I have a few thoughts knocking around in my head, so bear with me as I attempt to sort through this. I’ve been mulling over Der Sankt’s Treasure posts here and here. And then coincidentally I’ve been reading Forbidden Signs which notes that in the 1910’s and 1920’s a number of deaf people put together films of different people signing stories and such for later generations in part because they feared the wave of oralism would destroy ASL and they wanted to preserve it for future generations.

Der Sankt speaks of the movies he saw of ASL poetry and stories that were forever seared into his memory, his being. He also speaks of the stories told him by older deaf people about the anti-ASL abuse so many suffered in years past. These are stories of the deaf, these are our treasures. I am both impressed and amazed at the fortitude of so many people who kept these stories alive. Perhaps I’m late to ASL, perhaps I didn’t attend a residential school. I am still deaf, and this is still my heritage as a deaf person. Had I been born at any other time or place, I would have been there.

The fact that I was mainstreamed and taught orally, even that has a direct lineage back to the original efforts in the 19th century to educate the deaf. Because without the framework originally provided by manualist instruction, oralism would have never derived as a “next step” albeit ill conceived. This part of the story also belongs, as a caution to future generations about the assumptions and issues that cost so many people access to full and complete communication.

At the same time I realize that these stories are still ongoing. There are many stories and now for the first time, these stories can be spread far and wide via the internet. We all have stories to tell, we all have nuggets to add to the treasure at large. Not only are we creating more stories simply by vlogging and blogging away (and hell yes, the Deaf Ninja is a star jewel in this collection ), but we should also tell our own stories. Solitaires, oralists, HOH, CI, all of us. We all have, I think, something to contribute, and I believe that we owe it to succeeding generations to know who they are and where they come from and the many places we’ve been.

I would love to see the old 1900’s movies. I would love to see the movies Der Sankt speaks of. I have been told of these treasures and I want to see them too. And I’ve seen the treasures Der Sankt created for us. Do you think I will forget his story, sitting in front of a set of closed doors? Not on your life.