Deerington January 2020 Titanic AU

[wwrench]

WALTER SHAW
TITANIC AU

au information cw: ableism and physical abuse of children Born January 17, 1874 to well-to-do parents, Walter's early education included private instruction by the Braidwood family, who promoted a "combined system" of communication that used both gesture and speechreading. In 1880, the Second International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (the Milan Conference) declared that: ...given the incontestable superiority of speech over signs in restoring deaf-mutes to society, and in giving them a more perfect knowledge of language that the oral method ought to be preferred to signs, and ...considering that the simultaneous use of speech and signs has the disadvantage of injuring speech, lipreading, and precision of ideas, that the pure oral method ought to be preferred. The Milan Conference effectively banned the use of sign language as a method of instruction for deaf pupils. Shortly thereafter, schools across Europe and the United States converted to a purely oralist method where sign language was not only removed from instruction, but any instance was punished severely. Walter's education continued through a combination of public institutions and private instruction. Supported by his parents, the boy became something of a test case for educators interested in exploring various methodologies of teaching deaf children. Eventually, he became a model of relative success for the oralist method, having been written about in various journals and publications. Though not deemed fit to instruct deaf students himself, Walter's story has found continued use by those heralding instruction of disabled children. Recently, educators have begun to promote even earlier and more intensive schooling for the deaf, beginning with infant nurseries and residential schools. The Shaw family -- and Walter especially -- have become close friends of Irene Goldsack, who has begun to develop an extremely intensive method of pure oralism for deaf youth. Walter has boarded the RMS Titanic bound for New York in order to learn more about the instruction of deaf students in America, and share Irene's findings thus far. He has internalized the mentality of his family as well as various educators who believe he is a model for disabled success in the early twentieth century. Internally, however, he feels a sense of isolation, exclusion, and misunderstanding that has plagued him throughout his life.