At The The American School for the Deaf Your Child is Safe, Or Are They?
At a conference, I was asked an “unfair question.” I was asked in my opinion, what was the worst form of sexual abuse. I answered that any form of sexual abuse was awful, but when further pressed I responded: “Sexual abuse of the vulnerable. Those without a voice.”
My instincts on that score were recently brought to light in view of a scandal that has surfaced at The American School for the Deaf [ASD] in West Hartford, Connecticut.
An Uncomfortable Investigation
For more than 200 years, The American School for the Deaf has been educating those whom society once dubbed “the deaf and the dumb.” Perhaps the characterization was part the impetus for sexual predators to take advantage of sweet, innocent children. Many of the abused children are now older adults and they stepped forward after decades of silence. One victim reported an incident from 1979. They demanded an investigation.
The report revealed: “…multiple instances of past sexual abuse, and physical abuse and/or corporal punishment from the 1950s through the 1980s.”
Said the current American School for the Deaf co-directors:
“The revelations exposed during this investigation are heartbreaking, and we are stunned by the realization that former trusted members of the ASD family abused their power to take advantage of innocent, vulnerable children in their care.”
Everyone in seems is outraged, from the West Hartford Police Department to the social services agencies. The top priority for all concerned at this time, is to make sure that the same predators who had contact with children then, no longer have contact with them now. They have satisfied themselves that this is not the case.
Deepening Findings
The investigation has revealed more than just a few ugly violations. The investigating team found at least twenty credible cases of “sexual abuse, inappropriate sexual relationships or inappropriate sexual conduct against seven former staff members, including one high-ranking member of the school leadership.”
The abused children were as young as 12. The abusers were supervisors and coaches. Some of the abusers have by now, passed away, others when confronted were terminated. It was found that one high-ranking ASD official, “engaged in grooming and sexual contact” and maintained the relationship even after she graduated.
In all, nearly 40 former students of the American School for the Deaf reported sexual abuse and corporal punishment. What can we say about the abusers? Quite a lot.
The fact that they were in positions of power is not surprising. Predators thrive under conditions where oversite is absent and opportunities present themselves. They saw the chance to sexual or physically abuse and they realized most of the children couldn’t or wouldn’t process what was happening to them. The children were defenseless. Some, after rejection by even their own families, may have felt the attention they were getting was normal, natural or affectionate. It would take them years before they could understand that what happened to them was outrageous.
What were the needs of the abusers? Was it sexual or physical release? Possibly, both. More likely it was a need for power by the powerless; the need to control something in their pathetic lives.
How does a predator rationalize such awful behavior? Maybe they figured the children were much too weak to complain or accuse. It would have been their word against the word of a “powerful” authority figure.
With low ethical expectations, the predators plied their unethical behaviors without barriers. Who knows how many lives they ruined? They apparently did not care.
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