《明报》 1993 年 3月6日 星期六
“天生我才必有用”，林法祥虽然十岁开始失聪，兼且家境贫困，但仍不肯安于天命，突破个人限制，终于成功取得数学博士学位。
现年四十六岁的林法祥在这条学术路上奋斗，实在殊不容易。 十岁时因为脑神经受破坏致聴觉慢慢衰退，再加上小学毕业后，父亲不幸逝世，因此林法祥惟有放弃学业，任职木工以帮补家计。
现实环境虽如此磨人，但他毫不退缩，反而令他更坚强。 中学的知识就凭他个人自修而得到。 问他可有另人教导？ 他笑说没有，只靠自己买些中学旧课本，专心攻读中、英、理、数四科。 一级一级的念毕中学课程。 “只要有决心，鐡柱磨成针”，可说是他最好的形容词。 虽然自小可没想过有机会考上大学，但经过日以继夜的苦修，终在二十一岁时考取美国嘉路达大学入学资格，并取得当时路德会信义宗的四千元经济支持，圆其进修梦。 然而不要以为他日后路途便舒适平坦，因为林法祥是家庭经济支柱，故在大学一年的下学期，便要在夜间兼职摺报纸，赚钱寄回家以供养母亲了！
对于失聪人士，一般沟通也是一个问题，何况是读书、考取数学硕士、博士学位呢！ 他说，最困难的是听不到大学教授讲课，唯有放学后走到教授的办公室，把问题一一弄清楚；遇到不明白的地方便多读数遍为止。 由始至今，他可没想到半点放弃，认为只要努力，一切事也可迎刃而解呢！
现任美国华盛顿嘉路达大学数学系副教授的林博士在美国己居住二十五年之久，间中也会回港探亲度假，这次他回来更在真绎啓暗学校代课。 对于香港的印象，他说，香港政府能给予伤残人士津贴也算不错，但若能够给聋人提供打字电话或传真机，则可令到聋人更为方便。
同时他认为倘若能够让聋人也可担任教师或校董等职位，则可成为其他失聪学生的活生生学习模范；他说在外国这情形十分普遍但在香港却不曾出现。 这种情形可能令一些失聪学生产生一个错误观念，认为正常的人才可有作为，着实不对！
对于香港的失聪学生，他说学习机会是有，但欠的是勤力。 或许现代人生活优裕，凡事顺手拈来，“努力”就不容再见吧；林博士的经历，大概可令不少人反省呢！
《明报》记者 江丽芳
无声世界 聋人数学博士林法祥· 奋斗成功史树立典范
本报记者 黄瑞礼 专访
林法祥，笫一位取得数学博士学位的华裔聋人，充满传奇性的奋斗故事，有辛酸、有荣耀；有悲情，也有爱情。 错综交织的人生情节，足以令一个“正常人”为之赞叹、钦佩，然后陷入深沈的自我省恩之中。
现任华府嘉劳德大学（Gallaudet University) 副教授的林法祥，来自香港的贫民窟 - 山边木屋区。 当他十歳的时候，因脑神经受破坏而导致听觉衰退，终至耳聋。 就在此时，“屋漏偏逢连夜”，他的父亲也不幸去世。 小学毕业之后，年幼的林法祥被迫放弃学业，成为洋服学徒；数月之后，改为木工，此后的八年间，他就以木匠为生，贴补家计。
身处困苦的环境中，林法祥不但没有被击倒，反而更加坚毅刚强。 白天做工，晚上就埋首在书堆
所幸天无绝人之路，香港的“路德教会信义宗世界社会服务社”在获知林法祥的苦学成果及经济宭境后，应允提供四千美元奬学金，使他能够如愿前来美国进修。 然而，家庭生计还是少不了他，于是林法祥改成白天上学，晚上做木工。 半年后，他在华盛顿邮报（Washington Post) 找到一份“塞报”的差事，直到大学毕业，他就这样赚取微博的工资，寄回香港供养母亲。
主修物理学的林法祥，对数学特别感到兴趣，因此，从嘉劳德大学毕业后，进入华府的乔治华盛顿大学研究院，以两年的时间，修得数学硕士学位。 在这段期间，他开始回到母校兼任教职。 并确定了他的学术道路： 所以拿到硕士之后，林法祥又前往蒙塔拿大学（University of Montana)深造。 在毫无特别待遇，与常人公平竞争的情况下，他多于常人数倍的努力，顺利取得数学博士学位，并获得母校聘任为全职的数学教授，任教迄今已达十二年之久。
谈到家庭，林法祥在手语翻译员菲丽丝（Phillis Rogers)的协助下，道出了他的爱情故事。 时光回溯到一九六八年的香港，当林法祥报名参加嘉劳德大学入学考试时，他以为全香港只有他一个聋生，没想到考试当天竟出现三名考生，其中一位是女生。 或许是天赐良缘，林法祥与她，就在那一试定终生，从相识而相偕来美就读嘉劳德，彼此鼓励，相互扶持，最后共同走上红毯的那一端。 虽然是无声无息的“叙说”，但是，他的笑容明显透露出美满的喜悦。 目前，他的太太也同在母校服务，拥有硕士学位的她，从事研究工作。
祖籍广东的林法祥，今年初曾返回香港及中国大陆，顺道参观两地的聋哑学校。 他有所感慨的表示，香港的聋哑教育只到中学阶段，而且秉承英国的传统 - “不能说便不能教”，教师都是能听能说的常人，上课不能使用手语。 他认为这是错误的做法，因为聋生听不到，只好模仿老师的嘴型“讲话”，根本不可能沟通。 所以他强调，唯有使用手语教学才是正确的聋哑教育方法。 另外，他也建议香港政府晋用聋哑人士担任教师或校董，一方面改善教学，另一方面也是鼓励残障学生。 至于中国大陆，他说，或许是因为财务上的困难，聋哑学校设备不足，他希望将来这些学校至少添购传真机，以便于沟通信息。 原本要访问台湾的林法祥，因签证未办妥，在香港啓德机场遭挡架，因而打道回美，失去了观摩的机会。
针对华裔聋哑学生的教育问题，林法祥恳切呼吁聋生的亲友们学习手语，以建立良好的沟通管道。 他认为这是帮助他们最直接有效的方法。 至于聋生本身的学习，他说，既然听觉力丧失，就必须多看书，加强閲读能力。 他的忠告很简单 - “努力”两个字。 事实上，这也应该是放诸四海皆准的䈅言吧！
位于东北区的嘉劳德大学，是全世界唯一以文理学科为主的聋哑大学，目前学生约二千五百人，分别来自全美及全球各地，其中亚裔学生有三十多人。 走在校园内，听不到一般大学校园的喧嚣，但是，青年学子们所散放的青春、活力与热情，却丝毫不减。
挥手道别林法祥教授，走出位于霍尔纪念大楼的教师研究室，看到众多的男女学生往来穿梭，而整个校园仍旧那般静谧。 踽踽而行，顿生孤零之感。 回想林教授的人生之旅，不正是在这种无声无息的宁静中孤单奋勇向前吗？ 他的成就怎不叫人敬佩！
《华盛顿新闻 Washington Chinese News》April 30, 1993
An Incredible Journey
By John Bardsley, <Mathematical Sciences> Spring 2024
Fat Lam, PhD ‘87, began his life in China, spending his school years and youth in Hong Kong, where his family had moved when he was a child to escape the communist government in China. Fat was an exceptional student, graduating at the top of his elementary school class. However, tragedy struck him and his family, when Fat began to go deaf at the age of 10, then his father died one year later. Despite his disability and his father’s death, Fat finished grade school at the age of 13 at the top of his class, but he had to then quit school in order to work - first as a tailor and then as a carpenter - to support his family.
During his teen years, Fat studied at night, eventually working his way through a collection of high school books given to him by a friend, while also reading such novels as War and Peace. After six years as a carpenter, he was looking through a catalog of American Universities at the U.S. Embassy in Hong Kong when he discovered Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, which is entirely devoted to educating deaf students. Fat passed the entrance exam at Gallaudet, was accepted, and received financial support to attend from the Lutheran World Federation.
Professor Lam left for the U.S., when he was 21 years old, beginning at Gallaudet University in the fall of 1968. He took 21 credits per semester while working 20+ hours per week in order to help his mother in Hong Kong. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in 1971 after only three years and was then asked to teach in the Mathematics Department which he did while working on his Master’s degree at George Washington University.
After receiving his Master’s degree in 1974, he entered the PhD program in Mathematics at the University of Montana (UM). He chose to pursue his PhD in our department because we offered him a teaching assistantship, and because at the time he had a Japanese friend living in Missoula. Upon arriving, he was struck by the fact that the Math Department had its own building, which was not the case at Gallaudet or George Washington Universities. Fat’s PhD advisor at UM was Prof. Hien Nguyen, who he said, “had the greatest impact on me.” He noted that Prof. Nguyen was very unpretentious, despite the fact that he had a consulting business that eventually became Edulog, a company which continues to thrive and for which he remains the CEO. Fat also said that “the most striking professor, with a lasting impression on me was Professor William Myers.” As for his five years in Missoula and at UM, Fat said, “Ah, my experience there! Unforgettable! The campus is at a foothills, beautiful! During summer, flowers bloom, almost everywhere. No wonder it is called the Garden City.”
Also of note is Professor Lam’s experience as a deaf student in the 1970s at UM: “Nowadays, deaf students attending colleges are provided with sign language interpreters, courtesy of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted into law by President Bush in 1990. Back in my time, there was no such thing. When lectures were delivered by talking, I just read my book. When fellow classmates asked questions, I missed the fine points. Students learn more by listing to answers raised in classes. What could I do, complain? Unheard of. Probably blame myself.”
Professor Lam returned to Gallaudet University in 1981 to teach full time and write his dissertation part time, eventually receiving his PhD from UM in Mathematics in 1987, when he also obtained tenure at Gallaudet University. Particularly noteworthy is that Professor Lam was the first deaf person from China (and the third from Asia) to obtain a PhD, according to the Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies.
At this point, Professor Lam moved rapidly up the ranks of faculty at Gallaudet University, becoming a Full Professor in 1994 and then Chairman of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department from 2001 until 2007. He retired from Gallaudet University in 2014 and is now Professor Emeritus. In his retirement, he is raising his two children, a seventeen-year-old son Ching-Wah and an eleven-year-old daughter Ching-Lin.
Professor Fat Lam’s story is incredible and inspiring, from poverty in Hong Kong, to facing a disability, to obtaining a PhD in Mathematics, and finally, becoming the Chairman of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Gallaudet University.
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后记： 林博士在2014 年退休后，在2021 年获Gallaudet University 颁授 名誉教授头衔。 在2024 年，他获 University of Montana 颁授杰出校友奖。
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