Overcoming obstacles was nothing new for Boley Seaborn when he became the most recent doctoral graduate of Lamar University’s internationally recognized program in deaf studies/deaf education.
Seaborn, who is deaf himself, has a resume loaded with leadership roles and awards. He has traveled all over the world – from Tokyo to Los Angeles and Bangkok to Washington, D.C. – in pursuit of a world-class education, culminating in the doctorate he earned from Lamar in December. That was something Seaborn didn’t have to think twice about. “I was eager to learn more,” he said. “I got a lot of support from the faculty, family and friends.”
He said the most rewarding thing about earning the advanced degree was expanding his horizons and gaining the knowledge.
Twenty-six years earlier, in 1979, Seaborn was chosen as a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation scholarship and studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan, for a year. There, he studied Kabuki and the Japanese cultural arts and taught American Sign Language classes with usage of Japanese Sign Language.
He returned to America and attended theater and linguistics courses at the University of California at Los Angeles and was employed as a sign language instructor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1982 to 1984. In 1993, he earned a second bachelor’s degree in sign communication and deaf studies from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., then returned to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as an instructor.
After enrolling at Lamar in January 1998 as a graduate student, Seaborn received a master of science degree and a teacher’s certificate in deaf studies/deaf education in December 1999, then reentered Lamar in January 2000 as a doctoral student.
Between completing his master’s and beginning his doctoral degree at Lamar, Seaborn interned at the Sethasatian School for the Deaf in Bangkok, Thailand. In Tokyo, he became an unofficial interpreter for a group of deaf middle and high school students visiting from Thailand and interpreted using Japanese Sign Language and Thai Sign Language.
Seaborn said he has always known that he wanted to pursue deaf education, but that his preference for his students changed along the way.
“My original goal was to teach some hearing students,” he said. “I, however, enjoyed teaching deaf students.”
If he hadn’t chosen to major in deaf studies, Seaborn said, he would have more than likely majored in psychiatry or drama.
“I might have chosen to major in psychiatry to help deaf clients with their mental health issues,” he said. “Another area that interests me is drama. I have a bachelor’s degree in theater arts from Gallaudet University, but I’m also interested in the field of linguistics. I would have enjoyed studying and doing some research on the grammatical structures of American Sign Language.”
Seaborn was able to pursue some interesting research while working toward his doctorate. His dissertation topic was “The Comprehension of the Miranda Warning in English and American Sign Language By Postsecondary Deaf Adults.”
“The Miranda Warning is a statement that the police must inform the suspect he has the right to remain silent and the right to the assistance of a lawyer,” he said. “Many deaf adults cannot read the Miranda Warning as written on a card that a policeman will typically give them.” Seaborn said that even if they are furnished with a sign language interpreter, many deaf adults have weak skills in signing as well as in reading and writing English.
“We have frequent interactions with deaf suspects,” said Frank Coffin, an officer in the Beaumont Police Department. “It is always difficult and a time-consuming task to determine how much they understand us,” Coffin said.
“Many deaf people complained about how the police handled them and could not understand exactly why they got arrested,” Seaborn said. “Often, they were not told they had the right to remain silent and to get an attorney. It got my attention.”
Seaborn suggested a workshop for police officers, so they could learn more about the deaf community and their relay services as well as basic signs they could apply in the field. He also believes it is important to teach officers how to use an interpreter properly.
“And for deaf people, having a workshop would help them read the rights in American Sign Language, understand them better, and handle police officers and a law interpreter conveniently,” Seaborn said. “Having mock trial could also benefit.”
Seaborn said being deaf affected one aspect of his time at Lamar as opposed to other schools he attended. “In the past, I have attended a deaf university where everyone signed. Here at Lamar, I had to use an interpreter for classes outside of my deaf education major,” he said.
“This was challenging for me because it introduced a third party into my relationship with my professors. The deaf ed professors knew sign language, and I had very good interaction with them, but it is far more convenient and comfortable to have direct communication with a signing professor than communicating with a hearing professor by way of an interpreter.”
During his varied career, Seaborn has been active as a leader of the deaf community, serving as president of the Conference of American Instructors of the Deaf Chapter in Beaumont in 1998 and 1999. He is also a member of the National Association of the Deaf, Arkansas Association of the Deaf, Deaf People Against AIDS and HIV, the Conference of American Instructors of the Deaf and a lifetime member of the Alpha Psi Omega national drama fraternity.
He has received many awards for his contributions to the deaf community, including the Henry Scroggins Award Scholarship and the American Postal Workers Union Award. He received this award after he worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Little Rock, Ark., for five years while he was working at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Before working for the postal service, Seaborn ran his own business, Cahoots, a specialty gift and antique store in Little Rock. But Seaborn knew he was destined to make teaching his life.
“I have a passion for teaching,” he said. “I enjoyed seeing my students use what they’ve learned from me and be able to communicate with other deaf people.”
After graduation in December, he joined the faculty of Lee College in Baytown where he teaches part time as an instructor of American Sign Language.
Seaborn doesn’t know where life will lead him from there, but knows that something great awaits him.
“There are many potential jobs for me,” he said. “I want to help deaf people, as well as improve myself.”
