The Moscow Branch of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf
April 2002
By Victor Palenny
On March 26, the Moscow City Branch of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf (MCB RSD) was visited by important guests from the USA--specialists of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID of Rochester, NY): Dr. Robert Davila, Director, Dr. Alan Hurwitz, Dean, Prof. Jim DeCaro, and Prof. Maria Shustorovich. They came to Moscow to sign a memorandum regarding the participation of Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU) in the PEN-International project (this project provides for the establishment of a distance education center for the deaf). Izvestia, Moskovskaya Pravda and Literaturnaya Gazeta covered the visit of the American delegation. The guests became acquainted with the work of the MCB RSD and spoke to deaf members who gathered in a public meeting room at the MCB RCD. Robert Davila responded to questions from the Muscovites. An interesting detail: at first, the audience wondered why the guests were speaking only about the "hard of hearing." However, when they looked attentively at how R. Davila was signing "DEAF", they understood that the interpreter from the MSTU translated the sign inaccurately as "hard of hearing" In the evening the Americans visited Educational Center No. 1406, where they saw the play "The Parrot Pie" (directed by Marta Grakhova).
Robert Davila, the head of the delegation, is, perhaps, the most well known non-hearing US expert in education of the deaf.
"We want this educational network for the deaf to spread all over the world", said Professor James DeCaro of NTID, director of PEN-International. At present, the network partners include NTID (USA), Tsukuba College of Technology (Japan), and Tianjin Technical College of Tianjin University of Technology (china). Now, they are joined by Bauman University.
He was born to a large family of farm hands of Mexican origin. After losing hearing at the age of eight, he enrolled in the California School for the Deaf. In 1953, R. Davila graduated from the Gallaudet University with a Bachelor of Education degree. In 1963, he received a Master of Special Education degree from Hunter College and in 1972, a doctorate in the field of education technology from Syracuse University!
For many years, R. Davila worked as director of the New York school of the Deaf in White Plains, the first deaf director in the 180-year history of the school. In July 1996, he became Director of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the first deaf director in the 33-year history of NTID. At NTID, 1,100 deaf students are now studying. Davila is also RIT Vice President for NTID and a member of the President's Administrative Council. R. Davila successfully carried out the first fund-raising campaign for NTID: 11.5 million dollars was collected to support the sciences, upgrade technologies, continue research and support special programs. He received a grant from the Soros Foundation for a program to support deaf students in Eastern Europe and a grant from The Nippon Foundation of Japan to fund a five-year project for the development of post-secondary education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. R. Davila also raised funds for research activities conducted at the International Center for the Study of Hearing and Speech based at NTID.
Dr. Davila is the first and so far the only deaf person who worked in the US government. From 1989 to 1993, during the President Bush, Sr. administration, he was the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation Services at the US Department of Education. He was responsible for the allocation of a five-billion dollar budget that financing for special federal education and rehabilitation programs which were aimed at improving the conditions of 43 million people with disabilities living in the United States.
Robert Davila has always defended and is defending the rights of the handicapped all over the world. He is often invited by the US Congress to serve as a consultant on the problems of special education and rehabilitation of the handicapped and he was a keynote speaker at the International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Sydney (July 2000.
From 1978 to 1989, Robert Davila held several positions at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, including those of vice-president of pre-college programs, professor in the department of education, and dean. He was the first deaf person to head the Council on the Education of the Deaf, the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf, and the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf.
In 1996, the Department of Health and Human Services appointed him for a 4-year term to the advisory council of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders. R. Davila is a member of the advisory committee of Verison Telephone Company, a member of the Board of the National Theater of the Deaf, etc. At present, he is deputy chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hillside Children's Center and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York school for the deaf in White Plains.
He holds an honorary doctorate from Rochester Institute of Technology, Gallaudet University, Hunter College in New York, and Stonehill College in Massachusetts. In 1987, R. Davila was elected to the Hall of Fame of the Handicapped and in 1991, to the Hall of Fame of Hunter College.
Mr. Davila is married, with two grown sons.
Because of the heavy visitation schedule, Dr. Davila was not able to answer several questions posed by this newspaper, but, he promised to send his answers by e-mail. We will publish these answers in the next issue.
