LOR from Deaf Professor

[Nay101]

I recently took a sign language class and was thinking about asking the professor for a letter. A friend of mine told me that grad schools don't take letters from deaf professors seriously, but I don't understand why this would be true. I am going into Speech Pathology, so it is relevant to my field. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this?

Thanks!

[GardeningGrad]

I recently took a sign language class and was thinking about asking the professor for a letter. A friend of mine told me that grad schools don't take letters from deaf professors seriously, but I don't understand why this would be true. I am going into Speech Pathology, so it is relevant to my field. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this?

Thanks!

I'm not in the field of speech pathology, but...yikes.

You should choose the recommendations from the people who know you best, believe in your potential, are qualified in your field, and who are great writers. Does your professor fit these categories? Then ask him.

I've never heard of abilities/disabilities of recommenders even being a factor. Your friend may be way off-base. Any grad school that 'doesn't take letters from deaf professors seriously' isn't a school I would want to attend!

[wtncffts]

Uh... How would they even know the prof is deaf? Unless they happened to know this prof personally, it all takes place in writing.

[dogfishing]

That's totally ridiculous and untrue, especially within the field of speech pathology.

[caffeinerd]

I recently took a sign language class and was thinking about asking the professor for a letter. A friend of mine told me that grad schools don't take letters from deaf professors seriously, but I don't understand why this would be true. I am going into Speech Pathology, so it is relevant to my field. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this?

Thanks!

My God... I hope that's not true at all because that sounds just awful. I've taken ASL and I can't say enough good things about the class and the professor. It's perfectly relevant to Speech Path. Where/why did your friend hear this?

[Nay101]

Yeah I thought it sounded a little ridiculous....

I think the rumor stemmed from the fact that English is his second language, which affects his grammar in anything he writes (such as an LOR). I would think this is the same as any other language barrier from a foreign language professor though and wouldn't make the LOR worth any less. Just wanted to double check....Thanks everyone!