connectiveness one has to all things and the cycles of life one goes through from birth to death (Dapice, 2006). Often divided into four quadrants, each section represents a distinct color and a direction (i.e., east, west, north and south) (Lavallée, 2009). McCabe (2008) presented the Medicine Wheel as “way of understanding, centring (sic) and balance” and defines the four quadrants as representative of the mind, body, emotions and spirit, which has “been accepted by indigenous cultures for thousands of years” (pp.144-145). Keeping attuned to the four critical areas creates harmony and healing, while neglecting even one area can cause discord and imbalance in one’s life. Orr (2000) wrote that the Medicine Wheel is an ancient symbolization of the circle of life, and representative of many elements and themes within Native American philosophy:

It is an ancient symbol that can be used to express many relationships that involve sets of four, for example, the four cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west; four physical elements of the world—fire, earth, air, water; or the four aspects of nature—mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical. The circle has no beginning or no end. When one sits in a circle, no one is ahead or behind; everyone is together (p. 60).

The concept of the Medicine Wheel can be found in Jungian psychology (Dapice, 2006), which also emphasizes the relatedness of all beings. The Medicine Wheel and other holistic healing practices are used in health awareness (i.e., diabetes care) and as teaching tools to combat substance abuse in Native American tribes (Dapice, 2006). It is increasingly being used as a conceptual framework for indigenous research practices as well (Lavallée, 2009).

A determining factor in the leadership development of the study’s participants is the balance in each of the participants as they developed and grew as leaders. Throughout their journey, they fulfilled each of the four components necessary (mental, emotional, spiritual and physical) to bring harmony to their leadership development.

Mentally, these women sought higher education, became stimulated by experiences in unfamiliar countries, or observed the women in their tribes to gain understanding of the expectations of their roles as Indian women. Emotionally, they became passionate about advocacy on behalf of their Deaf, Native Deaf or Native communities, or found fulfillment in their relationships with them. They experienced compassion and care for their communities, and were reciprocated by these communities to varying degrees through support or encouragement. Spiritually, they immersed themselves in the traditional belief systems of their tribes, and combined these teachings with the influence of their traditional Christian upbringings to form stronger relationships with God, or the Creator. And physically, they took on responsibilities to provide service that benefitted all of their communities, including themselves.

Each woman had a role that was unique. This concept of decentralized leadership was found in Bryant’s (1996) study of twelve Native men and women leaders. Bryant wrote that “within a tribal context, every person has a role to play. Each person’s role is important to the whole. No other person can make the exact same contribution” (p.15). Within this context, as leaders, and as members of their communities, the two women found their niche and in doing so, solidified their place within their communities.

Implications

There is a severe lack of resources available to tribal communities to better serve their Deaf members. In the face of overriding issues that impact tribal leaders today, including a rise of debilitating diseases such as diabetes and alcoholism, violence against women and treaty violations, Deaf children and their parents often fall through the cracks. It can be overwhelming for hearing parents of Deaf children when they are confronted by the varied and conflicting messages about communication choices, educational needs and assistive technology. As Cortelia succinctly stated:

The tribal government really should have a referral list of resources so parents can make better decisions for their children. This list should include advocates, Gallaudet University, VR and other parents who have Deaf children. And they should and track those who have a hearing loss.

Cross-cultural awareness in both Native and Deaf communities is needed in order to ensure that Deaf Native children have access to both cultural norms regardless of where they attend schools. A partnership between both communities to share their resources with each other would be a major step in this direction. Service providers need to be aware of the gaps in services and work as a collective with all involved communities to increase avenues for Deaf Native children to access necessary skills in communication, education and leadership.

Mentorships and role models are a key component to the leadership development of Deaf Native women. Neither of the participants listed role models or mentors who were Deaf Native women. Lajimodiere (2011) wrote that when people “feel accepted and confirmed by a mentor, they believe in themselves, accept increasingly challenging tasks, and are assured of acceptance even when they fail” (p. 68). Identifying and developing potential role models may be a daunting task, initially, but future generations would benefit from the knowledge of the possibilities presented to them positive interactions with successful Deaf Native women.

Recommendations for Future Research

The original study from which this article was derived was limited to the narrative stories of five Native Deaf women and the factors that influenced their leadership development. Because of the diversity in geography, tribal affiliation, early educational experiences, as the degree of contact with their tribal communities, these results cannot be generalized to all Deaf Native women. This was a first step in gathering a perspective from this underrepresented population.

While the study began as a focus on the leadership development of American Indian Deaf women, the wealth of information of interrelated information that was shared about identity development, cross-cultural perspectives, oppression, and overcoming adversity, emphasized the fact that there has been little done to understand the perspectives of these women. More studies need to be conducted on reservations to gain a better understanding of the complex issues around identity, particularly for members of more than one community. In addition, barriers to resource development for tribal communities needs to be further explored in tribes to improve these conditions. Absent from research are the experiences of Native American parents of Deaf children. Their perspectives in obtaining and providing services to their children would be invaluable to other Indian parents with newly diagnosed Deaf children. Finally, there needs to be research into the perspectives of Indians who are sign language interpreters so that higher education interpreter programs can better recruit and retain potential tribal members in their training programs. Cortelia and Zabrina both wanted to encourage Gallaudet University, and other universities with sign language interpreter programs, to consider recruiting more interpreting students from tribes to improve the communication access to tribal cultural events.