DEAF GIRL KILLED BY TRAIN IN TEXAS!
Not sure when this happened but Theresa Bulger have profoundly concerns about Deaf children “Prisoners of Silence”
Bulger is CEO of the Auditory Oral Foundation for the Auditory Oral School of New York (AOSNY) and director of OPTION School School Services. This job takes Bulger around the world. She also speaks to Legislators and Senators for new bills for Deaf babies with Early Intervention Programs to teach parents mostly auditory methods.
“I was doing all this socially-conscious work when I realized that money has power. Money does talk, and you can do more with money than you can otherwise, There is no mission if there is no money.”….Theresa Bulger said.
Read about the Deaf girl killed by the train in Texas, see this url,
http://www.oraldeafed.org/schools/aosny/lifestyles.pdf
More information about Option Schools;
http://www.agbell.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?p=AG_Bell_LAUSD_Collaboration
According to Theresa Bulger, it cost $800,000 for a Deaf child to learn ASL
Do you think we should give Big Hands for Theresa Bulger?????
I am appalled with Theresa Bulger about sign language.
She is a member of Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and seems to be against sign language!
Why do these people subtlety against Sign language, but have concern about deaf children anyway?
After reading her(Theresa Bulger) personality, it seems that money is her most concern!
Billy
Comment by Billy E. — December 21, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
I find it unnerving that there is no information whatsoever on this site about the true author of this blog. This blog has nothing to do with AGBell the organization and you are being deceived into thinking that this represents the organization.
This article doesn’t help the case of DBC at all, to be honest. I would much rather pay $30k for a cochlear implant and see if the child can communicate on a much cheaper scale than spending nearly a million dollars trying to teach ASL.
Uhm, this blog will be reported.
-Ben
Comment by Ben Vess — December 21, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
Ben,
Are you also involved trying to deceive the public that it will cost nearly a million dollars trying to teach deaf children ASL?
And that it is ok to gamble $30K on a deaf child into oral communication when you or AGBell have no statistics to show the success of the deaf child with cochlear implant at the age of 18?
My deaf child had a hard time and then learned sign language and gotten better since then.
I don’t know who you are but you seem don’t understand having a deaf child and then support having people like the audiologist to tell you what is best when they don’t know a damn thing about deafness except billing you for money.
Mr. Vess, Are you deaf? Do you have any deaf children or if any children at all?
Alice
Comment by agbellinfo — December 21, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
I’m just baffled by that statement - $800,000 to teach a child to use ASL??? I want to see EVIDENCE on how $800,000 would be spent on teaching ASL to a child.
Jen
Comment by Jen — December 21, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
I am appalled to learn about Theresa Bulger and her organization that promotes stereotype against Deaf Community. Her behaviour toward Deaf community is UNACCEPTABLE. She has taken advantage of one person to spread our her false information against Deaf Community. That is really way beyond my fathom. One of my relatives who was hearing was killed by train because the sound tricked him. The rest of others who were with him were injuried seriously are hearing. I cannot accept Theresa’s comment at all.
THeresa said it cost 800,000 dollars to teach kids ASL. That is farce
Comment by Deafchipmunk — December 21, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
Oh My God!
It is deplorable about Theresa Bulger and disappointed about who Ben is and his comment.
We need to stop this theory that sign language should not be acceptable.
Sharon
Comment by Sharon — December 21, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
Ben,
This AGBell.info post does not have anything to do with DBC.
John Egbert
Comment by egbertpress — December 21, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Mr Vess,
I am really appalled about Theresa Bulger using Miss Deaf Texas as an example of a person, “Prisoner of Silence”.
I think the parents should sue Theresa Bulger? Do you?
This is very sick!
And I am disappointed in you, Mr. Vess, for not having any consideration how Miss Deaf Texas’s parent feel about this. You should be shame of yourself.
Caroline
Comment by Caroline — December 21, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
Who is Ben Vess?
Another clone of Theresa Bulger?
My deaf child suffered enough already as it is. Please stop this stupidity to trying to make money with how to bring up our deaf children to grow up like hearing children.
My child suffered and my husband and I suffered too. Please stop this crazy ideas with Theresa Bulger.
Just please let’s accept our child as deaf, no transformations.
Oh My God! Just stop this craziness!
Please accept my child as deaf, there is nothing wrong with being deaf.
Comment by A Parent — December 21, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
Ben Vess,
Your logic is fuzzzzzzzy!
I am surprised at you!
Anon
Comment by Anon — December 21, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Ben,
On your comment,
“Uhm, this blog will be reported.”
Will you also report about this Ms. Bulger’s capitalizing on Miss Deaf Texas death for being deaf?
Chris
Comment by Chris — December 21, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
John Egbert,
You cannot disassociate yourself from DBC. Don’t try to do that.
This blog is very destructive to another organization, AGBell, for the benefit of DBC. No other organization will profit as much as DBC at the destruction of AGBell.
At least, be honest about that.
And finally, for you to insult me like that on my deafness. If it would make you happy, Alice, I am DoD with a Deaf sibling at Gallaudet.
It just so happens that Miss Texas was one of my sister’s good friends; so, lay off your assumptions about me.
I just addressed the transparency of this blog–if John feels it’s appropriate to deceive others of this blog’s true nature then John has no business criticizing others for the same deception.
Pity you guys refuse to see that.
I’m done here–so long!
Comment by Ben Vess — December 21, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
Ben,
It is a good riddance that you are done here!
I pity you as a very misguided DoD.
Good Bye!
Alice
Comment by Alice — December 21, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
Ben,
What about the transparency of Theresa Bulger’s capitalizing on Miss Deaf Texas death because she’s deaf?
You really have no creditability to speak for the Deaf Community, for Deaf children at all.
I am glad that you are done here. Please continue to walk away with your head down thinking that you feel good about only yourself.
Sharon
Comment by Sharon — December 21, 2008 @ 7:07 pm
I often hear that many hearing pedestrians hit by the trains or even cars. Why target that Deaf girl? My prayer goes out to the girl’s family and friends.
Comment by Diane — December 21, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
Ben
I can’t trust you after you stabbed Ella Lentz’s back.
You and your gang are jealous of Ella cuz she and DBC supporters walk the talk and work harder while you sit at computer and stab ASL people’s backs!
Get lost!
-Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous — December 21, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
Look at me. My hearing cousin was killed by truck-trailer when he walked across the street during he chatted with his 3 friends around the midnight, Everywhere in the country was so quiet. I still not understand why can’t he hear the truck-traler was on the way. It is really ridiculous to pay $800,000 to teach ASL to each student. (rolling the eyes).
Billy
Comment by Billy — December 22, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
Hot diggity damn! Since when is it more expensive to use ASL? Har! Har! Har! It is the other way around where audists pull wool over hearing people’s eyes to the tune of megabucks….It is fraud perpetuated by audists since 1880.
I do not appreciate the comments about texas girl. I am not sure if it is another accident or something, but it does not give them excuse to take advantage of that tragedy to gain something. That is immoral.
Comment by Deaf Advocate — December 22, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
Wow - it shows how stupid Theresa Bulger is… she is obviously an audist in her true colors!! She is on the black list now! She is dumb that she is so ignorant about deaf community. It is the greed taking her.
Comment by Deaf Advocate — December 22, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
People don’t change for a better on both sides with audist attitude anyhow that is a huge problem going on with their prejudicial attitudes as usual.
NOTHING is NEW as usual. People are being so ignorant about our natural abilities that is the issue here.. It does NOT have to do with our Deaf ears. Sighs!
Comment by DeafSweetMind — December 23, 2008 @ 8:25 am
Ben,
I would like to tender my condolences to your sister on the loss of her friend, and I am not going to make personal attacks on anyone. That’s counterproductive.
I agree that it is unconscionable for the magazine, and Bulger, to point to a Deaf woman’s death by train as evidence that being deaf is deadly and argue the advantages of teaching Deaf children to “listen and speak”. I cannot denounce this enough. I find it interesting that when hearing people get killed by train by doing the same thing , it isn’t news, and yet when a Deaf person is killed in this horrible way, it’s NEWS. Like other commenters stated, they know hearing relatives or friends who have been killed that way.
I think there are two issues here… Deaf vs using Blackberry devices in unsafe situations. That was one. Another one involves a train engineer who killed 25 people in a train accident in Los Angeles because he was using a pager to text someone 17 seconds before the disaster occurred. So, when that woman pointed to “deafness” as being the cause of train deaths is to be deceptive and erroneous at best. At worst, it reflects a serious audistic perspective. What should be the focus is the use of Blackberry in dangerous conditions.
As for the article on Bulger, and the misconceptions presented in it, I would encourage you to re-read it with a critical eye, and spot the glaring flaws in the argument FOR the oral approach and why deaf children should be placed in the OPTION schools, especially in the blue section on page 47, and elsewhere. I plan to blog/vlog on this soon… if nothing comes up!!!
That said, it seems to me YOUR issue is related to the blog name itself, rather than the topic at hand. Perhaps you could ask to VP with John and discuss that particular issue?
Shel
Comment by Shel — December 23, 2008 @ 8:45 am
Deaf Hope organization in Oakland, CA used donation money to invite Ben—to use him as a role model for our community while they had seen how he treated DBC and others. Deaf Hope preferred not to use money on victims but expenses on Ben. I never knew that Deaf Hope supported his theory that he would much rather pay $30k for a cochlear implant and see if the child can communicate on a much cheaper scale than spending nearly a million dollars teaching ASL. Deaf Hope needs to overhaul from scratch and support victims who believed that the child is way better off to communicate in ASL. We can’t and will not tolerate myths for Deaf babies and children. Those people at Deaf Hope need to gooooooooooo! I wonder how donors feel now that they contributed $$$ to Deaf Hope who invite speakers that support CI for trial basis and not ASL for Deaf babies and children. It is happening in my Bay Area. My goodness.
Comment by Penny — December 23, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
I am surprised that so many writers are shocked about the article on Theresa Bulger. This kind of writing is nothing new in the world. People like Ms. Bulger have been carrying the sword of oralism since Alexander Graham Bell began using his fortune to promote the philosophy. It’s ironic that Bell’s intent was to invent a device to help his mother and wife hear and the telephone ended up as a major device of deaf oppression until Robert Weitbrecht and his team began turning the tables in the 1960’s. The Milan Conference of 1888 is the foundation of the work Ms. Bulger and thousands of others do in the US and elsewhere.
I too, have no idea where the cost of $800,000.00 to teach a child ASl can be found…I would certainly be interested in seeing a comparison with the cost of teaching a profoundly deaf child to speak. What does it cost per child to age 12 or 18 in the Auditory/Oral method at AOSNY, Central Institute of the Deaf, St Joseph’s School for the Deaf, Mog School for the Deaf and many, many other new AO schools that have sprung up in the past 10-20 years? What is the future psychic and economic cost to those children as well; how does one price that cost? The damage is incalcuable. How much time is lost, how much effort is wasted, how much grief is suffered, how much alieniation is felt, how much education is retarded?
Certainly there are spectacular success stories among those educated orally; I’ve met quite a number of them. [I was one myself, having a progressive hearing loss discovered in late elementary school and profoundly deaf by high school. I wasn't 'allowed' to be exposed to sign language for fear it would "contaminate" my education. I didn't discover ASL and the Deaf community until my mid-20's...a life-changing and life-saving discovery!] But, as an advocate I’ve met far more who have “washed out” of Auditory/Oral systems labled as failures. By the time they get into a Deaf school with sign language (be it ASL or signed English) they are frequently permanently behind in language competency so that they can never catch up to their non-deaf age peers. Every child has a right to language access from birth. The fact that the Auditory/Oral method closes out ASL, the most natural and easily accessible language for deaf children, is the major indictment against them. They are prejudiced against the very people they purport to be “helping”. Once the child is done with elementary school or high school they wash their hands of them. I don’t see any Auditory/Oral schools out there offering adult education programs to help deaf adults improve their writing and reading skills! When, as we all know occurs with a high percentage of AO grads, they begin using sign language the AO and AGBell people look down their noses and deem them unworthy of any further attention. Just look at how someone like Mark Drolsbaugh, a profoundly fluent writer, was tossed out of the AGBell exhibition hall with his children without any provocation for the simple reason that he is a Deaf adult who uses ASL without shame.
Wake up people! The Oralists/Audists are out there spreading their word to new generations of parents of deaf children, brainwashing them in their anti-Deaf, anti-ASL philosophy. Take action! Reach out to those parents in your community. Inform them of the wonderful community of Deaf people; the most honest, suppportive and loving people I know in this world. Embrace them and let them see the beauty and sense of using sign language with their children. After all, if it is good enough for their hearing children, it is certainly good enough for their deaf and hard of hearing children!
California Advocate
Comment by California Advocate — December 23, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Ben Vess was honest? Naaaah! Like a whore, he grabbed Deaf Hope’s money to fly to CA to see his lover. Once an oralist, always an oralist! He and his folks are negative of DBC. Example, stabbling Ella Lentz in his blog. Deaf Hope nevr explained why to Lentz. Why?
I won’t support Deaf Hope. Peruid! Sorreeeeee!
By the way, Merry Christmas and HNY.
Comment by Susan A- — December 24, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
[...] wondered what all the furore about Theresa Bulger was, and I wondered what Ben Vess what getting all upset about. I admit, I didn’t pay much [...]
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