Roberta Cordano breaks barriers as leader of prestigious deaf university

foreign [Music] so as we continue to Mark women's History Month our next guests grew up in a world that wasn't built to accommodate her but her parents taught her that would not matter and they proved that to their daughter through leading by example Roberta Bobby cordano is the first deaf and openly lgbtq woman to be president of Washington DC's gallaudet University the world's only liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing people and president cordano has made it very clear to all deaf people they don't need fixing deaf gain benefits all just one guiding principle that led her to becoming one of USA today's women of the Year president cordano will tell you role models and representation matters it was those key things that brought her to where she is today linking the deaf community and the hearing World while working tirelessly to to advance equality for every one of her students and it's an honor to have gallaudet's President Bobby cordano with us here in studio today so great to have you oh it's lovely to be here with you Karen thanks so much so you say there should be more gallaudets around the world why well you know absolutely if you look to our history at gallaudet for 158 years we have graduate graduated over 20 000 alumni at gallaudet the United States is only this place in the world where the deaf Community has an economy that's worth three billion dollars and so what that means is real jobs and real opportunities in fact our alumni have led civil rights movements we have changed so much in our country as it relates to even the deaf president now protest and if you can imagine what's happening in other countries right as we Empower deaf people through providing education as we do at gallaudet in a bilingual way using both American sign language and English and of course English in its written form here but whatever language of that country that Liberation leads to change in the economic benefits can be realized by everyone around the world you've actually moved me a little forward in the interview let's go to deaf president now from the 80s that was a civil rights moment for the deaf community let's talk about what happened there and how it paved the way for you right you know it's all about the students it's young people young people who believed that there's something possible in the world that wasn't present in 1988 it was for students who stood up and said it's time that we have a deaf president and everyone got behind them the rest of the student body faculty staff alumni the deaf Community got behind those student leaders realizing it was time to have deaf leadership at gallaudet University I mean we'd been a graduating students who become alumni for so many years but no one had ever stepped into that role as president and so for deaf people to come forward as students to set that future that's a powerful moment of change and that's why I'm so proud to be president of gallaudet now because they made it possible for me to be here today and I'm seeing the next generation of students who will be leading the world in the same kinds of ways and you know I'm so thrilled that you're here because I grew up with deaf teachers all around me your dad knew my grandfather and and my mom was such a fan of yours and watched you rise and now here you you are the first woman deaf woman openly gay woman to be president of this University what does that mean to you what does it mean to the deaf Community to the LGBT community I mean you're you talk about inclusion that's so true you know I always have to say it's so wonderful to see how small our world can be as our families have been connected it's just remarkable to see that and that's what's so beautiful about our community we're connected in so many different ways but I will share with you that when I first came out I um yeah you know people told me back then that that's it for you your future is likely to be very limited you'll never achieve what you want to achieve but yet think about it here I am 30 plus years later as president of gallaudet and this I have to say comes from years upon years of working within our community here in our country to really Open the Eyes of individuals to the power of differences and what happens when you have representation from people who are diverse within organizations and within leadership positions you know what happens is that we improve perspectives we improve and deepen ourselves in very rich ways we adapt and become creative and that's the power of diversity and you know what's happened to me in my life is that people have opened doors for me so that's allowed me to be where I am today and I have great gratitude it runs deep to all of those who came before me and as I look to the next generation of young people as they look up to role models they see role models who are diverse and they can find themselves reflected in that diversity in those positions and so that's powerful to have this opportunity to have here not just for me but for all young people who will be leaders of our future well you were so lucky you had Role Models like your parents who who they were breaking barriers at their time as well so you saw that but this goes even beyond the deaf Community you are linking the hearing world with the deaf world and you're talking about the the deaf gain and the benefits we all can can learn from you even have challenged everybody to learn sign language whether you're deaf or not tell me about this mission right you know I think it started with my parents my parents insisted that all of us learn to read and be proficient in both languages both English and American Sign Language and essentially I grew up as a very bilingual person and if I look to my success I really can attribute that to being able to learn both languages and be influent in both from birth until I mean even now of course I still practice bilingualism and to me you know it's that lesson and what I see in terms of my building of the two Charter Schools as I did to serve deaf hard of hearing children in those bilingual charter schools and I've seen time and time is against that since then bilingual education provides access to both languages and we have to stop looking at this as it's an either or proposition either English or American Sign Language it's actually both and all children really should have the right to have both languages I say that because there's neurological benefits that can be realized through learning a visual language I mean science has been able to see how it enhances a person's ability to read it provides protective factors against illnesses like dementia and older age and it actually improves the complex brain functions that we have I mean look at all these babies who are learning baby sign language their parents are teaching them because they realize that children can't talk yet but certainly they can gesture and so they can sign okay milk yeah exactly right their brains are really growing and developing in such a way that they're able to have complex functions and connections made neurologically by having both a visual language and a spoken language exposure bilingual brains have proven to be more successful in terms of how they achieve as opposed to monolingual brains and then I even saw this in my own family my grandparents were told not to learn sign language because my mother was deaf she became deaf at the age of four and the irony of it was is that my grandfather became deaf later in life after he'd turned 50 and my grandparents my grandmother especially would say to us you know think about it now when I think about your grandfather he and I have to ride back and forth to one another to be able to communicate and she said the irony of it is we have a deaf daughter and her children her family all signed and yet we can't so we know that hearing loss is going to be quite prevalent and it is quite prevalent in people who as as they're older so if you learn sign language between the ages of birth and three The Language Center of your brain becomes available to language and even if you don't use that sign language again until you're in your 50s your brain will still be able to remember that language and that means you'll be able to pick it up again quickly whenever you need it so if you think about all of the families who are struggling with communication around hearing loss you know with all of our loved ones we all want to connect yes honestly it can be the solution for all of us and it allows us to connect thank you so much you know how much this meant to me and I always get nervous signing on television uh we'll sign after this interview but it's been a pleasure to have you and represent our parents and our connection and just what you're doing for the the deaf community and the hearing community and teaching everybody just how beautiful it is to be a deaf person thank you I thinking they're all watching us with great pride right now right as we move forward to the world here it's great being with you here today and then everyone knows this side all right president thank you so much hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 2,943

Keywords: Cordano, Gallaudet, Roberta, abc, deaf, education, histoty, lgbtq, model, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-98213833, role, school, university, women

Id: NWzRd3n6e_k

Length: 9min 34sec (574 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2023