Deaf Progressivism

A Tribute to Pasty Purr of the RottenPotatoeNews

2010-01-03T20:16:00.005-05:00

A subtitled picture analogy between Potatohood and Deafhood on how they were frequently misunderstood with full of myths. It is time to peel back the truth for the new year!

Behind The Scene at Broadway for the Helen Keller Understudy Role

2009-12-18T07:30:00.004-05:00

(subtitled) Barb DiGi shares her disappointment about what really happened behind the scene during auditioning for the Helen Keller understudy role. She believes it is a lame excuse for not hiring a Deaf girl for the role since they claimed that they couldn't find a qualified one which is completely hogwash. She saw it in her own eyes and knew the true story that it is not the case.

What Should Make DVTV/DeafRead A Part of the Deaf Community?

2009-10-26T18:28:00.009-04:00

This is not exactly a summary but more of organizing my afterthoughts of the vlog:

I have struggled with the concept that DVTV, DeafRead, and other Deaf blog aggregators are a part of the Deaf Community. A Community means shared experiences and interest that also involve supporting for a common cause. To call it a Deaf community, it has to be a construct model. We can not see DVTV and DeafRead etc. as "the Deaf community" since b/vloggers and commentators are not in the position of having a true interaction in person like most Deaf community events do. There is no natural way of interaction using natural signed language in a natural setting in the Deaf vlogosphere. Yes, there are video comments but still it is not a natural way to have a decent interaction since misunderstandings by misinterpreting or taking out of the context are made by one commenter at a time that leads the others to jump in and making the thread twisted. This is least likely to happen when it is done face to face and that the problems will be ironed out much more effectively.

Not only is the concept of a community a "construct" (model), it is a "sociological construct." It is a set of interactions, human behaviors that have meaning and expectations between its members. The actions are based on shared expectations, values, beliefs and meanings between individuals. In DVTV and DeafRead, there are so many different directions, values, beliefs, etc. that in no way it can be shared to form a common goal (i.e. how to support families with Deaf bbaies) which is why divisions happen.

Yes, we could see division happening in DVTV/DeafRead so does that mean the Deaf community is divided? No! There are much more to what the Deaf community is than just looking at DVTV and DeafRead. We need to look at the Deaf Community as a whole that the parts include sports tournaments, educational conferences, political conventions, arts, recreational clubs, etc. in the national and the international level where face-to-face interactions and the use of natural signed languages take place.

Remember that the goal of the Deaf community is empowerment. Knowing what a community is, and its social and cultural nature, will help us to know what it takes to make the Deaf vlogosphere as a part of the true Deaf Community that we are able to be empowered by our efforts to make a collective journey to reach the goal for the ultimatum of the Deaf Community. To call DVTV or DeafRead or any blog aggregator of the Deaf "the Deaf community", it is necessary to consider about including the use of natural signed language in a natural setting and having frequent gathering opportunities.

What Does Deafhood Mean To You? (Part II of II)

2009-11-18T19:52:00.010-05:00

There are 17 Deaf vloggers (we had 21 in part I so that is 38 so far) sharing their points of views on what Deafhood means to them. These Deaf vloggers in part I and part II have embraced Deafhood as a part of their lives in a positive light. It is surely enlightening to watch!

Audism in Public Schools

2009-10-19T18:25:00.005-04:00

Watch this first: Watch this last: Summary: When I viewed the Pantene ad, it gave me a flashback of several incidents of audism that I went through while growing up in a public school just like that girl had experienced. Looking back, I recalled being ridiculed and snickered when my name was called to give a dancing performance similar to a mixture of Michael Jackson style and what we now would call it a hip-hop style. After winning the award, the attitude among the students had changed as I felt they respected me more ever since the performance. It is true that as a Deaf person, you have to work much harder to prove that you are capable of such things.

Another experience I had was when I was involved in a diving team, I did not get as much support and enthusiasm from the teammates and not even from the diving coach. I was again mocked and snickered in the first few weeks of practice and I was about to give it up until a Black janitor who watched the whole thing since day one recognized how I was treated came up to me. Although he didn't know sign language, I was able to understand him so well that he made an effort to communicate clearly with me. Just like this man in the ad, he came in the light and started to support me by giving me tips and encouragement. From there, I was able to dramatically improve my performance in diving.

The lesson from this is that every Deaf child needs a role model who believes in them by giving them support that they are capable of doing such things in spite of their hearing level.

What Does Deafhood Mean To You? (Part I of II)

2009-10-11T21:12:00.003-04:00

Here you will see 21 Deaf vloggers' responses on what Deafhood means to them. As you can see, Deafhood is a positive term to many vloggers who know the true meaning of Deafhood which is based on their individual experiences. There are more vloggers coming up in part II!

How to Facilitate Deaf Children To Become Bilingual Advocates (and that includes CODA, too!)

2009-08-04T20:21:00.002-04:00

Deaf children need to be empowered to advocate for themselves to be able to list reasons why bilingualism is important and beneficial. Aspects are discussed with details based on research outcomes from Lambert, Tucker, Pearl and Genesee. This vlog is good for adults who can explain to Deaf children why it is important to have ASL as a first language and English second. This is also applicable for other signed languages and spoken languages.

Which Side of the Partisan Political Pundit Brain Fits You?

2009-06-15T22:04:00.003-04:00

Coming from the book, "America, A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction", Jon Stewart offers satire views on politics. In one part of the book, it talks about how a function of the brain is being evolved when discussing politics. Only one area has been adapted to make it a more Deaf-centric for the left side of the brain when calling all ethnic groups "Americans" here in this country whereas the left side of the brain calls all those who can't hear =DEAF.

Defamation, Exploitation and Copyright Issues

2009-05-25T22:36:00.009-04:00

Here is the copyright policy taken from Seesmic:

Seesmic Copyright Policy

"Seesmic (“Seesmic”) respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, the text of which may be found on the U.S. Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf, Seesmic will respond expeditiously to claims of copyright infringement committed using the Seesmic service and/or the Seesmic website (the “Site”) that are reported to Seesmic’s Designated Copyright Agent identified in the sample notice below.

If you are a copyright owner, authorized to act on behalf of one or authorized to act under any exclusive right under copyright, please report alleged copyright infringements taking place on or through the Site by completing the following DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement and delivering it to Seesmic’s Designated Copyright Agent. Upon receipt of Notice as described below, Seesmic will take whatever action, in its sole discretion, it deems appropriate, including removal of the challenged content from the Site.

DMCA Notice of Alleged Infringement (“Notice”)

1. Identify the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, or - if multiple copyrighted works are covered by this Notice - you may provide a representative list of the copyrighted works that you claim have been infringed.

2. Identify the material or link you claim is infringing (or the subject of infringing activity) and that access to which is to be disabled, including at a minimum, if applicable, the URL of the link shown on the Site where such material may be found.

Do share … so long as it’s yours

Be respectful of other people’s intellectual property rights. This means don't post content that you don’t own or have the permission to post and attempt to pass it off as yours. We are in the process of adding Creative Commons support.

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If you upload content that is illegal or prohibited by law, your account will be terminated. In this case we will also have to take appropriate action, which may include reporting you to the authorities.

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(From Seesmic website)

You are welcome to make comments at DeafVideo since comments are closed here at my blog so that we all can see the comments at one place.

Update: Since there are some people who wished to leave written comments instead of video comments, I am going to reopen the comment section. I guess the goal to have all comments at one page is not possible.

Achievements of A.V. That Can Apply to Deaf Children

2009-05-17T21:28:00.007-04:00

How A.V. reaches high achievement by using this approach that can help Deaf children to fully develop as a whole child. A great advice for parents and professionals of Deaf children! 6:29 mins. Quicktime Note: Video uploading may take a while.

The committee of special education approved A.V. to be placed in 8th grade this fall as he is skipping 7th grade. He has also passed all of the state assessments and met the curriculum requirements.

For DVTV viewers, click here.

What is Politically Correct when Describing Deaf Children with CIs?

2009-04-30T21:22:00.000-04:00

1:26 minutes, subtitled

Audists or Audism Behavior? (Part II of II)

2009-04-09T19:58:00.015-04:00

Thoughts (not entirely a summary but reflections):

As we are in the process of discussing the meaning of audism and to describe, not necessarily to label with haste, the common situations that many Deaf people have experienced because of their deafness, situations arise such as thinking that Deaf people shouldn’t drive and shouldn’t be a head of an industry. It even happens at home when experiencing dinner table quiet moments with families that don’t use ASL or even any sorts of manual communication modes. This is when we can easily identify or describe a situation that is associated to audism.

It is true that we cannot communicate at all without some level of conceptualizing or labellings of the world around us. When I say the word 'audism or audists,' it covers an incredible diversity of different forms of situations. I am still only able to describe general features seen amongst that type of behavior, however, the label is not sufficient to describe an audist or an audism behavior (or in that case audist behavior).

Questions are raised to discuss different case scenarios whether if it is a case of audism.

Crucial elements to make it audism free for every Deaf child are also discussed.

To see video comments, click here.

Make Yourself Heard to AG Bell! How? Check this out!

2009-04-03T11:13:00.007-04:00

Go to this website to have access to express your thoughts to AG Bell thanks to The Center for Disability Rights. There you will see a pre-written letter that you can simply add, edit or revise using your own words and click the sent button that will either email or fax to AG Bell office. Here is my sample paragraph in red of my own words to make it more personal. The rest was pre-written by CDR. Let's make yourself heard!

I am a concerned citizen who is aware of the meeting that took place the morning of April 2 between yourselves and the grassroots Deaf activists’ organization known as Audism Free America (AFA).

American Sign Language is the most accessible, preferred language of communication for thousands of Deaf people in America today. It allows young Deaf children to bridge English more effectively through reading, writing and even speech. As an educator of the Deaf who works in a bilingual field, I have seen a huge progress made among Deaf children who are in bilingual programs that they are able to achieve a complete foundation of both languages. I also have two Deaf children who are currently in their pre-teens and they have exceeded beyond their academic level. It is not only about having both languages but identity and self-esteem that they can feel positive being Deaf. Your letter to Pepsi is very offensive to me and my family that you labeled these ASL users isolated in society just simply they cannot speak. Well, I've got news for you, there is no such thing that ASL users use ASL only as they know and use English. Your letter is nothing but demeaning and degrading to the Deaf community.

Audism Free America represents the idea that is shared by Deaf from across the country – that Deaf have the right to use and preserve American Sign Language. They understand that individuals have the right to choose for themselves a method of communication other than the language of ASL. That being said, a Deaf individual who chooses to use American Sign Language as opposed to the auditory/oral method of communication promoted by your organization should not be portrayed as inferior or substandard in comparison.

What I am asking of you is to please seriously consider the demands of AFA. Firstly, to retract the letter that was sent by your organization in January of 2008 to Pepsi. Within that letter, you urge Pepsi to “develop some creative ideas to promote other facets of the deaf community and to highlight positive role models who have met the challenges of this condition and thrived using spoken language.” Instead of promoting the interests of all the diversity within the deaf community, you have promoted the ideas your agency represents. Within the letter, you have referred to users of American Sign Language as “isolated from mainstream society,” which is far from the truth. This letter promotes a condescending and distasteful view of Deaf people who use American Sign Language, and with that, AFA is requesting that you retract this letter.

Secondly, AFA is asking that the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing work in partnership with Audism Free America both now and in the future – to promote an equal and diverse view of all people that are deaf and hard of hearing, and not upholding the message that one is inferior to the other. The truth is that struggle befalls us all, and we can attain much more if we work together to increase awareness. The first way in which you can work together will be to share AFA’s request with your Board of Directors.

However, it is impossible to move forward and leave the past behind if you have not admitted the offenses of the past. Therefore, Audism Free America is asking for a pubic apology from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing regarding the hurtful attitude on comments conveyed by your organization thus far. With that apology comes the possibility to move on and move forward.

I am confident that if your organization meets the requests of Audism Free America, all deaf people can work together to achieve something that has never been seen before – true and utmost equality! I appreciate your time. Thank you.

*********************************************************************************

So I strongly encourage you to go to the website and voice your opinion. It is your turn!

Is Audism a Legitimate Word? And Gallaudet, isn't this an error?

2009-04-03T07:15:00.012-04:00

It is true that the word, audism, has not yet been found in most dictionaries (both books or online) except for Urban Dictionary (not exactly a credible dictionary though) that talks about an "audist establishment". It even includes the word, audism, that defines "the descrimination of the hard-of-hearing. Instead of color descrimination prevalent in schools, audism has become an increasing problem." Nah, not even a good definition anyway let alone a spelling error so a lot of improvement needs to be made. However, the definition under "audist establishment" is a bit better.

It stated :

An establishment that misinforms and ill-educates people about deaf and hard-of-hearing people. (www.audism.org).

"The teachings that ill-educate people about deaf/hard-of-hearing such as they are isolated, inferiors, illiterate, stupid, savages, dependents, objects of sexual exploiting, second class citizens, objects of experiments, lazy, passive and benefactors to medical and science fields."

As we use the word audism and that it is not found in dictionaries yet it doesn't mean the word is not legitimate or official because audism has already showed up in many citations.

I know that based on history, in order for a new word to be written in a dictionary, it has to appear frequently in published articles or books. Also, it has to be used frequently by the community. Take the word, AIDS for example, it did not appear in the dictionary before the 80's but when more and more citations use the word, it officially became accepted to be used in the dictionary. In conclusion, the more the citations are used talking about audism, the more likely it will end up in the Webster Dictionary and other credible dictionaries. See the link on what does it take to have a new word written in the dictionary.

Tom Humphries was a Ph.D student back in 1970's and wrote a piece of dissertation found in this link.

Tom wrote that audism means:

"The notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears. It is the bias and prejudice of hearing people against deaf people, It is the bias and prejudice of some deaf people against other deaf people."

Tom Humphries,"The Making of a Word : Audism" (1975)

I find it interesting that he even admits himself as an audist as he was brought up as a hearing person. He wrote:

"Most of my life, I have been an audist myself, and even now still have some behavior and values that are basically audist. I believe this to be the result of being brought up as a hearing person with basic hearing person behavior and values." The word audism was buried and forgotten until Harlan Lane published his book, The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community (Lane, 1992).

According to Absolute Astronomy, it stated that:

"Audism occurs when a deaf person is judged as incapable of a given behavior, occupation, etc. simply because he or she cannot hear. Audism is often coupled with a 'hearing' superiority: an attitude of thinking one person is superior to another person because he or she can hear better than him or her. Audism takes another form concerning interactions between the deaf: deaf people who will not use sign language and who will not identify with the Deaf community may consider themselves to be 'better' than others who use sign language and are part of Deaf culture."

When reading FAQ on Audism from Gallaudet website, I was surprised that Gallaudet University did not give Humphries credit for his original definition of audism. Take a look here: From Gallaudet University:

Audism (from Latin audire, to hear, and -ism, a system of practice, behavior, belief, or attitude) has been variously defined as:

The notion that one is superior based on one's ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears. (Zak 1996) (I believe this is an incorrect information as it should be from Tom Humphries since he originally wrote the definition based on this link so Gallaudet, fix this on your website!)
...an attitude based on pathological thinking which results in a negative stigma toward anyone who does not hear; like racism or sexism, audism judges, labels, and limits individuals on the basis of whether a person hears and speaks. (Humphrey and Alcorn 1995: 85)
...the corporate institution for dealing with deaf people, dealing with them by making statements about them, authorizing views of them, describing them, teaching about them, governing where they go to school and, in some cases, where they live; in short, audism is the hearing way of dominating, restructuring, and exercising authority over the deaf community. It includes such professional people as administrators of schools for deaf children and of training programs for deaf adults, interpreters, and some audiologists, speech therapists, otologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, librarians, researchers, social workers, and hearing aid specialists. (Lane 1992: 43)

Now who are really the audists? This will be discussed next so see you later!

Audists or Audism Behavior? (Part I of II)

2009-04-05T20:38:00.005-04:00

This is a part one of two vlog to discuss about my experiences encountering several ignorant hearing people who made statements that exhibit audism behavior. Discussion takes place by looking at situations on how we are to deal with these kinds of audism behavior and how are we to describe situations by identifying the behavior rather than labeling the individuals audists. To see more video comments, click here.

Evidence of Audism Behavior from AGB and Ways to Combat Audism

2009-04-04T18:24:00.012-04:00

Summary:

This vlog focuses on the evidence of audism behavior by AGBell and how we all have agreed to stop audism but may have different ideas to do it. It is so important to recognize that there is no one right way to do it as it requires multi-approaches to combat audism.

The past and recent actions of AG Bell who pressured the media about not showing sign language in TV is an obvious case of audism even linguicism as they feared that exposing sign language will prevent Deaf children from obtaining speech skills. We know better now what they said was a myth that more and more bilingual programs are found to be beneficial for all Deaf children including those who wear cochlear implant that they are able to master in both languages. There are findings that kids who are bilingual have higher cognitive scores and that use of signs are proven for hearing babies to have higher I.Q. scores.

Also that there are more research articles proving that there is no empirical evidence that using signs will harm English development (literacy and speech). The telegram from AG Bell to NBC back in 1966 said:

"Continuing to display sign language on nationwide TV destroys the efforts of thousands of parents of deaf children and teachers of the deaf who are trying to teach deaf children to speak."

Thanks to Amy Cohen Efron from her blog as you can click here to see the documents.

The recent letter to Pepsi is more of labeling those who use sign language are "isolated" from the rest of society.

See quote:

"Your advertisement perpetuates a common myth that all people who are deaf can only communicate using sign language and are, therefore, isolated from the rest of society."

For more information, click here.

The Deaf community deserves to "hear" AG Bell's apology for their audism behavior not only because of these letters but for not sharing the truth how there were many Oral survivors being affected by AG Bell's ideology. They just bury and hide these stories as they don't tell the parents the whole truth. We are not going to take it anymore. Enough is enough!

In the end of the vlog, the topic was to recognize that we all share a common goal which is to combat audism but there are different perspectives on how to do it. I strongly believe that it will be much more effective if we support in unity that we recognize that any ways whether there are groups or individuals going out there to campaign the social awareness of audism or going out there to educate the public about ASL, there is no ONE way to do it.

To see more coments via video, click here.

Awesome Events of Deaf Rochester Film Festival (Part IV of IV)

2009-03-24T22:02:00.005-04:00

Highlights described at the DRFF for Sunday, March 29, 2009.

-Children's Program

-Workshop by Julie Dameron

-Signs of the Time by Bob Panara

Link for purchasing tickets, click here.

Deaf Rochester Film Festival Lineup Announced from NTID/RIT, click here.

RIT/NTID Links at Deaf Rochester Film Festival, click here.

Exciting Day at Deaf Rochester Film Festival for Saturday, 3/28/09

2009-03-21T13:13:00.001-04:00

Deaf Rochester Film Festival Highlights for 3/27/09 (Part II of IV)

2009-03-21T10:23:00.001-04:00

It is my regret that the subtitles are not ready but it will be posted next time.

Jr. Deaf Rochester Film Festival

2009-03-20T17:47:00.008-04:00

For the first time, this event is focused on younger audience to encourage showing their film works. Special appearance will be made by Braam Jordaan who won the award in the best computer animation category and created signing characters in his animation.

There will be some of the Deaf students film work shown from several schools for the Deaf such as Texas, California-Fremont, and a mainstreaming program from southern L.A. My film, The Red Riding Deafhood, will also be shown there.

Note: This is non-subtitled version for now. Due to technical difficulties, subtitles will be provided real soon so thank you for your understanding.

Link: www.DeafRochesterFilmFestival.org

Getting the Facts Straight!

2009-03-19T16:26:00.006-04:00

I just couldn't believe in my own eyes how it all became twisted from what I read at the comment section at Amy's blog then at Mishka Zena's blog accusing a member of DBC, Tami, who happens to be hearing and has been an excellent Deaf children's advocate, that she became an oppressor. Oh please! What is even unfair is that none of you can't judge for yourself without seeing the original comment of Tami's.

Although Tami is a hearing mother of a grown Deaf daughter, she has ultimate respect for the Deaf community and a great understanding of bilingual-bicultural concept. I wish that there are more of her! I have always admire her hard work, dedication, and energy that she has poured in to make a difference for Deaf babies along with other DBC members. I never at once have ever witnessed her oppressive behavior toward Deaf people! Tami kindly gave me her permission to re-print her comments that was removed from Amy's blog.

According to Tami, she said that she meant to request Amy to remove this commenter's profane comments since it is not suitable for children to read the blog. Yes, I know as parents, they are responsible to screen what is appropriate first before allowing the kids read but in reality there is no way the parents can police everything. Heck, I use child control program banning my children to have access to any sites that use profane language but there are times that they still find it, unfortunately. At least, I am lucky that they are not into blogs/vlogs of DeafRead. Here is what Tami said and you be the judge for yourself whether if it is considered oppressive toward a Deaf member of the community: ***************************************************************************************************************

xxx (name removed),

I respectfully take offense to your comment that DBC is “hellbent” on destroying organizations. Please let me explain why…

I have spent the last 10 days on the road, in behalf of DBC, going to major conferences speaking about the importance of bilingualism through ASL and English. We were able to present 4 times at the national Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Conference in Dallas. We also were an exhibitor there. We were able to get an after conference meeting with the Center of Disease Control administrators and the EHDI Conference coordinators to talk about increasing the number of Deaf experts on their planning committees.

We also had a booth and a presentation at Deaf Nation in Austin and also presented to parents at the Texas School for the Deaf. We then attended and presented at the CAL-ED conference in San Diego. And most recently, we were able to speak to an audience of 100 at CSUN.

DBC is educating those who impact Deaf babies an d children’s lives including parents, doctors, audiologists, speech pathologists,early interventionists, and the Deaf Community.

DBC is also educating AGBell as well in pointing out their “exclusionary” practices against ASL by promoting speaking and hearing without sign language. The long term consequences are devastating for those who need visual language, ASL, but are denied or delayed from accessing it in early language learning or in their educational settings.

Amy’s post is basically following suit with DBC in stating that AGBell is misleading parents that speaking and hearing is attainable by the majority Deaf children. These videos are great at selling parents a product that in the end may or may not work.

It is important to bring these issues to AGBell’s table. It is not about bringing down organizations but bringing them together to work for the benefit of all Deaf babies’and children’s language rights. This is what DBC is all about. I know this because I am involved in this on a daily basis.

Please know that there are many of us working very hard to advocate for Deaf children’s language rights. DBC is doing some very positive work in this area and has made great strides this past year including helping to set up a Deaf Mentor Training Course at Gallaudet University offered in July 2009.

xxx (name removed), you have a right to your perspectives, however, they are not accurate representations of what DBC is really doing. I hope that you will continue to advocate for Deaf babies’ language rights and work together with all of us who have the same goals.

Now her second comment:

Amy,

Could you remove or edit comment #34 as this language seems to be unnecessary.

xxx (name removed),

DBC does not take a stance against Deaf children learning to speak or be oral. DBC is only against “exclusionary” practices that deny Deaf children access to ASL and this includes children who use CI’s, hearing aids, or use neither. Research shows that children, regardless if they are hearing or deaf, have higher achievement rates in language development than those who are not exposed to sign language at birth. If you had been to the CAL-ED conference, this same message was echoed time and again by researchers and other presenters.

DBC seeks to educate those who have impact on Deaf children’s lives and their families lives on the benefits of ASL in early language acquisition.

xxx (name removed)….your comments about DBC are simply unfounded and not true. If you have not seen any of DBC’s most recent presentations to at EHDI and CAl-ED, I suggest you do so you can understand better what we are doing.

Just like Amy pointed out…AGBell is focusing on communication and not language. We are focusing on language and cognitive development.

************************************************************************************

So Mishka said on her blog, " One leader of a Deaf organization appeared and attempted to silence this person by invalidating his experiences and opinions." Readers, do you find any evidence that Tami has attempted to silent this person? Do you really think she is "stifling the freedom of speech and ideas within the community"?

Also, readers, MZ said, "Later, in another comment, that leader accused the Deaf person of lying." No where in the comment did she say that this commenter is lying. All she said is, "your comments about DBC are simply unfounded and not true." Boy, speaking of taking the words out of context and twisting her quote. You may be the judge for this one.

All I see is that Tami is just simply clarifying the goals and action of DBC and what is wrong with that? Anyone of you would want to clarify your own facts if anyone made such comments that are untrue, right? So why couldn't Tami do that? Should she remain silent when one made inaccurate remark about something? It is ironic that they are the one who are oppressing this hearing mother's freedom of speech.

You are free to make comments, remember, freedom of speech comes with responsibilities.

A Deaf boy's life saved at Rochester School for the Deaf

2009-03-12T15:30:00.001-04:00

Please take a moment to recognize our hero, Patti Cane, who saved a little Deaf boy's life at Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD) during lunchtime. She is pictured on the left side.

Patti is a Deaf teaching assistant at RSD for more than a decade. In this video (it is not captioned but there is a written article next to it), you will see her sharing her reaction and recommendations in ASL.

At first, I had no clue that it happened three months ago until I learned about a TV news reporter's visit at RSD last week. March is American Red Cross Month and it is a perfect timing to recognize this hero's action. I was amazed how humbled Patti was all that time as she never bragged about it. After finding out, I approached her and shared her my appreciation. She said that she had to do what anyone would do.

It hit me that I need to refresh by taking a First Aid course since it has been eons ago. It is better to be prepared as you will just never know when to use it to save a life or two.

For more information and photo credit, click on RSD page.

Thank you , Patti, for preventing a disaster from happening and seeing this little Deaf boy walking today. Bless you!

My Film Production Experiences in Making "The Red Riding Deafhood"

2009-03-08T08:00:00.005-04:00

Play Quicktime YouTube viewers, click here

My film making experiences turned out positive when making "The Red Riding Deafhood". The purpose and goals making this movie are explained in this vlog. It is a fictional film that involves eight Deaf children but in reality, there are such individuals and agencies promoting the absence of ASL in some Deaf children's lives. There are metaphors and hidden messages that can be compared and contrasted between two perspectives believing that ASL will help English development or that ASL will harm English development.

I have formed a new company called Born Free ASL Productions that I hope to continue to write children's stories relating to language and literacy development using a bilingual approach.

You can view the teaser trailer at www.BornFreeASL.com. Enjoy!

The Beast, the Project and the Shirt

2009-03-02T21:51:00.009-05:00

Play Quicktime For YouTube viewers, click here

Summary:

Thanks to your enlightening emails and requests for a comeback as time has been a very challenging task to find! Thanks LaRonda for your wonderful poem as it gave me a kick to vlog the updates.

I have been using my productive energy to hopefully make positive changes and impact about issues that concern me. Not that vlogging is perceived as unimportant as it is continued to be valued. Just that there has been a change of priorities and goals for the time being just like everyone else is going through. I just used most of my time since the fall focusing on my multiple projects on DBC, my film and my EHDI presentation. At last, these products are completed! I am just excited and relieved that it is over!

In the end of the video, here is a treat for you by seeing a snapshot of a T-shirt taken in Cabo, Mexico talking about Spanish that can apply to ASL as well.

DBC's concerns about HEAR Indiana's Conference

2008-11-07T16:20:00.009-05:00

Part I Quicktime

Youtube link, click here (Part I) Part II Quicktime

Youtube link, click here (Part II)

Letter:

In response to a recent press release put out by HEAR Indiana--a chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, which is hosting an education conference in Indianapolis, Indiana--the Deaf Bilingual Coalition expresses its dismay in regard to the wording of the headline which shows great disrespect to the Deaf Community by using the phrase: "Doing Deaf Differently." The Deaf Bilingual Coalition is a national grassroots organization supporting Deaf babies' rights to accessible language through American Sign Language.

The theme of the conference is "Building Partnerships," and a list of medical organizations and companies involved as sponsors of the event is included in the press release. The list of presenters includes one oral deaf presenter, but excludes Deaf organizations, well-known research specialists who are themselves Deaf, and also excludes Deaf bilingual-bicultural educators, and Deaf professionals.

While the organizers of the conference boast that they are "Building Partnerships," they are excluding creating partnerships with the very people who are most greatly impacted by what they propose to parents. Were their calls for abstracts, keynote speaker presentations, or applications for exhibits sent to Deaf educators, Deaf researchers, ASL users and Deaf organizations? If so, were any of them accepted? Which specific "partnerships" is HEAR Indiana building? When will Deaf adults--the people who are children of hearing parents, many of whom were raised orally but were later able to find ASL and who also fell in love with their language--be invited to be a part of this type of conference?

Even more important, when will parents get full and accurate information regarding the cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional importance of their child's access to American Sign Language and their child's right to a natural sign language as a primary language regardless of whatever hearing devices their parents might select for their Deaf child? The use of ASL does not hinder Deaf children's ability to acquire spoken language skills, and it actually increases their general language skills by allowing them to be bilingual in two languages, ASL and English (written or spoken).

"Doing Deaf Differently" is clearly a statement of disrespect toward the Deaf community. It is a false concept that is created by and implemented by mostly hearing people, without any input from the bilingual Deaf community (those who are fluent in ASL and English--written and/or spoken). The "Building Partnerships" concept, as stated in the HEAR Indiana press release, is very misleading and does not reflect on or include input and participation from Deaf individuals who live the Deaf experience every day.

Over the past 128 years, proponents of the philosophy of Oralism have unfairly and unethically cornered the market in Deaf education and related services for Deaf children and their families. In reviewing the HEAR Indiana conference program, we do not see anything new in this pathological approach which focuses on "fixing" an "impaired" baby or child. The result is that Deaf children are deprived of the use of a natural and fully accessible sign language, deprived of the opportunity of being bilingual, deprived of the ability to experience normal cognitive development, and deprived of the ability to achieve socio-emotional contentment. This misguided "speaking and listening" or "oral-only" focus, which excludes the use of sign language, does not reflect the best thinking of scholars or experts in the fields of Deaf education and early childhood development, and only builds up false hopes, all in the pursuit of raising a pseudo-hearing child.

At this late date, when HEARING babies are taught to sign and the benefits of signing are recognized for hearing children, educated people should no longer tolerate the ignorance perpetrated by organizations and programs which deny DEAF babies access to natural sign language.

The Deaf community in the US and Canada embraces ASL, the cultural connection that accompanies its use, and the access to a vibrant, clear, and accessible language that it provides. Deaf children of hearing families are thankful to their hearing parents who recognize them as being whole human beings deserving of visual language as well as other communication opportunities, and who do not regard them as being disabled or impaired children who need to be repaired.

The press release quotes Ms. Horton, the executive director of Hear Indiana, as saying:

"It truly is amazing how far we've come. It wasn't that long ago that some cultures relegated the deaf to mental institutions because they didn't know what to do with people who had this disability. Today, modern technology and oral deaf education allow deaf and hard of hearing people to hear, speak, and communicate with their family, friends, and co-workers. That means that a child born today with hearing loss can grow up as part of the hearing world. We truly are doing deaf differently in the 21st century."

Let it be known that Deaf children who grow up with access to American Sign Language from the start, whose parents embrace the learning of ASL, and who attend Deaf Schools, will also "grow up as part of the hearing world." Not only will such children acquire a primary language that is visual, and not only will they develop bilingual fluency more easily (in ASL and also in written, and sometimes even spoken English), but they will have access to BOTH their family's culture AND the culture of the Deaf community that comes with American Sign Language. They will always be proud, independent individuals who have a place in society.

While HEAR Indiana claims to be "building bridges," what they are actually doing is dismantling bridges of social partnership. By continuing to avoid the creation of new partnerships with Deaf experts in the fields of linguistics and Deaf education, more generations of Deaf children will continue to grow up without real fluency in ANY language.

It is time that Deaf people be key players in advising on the decisions that are made for Deaf children, so that they can provide input on questions of language and education, be mentors to hearing parents, and also be respected when they address general issues on behalf of Deaf babies who are not able to speak for themselves.

No one would ever, for example, have the effrontery to attempt to speak for Native American Indians by using the phrase "Doing Native American Differently." By the same token, we cannot grant sanction to attempts to "Do Deaf Differently"--attempts which blatantly and flagrantly exclude the participation of Deaf people themselves.

The Deaf Bilingual Coalition, as well as members of organizations which support this coalition, would like to express how proud we all are of the heritage of American Sign Language and being bilingual. It is our goal to educate the public so that those who are in positions to influence parents and have a positive impact on Deaf babies' lives will become aware that now is the time to build partnerships with Deaf experts and Deaf professionals, so that we will all be able to work for the betterment of Deaf babies’ lives, including promoting their right to be bilingual in ASL and English.

Bilingually,

The Deaf Bilingual Coalition, www.dbcusa.org

More information about the upcoming rally, click here.

Article links:

Hear Indiana on Doing Deaf Differently

Parents’ Testimony about Purdue’s Speech and Hearing Clinic (scroll down to “A Hearing Family’s Story, November 2007)