April 24, 2026

As Gene Therapy Advances, Our Values Remain Clear

View this message in American Sign Language above.
Signed by Brandi Rarus, Chief Enrollment and Communications Officer.

To the Gallaudet community:

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Otarmeni, the first gene therapy approved for deafness caused by variants in the OTOF gene. This treatment, developed by Regeneron, works by delivering a functional copy of the OTOF gene into the inner ear. It targets a rare and specific cause of deafness affecting roughly 50 newborns per year in the United States. Regeneron plans to offer it at no cost in the U.S. Clinical trial investigators reported meaningful changes in the hearing of a majority of participants.

We knew this moment was coming. That does not make it easier.

Gallaudet University affirms, without reservation, that Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing people bring irreplaceable value to the world. Sign languages are not workarounds. Deaf communities are not problems waiting to be solved. The history of efforts to eliminate human difference in the name of progress is long, and it is not a history we should repeat. As gene therapies move from research into routine clinical practice, Gallaudet is committed to ensuring that Deaf perspectives are central to every conversation about ethics, identity, and what it means to be human.

We also recognize that our community holds a range of views on this news. Some Deaf individuals and families may see this therapy as a meaningful option. Others will feel concern, or grief, or resistance at what it represents. All of those responses are legitimate. What Gallaudet will always insist upon is that decisions be made freely, with full information, and without coercion. The value of Deaf life is not conditional on whether a technology exists to change it.

Our Gene Editing Think Tank, drawing on expertise in genetics, bioethics, sociology, and the history of eugenics, will continue to guide our community through these questions with care and intellectual rigor. We invite the entire Gallaudet community to engage with us as this conversation unfolds.

Sincerely,

Gallaudet Gene Editing Think Tank

Dr. Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
Professor of Philosophy