During the early 1980s, Gallaudet’s deaf faculty and staff became dissatisfied with the orientation program used teach new employees how to understand and interact with the deaf. In 1982, the Deafness-Related Concerns Council (DRCC), later known as the President’s Council on Deafness, sent a report to the university president, Dr. Edward C. Merrill. In this report, they laid out their criticisms of the orientation and their ideas for improvement. A new orientation curriculum was devised, including videos on deafness and a handbook titled Introduction to Deafness, written by Dr. Kannapell.

This bulk of this series consists of several early drafts of Introduction to Deafness, as well as final published copies. The book was released in both short and long forms, with the short form intended for staff who had only limited involvement with the deaf community and the long form intended for faculty and staff who were expected to interact extensively with the deaf. Evaluation forms for early copies of the text are also included.

This series also includes a copy of the initial DRCC report to President Merrill; transcripts, waiver forms, and other material related to the videotapes produced to support the orientation curriculum; and a collection of articles and other material used for research purposes by Dr. Kannapell.

For other material from the DRCC, see series 1.