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Amelia Rader

Professor Loudermilk

English 1101

November 05th, 2021

Rhetorical Analysis: “Deaf in The Military”

Potential service members are turned away all the time due to pre-existing conditions.

However, if they were already serving when they acquired the disability, discontinuing their

service would not be immediate. Deaf Cadet Private Keith Nolan knows of this injustice

firsthand. He came from a military family and, growing up, had always wanted to join the

military. He was told no, simply because of being deaf. He just wanted to serve as his family

members were able to do before him. He has always loved military history and has educated

himself on the topic. 

Suppose a service member can stay in the military, continue serving their country with

the same disability or similar. Why would an individual with the same disability be turned away?

When he went to the recruiter three months before 9/11 happened, the recruiter tore off a little

piece of paper and wrote down three words: “Bad ear. Disqual.” He didn’t even spell out

“Disqualified.” [1@ 00:53] there should be a valid reason to send away an abled-bodied

American. Willing to serve our country, especially at a time of war such as 9/11, turned into just

three months later.  

Defeated, Keith Nolan moved on from his pursuit to join the military and settled into

becoming a teacher. He obtained his Master’s in deaf education. He taught for a few years until

three different events took place. The first event that brought him back to his desire to join the
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military was when a student came to him expressing how they desired to join the military, and

Keith told that student what Keith had heard himself time and time again. That because he was

deaf, he could not enter. At this moment, he took a step back and realized that even though he

was told no more than once, he was passing this message on to the next generation and his

students.

The second event was that Keith’s friend moved to another country, Israel. Thanks to his

friend, he found out that they accept deaf individuals into the military in Israel. How is this

possible, you might ask? Cadet Keith wanted to see for himself. Over the summer, he went to

Israel, and while he was there, he interviewed ten deaf Soldiers from Israel. All the details he

shares with us later in the Ted talk. The most notable was to point out that the simplest of facts to

allow deaf people in our military is that 80% of our own military’s MOS’s are non-combat

related and that deaf personal could easily participate actively in these roles with minimal

accommodations.

Fate seemed to be on Cadet Private Keith’s side when his alma mater CSUN started an

ROTC program for the ARMY. He showed up every day, ready to take the day’s tasks on. It first

started as him taking a few classes and ended with him participating fully in the ROTC program,

and not only has he proven himself next to his non-disabled peers, but he has excelled! He was

one of the top cadets and has earned the respect of his superiors and peers. They are proving that

he would be an asset to our military in many different areas. Other countries have had success

accepting these candidates, and we have even had great success retaining them and utilizing

them in the past.  So why not now? Perhaps it is the same reason that Black individuals and

females are not allowed serving, but wait?  Those policies have been re-evaluated and changed

because they were outdated policies that needed to be changed, just as this policy should be.
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I feel that Keith brings that to light in his Ted talk. In his Ted Talk, he does not simply

stomp his foot and ask, why not me? The Cadet brings an in-depth look at the topic at hand.

Keith brings many facts to light; he brings to the table that other countries like Israel utilize deaf

soldiers in non-combat positions. He interviewed ten deaf Israeli soldiers. In our military, the

MOS’s are 80% non-combat. Forty amputee members are currently considered disabled but were

retained on active duty and serve in combat MOS’s. There is a man that was deaf in one ear and

a man blinded by an IED blast. If they can serve after being disabled, why is Keith Nolan unable

to join and serve our country while being disabled? Especially since we have allowed deaf

soldiers to serve in the past. There is no logical reason that I have been able to find. 

Source Cited: Cadet Private Nolan, Keith. “Deaf in the military”. Local audience at

TEDxlslay, an independent event. April 2011, Northridge, California. Guest Lecture.