The Philosophy Department Presents the 2026 Roy Wood Sellars Lecture
The Existential Threat to Signing Deaf Communities: Gene Therapy and Deaf Bioethics
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
Professor of Philosophy, Gallaudet University
October 15th, 2026 — 4:30–6PM
ELC Forum
Recent developments in gene therapy have made it possible for some deaf children to hear. From the vantage point of biomedical science, this is viewed as a triumph of human progress – a “miracle cure”. For many people, curing deafness is seen as an unequivocal good. For others, decisions about gene therapy and who ought to be cured are deeply concerning, raising questions about what it means to be human, what criteria should be used to determine who gets to live in the world unaltered, and who ought to be supported by social and cultural structures and institutions.
Even though this particular gene therapy is only available to deaf children with the ultra rare OTOF genetic variation, it has kickstarted a lively debate about the broader ethics of using this technology and whether this starts a slippery slope that ultimately threatens the existence of the signing deaf community as a vibrant cultural and sociolinguistic community. This talk introduces the approach of Deaf bioethics and Deaf philosophy as humanistic lenses of assessing the value of scientific technology to challenge the dominant narrative.
Questions addressed include: how might parents of deaf children best assess the question of using gene therapy for their child, family, and society? Should all parents considering the use of biomedical technologies to improve their deaf children’s ability to hear be required to engage with members of the signing Deaf community before making their decision? When the needs of a child and their family do not align with the needs of the community to continue to survive, who should weigh in and in what manner?
Free and Open to the Public — ASL interpretation provided
Breakfast Colloquium: “Doing Deaf Philosophy in Brazil: Applied Ethics and Metaphilosophy”
Friday, October 16th, 8:30–10AM
The Philosophy Department invites your participation in a colloquium discussion with Professor Burke. In academia and elsewhere, philosophical discourse typically takes place through spoken language. One question that the emerging subfield of Deaf Philosophy asks is how applying the concepts of philosophical discourse to an embodied sign language might shape philosophical analysis and reflection. In this talk, Professor Burke uses her two decades of experience of teaching and doing philosophy in American Sign Language as a foundation for building an approach to doing Deaf philosophy in Brazil with members of the Brazilian signing Deaf community as a Fulbright Brazil Distinguished Scholar. Topics discussed include translanguaging, ethical and existential considerations related to OTOF gene therapy, and the use of AI supported signed language avatars in Libras to support Brazilian deaf accommodations.
If you are interested in participating in the colloquium, please RSVP by October 9th.
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy in the History, Philosophy, and Religion Department in the School of Arts and Humanities at Gallaudet University, the world’s only bilingual liberal arts college for deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students.. She teaches philosophy in American Sign Language and English. Her current research focuses on philosophy of disability, Deaf philosophy, and bioethics (in particular, ethics of genetics and emerging technologies). She is the first signing deaf woman to obtain a Ph.D. in philosophy in the world and the second deaf person to receive what is considered the most prestigious appointment in the Fulbright program, the Distinguished Scholar Award.. Her publications cover a wide range of genres, including peer-reviewed scholarship in philosophy and bioethics, journalism, and creative nonfiction. She divides her time between Washington DC and the historic neighborhood of Barelas in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is currently working on a memoir about her years as a young widow and single mother in Cody, Wyoming.