Before I left for the conference, I posted about the rack rates at the fancy-schmancy hotel at the GUKCC. It’s now February 16, and they haven’t changed a word– guess they don’t like to dig around in the Sandbox.

Well, I’m back from the conference. The room was much better this time than the last time I took a peek into the hotel’s offerings, which was approximately five or six years ago. While it definitely isn’t worth $300+, I was generally satisfied.

There was one major exception though: the front desk staff. While they were helpful and knowledgeable in the end, all of the staff members I encountered were hearing. None of them knew sign, as far as I know. They certainly couldn’t understand what I and my friends were saying, and while they had a pad and paper at hand, I find this situation appalling.

While I have no intention of demanding that the GUKCC hire only deaf employees, and I know that the GUKCC is an expensive building that has to pay for itself and thus offers its space to outside groups and individuals for conferences and hotel rooms and such, I think Gallaudet needs to remember where the GUKCC is: it’s on a campus whose sole purpose is as an educational center for DEAF people.

At the very least, I expect ALL front desk staff at the GUKCC to be bilingual, whether hearing or deaf. Hearing staff members should have excellent receptive and expressive skills, in addition to their own native fluency in English; deaf staff members should be able to read and write English at a level that showcases the abilities and potential that deaf people are capable of, in addition to their own mastery of Sign.

I have a suggestion for Gallaudet: whenever you hire a hearing person in a front-line position such as the GUKCC or at Public Relations or any other job where public interaction is at a premium (I’m not counting the cafeteria workers or PPD here– although I think they need to make their own efforts to learn enough conversational sign for public interaction), and they don’t know ASL to the extent that they can successfully interact, then they need to be paired at all times with someone in the same office or desk area who is either deaf or already fluent in ASL (or close to fluent). This person can help the new employee get up to speed, not only on the job but also where language skills are concerned. This person can also help evaluate the probationary employee when a review takes place, and add their assessment of whether the new hire is someone that Gallaudet should keep or not.

As for the GUKCC, I think there should be two people on staff at all times: one deaf and one hearing. The three times I went to the front desk for something, all the people I encountered were hearing and lacking in rudimentary ASL skills. This is unacceptable. Why should I have to feel at Gallaudet the same way I feel when I stay at any other hotel/motel in the DC area? Certainly for the experience, I’d get a better deal price-wise staying downtown at one of the nicer hotels and receive the same level of communication I was getting at the GUKCC.

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As long as we’re on the subject of communication at Gallaudet, I’d like to mention another incident. I stayed in DC a bit longer, first to work with a client (I’m slowly building a career (*fingers crossed*) as a free-lance writer– wish me luck!), then to do some research on a topic I’ve been meaning to write about for some time. When I took a break from my research at the library, I decided to see what the present incarnation of Ely Center offered in the way of food. I bumped into Ryan Commerson, who confirmed that there was still a place to chow down, although now it was in the basement rather than on the ground floor level. So I headed off to the Marketplace (do people on campus really call it that? I know I wouldn’t be calling the cafeteria “Cafe Bon Appetit”– in my day, most people would have called it “Cafe Stomachache” (to be charitable, the food wasn’t *that* bad, although my earliest stint on the Buff and Blue was an article on the undercooked chicken served to the masses).

I went there, and was impressed– definitely an improvement– more offerings, more healthy choices (sushi??) , and improved internal circulation– the line at the cashier’s didn’t interfere as much with operations inside as they used to. After paying for my food, I found a table inside the Rathskellar. I looked around curiously, both to get a feel for the Rathskellar and also to see if there was anyone I knew there– nope. I’m definitely an old fart. But I did notice a handful of women at the next table, all obviously employees, and all talking– with their voices. No ASL, not even a semblance of signs.

Now, I have nothing against people using their voices, or speaking. But again, it’s Gallaudet. It’d be nice if they used the time to continue to enhance their ASL skills, as well as lend credence to the notion that Gallaudet is a place where everyone signs. I was reminded of Bobby Cox’s presentation at the conference– the perception that Gallaudet serves the deaf community via its college population. While I don’t need and didn’t plan to eavesdrop on their conversation, it would have been nice to see them as part of a larger landscape– a world where everyone signs. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. It seems that for all its vaunted excellence in providing a environment of linguistic equality, Gallaudet still has a way to go.