James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack) (05/07/91)
Index Number: 15425
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
It is not widely known but Deaf people had a hand in America's pre-Apollo
space program. Many deafies who are deaf due to spinal meningitis exhibit
a remarkable tendency to not become seasick. Interestingly, many astronauts
become "spacesick" which has symptons that parallel seasickness. NASA
became aware that certain deafies appear to be immune to this ( I am
one of them as far as seasickness is concerned, the more the boat rocks,
the more fun I think it is).
Deaf people were placed on freighters and other ships that powed the
North Atlantic during the stormy seasons, especially the winter storms.
While many seasoned sailor were wracked by sickness, deafies sit in
the hold playing cards, eating, fooling around etc. One story has it
that a captain bet a Norway ship's capatin a whole case of whiskey
that he hardiest sailors would become sick before his Deaf passengers
did. The Norway captain lost the bet. The story has it that their humilation
was compounded by the fact that the deafies would bring food and consume
it relishly in the presence of dog-sick Norway sailors and watch them
throw up (sounds like fun, huh?). They are said to have done this repeatedly
Despite Deaf contributions to the space program, there has never been
a Deaf astronaut, nor any offical recognization of deafies contribution
to NASA's push to achieve the Kennedy mandate to put a man on the moon
in "this decade."
I understand that currently, several researchers are trying o obtain
documents that record these events so they may be printed or included
in some book or another. I am trying to pin down these people and their
progress to date. from time to time, these things get mentioned at
meetings and other gatherings, and sometimes in papers that find their
way into my hands. It would be thrilling to have the whole story about
this "hidden" Deaf History.
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