2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
3/20/2018 | 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM | On Being A Parent: Horizontal and Vertical Identities | Capitol 1
On Being A Parent: Horizontal and Vertical Identities
Andrew Solomon, in his groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Far from the Tree, expounds the concept of vertical and horizontal identities as they relate to families and particular parent/child relationships. As Solomon defines the term, vertical identity refers to identity traits and characteristics that we share with our children and parents. Horizontal identity, on the other hand, is identity we share with people (outside of our core family structure) who are like us in some important way but who are different from our parents or children.
Solomon’s book includes chapters related to different types of identity that seem to have fallen “far from the tree”: autism, deafness, prodigy children, schizophrenia, transgender children, and more. His prevailing theme is that when children and parents have some important differences in vertical/horizontal identities, challenges can abound, but opportunities can also arise for building relationships and developing insights.
Publishers Weekly has called Solomon’s book “a profoundly moving new work of research and narrative… [that] explores the ways that parents of marginalized children… have been transformed and largely enriched by caring for their high-needs children.”
The concept of horizontal and vertical identities can help us understand issues of commonality and disparate experience that can arise in many families that enter the EHDI system. Both Deaf and hearing parents will have hearing and deaf children, and these families will need to face issues of identity and difference within their home environment and their larger community context. The cultural norms, mores, and traditions that inform the experiences of both Deaf and hearing families (as well as their children) can provide insights for current parents and EHDI service providers. This panel of five presenters will aim to create more parent and provider awareness of how to help families navigate these tangled issues of identity, communication, relationships, and difference.
- Attendees will develop an understanding of vertical and horizontal identities in general, as explained by Solomon and others.
- Attendees will learn similarities and differences between the experiences of Deaf parents of hearing children and hearing parents of Deaf children. More specifically, attendees will reflect on how these experiences reflect awareness, acceptance, and embracement of vertical and horizontal identities in various ways.
- Attendees will learn about how parents of both deaf and hearing children have worked to facilitate growth in their children’s self-esteem and sense of self, with regards to both horizontal and vertical identities.
Presentation:
This presentation has not yet been uploaded.
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Tony Ronco
(), H&V, T_Ronco@hotmail.com;
Tony is married & the father of two young adults; one hearing and one deaf. His deaf daughter is now Junior at Gallaudet. He has been deeply involved in parent to parent support, and has served in numerous parent based organizations. Tony is trained & certified change agent, a professionally licensed engineer and a manager.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Avonne Brooker-Rutowski
(), Educational Resource Center on Deafnesss, Avonne.Brooker-Rutowski@tsd.state.tx.us;
Born deaf to deaf parents, Avonne was mainstreamed in a public school without a certified interpreter for five years and she can relate well to students who are mainstreamed. Avonne attended Gallaudet University and graduated with BA in Psychology, followed with her Masters degree in Deaf Education at McDaniel College. She concluded her work at Gallaudet Leadership Institute with an Education Specialist degree. Avonne has 20+ years experience in Deaf Education as a classroom teacher and an administrator, she begins her fifth year as a statewide Outreach Program Specialist with Educational Resource Center on Deafness. Her current focus of work is to develop online resources for literacy and providing literacy support through Shared Reading to the families. Avonne is on the American Society of Deaf Children board as its President Elect. Avonne is also a proud mother of two beautiful children residing in Austin, Texas with her husband.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Rachel Kolb
(), Emory University, kolbrach@gmail.com;
Rachel Kolb is a Ph.D. student in English literature at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where her doctoral work focuses on ideas about disability, deafness, and communication in 19th and 20th century American literature and culture. She is a Rhodes scholar with graduate degrees from the University of Oxford, and her written work and presentations have appeared in venues such as the New York Times and the Atlantic, and also TEDx Stanford 2013.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Lisalee Egbert
(), California State University Sacramento, drlldegbert@gmail.com;
Lisalee D. Egbert, Ph.D. teachs at California State University, Sacramento in the Deaf Studies. She received a Civic Engagement Award from the State of Maryland for service in social justice, diversity, and equality.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Mark Drolsbaugh
(), Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, markdrolz@gmail.com;
Mark Drolsbaugh graduated from Gallaudet University with a B.A. in Psychology (1992) and an M.A. in School Counseling and Guidance (1994). An avid writer, he is the author of Deaf Again (1997), Anything But Silent (2004), On the Fence (2007), and Madness in the Mainstream (2013). Mark delivers presentations that offer a rare, behind-the-scenes perspective of deaf education, which includes both his experience as a mainstreamed deaf student and parent of a deaf child. As a school counselor at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Mark is part of a talented Student Development Team which recently became the first deaf Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) under the American School Counselor Association. Mark and his wife, Melanie, enjoy traveling and attending their three kids’ baseball and softball tournaments.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -