History
The birth of Deaf Awareness Week
By Willy Moers
One day way back in 1972, at the tender (and sometimes rambunctious) age of 13, I found my dad in the kitchen hunched over the table, furiously scribbling away. His concentration was so complete that, my curiosity piqued, I asked: “What are you doing?”
Shifting his attention, he gazed at me: “I am writing a letter to the governor of the State of Colorado asking that a public proclamation be signed acknowledging deaf people, recognizing that among many things we have varying degrees of hearing loss, we have many accomplishments, and we are undeserving of the negative stereotyped public image,” he said.
There may be wording embellishment on my part, but whatever he actually said captures the essence of the issue at that time. Curiosity sated, I nodded, walked away. I don’t remember too much after that. Little did I appreciate, then, the magnitude of what he was doing and how the impact would be far-reaching on a national and international scale: The birth process of the very first Deaf Awareness movement!
Not long before my brief kitchen chat with dad, the idea was conceived by a certain Miss Jan McMichael, herself a hearing person and a friend of the deaf community. She suggested that a “deaf awareness week” be instituted. That suggestion was immediately taken up by the then Colorado Advisory Council Serving the Deaf (CACSD). Members, both deaf and hearing, decided that for “deaf awareness week” to have any validity and value, it had to be managed by deaf people themselves. From then on, gestation proceeded apace.
The first Deaf Awareness Week (DAW) meeting took place on May 11, 1972, chaired by my dad, Jerry Moers. David Anthony was the secretary. The committee expanded to include numerous zeal-infused individuals including Carol Sponable, Ron Faucett, Keith Ferguson, and Elaine McHowell (now Navratil). Others were actively involved as well — Bernice Weadick and Bertha Kondrotis, interpreters. Bertha interpreted the morning news at Channel 4, and helped contact other media. Bernice, with Ann Topliff,went on to develop the Charles B Avery Memorial Fund and the Center on Deafness (Denver; later also in Greeley and Colorado Springs). Last but not least, indeed most integral to the cooperative DAW work, was Mrs Angie Avery.
Her late husband, Charles, as personnel manager at Shwayder Brothers (Samsonite), had hired over time 60+ deaf employees, and was a significant “push” (His mantra: “You can do it!”) for the Silent Athletic Club (SAC) of Denver to purchase an old Jewish synagogue on 1545 Julian Street and transform it into an “own clubhouse” for deaf people.
Angie, a true friend of the deaf community, did whatever she could to help turn the DAW dream into reality. Of course, credit must be give to many, many other individuals whose time and energy planning the very first DAW event in the nation was essential. I apologize for not listing their names here: Even Sherlock Holmes himself would have been faced with time constraints to collect all needed names, to record all worthy accomplishments. So much time — 38 years! — has lapsed; much data are lost due lack of records and to the failure of many a memory cell….
I recall my dad breaking into a broad grin moments after arriving home from work one wonderful day:
“I am actually meeting with the Governor!” All the hard work invested by the DAW committee and other involved people had reached an amazing point — an actual DAW proclamation by Colorado Governor John A Love himself.
“Deaf Coloradans, led by Jerome Moers, met with [the governor] on November 10, 1972, to watch him sign a proclamation officially marking November 12-18, 1972, as Deaf Awareness Week”, reads an excerpt in Deaf Heritage. “Moers’ wife, Betty, appeared in a 30-second spot announcement on television throughout the week announcing the event. Moers predicted that other states would follow Colorado’s example and begin observing a Deaf Awareness Week. And many did.”
Continues Deaf Heritage: “The success of the Deaf Awareness project was that it reached people on the local and state level. Suddenly neighbors and employees were learning that there were more deaf people in their midst than they realized. By 1975 Deaf Awareness Weeks had been proclaimed by governors and mayors throughout the country.”
National media coverage followed. Throughout the nation, businesses, churches, and people on every level started awakening to this fact. We, the deaf people, were feeling our oats, and people noticed. A whole nation awaking up to the existence of deaf people and acknowledging their value was, needless to say, a grand sight to behold!
In late 1972, several local newspapers, The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the Greeley Tribune, the Grand Junction Sentinel, and others ran editorials and stories about the momentous event.
At the first Colorado DAW banquet culminating that week, Dr David M Denton, then superintendent of the Maryland School for the Deaf, was the guest speaker. He was reportedly shocked and awed by the sheer number of people there: 400+ diner-supporters! (Perhaps given the proximity of Dr Denton’s school to the White House, it should not be at all surprising that the phrase “shock and awe” was later used by President George W Bush initiating the Iraq war and the search for Saddam Hussein, but I digress.)
Keith Ferguson was the Master of Ceremonies; by many accounts the banquet was a smashing success, thoroughly enjoyed,. David Anthony, who played a huge role as the behind-the-scenes catalyst engineering the DAW project, fondly recalls the best part of the banquet. In his opinion, it was the “Strip Show”, a program entry. The audience, expecting actual stripping of clothing and lingerie, looked on with anticipation as two lovely ladies, Norma Blanke and Pam Curlee, both interpreters, danced and gyrated to suggestive music from the back of the room to the stage, and slowly began stripping off their sequined white gloves. And then, as the expectant audience gawked, eyes aglaze and jaws agape, the beautiful women each unrolled a long sheet of butcher paper and, moving sensually to the beat, started tearing her sheet into strips. That broke the audience up — “lol”, as we might say today. As we all know, sense of humor is a key bonding element in the deaf community.
After the national awakening, a matter of a few short years, Colorado Governor Dick Lamm issued another DAW (28 September – 4 October) proclamation in 1981. Earlier, I had personally shaken hands with him at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind where I was a school kid (but I digress again)….
In 2009, clocks were presented by the Colorado DAW 2008 committee, headed by Justin (Bucky) Buckhold, to both Jerry Moers and David Anthony, honoring their bulldogged determination in reaching the lofty yet very necessary goal of having deaf people publicly recognized by our fellow citizens of Colorado. The plaque on the clocks read: “Presented to (Jerry Moers) (David Anthony) in recognition for establishing the first Deaf Awareness event in the USA, 1972″. Last I checked, both of those clocks still tick away happily.
Both of these men are now pushing 80. Let this write-up serve as a tribute to them and to the many others who helped make DAW a reality not only for our state but also for the nation. Internationally, DAW-related activity is afoot in localities in Australia, England, and other countries. In some states, DAW has given way to DAM (Deaf Awareness Month). Most events have been successes. So far, there is no uniform DAW date. Many are undertaken yearly, the primary goal being that the public continually be educated and apprised of deaf people as an important entity to our state, nation, and world.
DAW was born in Colorado; its offsprings are very much alive everywhere. May they live for many more years to come!
To think it all started right here in Colorado! What a prize! What an honor! We, the deaf community of
Colorado, can stand tall and proud. I am doing exactly that. My appreciation knows no bounds. Thank you, dear dad! Thank you, David Anthony! Thank you, the 1972 DAW committee! Thank you, everyone else who saw to it that it happened — and sees to it that it continues to happen. Thank you, dear Lord! Thank you!
DAW 1972 logo
Designed by Hutch Haney
