Octavian Robinson (Gallaudet University)
For the PPT with animated GIFs, please download it. Alt Text is included.
Note from Acadeafic editors: we also refer to the interview dr. Robinson gave to the Daily Moth in September 2023.
Anna Lim (Boston University)
Riding an indoor Atlanta airport shuttle carrying us to our respective gates as we return home from a Deaf Education conference, Jon and I stood and held on to our luggages and the railings and tried hard not to bump into the travelers around us in the rocking compartment as we attempted to catch up on each other’s lives. I told him my wife and I are expecting a second baby and he revealed that he and Emily are expecting another one as well. In the coming months, after the birth of our respective children, we would update each other with messages about how we are writing while our babies are either nestled in our arms or crawling over our backs. I complained to him about things that happened at our place (eg. downstairs neighbors calling the cops on us in the middle of the night because our babies were crying “too loud”) and he would send me legal stuff to help back up our case because he received a similar complaint from neighbors when he, his wife, and their then-newborn used to live in Massachusetts. He made fun of my love for Jpop and I made fun of his droll advices which were, sometimes, less than helpful. We would ponder on the meanings of symbols in Ghibli films, how awful TERFs are, the cultural and classist origins of foodstuff (bone marrow came to mind), what the repercussions of certain social justice issues that involve horizontal violence are, among other things.
We connected primarily as fellow chronically anxious geeky academic deaf parents and less so with our academic roles, but he, in his own way, had always supported me not only personally, but also professionally. About a month before his death, we checked in with each other and I tried to thank him for all his support even when he himself was suffering within an inch of his life. He congratulated me on my defense and I expressed to him my worries about needing to handle backlash to my research on immigrant deaf students of color. In typical stoic Jon fashion, he replied in a way that is simultaneously a sort of grace and a warning.
Because I am me, I got positively embarrassed about the “talent” part. He said I should not be because he and many of our mutual friends are celebrating me. That was the last time I heard from him, all because I got overwhelmed with my dissertation and other projects.
My tributes to him were products of my regret and guilt and hurried attempts toward closure, but to truly honor his memory, I know the grieving process should not be rushed. My heart is with Emily and his kids and to all of you who knew him. He has left his legacy of “talking back” to the status quo in Deaf Education. And I hope he finally received the inner peace that he had also hoped for.
Rest in peace and power, Jon.
Michael Skyer (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
Like many of you, yesterday I found out that Jon Henner had died.
Jon and I had opportunities to work together. And recently, we published together.
Jon taught me a lot. He was a strong advocate for sign language communities here in the United States and other places around the globe.
Jon taught me about using simple, clear, direct language in my writing.
A lasting memory of Jon is our exchanges and discussions about writing to make it more accessible and clearer for audiences of diverse deaf people around the world.
I am lucky to have known Jon.
I want to carry through my memory of Jon by focusing on advocacy in writing for globalized audiences who are deaf.
Thank you.
Dai O’Brien (York St John University, UK)
I didn’t know Jon well. I cite his work, of course, and make sure my students read it (like most of us, Tavian and Jon’s crip linguistics blew my mind and still does). When we had to cancel a planned presentation by Jon and Tavian because we were taking industrial action in my institution, we really appreciated their solidarity which was clear in Jon’s response – “fuck the man!”
But my fondest memories of Jon are from Twitter. From the RNID’s bizarre deaf zombie episode (if you know, you know), through to swapping hair care tips through the no haircut lockdown, Jon’s humour, kindness and no bullshit attitude shone through. I still think of a piece of advice he gave me most days. I don’t know if he knew how much he influenced me. I hope he did, but I wish I had told him. But the one thing that he posted on twitter that sticks with me is the meme below.
I don’t know if it was meant as a self-portrait of sorts. But this, I think, encapsulates Jon, or at least the Jon I knew from Twitter. The fierce advocacy for deaf kids, the middle finger aloft telling the oralists to go fuck themselves, the image of a bright utopian future as a rock concert… that’s an image I find so inspiring, and an attitude I aspire to carry on myself and foster in my students.
Jon set high standards in so many ways. In his kindness, how he made time for others through supporting, mentoring and advising so many of us informally, not to mention his academic integrity and strong sense of what is right. I hope we can live up to those standards. Heddwch i’w lwch.
Leah Geer (Sacramento State University)
I’ve struggled to write this message. I have so many memories of working with Jon that I don’t know what to share. I feel as though nothing I say will be perfect nor truly represent who he was and the impact of his work. Perhaps that’s impossible, but it’s time I try. I’ll just share a few memories here.
The first time we met for a research team meeting at Gallaudet, I remember walking around Adams Morgan with another colleague looking for a place I’d remembered going during my time at Gallaudet. It was raining and we were soaked by the end of the night.
We also traveled to Turkey together in 2012 for the LREC Conference (International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation) in Istanbul. I flew to Boston and stayed with him and his partner Emily before flying out. They gave me a brief tour around Wellesley College, Emily’s alma mater. Then Jon and I flew to Istanbul for the conference, playing Carcassonne on my iPad almost the whole way. One thing that stuck with me about that trip was how Jon took to learning Turkish Sign Language from our unofficial guide, Onur, and attempting to speak Turkish with the locals.
In addition to meeting up for data collection (Jon came to Austin for a project while I was doing my PhD), other travels (we both went to the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research TISLR conference in Australia in 2016), and presenting/publishing together, I also studied some of Jon’s other work and used it in my classes.
Two articles I teach, both in my Deaf Culture & Community class (undergraduate course for Deaf Studies majors and minors), are his 2016 article “American Sign Language syntax and analogical reasoning skills are influenced by early acquisition and age of entry to signing schools for the deaf” with Catherine Caldwell-Harris and Robert Hoffmeister from Boston University and Rama Novogrodsky from the University of Haifa and his 2018 with Octavian Robinson called “Authentic voices, authentic encounters: Cripping the university through American Sign Language” are always really popular and eye-opening for my students. The 2016 article I teach in a unit on Deaf Education where we really examine why it’s so important for deaf children to have early and accessible language because of the far-reaching consequences of not doing so. The “Authentic Voices” article is discussed in the context of the future of the deaf community. What will it look like in the future? How can deaf and disabled individuals get on equal footing in the academic setting?
While these discussions often lead to more questions than answers, what’s important to me, and what I think honors Jon’s legacy, is how students start to understand the dynamics of power and privilege in university settings. This critical thinking is invaluable.
Finally, I want to talk about Jon’s Twitter presence, at least, from my perspective. Jon was fearless and said things that needed to be said, often before people were ready to hear them, including me. I confess, I was skeptical of the crip linguistics framework (and I still think I need to dig a bit deeper to gain a better understanding). In fact, just now when I was searching for Jon’s ICSLA presentation video, instead I found a video of Octavian explaining “Crip Linguistics and Linguistic Care.” In that video, Octavian is wearing a shirt that reads “History should make you uncomfortable.” And you know what? Sometimes some of Jon’s Tweets made me uncomfortable at first. But crucially, they sparked the need to introspect and discover what made me uncomfortable.
I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today, in so many respects, without Jon.
Jon, wherever you are, thank you for all that you’ve given me personally, given to those you worked with, those in your family, and indeed what you’ve given to the world. Thank you!
ז״ל. Zichrono l’vracha. May your memory be always for a blessing.
Acadeafic 