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?
November 28, 2007
Do parents make their own informed decision or forced by guilt from AGBell and their associates?
Read this comment that I got today which may be common to many parents of deaf babies…
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. I hope something good will come out of this weekend at Purdue!
May the force be at Purdue this weekend and touch a “professional” to change his/her way of belief.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
This statement is from John F. Egbert,
If any of you, as a parent that have similar experience as the parent above’s comment and would like to write your experience, please contact me,
http://www.deafchildrenandsigning.com/contact-us.html
Bilingually yours,
John F. Egbert
November 24, 2007
Deaf Bilingual Coalition Indiana Rally
at
The Indiana Conference on Listening and Spoken Language
Purdue University- Stewart Center- West Lafayette, IN on 11/30/07 07:30 AM
Attn: Teachers of the Deaf, Speech-Language Pathologists, Audiologists,
Early Interventionists, and Parents
Do you want more information on spoken language options for deaf children?
Do you wonder why some deaf children excel and others struggle?
Would you like your deaf children to read at grade level?
Have you run out of ideas and activities to target language objectives?
This is a conference you can’t afford to miss!
FOR CONFERENCE DETAILS, SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION INFO:
http://www.HEARINDIANA.ORG
Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC) Indiana Rally:
This is your chance to make a difference in the life of a Deaf Baby………….
What: Join this very important rally in support of American Sign Language acquisition for Deaf Babies and Children outside of the
“The Indiana Conference on Listening and Spoken Language”
http://www.agbell.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?p=Calendar_of_Events
on the campus of Purdue University.
Why: Deaf Infants and Children are being denied access to American Sign Language at an alarming rate. Alexander Graham Bell Organization supports Auditory Verbal Therapy Programs all around the United States promoting listening and speech without the use of sign language. Please go to this link and view the video:
http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2007/07/it-is-no-crying-shame-to-be-in-protest.html
Where: Purdue University, Stewart Center West, (adjacent to Grant Street Garage) http://www.purdue.edu/parking/pdf/Parking_Map_05.pdf
When: Nov. 30, Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Meet at the Indianapolis Deaf Club at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning or at Purdue in front of Stewart Center West at 10:00 a.m.
Contact Person: Beatrice Pfaff at bpfaff@tmail.com
(Please contact Bea to let her know you will be joining this rally and for more details.)
More information on DBC is available at this website:
http://deafbilingualcoalition.com/
MISSION:
“The Deaf Bilingual Coalition, (DBC) promotes the basic human right of all deaf infants and young children to have access to language and cognitive development through American Sign Language (ASL).”
PURPOSE:
“The main purpose of the Deaf Bilingual Coalition is to emphasize the importance of American Sign Language in social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive development pertaining to early visual language acquisition in deaf infants and young deaf children.
The secondary purpose is to make the general public aware of the prevalence of misconceptions and misinformation that devalues ASL.”
GOALS:
“The Deaf Bilingual Coalition is a community of deaf and hearing people whose goals are to promote language acquisition, social justice, and quality education through the awareness of ASL and its excellence in cultivating the critical intellect of deaf infants and young deaf children.
DBC will work to inform parents of deaf children, guardians, teachers of the deaf, schools, doctors, audiologists, government officials, businesses, and other organizations on the importance of ASL in early language acquisition for all deaf infants and young children.
DBC will work to spread awareness of the research that shows that ASL does make significant contribution to the development of literacy skills in both languages, ASL and English.
And lastly, DBC will work in collaboration with others to promote respect and understanding of ASL.
November 20, 2007
The Deaf community knows that the 1880 Milan conference is the root of most all the problems with our Deaf education system, and that the philosophy behind it acts to destroy our chances at being able to use a natural cognitive language (ASL).
Now here is what is so ironic about this one blogger who said;
“This Milan thing is getting really tiring and getting very old with you guys always looking back. Always complaining. And never looking at the plate you have in front of you today getting filled and never looking forward to the future seeing the possibilities grow before you. Just please knock it off about the Milan thing. Stop clinging to the past so much”.
Now it seems ironic that this same person wrote a blog just recently titled:
“ASL is Destroying Indian Sign Language”
No, I did not read all of his blog but just the title, “ASL is Destroying Indian Sign Language” was enough for me and maybe you too, to know what he was attempting to do..
Does this person employ a double standard? He is telling people one thing about how they should think and behave, but then is not practicing what he preaches.
Isn’t this part of the definition of colonialism?
AGBell and AVT is destroying American Sign Language right now today and will still be continuing to do so in the future.
Doesn’t the Deaf community have the right to discuss the effects of 1880 Milan conference, whose participants acted to sabotage American Sign Language (as does this misguided blogger wrote “ASL is Destroying Indian Sign Language” in DeafRead.com)?
I think that is an insult! And shame on this blogger for telling us to “knock it off about the Milan thing”.
John F. Egbert
November 14, 2007
Just what in the hell is wrong with ASL?
Why do AGBell. AVT, misguided hearing impaired people and other self-centered people have no respect for ASL?
There is one misguided HOH blogger(doesn’t want to be label deaf) that is trying to rationalize his name and identity by telling the public that sign language is “alright†for deaf babies at early age but should stop using ASL when the baby is about 3 years old because the vocal chord is developed enough to learn speech. Why stop a natural cognitive language(ASL) for any deaf babies?
This person is really misguided and we should not read his blogs!
Just why in the hell would you stop one language and learn another? Why not keep on learning two language, ASL and English or whatever for this deaf child?
Are these people against bilingualism?
Why did God create Deaf people?
Is it so that God can make judgment of those self-centered oppressors, the ideology of Alexander Graham Bell, Darwin and their admirers at the gate up yonder?
ASL IS ALIVE! And WILL NOT FADE AWAY!!!!
See you in Milwaukee
John
September 12, 2007
What is Dignity?
From Wikpedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity
Dignity in humans involves the earning or the expectation of personal respect or esteem. To esteem persons or things is to give them a high value.
It is like pride, it is the name of an emotion which refers to a strong sense of self-respect, a refusal to be humiliated as well as joy in the accomplishment.s of oneself.
Since Milan 1880, AGBell Association for the Deaf have been telling all of our parents (as well as my parents) that their deaf babies and children should never learn sign language at all and even tell the parents to turn their deaf children away from any deaf people using sign language in public.
And since 20 some years ago when AVT (Auditory Verbal Therapy) was formed, they also tell parents of deaf babies and children that sign language(ASL) is forbidden at all costs.
We all know that many parents want to have some effort to have their deaf child to learn to verbally communicate but many realize that in about ten to fifteen years later, their deaf children failed to achieve to speak clearly and their deaf children eventually switched to ASL(American Sign Language). A majority of the deaf children that learned ASL wondered why sign language was forbidden in the first place after realizing that ASL is GREAT!! Many deaf children have asked their parents why didn’t they try sign language and most of the parents had the same answer, “AGBell (or its cronies) told them not to use sign language at all.
Most of you have asked, “What is wrong with sign language(ASL)?” Why is AGBell out to destroy American Sign Language?……Why?……WHY???
It is because AGBell and its associates are scared that Deaf Community will convince the newly parents of deaf babies about American Sign Language, the only cognitive language that a deaf baby(child) can learn before the age of 6 and have full potential to be ready for schools.
Why is it that Deaf children of Deaf parents out perform in every aspect in cognitive sense than Deaf children of most hearing parents that don’t use ASL for learning?
The logical reason AGBell and its associates such as AVT have been telling parents about forbidding sign language is to create an image of the Deaf Community in a negative perspective in implyin ASL is a non-intelligent language. And the ramification of telling parents of deaf children about the negative perspective of American Sign Language typically spreads to their neighbor, work place and eventually the whole language.
This is why the society knows nothing about the Deaf Community’s normal life because AGBell destroyed our dignity.
This is the reason why DBC (Deaf Bilingual Coalition) was formed. We now have many superb Deaf leaders involved with DBC but it takes a community to win our dignity back.
DBC is working hard and their leaders are getting a lot of emails across the country everyday working on setting up the website, Vlogs/Blogs, and other projects that we need to coordinate. which we like to tell you but we know
AGBell is reading this blog and watching Deafread.com everyday. AGBell is very, very proactive trying to be keeping one step ahead of us and they have tons of money to destroy our dignity in order to keep American Sign Language disrespected in the society.
Yes, we need help with your ideas and also your donations so to be on the same level playing field level as the empire of AGBell/AVT.
As a non-profit, political and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting Deaf human and linguistic rights, the California Association of the Deaf on behalf of the Deaf Bilingual Coalition has generously made it possible for you to make your donations tax-deductible. Visit http://www.cad1906.org and click on “support for Deaf Bilingual Coalition” on the left side of the home page.
Thank you for your support! Let’s win our dignity back into the society that AGBell destroyed in the last 100 years.
September 9, 2007
BUT WHAT IS NEW?……..
ABGell robbed the Deaf people’s ASL by banning sign language in schools in the last 100 years.
Is it a blessing disguise that Matt Hamill was robbed? Did the judge assume that the Deaf community is too weak to speak up?
Why some weak deaf people and hearing oppressors enjoy broadcasting that the deaf leaders are “Deaf Militants and whiners†for protecting our dignity?
Are we too passive to speak up for our rights that oppressive people can easily abuse our dignity?
Yes, I was very pissed off that Matt Hamill got robbed but it could be the karma for some of the Deaf bashers thinking that the Deaf leaders should not fight for our dignity.
Stand up and be part of Deaf Human Rights Coalition group.
September 4, 2007
What is the probability that CI implant would work for a child? CI is not 100% guaranteed that a child would hear just like a hearing person would.
Ask yourself this. If you knew that the odds were that if you were asked to fly on a certain plane where there are 30% odds that the plane will crash at take off, en route during flight, or at your destination, will you get on that plane? At 30%, a substantial majority of people would say no thank you at the invitation to fly on that plane.
And yet there is a 30% probability that a CI implant would be successful and 70% of the time a failure?
How do you define a successful CI transplant?
Enough hearing to hear a jet?
Enough hearing to know that someone is talking?
Enough hearing that you can hear background noises?
Enough hearing to hear music?
Enough to understand speech?
That 30% probability needs to be defined further and terms of success needs to be spelled out.
I think that it is barbaric that parents would allow their child to have a CI transplant. It is a form of child abuse. Who speaks for the child? The child does not have enough life experience to tell you that a CI transplant works for them. Come on, a six month old baby?
Now who is more barbaric? A hearing person installing a CI transplant with a 30% or less chance of success and 70% or more chance of failure depending how a successful CI transplant is defined.
Or a deaf person who takes away their child’s hearing by surgery which has a 100% success rate and embraces the child to be included in their own community.
The truth is that most people - hearing or deaf - would agree that both approaches are destructive to the child, but who speaks for the child?
Barry Siebert
September 1, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
The following translation of a speech given in ASL by David O. Reynolds has been authorized by him for immediate release. This inspirational speech on the topic of implementing bilingual programs in the field of deaf education was made near the conclusion of an educational workshop at a conference now taking place in downtown Los Angeles:
DAVID O. REYNOLDS:
I have to say, you all are doing good work. And yes, it’s sad that for so long we’ve been stuck in a rut with the same thing happening over and over again. It’s been going on this way my entire life, the same old story over and over again.
Allow me to add this observation: When you’re talking about the deaf education system and systemic standards, I say that the education system itself is oppressive. Other people keep telling us: “Be super-careful. Make sure that…”–We’ve been trying to approach it the hearing way–”…make sure that you analyze the issue and present all available choices and try to adapt yourselves…”–But we’ve already tried this and we’ve been doing it this way for 50, or even 100 years or more, and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. We’re still losing!
We’ve got to take a clear stand and say that for deaf children there really isn’t any other viable alternative. It’s got to be ASL as the only main language, as part of a bilingual, ASL-English approach. That’s the way it’s got to be! Just those two languages. That’s it!
Enough with the endless debate and talk about how we should try to carefully adapt everything we do and how we should continue to worry about how we can avoid every potential conflict. We’ve already tried that.
I’ve been involved for over 20 years in deaf education as a teacher at the Indiana School for the Deaf where we implemented a radical change over to a bilingual curriculum. In Indiana I’ve heard that song being sung many times about how we shouldn’t be too radical or too aggressive in making changes. We tried everything, from being totally radical in some situations to being totally compromising in others, until we thought we had something that we could move forward with. But still, since 1990–that’s 17, almost 20 years now–It’s been a struggle. The program is strong, but the state government acts as part of an oppressive system, continuing to require change after change, and continuing to haggle and demand more and more data–and then even more data on top of that.
Really, honestly, that’s enough. We’re overflowing with an abundance of data, as well as information gathered, including many documented “horror stories” collected from deaf people as well as hearing people. We’ve got all kinds of information and data that’s been collected and organized.
It’s time to take action! How? By being very bold.
It’s good to be radical. It’s been said that it’s wrong to be radical, but actually being radical is very right.
I married Alyce and moved here to California with my three sons eight months ago. We were excited about the move and we love it here. My twin deaf sons are attending college here. But the same situation exists in every state in the union. We must all speak out to our various state governments, but we’ve also got to go to the federal level. We’ve all got to all get behind and support the NAD [National Association of the Deaf] so that we can put pressure on the federal government. I think the time now is ripe for that.
Things have been happening throughout the country. People are becoming more empowered. Don’t keep telling us that we’ve got to be super-careful and that we need even more research. That’s enough of that talk. We’ve got plenty of research. We must move forward and act!
[Sustained visual applause]
[End speech]
August 28, 2007
Hello, My name is Shirley Egbert. I have been sitting, watching and reading about languages. I am the person who is quiet. I agreed and disagreed with some comments out there without saying anything out loud.
My husband, John started Deaf Bilingual Coalition, I stand by him with FULL SUPPORT. I totally agree with this philosophy.
With my past experience growing up, I came from a large Deaf family of eight deaf brothers and sisters. My parents are deaf; I have used American Sign Language all my life. It was what we have always used to converse among each other. I have many hearing cousins who do not know or are eager enough to learn signs and a few relatives using signs. I remember very well with my family reunions, my brothers and sisters ended up gathering together, signing away our conversation alone.
My parents used to be in the photography business, taking pictures of weddings, graduations, and families, etc. My father developed and printed many pictures for people in town. My mother did all the oil coloring on pictures. They taught me well about communicating with hearing people via note writing. They told me to do that when they stopped by our house for all kinds of business communication.
I attended to a residential Deaf School in North Dakota. As I entered for the first time, I was shocked that they forbade signing. I asked my parents why. They said, “Just do what they ask us to do. It is the rule.†I spent practicing my speech too much in intermediate classes, sitting down with earphones on my ears, hearing the hearing teachers and DEAF students in classes speaking from books, learning NOTHING!! Luckily I could read words in books.
If one used signs, s/he would be punished putting inside coat closet, use black mittens on his/her hands, or teachers would throw erasers or chalks. I remember well how I hated using my speech. I could not speak “school†right and had to practice this a thousand times and still could not get right, but a teacher loved to hear my speech over again and again “ Pretty Pleaseâ€. For what! That teacher did not know ASL…. If she had this signing skill, she could have explained how I placed my tongue right for “K†for sKool.
Every week on Mondays, after weekends, we needed to write our weekend activities on the boards in English class. Teachers would correct our grammar without explaining why, because they did not know signs to help us.
I remember I had quite good English grammar skills comparing with other students in class. I did not understand why. I used to feel bad about myself, feeling that being hearing or least hearing people were better. Eventually I learned English on my own and realized that being hearing is no better than being Deaf. I began to feel disgusted at my former school for not having to “ teach, learn and lead†the deaf children to do likewise.
As I looked at 1950’s class picture with me in the front left, I noticed that they tricked us with “No Signing Contest†and marked out those who signed so in words they forbade signing in school! They forbade communication among students and teachers.
This not only happened to me but to my parents. So did with our children where there was too much emphasis on hearing. And today, it still does. Enough is enough. I support ASL for deaf babies and children—the Human Right to communicate and learn freely. So they can teach the others to learn and lead.
