In the early decades of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was famously advocating for sign language to be the language of instruction for deaf children in the United States, European philosophers were founding modern linguistics. Gallaudet was not able to benefit from their breakthroughs, however, because his upbringing,…

This article chronicles the experience of a higher education administration professor who, without prior training in teaching methodology or special education, taught a deaf graduate student in four courses. It discusses the professor's expectations and reactions, introduction to deaf culture, and interactions with the student and deaf…