“The Butterfly Cage: Joy, Heartache, and Corruption: Teaching While Deaf in a California Public School” by Rachel Zemach

Reviewed by Kelly Kolodny

Educational, compelling, and deeply personal. These words describe Rachel Zemach’ poignant and beautifully written memoir, The Butterfly Cage: Joy, Heartache, and Corruption: Teaching While Deaf in a California Public School (Paper Angel Press 2023). In her book, Zemach chronicles her career as a Deaf teacher—work she portrays as joyful, intriguing, and at times profoundly painful. As she recounts her teaching experiences in both a public school and private Deaf school, she weaves in important information about educational laws and policies surrounding Deaf education. She traces her personal transformation that emerged through her teaching. Ultimately Zemach moves into an advocacy role, not only supporting Deaf children and their families, but also demanding appropriate and just educational experiences for them.

Zemach became Deaf at age ten due to an accident that occurred when she fell on a staircase and broke a bone in her good ear. This impacted her communication with her family and surrounding communities, as well as her ability to access formal schooling. Larger events further shaped her childhood. When she was twelve, Zemach’s father, an academic who had studied at Brandeis and Harvard, committed suicide. Profoundly affected by this tragedy, Zemach, her sisters, and mother, an award-winning illustrator of children’s books, drew on each other for support. Eventually they moved from their home in Europe to Berkeley, California, for a new start.

This pivotal move opened opportunities for appropriate formal schooling for Zemach. At age fourteen, she enrolled in the California School for the Deaf (CSD) where she began to learn American Sign Language (ASL). ASL is different from Signing Exact English (SEE), a point Zemach raises throughout her book. ASL is a nuanced language that has a cultural context. SEE is the simple use of English signs. Zemach’s participation at CSD provided her with a strong introduction to the Deaf community and culture. She began to understand more fully that being Deaf is not a deficit as many in mainstream society believe. It is not something to regard with disappointment or sorrow, but rather an identity that is satisfying, heartwarming, and full. Zemach wrote, “I’ve never regretted becoming Deaf. Had I not fallen that day on the stairs, I’d never discovered the Deaf world; the source of some of my greatest joy.”

Rachel Zemach

After studying at San Francisco State University as an adult, Zemach began her professional work as a teacher in a public school in California, fictitiously named Bridgestone Elementary School. Bridgestone had two Deaf classes. From the start, it was difficult for Zemach to access accommodations to support her teaching. She did not have a formal curriculum to follow. Some of the classroom aides did not know ASL and used SEE signs. She also could not hear the school intercom on which school administrators broadcasted important information. It was difficult to answer the classroom phone. Joy surrounded her teaching, however, as Zemach worked with mixed-aged students eager to learn ASL and move forward with their studies. One of Zemach’s students was Lazlo, a young person with whom she formed a particularly close connection. She wrote, “Lazlo’s love of learning simply uplifted us … The boy’s keen brown eyes reflected a world we all fell in love with, and it was a floaty, magical year.” Zemach did not know that years later when Lazlo was enrolled in a public high school, he would end his life and she would be asked to write his obituary. Profoundly shaken and distressed, Zemach reflected on the social isolation that many in the Deaf community encounter.

Though many challenges surrounded her teaching, Zemach remained an educator at Bridgestone Elementary School for a decade. She developed curriculum. She oversaw her students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, some of which were facilitated smoothly while others were cantankerous and difficult when administrators disagreed with her recommendations. Zemach took her students on fieldtrips, including an enchanting adventure to a local zoo. She also juggled family responsibilities, raising two daughters alongside her husband who she described as her best friend, yet someone who did not sign fluently. Following her public-school career, Zemach taught at the California School for the Deaf which she described as an uplifting and positive experience. She wished she could have continued teaching there for a longer period of time. A cancer diagnosis, however, moved her from teaching to writing her memoir.

As personal and moving as Zemach’s memoir is, it is equally educational. Zemach teaches the reader important information about working with Deaf children. She discusses ‘audism’ which is the bias of hearing people towards Deaf individuals. She writes that audism “is like a poisonous weed. It thrives on the fact that people don’t know it exists, thus they leave it undisturbed … Teach your friends, neighbors, your relatives what it means.” Zemach reflects on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) which is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which initially was implemented in 1975 as the Education of Handicapped Children Act.  For many children with disabilities, the LRE is the mainstream public-school classroom. Zemach argues, however, that for many Deaf children, the LRE is not the mainstream classroom. In the mainstream classroom, Deaf children struggle with communication with peers. They have difficulty accessing the curriculum. They are not taught ASL. Interpreters may or may not be available in mainstream classrooms. Deaf students often feel isolated. It is in actuality a restrictive environment for them. In a Deaf school, however, these children are able to have friends and excel in their studies.

A labor of love and hope, The Butterfly Cage will appeal to many groups. It is an excellent read for those interested in delving into a poignant memoir It is an engaging text for a book club. It will find an important space in undergraduate and graduate education courses and seminars. It is a valuable read for Deaf study courses. Zemach shares her story knowing it will create movement towards a more just future for Deaf children and families.