Christopher Johnson recently etched his name in history books as the first Black, deaf assistant dean at the University of Cincinnati (UC).
Born deaf in rural Georgia, the trailblazer experienced a “life-changing” experience in the South being devoid of cultural and language resources. Johnson persevered, becoming the first deaf person in his family to earn multiple degrees, which inspired him to go above and beyond to elevate the bar of academic achievement and sense of belonging for deaf and hard-of-hearing students as well for American Sign Language students “who passionately bridge gaps between mainstream and deaf communities,” he told UC News.
“I was born deaf with no adequate resources or access to ASL or a community — what we usually call a ‘third space’ — to properly equip me to become a leader in higher education. I grew up in a loving and supportive household where my parents raised the bar by constantly motivating me to read five or more books each summer,” he said.
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He described how his potential to end the cycle of Black deaf people being caught in the school-to-prison pipeline was made possible by his parent’s resolve and unwavering advocacy for his rights and access to education.
Currently, Johnson is Assistant Dean of Inclusive Excellence at UC’s College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies (CCPS), one of the biggest co-op employer programs globally.
The university, which is well-known for creating co-op employer programs in 1906, recently revealed that during the 2023–24 academic year, over 8,300 students earned an estimated $88.8 million in total from paid co-ops, an increase of 18% from the previous data.
In his new role, which he began in May, Johnson will help introduce an inclusive excellence strategic plan for CCPS, which will also focus on bringing disability awareness into the classroom and disability justice into the co-op program. The move is to allow students to “become problem solvers in a world that often centers around the able-bodied,” he said.
“What drew me to the role of assistant dean of inclusive excellence was the realization of how transformative cooperative education can be, through a deaf lens,” said Johnson.
“Initially, I didn’t fully grasp its significance, but through research and applicable experience, I’ve come to appreciate co-op’s profound impact on students’ experiential learning, academic excellence and the promotion of intellectual diversity in the classroom. This effort allows us to generate the problem solvers of tomorrow.”
According to national data cited by UC News, 2% of the population is deaf or hard of hearing. It says that among people aged 25 to 64, an estimated .4% of Black deaf people have completed a doctoral degree, medical degree, or juror doctor degree combined.
With these worrying figures, Johnson hopes that his story will “inspire able-bodied individuals to break the barriers that have silenced the deaf community for centuries and to ensure that their voices are heard and valued in decision-making.”
