Some deaf people in North Carolina and their advocates have very strong feelings indeed about the use of speech as opposed to sign language. So, it would seem, does Dr. David Bruton, North Carolina’s secretary of health and human services.

The deaf community in this state would be far better served if those two parties, who have unfortunately and unnecessarily found themselves in the roles of combatants, got together with an ear toward finding some common ground. They might just find that they aren’t as philosophically far apart as they imagined.

Close to 200 protesters — most of them deaf or members of the families of deaf children — marched in front of the Legislative Building in Raleigh on Friday to call for Bruton’s resignation. The demonstrators were incensed by Bruton’s assertion in a speech that teaching deaf children American Sign Language is a "kind of child abuse." Bruton, whose department oversees education programs for deaf children, delivered the speech last month in Southern Pines as part of the Ruth Pauley Lecture Series.

"It’s extremely strange for a person of his stature to show the kind of insensitivity he has shown," said Nancy Bloch, executive director of the National Association of the Deaf. "We’re tired of people treating us paternally, trying to take care of us."

Bruton’s remark caused the ire it did because it was interpreted by some to mean that deaf children should have instruction in speech forced on them and have the teaching of Sign Language withheld from their schooling. That concerns some who fear that compelling deaf children to attempt to speak can unwittingly make them the target of ridicule.

It would be easy to read too much into what the secretary said in Southern Pines. Anyone hereabouts who is acquainted with David Bruton, who has practiced pediatrics in Southern Pines for decades, knows he sometimes overplays his rhetorical hand a little for the sake of making a point. They also know he disdains the kind of political correctness Ms. Block is seeking to enforce.

To know Bruton, moreover, is to know that no one is more committed than he to the welfare of children. He put children at the top of his list of priorities not only as a children’s physician but during his years as a Democratic political activist. And that is precisely why Gov. Jim Hunt tapped him to be secretary of health and human services in the first place.

Bruton, for his part, has made it clear he has no intention of resigning, and Gov. Hunt said through a spokesman that his resignation would not be sought. Given those developments, advocates of deaf children should commence an immediate dialog with the secretary — without grandstanding for the TV cameras. They might just find that he is their best friend in state government.

They might begin by paying heed to Bruton’s clarification this week of the remarks he made in Southern Pines: "I think signing is a wonderful tool and we need it, but we musn’t use it to deny children from using their voices." Is the assertion that deaf children should be given every opportunity to learn to speak such a radical concept?

For now at least, Bruton should be taken at his word regarding his amended position, and advocates of the deaf should meet him halfway by expressing a willingness to open a meaningful discussion with the secretary. We can offer reassurances on that score from some folks living in these parts who have known him for many years as a country doctor and as a consummate defender of all children.

A good starting point for any such discussion would be the acknowledgement by the two sides that both Sign Language and speech have a place in the education of deaf children.