Interview with Sanjay Gulati M.D., Pediatric Psychiatrist Childrens Hospital Boston, American School for the Deaf

Ingrao: Good morning Dr. Gulati. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your story with the readers of HealthyHearing.com

Gulati: You are more than welcome.

Ingrao: Before we talk about your plenary Session topic Re-Imagining Hearing Loss, may I ask you to give us a brief biography including your hearing loss?

Gulati: I began losing hearing around age 8, which was when my piano teacher complained that I wasnt playing pianissimo (the musical term for very quiet). To my ears, I was. I lost hearing so imperceptibly, that it was not identified until I was 20, when I was diagnosed with otosclerosis. At that point, I was truly suffering. By then, my academic and social lives were literally turned upside down. Hearing aids helped, but I noticed that the emotional process of coming to terms with the loss persisted. In fact, this realization helped change my interest from physics towards medicine. I went to medical school in Virginia, residency in New York, and child psychiatry training at Cambridge Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where I stayed after graduation. I now work at the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Service at Cambridge (which I founded when I graduated), at the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Program at Childrens Hospital, Boston, and as a consultant at the American School for the Deaf.

Ingrao: Thats quite impressive! What technologies and accommodations do you use in your work?

Gulati: Mainly, a sign language interpreter, Jenn Flynn. Somehow, in 6 years of working together, we just get along wonderfully. Were installing Video Phone (VP) now, and as our service has expanded, the new Team Leader, Lauren Esposito, Ph.D., is working on a host of initiatives to improve and expand what we offer.

Ingrao: Thanks for that background. Can you please give us a brief over-view of your concept of Re-Imagining Hearing Loss ?

Gulati: I read a series of accounts of other disabilities than deafness, and was impressed by the similarity of feelingthat it was possible to arrive at a place of feeling transformed by the experience, in a good way. That led to exploring more of the history of societys treatment of people with disabilities, and the interesting discovery that the whole concept of normal is new, dating from the industrial revolution, and closely tied with the eugenics movement (which only finally fell into disrepute after Hitler enacted its ideas in the worst possible way). The previous idea was perhaps better, because all of us as failing to meet the ideal human form. If no one is ideal, then we are all normal, and that was the idea I was after.

This morning, for example, I saw a man who uses a motorized wheelchair sitting alone in the cafeteria downstairs at the hotel. Staff were helping him, yes, but they were also conspicuously avoiding him as a person, detouring widely around him, and showing few social niceties. I sat with him, and began a lively written conversation. Pretty soon, our laughter normalized us, and other patrons started to look at him differently. Their expressions changed from disgust, fear, or pity, to curiosity. Thats the shift I want: To widen the circle of inclusively of who belongs and who doesnt. In the case of late-deafened people, that means widening to the point where awkward conversations are just as ok as smooth, taken-for-granted, conversations.

Ingrao: This is a very interesting paradigm shift. What, if any, research is being done in this area?

Gulati: I don't know! Im very interested to learn more about this area of disability research. The books I learned the most from were by Lennard Davis, a disability theorist who is a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults).


Child Psychiatrist Dr. Sanjay Gulati delivers the Plenary Session
"Re-Imagining Deafness" at the 2006 ALDACon in St. Louis, MO.

Ingrao: I look forward to hearing and reading more about this. Before we wrap up, do you have any final advice for people with hearing loss struggling with their hearing loss?

Gulati: Its ok to struggle. The expectation that life is always easy or simple may be a mistake. In our struggle, we see that life is deeper and stranger than we might have thought. While we struggle, if we keep our mind awake to moments of pleasure or joyand then follow thosewell eventually move towards a place of acceptance and peace. This process involves reflection on how were doing, who we are, what we want. It involves being willing to redefine ourselves, to re-imagine ourselves, as I suggested in the title, as a new type of normal.

Ingrao: Thanks again for your time Dr. Gulati.

Gulati: Youre welcome!