December 20, 2007
Hot debates on Deficit Thinking educated many hearing and deaf people. Few complained that I did not explain the terminology of Deficit Thinking. I thought many other people were doing a good job.
Ok, I will give you an example.
Here is a comment on Mishka Zena’s post,
“AGBell Nazis…Deaf Nazis”
and I copy and pasted it here,
# Ann_C Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Accountability defines credibility, too.
I agree with DP.
Amy–Eloquent comment.
brenster– John E. of DBC is constantly railing against AGBell and advocates ASL for deaf babies in almost the same breath. It appears to many who read his AGBell.info blog, especially for the first time, that he is advocating ASL only. His anger is getting in the way of his good intentions.
And even you will have to admit there are some on the blogosphere who want only ASL and no other for deaf children, and that is an exclusive approach that doesn’t apply to every deaf child’s situation. CI’s are here to stay, whether any of us like or not, and those of the Deaf culture who propose ASL-only are not getting the big picture.
******************
This commenter said that the Deaf culture who propose ASL-only are not getting the big picture.
Nowhere in DeafRead.com or other blogsphere have the deaf culture proposed ASL only ideology.
There is no, I repeat again, NO ASL only schools in America and it will not work. All deaf schools have English courses and do not forbid English language.
Now here is what is IRONIC!
There are ORAL ONLY schools, as matter of fact, there are many ORAL ONLY schools in America that advocate oral only and forbids sign language.
Now here is another GREAT IRONY!
It seems alright for this commenter above to tell the hearing and deaf people on DeafRead.com that deaf culture propose ASL only.
And while it is all right for many other ORAL ONLY schools to forbid sign language.
And I never have advocated ASL only ideology but AGBell advocates ORAL only ideology.
Now I ask you, is that deficit thinking comments?
John Egbert
December 20, 2007
Before I read Mishka Zena’s Blog, “AGBell Nazis…Deaf Nazis”, I was hoping that the Deaf community wasn’t being labeled “Deaf Nazis” and also was looking forward to read about AGBell Nazis, but I was disappointed.
This was written by a commenter, “Who cares?” And it was not written by Mishka Zena, but the headline of the blog post, AGBell Nazis…Deaf Nazis MAY have been Mishka Zena’s writing.
Anyway, I will clarify the best I can, knowing that I will be dissecting by certain people to find flaws in my English language writing.
Let’s put up this person (Who cares?) first paragraph;
Here’s a fact whether you all like it or not: Hearing parents have a God-given right to make certain decisions regarding their children, even if they are deaf. I have seen a number of deaf blogs claiming this is not so. Hearing parents should HAVE to send their children to deaf schools, even if it meant sending them out of state. Hearing parents should HAVE to choose ASL over CI. I saw one deaf blogger come dangerously close to saying that hearing parents should just have their deaf children taken away, so that those children could be raised by deaf.
One or several person or blog doesn’t represent majority of the Deaf people that believes parents do have the right to make decisions for their children. There is no doubt that organizations such as NAD, DBC, etc do not support the idea of telling parents what to do, but they believe that they should be educated before making a final decision.
Those other suggestions, hearing parents should HAVE to send their children to deaf schools, Have to choose ASL over CI, etc are actually from few deaf people and you need to understand that most of these deaf people have been victimized by the deprivation from organization such as AGBell and its associates.
Second paragraph;
If I had a deaf child and was doing research to try and help me in my decision of what to do, I would be very turned off by the blogs on Deaf Read. What you all need to do, instead of making yourselves look like a bunch of Deaf Nazis, is foster respectful and caring outreach to these people. Show them why it would be better to chose bi bi education, instead of oral only. Let them see happy well-adjusted Deaf adults with careers, homes, and families. Even if the parent choses CI, who says that child can’t also learn ASL and have both?
To “Who cares?”
Again, some of the blogs don’t represent the majority of the Deaf community. You have to understand that there are some angry deaf people that have been victimized in the oral culture schools and lied about American Sign Language as a inferior language.
There are many, many Deaf people that care and do want to help you in a very nice, professional approach. These Deaf people are not Nazis.
Besides the point, Nazis were oppressors and the Jews were victims, just like most Deaf people, they were victims too and want to help hearing parents. And not only they were victims, they have escaped the reality of mono-lingual world and learned bilingual, ASL and English. And once those Deaf people found paradise using ASL and English which is bilingual, it was so, so hard to be humble about it and not tell the world about it, especially you and other hearing parents.
Many of these Deaf people cherish that Deaf Bilingual Coalition was formed.
But there are also some misguided deaf people that are unable to achieve bilingualism and they get into DeafRead to divide the community hoping to prevent ASL to be accepted because of their failure to have the fluency level using ASL. The Deaf community understands their frustration.
Now back to Mishka Zena’s title of the post,
AGBell Nazis…Deaf Nazis
I wonder why nothing was written related to “AGBell Nazis”
Is AGBell and Associates, Nazis? Read this from a hearing parent and you decide if parents make their own informed decision or forced by guilt from AGBell and their associates?
In 1995 a miracle took place in Lafayette, IN. A young couple in their very early 20’s had a given birth to a deaf baby. The medical professional’s gave the “hearing impaired” diagnosis with much grief. We were sent out into the world to raise a “handicapped” child without any referrals but a pat on the back for good luck.
Ahhh…so much research on a mother’s behalf…the loss of self and employment to figure out how to best raise a deaf baby.
Despite the extreme emphasis on speech and hearing and getting the cochlear implant…my husband and I couldn’t just dump off our baby at a local daycare with hopes that “everything would be fine” while the only stimulation offered by staff would only be auditory. The First Steps Early Intervention Program for Special Needs offered talking directly into my baby’s face and loud toys and music with hopes for a miracle of hearing something…anything! I couldn’t rest at night knowing my baby would be bored all day without visual stimulation. I set out to learn sign language! I contacted the library for video’s, local schools, childhood deaf peers and public school interpreters. I made long distant phone calls to every state to find out the current belief system and medical outlook on “how to raise a deaf child” and was referred to the John Tracy Clinic, Hear Indiana, Shhhh, and AGB. I did the John Tracy Clinic parent coorespondent “courses” and copied signs from the “Joys of Sign Language Book” while scotch taping the signs to my walls in our apartment. Our daughter went to speech therapy and I learned signs on my own. Something was missing though…the signs weren’t grammatical and speech was not working. I hadn’t met any deaf adults! Where were they? Riley Hospital offered nothing to us. No support for meeting the Deaf Community. We discontinued our daughter’s hearing tests there after it was determined our services were no longer welcomed nor needed because we didn’t want a hole drilled into our child’s head with hopes for hearing.
In the meantime, our baby was growing and increasingly bored and just looked into space for anything stimulating to catch her eye.
When my husband, (Purdue Graduate), and I were denied ANY sign language resources and support from Purdue’s Speech and Hearing Clinic….our persistence paid off!!! Despite the “professional” advice from the clinic…we found the Deaf Community and learned ASL. I drove from Lafayette to the deaf school in Indianapolis four days a week. My daugher was 12 months. I drove home at the end of the school day with my eyes burning and dry. This was a LONG day often followed by migrane headaches but well worth every cent and every minute. My mind racing with excitement to teach the ASL signs to my husband after he would return home from work or Purdue classes. Each new sign was documented on the refridgerator as we were finally able to communicate with our baby girl! A connection was made and we started feeling closer as a family! My sadness towards having given birth to a deaf baby was no longer a daily struggle. She would be just fine as long as we kept her within the Deaf Community.
Our daughter is now 12 yrs old and functioning on a “normal” level academically, socially, emotionally and intellectually! She is a bright little lady with much to offer the world! She is happy and doing well in life despite what we were told from THE CLINIC at Purdue. (Chasing down a deaf employee in the halls of the clinic and having a meeting WITHOUT an interpreter paid off! I still have the notes from that meeting and the deaf man advocating ASL and not the implant.)
Ironically, this meeting took place in a waiting room in Purdue’s Speech & Hearing Clinic while the snooty secretary informed me of no sign language resources and passed judgement and “abuse” issues onto me for wanting to learn ASL as a way to raise our daughter.
I wonder how many other parents went through such discrimination before giving in to the “professionals” who seem to have it all figured out when it comes to hearing parents giving birth to deaf babies!
I hope that Purdue’s clinic will change their philosophy and mission…PLEASE listen to the Deaf Community and parents having walked the halls of the clinic seeking to learn sign language with OR without the use of the implant and speech. I was encouraged to purchase musical toys and put the volume on high with hopes that my daughter would some day hear any level on the auditory scale. Instead my husband and I raised our hands and learned ASL!
The “professionals” seem to be the ones that are handicapped!! A speech referral is easy to make! Driving to the clinic is easy! Being a deaf child and having to focus on hours upon hours of speech and then constantly expected to improve is not easy and is abuse! Expecting parents to shutup and follow the medical advice of speech therapy is unethical! If a mother of four raises each of her children to be disciplined the same way…resentment and ineffective results occur. Why? Because each person is different and has different ways of learning. Each person has ethical rights to be offered accommodations, respect, and love through acceptance. The same goes for the Deaf. Deaf people have the same emotions as hearing.
The Deaf Community is beautiful and no medical “professionals” will ever understand by remaining one sided.
***********************************
To “Who cares?”, please don’t say that Deaf are Nazis but maybe a few do act like one due from their past experience in the reality of AGBell/Associates one-sided ideology. Its the feedback from being victimized.
John Egbert
December 19, 2007
Thank you, Candace, for explaining about the difference between deficit thinker and deficit thinking. I am learning everyday to be careful how to use words.
What I had meant was the deficit thinking should be eliminated from DeafRead.com and we should empower each other the betterment in Deaf education and language for babies and children in schools.
Some of you still don’t know me but I was impress with Jean Boutcher’s comment in Ella’s vlog and how true that English is my second language which was forced upon me before I learned ASL. I would like for you to read what Jean said.
Before I copy and paste Jean Boutcher’s comment on this post, I apologize for creating a misunderstanding about censorship of someone’s blog rather than it should be their deficit thinking.
COPIED AND PASTED from Ella’s vlog by Jean Boutcher, Dec. 17th 2007 at 1:54pm…….
Having done the exegsis on all blogs and comments in regard to “Deficit Thinking”, I have come into a conclusion that those who have thrown stones at John Egbert have misunderstood the essence of John’s message.
More often than not have I read that hearing
people admit that they have misspoken — or miswritten, for that matter. Unquestionably,
those who have castigated John must have misused maybe more words in their lifetimes.
Is criticising John the way to purify themselves? Only Jova knows.
Albeit making himself clear every now and then that he is the paragon of AGB, those who criticise him actually hide their heads in the sand. Nowhere has John condemned CI, oralism, Cued. Very matter-of-factly, he still exercises the speech. Stay with me.
What John objects to in all of his blogs is AGB’s comdemnation of the use of sign language.
Is this objection reasonable? Verily! Look at ADL (Anti-Defamation League) and NAACP. An objection would raise should anyone ever make a racist slur against the Jewish people and the black people. They righteously do so. What happened when Mel Gibson expressed his negative thoughts regarding Jewish people? ADL objected! What happened when Don Imus did the same thing insulting the black cheerleaders. NAACP objected.
Why do some people forbid culturally Deaf people to object when hearies discourage sign language?
John is deaf. He was forced to learn a second language without learning his NATURAL sign language which is verily his birthright.
Not for a nanasecond do I believe that John really means when he said to censor. Back to square one, hearing people are sometimes stuck or search for a right word or are at a total loss with words and eventually use a wrong word. Even foreigners who can read and write in English are still stuck with a right word in a second language and would ask me, “How do you say it?” When consulted,
they would begin to realise that they did not mean what they initially said. Train go sorry? Forever? Ostracising John forever? Non! Non! Deaf people would be apt to ask if a blogger would care to clarify or elaborate and would, thereafter, quickly and readily understand deaf people who are stuck with words in a second language. What John really meant in his blog (12/16/07) was that he wants AGB to fully accept sign language as the birthright of deaf people.
In the closing, it is quite taxing to see
some people accuse culturally Deaf people
as “deaf fanatics.” Au contraïre, they are
not. They merely treasure, value, and defend
Deaf culture and ASL. Are the French unreasonable for objecting when American-
English businessmen attempt to colonise or
bastardise the French language by advertizing “Le Car” instead of “La voiture”? Certainly not. Therefore, the
French Minister of Culture righteously
defended the French language by fining an
American businssman. The same can be said
about deaf people.
December 16, 2007
At the 2008 DeafRead Conference in San Francisco on February 2nd, I think that the Vloggers and Bloggers should have a discussion about removing the Deficit Thinkers and ban them from DeafRead.com.
Would you think NAACP allows articles or blogs that makes fun of African American people???????
And I am not the only one that have concerns about those deficit thinkers, many have complained about these sickos too.
DeafRead needs to step up and remove those Deficit Thinkers and those Deficit Thinking people can create a blogsite of their own, DeficitThinkers.com.
Should someone have a poll and see what the faithful DeafRead.com Blog/Vlog readers feel about the parasites deficit thinkers before 2008 DeafRead Conference?
Say what your opinion about this.
John Egbert
December 13, 2007
We should demand equal interview time with “In The Loop with iVillage” about ASL for Deaf Babies too!!!
This is from “In The Loop with iVillage”. It is an interview with AGBell connections and is a big media play by AGBell.
The interviewer is Bill Rancic who interviews the Coordinator for Child Voice AVT Program, Wendy Adler first and then the Audiologist Carol Flexor next.
Tami Hossier, one of the core leaders of DBC has translated it as best as she can for you since there are no captions. Tami have added a comment.
We think that you need to bombard them with comments.
See this Video;
http://video.intheloop.ivillage.com/player/?id=170715#videoid=170715
And read below what these people are saying in this interview;
Bill Rancic: Do you know hearing loss affects over 12,000 babies a year? That equates to 33 babies per day That makes deafness one of the most common birth defects out there.
Many parents think that having a deaf child means sign language and a life long up hill battle. But this generation of deaf children is about to change. when they learn to listen and talk.
Wendy Adler: (Coordinator of Child’s Voice while they show the school and the children)
Child’s Voice is an Auditory Verbal Therapy Preschool. We do not use sign language and all the children here have hearing aides or cochlear implants We teach them to listen and talk using their residual hearing and decipher and format this into language then sounds to words and words to sentences then complex sentences then conversation. The class size is small with only 4 or 5 children per class. This allows the children to have more optimal time for listening and talking and turn taking. The children are constantly moving and getting therapy in a typical preschool setting.
What stands out in my mind is when parents come into the school holding babies in their arms and are still dealing with a child that is deaf and they are completely lost. Then later seeing them go through the Parent-Infant Program and the child become 6 or 7 year old children and graduate and who will be okay to enter the mainstream. And to see them after their graduate giving a speech in front of more than 100 people with pride and confidence that we have built for these children
Bill: Welcome Carol Flexor who is an audiologist. Wow this is incredible. How is it possible for talking and listening to happen?
Carol Flexor: (Audiologist that is interviewed by Bill)
Thank you. Oh yes it is phenomenal The deal is we hear with the brain. The ears are just a way in. Historically with hearing losses the ears kept sound from getting in the brain to develop critical auditory centers. But in this day and age we have incredible technology such as digital hearing aides and Cochilear Implants that allow access to the brain. Then we work with Listening and Spoken Language Specialists some are schools, private practice, audiologist, educators, AVT and working with these Spoken Language Specialists who coach and guide parents to have their children learn to use the hearing through the technology to listen and talk The outcome possibilities for today’s children are phenomenal.
Bill: For parents at home what should they look for in their children like when they are babies 3, 4, 5 months old it is hard to gauge. .. when do you take your child to be tested?
Carol: The good news is that thanks to legislation was passed in 2000 the Universal Hearing Screening or Early Detection Hearing Intervention program was set up. Now 95% to 98% of all newborns are screened for hearing loss in the hospital. People at home look for having their babies hearing screened. However, hearing loss can develop later in infancy and childhood and signs are if the infant is not responding to sound, not jumping to sound, not looking at the mother’s voice.
Bill: Some people write that off as a baby, he is playing around, and attention spans of babies just not paying attention.but in fact it could be a hearing loss.
Carol: One resource might be for families to look at <http://www.AGBell.org>www.AGBell.org . That website has a lot of information on what to look for in children’s growing auditory behaviors and how to look for a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist. The point is if families think there is a hearing loss find an audiologist because getting sound to the brain early and stimulating early is what leads to those advances in auditory centers in the brain. Don’t wait.
Bill: So it all about Early Detection. With early detection your child could have a very normal life with all the advancements in audiology.
Carol: Yes
Bill: What are the other signs? I know not responding immediately. Are there other signs that parents should be aware of?
Carol: Yes if the child does not wake up.when there is loud noises.. Not all babies do wake up but that is one thing to look for . Another is there are different alerting signs when a baby hears such as eye widening, eye searching, eye gauge so there is a response. Infants are active responders and listening experiences in infancy forms the basis for language development and literacy development in all of our children not only those with hearing loss.
Bill: Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Now everyone is in the loop. To find out more about these amazing techniques go to ivillage.com and click on “In the Loop” Advancements in Audiology Check out “Ways to Learn Speech” and the latest advancements and technologies from the Alexander Graham Bell organization plus calm your little one with Graco’s soothing peaceful sounds… and find out what it is like for deaf child to learn to speak. We will be right back.
The End..
Comments:
Tami
(December 12, 2007 07:47 PM)
I am very shocked that Bill Rancic would say that using Sign Language causes life to be an up hill battle. It is obvious he does not know how many people he insulted by saying this and how inaccurate his statement was. I would hope that this show would give equal representation to the people who are affected most by hearing loss and that is the Deaf Community. The Deaf Community is made up of all types of people just like the Hearing Community and a large majority are extremely intelligent, accomplished signing professionals. Not only that but the Deaf Community is accepting of anyone no matter if they are hard of hearing, profoundly deaf, have a cochlear implant, use hearing aides, etc.
My daughter is 22 years old and is Deaf. Our family is hearing. We are very thankful for American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and the Deaf Community. Deaf children, regardless of the speech and listening skills they develop in life, grow up to be Deaf adults. No matter how many assistive devices they have, they will not have “normal” hearing. When their hearing aides or cochlear implants are out or turned off for the night or they are swimming or playing contact sports, they will be Deaf.
We have never felt our daughter was impaired or disabled. We accept her fully as a very intelligent and successful young woman. She graduated from the Indiana School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. Both are wonderful Bi-lingual/Bi-cultural schools that respects English and ASL as separate languages but equal and respects the Hearing culture as well as the Deaf culture. She had more opportunities than my hearing daughter had in the public school system.
AGBell, on the other hand, has teamed up with the Cochlear Implant community, audiologists, doctors, and the Auditory Verbal Therapy Programs and is spreading the myth that signing is inferior to listening and speech and that literacy cannot be achieved through ASL. This is absolutely UNTRUE! AGBell has caused so many children to grow up to become angry as Deaf adults who later find ASL and the Deaf people and can’t believe that they were not allowed as children to learn to sign. Most of the oral children in the mainstream lead very solitary lives. They do not fully participate in classroom discussions due to group conversations happening too fast or interpreters that are not qualified or certified. They basically end up having very few lasting friendships if any at all. So these children appear to be normal in that they can speak and have gained enough survival skills to appear as if they are following conversation. AGBell is made up of mostly hearing parents, hearing audiologists, hearing cochlear implant doctors, and hearing AVT experts. Do you see a trend here or should I say “hear”.. AGBell has done a lot of damage over the course of 100 years in the lives of the Deaf and their families and the course of Deaf Education.
Deaf infants and children deserve access to language from the start. All Deaf infants and Children are visual and all their information when they are born comes through their eyes. They have a right to American Sign Language from the start. They also have a right to use other assistive devices or learn to speak and listen if they have the skills and the desire to do so.
It is way past time for the media and other professionals to start asking Deaf people what they want for themselves instead of trying to “fix” what is not broken. Banning ASL for Deaf infants and children has never been the answer.
Other commentors…
1. Rachel Harold
2. (December 12, 2007 06:43 PM)
3.
I have a son that was diagnosed with a moderate to severe loss at two and a half years of age. I felt like was walking around in a bad dream for about 7 months because I was just so devistated.. We did oral early intervention and mainstreamed him into the public school in Kindergarten. He went all the way through high school, always with the support of a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Educator as an advocate for both of us. Today he is in the Busness school at Arizona State University. I can’t tell you how all of his achievements make me feel but if you have every felt like shouting good things from the roof top…..you will understand.
1. Gwen
2. (November 6, 2007 11:06 AM)
3.
I can’t imagine a child without speech in this day, and age with all of our technology, but yes it is a families choose. I am the parent of a 13 year old who received a implant when he was 3. He could have received it at 18 months, but it took me almost 2 years to learn as much about it as i could,
And thanks to Dr. Nancy Young and the way her implant team works with counseling, and support groups we were very well prepared. To Martbeth the mom of the 5 month old, get in touch with your health department for a parent infant program,
1. Laura
2. (October 30, 2007 01:38 AM)
3.
As a mother of a Deaf child I appreciate the technology that is out their today. I do believe that this is not the only path for a family with a Deaf or Hard of Hearing child. Many children with hearing loss lead very produtive lives and have every opportunity if they do not aquire speech. This is one of the many metodologies out their but, not the only one and it is not always a fit for every family. Not every implant is sucessful and many times families are pushed to make a decision before they have all options presented.
1. Patricia Schaeffer-Dresler
2. (October 29, 2007 11:46 AM)
3.
Thank you Dr. Flexer for the most awesome five minutes! I am forwarding this on to the professionals taking our class on CI’s, our WV Chapter of AG Bell members, our WV Cochlear Implant Task Force, and so on. I am so proud to be a member of AG Bell, and to be part of this revolution in assisting children with hearing loss to listen and develop spoken language! Congratulations to everyone who worked to get this program done! Patricia Schaeffer-Dresler, MA, Early Intervention CI Specialist
1. Jennifer
2. (December 13, 2007 01:48
3. As a Deaf adult who grew up in mainstreamed setting using hearing aids, I am very disappointed to see this video promoting cochlear implant and other technology devices. While ignoring the facts of the Deaf community who has been denied access to sign language, the deaf adults’ voices are continued ignored by the medical professionals who have a hidden agenda to earn thousands of dollars to insert medical devices in their deaf patients! Nothing is about us without us! Parents, my advice to you is to meet with the deaf adults who use sign language. You will meet deaf adults’ regrets they were not given the opportunity to have sign language while growing up. I ensure you will see deaf adults using sign language do not actually face “uphill battle” The uphill battle we face is the society’s lack of acceptance of our hearing loss and sign language. Again, nothing is about us without us!
From John Egbert;
What do you think of this?
Should we demand to have equal air time to explain how important is for a deaf baby to start learning sign language(ASL) at the age of 6 months like thousands of hearing babies across the country with positive results?