Deaf Bilingual Coalition
Dear Friend,
For years, the deaf community has felt the aftereffects of the stunning blow felt in Milan, Italy in 1880. At an educator’s conference there, hearing educators, including Alexander Graham Bell, voted to ban the use of sign language in deaf education. In the decades since then, deaf people have been forced to learn how to speak - often unsuccessfully - instead of learning a natural, visual language such as American Sign Language (ASL).
Now, as more and more hearing babies learn sign language, deaf babies continue to be denied the rich information found within learning ASL. The Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC) has decided to hold a peaceful demonstration at the AG Bell summer conference, held in Arlington, VA, on July 27-28. However, this is just the first of many steps we will take to bring attention to the harmful effects of denying deaf children ASL.
As someone who was born to hearing parents in 1947 and exposed to oral education early on, I am now able to speak as clearly as any hearing person. Yet I am in the minority: only less than two percent of the deaf population can speak well, and I experienced a lot of hardships in learning how to speak. Today, as a deaf father of two deaf children, I recognize the value of ASL - and have seen how my children have grown up without the frustrations and setbacks that so many of my peers and I did in trying to learn to speak.
AG Bell, the organization, was founded in 1887 to promote Dr. Alexander Graham Bell’s belief that deaf children should not be taught the use of sign language. Its website states that it is a non-profit organization dedicated to being “a lifelong resource, support network and advocate for listening, learning, talking and living independently with hearing loss.” However, the DBC believes that this should be changed to also include ASL. Even hearing babies have shown the benefits of learning ASL early on, something that many deaf people have known for centuries. The DBC aims to reverse this trend of teaching deaf babies only how to speak, but this is not easy. AG Bell receives significant financial support from the Volta Bureau. The Volta Bureau’s bylaws, written by Alexander Graham Bell himself, state that if AG Bell ever promotes the use of sign language, it will cease to receive funding from the Volta Bureau.
The DBC believes that deaf children deserve a cognitive language and better education with bilingual programs. The deaf community can no longer accept AG Bell’s discrimination against ASL. Just as there is a place in our community for the oral method, so is there a place for cognitive visual language. And that’s where your support comes in. With the California Association of the Deaf as our fiscal agent, your donations will help the Coalition promote every Deaf child’s right to sign.
As a non-profit political and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting Deaf human and linguistic rights, the California Association of the Deaf 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.
Sincerely,
John F. Egbert, Founder
Deaf Bilingual Coalition
EgbertPress@mac.com
Posted on July 22nd, 2007 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized
Did you make up that 2% figure? I have not found that anywhere in the literature. Please provide a citation. Also, what is a “cognitive language”? Did you make up that phrase too?
John,
Thanks so much for the link! Done with paypal. And also thank you so much for the hard work on researching!
Elly,
I have been going to speech classes til I was 14 years old and I cannot recall who, but a speech therapist told me about the 2% range.
About cognitive language, no, I did not make up that phase.
it means,
1. Cognitive processes influence learning.
2. As children grow, they become capable of increasingly more sophisticated thought.
3. People organize the things they learn.
4. New information is most easily acquired when people can associate it with things they have already learned.
5. People control their own learning.
John
Why is it that AG Bell can’t have their own opinion without having a protest charging at them. If you must protest, that’s your choice but where rhe heck have you been since 1947. Did you just wake up and realize this is what AG Bell philosophy was?
I also, do not recall ever seeing AG Bell claiming that ASL should NEVER be taught to children. You cannot continue to twist the subject to convince yourself you are right.
There are plenty of schools who cater to using ASL. Send your children there if that is your choice.
Isn’t America great, people are allowed to make thier own choices based on thier own beliefs.
Choices? All hearing children are expected to learn and use English in America. Is that a choice for them? Why should it be a choice for deaf children to learn and use ASL?
There are many, many people in this country who do not know or have the faintest desire to learn english. That is thier choice.
Choices for children lie in the hands of the parents of THIER children. You see, these are thier own, not yours. Not the governments, not Gallaudets and not AG Bell’s.
Some parents do not make the right choices for thier children, this is life. It is not up to you to decide which of these CHOICES they should make.
There are five people in my family who are deaf including myself who communicate orally and have done so in ages ranging from birth until the age of 76.
Altrhough some of us sign it is not our main means for communcating wjth the deli clerk when making our order. These were choices made by my made by my deaf mother, thank goodness!!!
Myself have to admit that I had been so lazy oral bummer for too long and not involve in Deaf community. It’s time not to leave AG Bell alone. It’s time for to be more inclusive with the Bilingual options!
So there you go Amore. You had both, signing and speaking, just like I did so we are fortunate having this exposure.
Are you saying that it is ok to sit back and allow deaf babies not to be exposed to signs while you have the luxury of being exposed to both languages?
What about the concept of “It takes a village to raise a child”? Yes, you are right that it is not a matter of mine, yours, or whatever. However, we have the right to express our concerns especially that as a teacher I am still seeing that deaf children who have been exposed to oral only (without signs) are not showing strong academic success as opposed to those who came from signing families with bilingual background.
It is time to educate, amore, not to sit back.
I must correct myself, only two people in my family know any sign. The only sign my deaf mother knows is LOVE. She raised us all orally however two of us picked up sign in our early twenties because we teach.
My two brother and sister went through mainstream schools and graduated from well respected universities without the need of ASL.
I am certainly not against ASL. However, I am grateful my strong deaf mother made the right choices for her children!
Let me clarify one more thing about choices:
Yes, parents have the choice to prevent their deaf babies from being exposed to ASL, but that doesn’t mean we have to approve of their choice. That doesn’t mean we should refrain from criticizing them for making that bad choice.
Amore, I am also grateful that my strong deaf mother made the right choices for me and my deaf siblings that we are able to function in both worlds. It looks like we both agree that it is great to have the best of both worlds so why not continue to support this mission together?
We need to remember one thing, there are too many Deaf children and parents of Deaf children who do not have access to internet to learn what we are discussing. If they have an access, it is either that they are not able to participate because they do not have language, live by lies and false hopes by AGB, or too afraid to try new thing, sign language!
Therefore we, the commenters, vloggers, and bloggers, are one of most LUCKIEST Deaf people alive on this earth. It is easy to argue and argue with some simple issues - ie: 2% of Deaf people can speak fluently. To me, SO WHAT! I work in Deaf school, interact with many Deaf grassroots, and met many mainstreamed Deaf students, there are too MANY of them being left behind just because they are NOT able to learn to speak. Once they fail to learn to speak/hear, they are dumped to a mobile-type classroom with teachers who cant even sign!
If I remember right, Jared Evans explained on his site that we are only 5% who get involved with discussion on blogs/vlogs. Therefore we need to think and look at bigger picture that it is a serious problem out there rather than arguing over some statisics, it is already very clear that too many Deaf children are failing from Oral programs and are left behind without education.
I look forward to more vlogs and documentaries to show you the true failures of Oral programs. They will come forward and tell the truth! We shall be seen and heard!
Barbara DiGi,
You say we should criticize parents who choose to have thier children taught orally for making a BAD choice. With that said,you would be criticizing my mother who chose to have her children taught and grow up and live orally.
My deaf mother and hearing father did not make any bad decisions when it came to thier children. I guess if you would consider having all graduated college, two with doctorates, as being a bad way for your children learn and grow you would be right.
If it works for a for a person or group it cannot be a BAD decision. Because you have a perception or opinion that it was a bad decision doesn’t make it a reason to ridicule people who may have other opinions. For that matter distrupt thier learning process by protesting and distrupting them.
Amore,
To make it clear, Barb’s comment is correct based on factual information.
Removing ASL from deaf children’s life is a bad choice.
Why, because, there are so many deaf people (formerly oralists) have faced so many problems and have bad experiences. We know that very very few of oralists have mastered their skills. That applies to skills not natural development. For example, there are very few artists who have skills in making arts. Few salesmen have skills in selling products. That has nothing to do with natural development. Please don’t confuse them.
All deaf children deserve to be exposed in two languages (ASL/English). Then they can make their own choices in the future.
We have rights to educate people about our serious concerns regarding AGBAD’s one-sided approach toward Deaf children’s education.
Deafchip
I get it !!! My parents made BAD choices in getting me what needed in order for me to obtain my degree, masters and Phd. I am not confused about Barb DiGi’s comment.
I am still not convinced Ag Bell has a completely one sided approach either.
You don’t know of the oralist who have mastered the skill because they are not complaining. We are living our lives without the need of protesting and disturbing peoples beliefs. We get along in the real world, sometime stubbing our toes but always moving towards our dreams.
You can go through life dying or you can go through life living, that is YOUR choice!!
amore,
I have mastered the skill of being an oralist. And also mastered the skill of being an ASList, both very fluency. I realized about ASL when I was 18 years old. I married a deaf woman and have two deaf children. I live in a world of ASL and work in the world of hearing.
Now what Barb DiGi had said is very true. If you don’t like it, you can start a blog or write a blog on this Deafread.com, but don’t go and get upset about the rationality of Barb DiGi or other comments.
I am disappointed in you about the way you write despite of having a Phd!
John
Amore,
I congraluate your success on your degrees what you worked for. Your success is rarely to the world. One problem is I don’t understand what you don’t understand what the children being treated today. Will you care to explain why the hearing experts suggest that the hearing BABIES should sign ASL at first for better communication with the mothers while the experts say that the deaf BABIES should not sign and need to hear and speak first? Why don’t they let them nuture their own developments? My honest to you that I was poor in english langauge then I went to Gallaudet. I learned so much on English but not finish for me. I still starve to learn more on English. My experience was forced to learn on speaking with no gain on more knowledge on other subjects. Why waste time on AVT? I could have better education if no force.
You need to seek help Mr. Egbert. Going through life full of anger and hate is just pitiful.
Dear Amore,
More power to you! It is so much easier to try and tear something down, rather than try and build something up. If these people believe so strongly in ASL for deaf babies, what are they doing to help hearing parents besides criticizing them? Why don’t they work with NAD to set up networks of mentoring programs for hearing parents, or free sign language classes?? Ah, but that would require work, and it’s so much easier, and apparently more fulfilling to just complain.
Amore,
I think you don’t get my point. I am not talking about you. I am talking about a huge majority of deaf children who have been failed by oralism program. It is wrong for parents to take gambling on their children’s life. Same concept with casino. People hope to win but no guarantee. That is dangerous to children.
You are very lucky but you have to think about other children who did not make it. Deaf children need SAFETY NET. Safety Net is BiBi approach.
Your comment toward Mr. Egbert. is unacceptable.
Deafchip
Amore and Elly,
You two really do have a problem and need help
God bless you both,
John
Amore,
It seems like you are taking my statement very personally. I am not talking about you who happen to represent a small percentage of oral success but about a majority of oral failures that their parents had made a BAD choice unfortunately.
I noticed that deaf orals who raise their deaf children are more successful than hearing parents of deaf children orally. Why? It has to do with acceptance. They moved on without having to resort the process of grieve. Your parents know what deaf is like and automatically accepted you and your siblings regardless of your hearing loss.
We are entitled to our opinions based on our observances and experiences and it is important for all of us to respect each other. Some of us may think abortion is bad and some of us don’t, it goes the same when talking about captial punishment, smoking, riding on motorcycles, etc. It is just good to try to understand each other’s views on why they think it is bad or not but it doesn’t mean we have to agree but still have to respect.
What you said to John reflects your immaturity and lack of respect since it tells me that you are having a hard time to discuss your views in a rationale way without having to resort on making insulting remarks to anyone. I just frown on that.
You need to understand that it is not about you I am talking about, it is about a majority of oralists who have suffered and been scarred with the lack of the exposure of ASL. AG Bell played a role in this cause historically.
We are very concerned for deaf babies having access to a natural visual language, ASL, that is and we have a right to spread this awareness that they should not be denied to ASL. We are not against the idea to remove opportunities to develop speech and listening skills. All we want is to ADD ASL in their lives that has been widely used by deaf people. Who is the one being biased here?
In this case, it will be my last response to you since I feel that this is not becoming a healthy dialogue with you until you apologize to John and for you to calm down.
Amore -
Excuse me, I attended Clarke School (Oralism) then attended CSDR and CSDF (manualism). Having said that I found a mixed signal you threw in here.
I find it hard to believe with someone like you with a PhD not being rational on this and finding yourself a minority here where just about everyone is pro AsL choice. From what I’m seeing here, you’re shooting blanks and your points you were trying to make are groundless. I suggest you get your FACTS together before mothering off at someone here.
No need to rebuke here. We know what kind of person you are.
I hope it’s not too late to learn about deafhood in you.
Even here, you attack individuals rather than proposing solutions. Even you Barb are trying to analyze Amore who seems quite happy and successful, rather than suggesting just how you plan on exposing all the deaf babies whose families have chosen the oral route to ASL. Just talking does not make it happen, and that’s all I see. If you all put as much effort into actually working with parents as you do with your useless t-shirts with slogans, you might benefit someone, but again, I see no plans. Lots of your sob stories… nothing concrete or constructive. Sadly, so typical.
Mr Egbert conveniently deletes responses which hit hard at home. When a person is that controlling where he feels threatened by reason that’s what he does. This may require help.
Barb, maybe you support this tactic, I find it immature and self serving.
It seems OK for you to have an opinion but no one else. This also a controlling issue.
Remember one thing, “when you point one finger at someone, three are pointing back at yourself”.
I expect Mr. Egbert to delete this message. Sad and typical.
Amore,
It’s OK for you to insult John Egbert by telling him that he needs to seek help. But it’s not OK for him to insult you. Is that what you’re trying to tell us? John has every right to delete comments that are not suitable to be posted for others to read. All of your comments are flawed.
Amore and Elly,
How can we help you stop your misbehaviour?
Deafchip
First, I am hearing and I feel sorry and bad for all deaf babies, children and adults in education. Even with or without CI.
They are not normal whether you know or not. I used to work with oralists and they were noise polluters and they were not too smart. I met many deaf using ASL who were mute, but they were much better off than oral deaf. You see, more and more people are accepting these mutes with strong brain and true identities than noise-producing pollutants like parrots. Or you might think, are oral/ci people fake?
Feel sorry,
Great, blunt comment! Some deaf people might would feel offended by what you call us “noise pollutants”. I’m profoundly deaf, but I can speak well. However, every so often, I happen to mis-pronounce a word in front of a hearing stranger and he/she ends up laughing or giggling. That’s when I get really embarrassed and sometimes offended.
What you’ve had said in your previous comment is very true. 99.9% of (I’m just exaggerating, but I mean “most”) d/Deaf people, implanted or not, can’t speak as well as hearing people do.
Therefore, you’ve made an excellent point about us being noise polluters.
[…] For further information, go to John Egbert’s sites- http://www.agbell.info and http://blog.deafread.com/egbertpress or <http://blog.deafread.com/egbertpress/2007/07/22/deaf-bilingual-coalition/>http://blog.deafread.com/egbertpress/2007/07/22/deaf-bilingual-coalition/. […]
Hello everyone:
An deaf oralist myself here: I grew up as an oralist and learned ASL when I was 19 years old, while attending the University. It didn’t take me long to learn ASL… it seemed natural to me. My mom was right when she told me that I would learn “sign language when you grow up”… I was 8 years old at the time! My parents thought teaching me oral then learn sign language would be of a benefit. That was their choice back then. No regrets here. But let’s focus on the actual issue on hand: teaching ASL to babies.
I am surprised how this topic got sidetracked when the actual issue is about teaching DEAF babies ASL before being exposed to the mainstreamed language - English, of course. So it goes back to encouraging parents to make a choice to help with the development of their deaf children.
I do find an irony in teaching ASL to HEARING babies and not teaching ASL to DEAF babies. The doctors, speech therapists, and other professionals should use common sense and allow ANY baby learn ASL… no restrictions at all. It may benefit every child in North America. I do not see anything wrong with sharing your views with another organization as long as it is a peaceful demonstration. Campaigning for DEAF babies to learn ASL is just great..
Why I support this move? I have some deaf friends who learned oral at a very young age and became frustrated and suffered some setbacks. Some of them are still scarring from that experience… but some of the friends, who had converted to ASL by their pre-teen ages, have done very well since then. I could go on and on with their proud ahievements, but they will probably kick my butt for this. Moving on…
So, I believe that a strong framework should be established to help educate the Deaf children… like the first step should be teaching ASL to deaf infants and then work from there. I am sure there are several school of thoughts and methods to help Deaf children.. but it seems like we all struggle with the issues for a long time. Having a Deaf Bilingual Coalition is great to have… good luck with the advocacy and you have my support, Mr. Egbert.
Feel sorry: it takes several hearing people including parents and co-workers to inform the deaf oralists/ CI users that they were making noises. The noise will eventually go away… I have been told several times when I was younger… and I think it helped. Today at work, they think I am too quiet…
Cheers!
to amore…
do not know whether you are contiune to read this, BUT, I grew up with hearing parents. They are good parents. They decided oralism was the best. Me? once I found some sign language at young age, I grabbed as much as I could, because it felt good to use the sign language. First of all, the parents were hearing and they talked a lot. I remember that, yeah. Whenever I asked them what they were saying in the group, they simple said, oh, that was not that important. Yeah, to me, I was not that important, too. So, I was not happy with their choice for me. I had no choice at their home. Not fair… Not fair…
Also, your mother is deaf. That is entirely different. I have seen a few oralists who kept up with oralism with their deaf children. Your mother knows the stuff all about deafhood!! Their children seemed to do better than us. yeah… that s for sure. Barbara DiGi is absolutely right about that…
I am totally for ASL AND deaf bilingual coalition.
deafk
Never was against bilingual approach. What I am against is strangers telling other parents how they should educate thier children.
End of discussion!
amore…
i see, my parents needed people like this group during my time. they thought speech or oralism was the way. they did not see any other option. that is shameful. so, that means they needed deaf role models. they needed to see bilingual approach, but they did not have the opporunity. okay? have a good life!!
deafk
There are many oralists are not able to participate with large group discussions. Often, that is the final straw for those people.
I once taught a deaf oralist ASL in my ASL class few years back. One evening he approached me and told me that he was fed up with hearing people. He has been an oralist since birth and he was about late 20’s (older than typical college student). He said that he can talk to any hearing people anytime he can. You would call him a “success” oralist. But he was very unhappy because often hearing people in business world, etc where they are busy and fast paced. In a meeting of 3 or more people, he would struggle to keep up with reading lips and listening to them.
He wanted to get involved with the deaf community more and approached me to find out how. It ended up that he applied and was accepted to NTID. Last I heard, he was happy and has found himself there.
Family members are usually more understanding with their deaf members who are oralists but once those people are in the bigger world, they would find more frustrations there.
For those who are so opposed to ASL, why are you so opposed to it? ASL does not slow down a person’s education. What is so awful about ASL? Tell me that.
amore…
I am not here to make remarks. I saw that your parents, not ASL nor Oralism, helped you to achieve in many ways. We need to look at statistics. So many parents have failed to help ASL or oral kids to achieve. Some school systems can fail them as well. Same systems can success them. Why? Children learn important impact from their parents or good teachers. Alot of children got so frustrated because nobody really care for them. They are hurt and angry. I empathize them. Let us not to be upset over some misunderstanding remarks. If you understand the term worldview from people with opinions and their experience, you would be fine and more acceptable. Try not be “I” and try be “We” for deafhood’s sake. Once again, we need to look at statistics that tells truth about the education issues for deaf kids.
May God’s Peace be with you and others.
Why does it have to be either/or?? Why can’t we teach all babies to sign, and then teach them to speak and recognize oral language to the best of their individual ability as they grow? The entire point to me is to COMMUNICATE and to ensure that all children have language to facilitate cognitive development. Visual or auditory, they need a language. IF they can have both, so much the better, but every child has a right to language at the youngest possible age, and for Deaf children that language in the beginning is visual not oral.
Arista - as you say, you are being “quiet” at workplace. What a smart brain you have. That’s what deaf mutes should have been in beginning. This is my point. They make their own noises when misunderstanding occurred.
AGB has unfortunately created a village producing many freak shows with these oralists making weird noises and breathing sounds through their speech have repeatedly been scattered. We feel sorry for them helping a sense of falsehood. Hearing parents, please tell your kids the truth what others think of abnormal speech and voices they may have. There are many critcisms among these AVT professionals (also known as strangers at AGB!), but no one wanted to be hurt.
That’s the truth.
Simply, AGB should implement sign language as a formal language in addition to English communication ASAP because I feel tired to feel sorry for these being manipulated. Both AGB and ASL members are no strangers! They need to embrace themslves to help kids. So be it.
Wow! You all are wearing me out with all of your comments! I love the dialogue, however and think it is much needed! Who am I? I am a hearing, speech-language pathologist/interpreter who has a Deaf niece. My passion is working with the D/deaf and I have been working with D/deaf and HOH students for almost 10 years.
Let me begin by giving kudos to Linden for the comment on the necessity that deaf children learn to communicate! That is a critical statement and I do not want it to be overlooked. I specifically typed my full title of speech-language pathologist, because I have been working with the deaf for years and depending on where I am (geographically) and how old the individuals are who I am communicating with, depends on the reaction I get! My first ASL instructor (interpreter prep program) was a 60-something year old man who hated me from day one when I told him I was working on my masters in speech path. His reaction was based soley on his past experiences. Which as you can imagine were negative (oral program where his hands were tied under his bottom to prevent him from signing at school). He would not even let me explain my point of view. However, my next Deaf instructor, who was in his late 20s, welcomed me! He also let me explain my premise that I am a communication specialist! Communication and fostering language growth are my primary concerns. I believe that all children need adequate access to language and communication. If they are Deaf, they need access to sign language! Period, end of discussion. I have worked with deaf kids for a long time and have discovered that no matter how intelligent they are, if they cannot communicate their wants and needs they are going to get frustrated and there will be repercussions to that frustration.
My practice is to support their parents informed decision. I make sure all of my parents are informed of all of the options available to their children, then support that choice. And as a sidebar, no choice in child rearing is wrong! Unfortunately, parenthood does not come with a manual! That choice was the best and right choice for that parent and their child at that time based on their knowledge and experience. Period! Different strokes for different folks! No right or wrong, just different! I am a different speech therapist!
Also, before I sign off: right now I work with middle and high school D/deaf students in the public school system, some who use ASL, some are implanted, while others are primarily oral, the overwhelming response that I have gotten from them is that bilingualiam is the best option out there! My ASL kids want to communicate better with their hearing parents/friends and my implanted kids are having an identity crisis, they don’t know where they fit! They don’t sign so they really can’t communicate well with the Deaf kids, and their speech is kind of mechanical sounding and not quite as clear as the hearing kids’ and sometimes they don’t hear what the hearing person said, bc of all of the background noise, so the hearing person gets frustrated with them! Its a catch 22! But my advise is for everyone to remember that no one is perfect, but we can make this world a better place if we accept others opinions as different, not right or wrong. As stated earlier, I think this conversation is great and its good to see the passion you all have for the future of the Deaf community! I’m with you 100% (total supporter of Bilingualism)! Finally, give my fellow speech therapists a break! They are only doing their job, unfortunately not all are as cool as I am, nor have had the training I have (interpreter training/Deaf niece/immersion in the community)! Finally, thanks for lending me your eyes! Take care and happy communicating!
I feel it’s important for this coalition to continue this work. May I suggest a few titles here?
Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate–The Essential Guide for Progressives by George Lakoff
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
Crucial Conversations–Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillian and Al Switzler Publisher: McGraw Hill
Although I’m 4th-generation deaf, native signer myself (with a CI), I agree with Elly on only one point–
(Her comments above: “Why don’t they work with NAD to set up networks of mentoring programs for hearing parents, or free sign language classes?? Ah, but that would require work, and it’s so much easier, and apparently more fulfilling to just complain.”)
What she’s saying we can work from the ground up.
I must stress the importance of public perception. These book titles plus Elly’s suggestion are related to public perception. We win when we show class in our passion.
regards
Ira
i want to add one more about public perception. This involves showing the general public that their god, Alexander Graham Bell himself had feet of clay. Once we get the public to realize that AGB himself was no saint, then we can shift their public perception onto our “platform.”
our purpose to demonstrate against AGBell conference since they WOULD NOT and NEVER WILL and DO NOT want hearing parents to teach ASL to deaf babies. The truth is hurt because deaf babies deserves to have bilingual. AGBell gives ONE choice….No ASL or Highway!
That is wrong. We encourage hearing parents to teach ASL to deaf babies to less frustrate and throw a tautram for not communicating better.
We DBC are fighting for deaf babies!!!
Hedy
Hello all,
The bottom line of this whole thing is “Comprehensible Inputs”.
Amore, you succeed today because your parents understood the importance of making information accessible to you. Your parents accepted you are deaf and they used approaches that are made clear to you regardless what language they used. THEY knew what it was like to be Deaf.
My two friends and I came from a totally different background- one is like you, deaf and oralism- so was his family. My other friend has CI and learned ASL at much later in life. I came from a deaf family using ASL. Three of us attended graduate school together and we all agreed it was the comprehensible inputs that we had at an earlier age. We even did a presentation together. We all succeed in life regardless what language we had but the fact that all of our parents made efforts to exposure us to information at an early age. My friend who learned ASL at much later in life went through a long and hell years of practicing speaking and listening English. My oralism friend had access to information such as phone signalers, doorbell signalers, etc. At dinner time, his family spoke one at a time. He had access to information. Today, both of them are ASL users. They both are teachers of Deaf children and fully support bilingual education of ASL and English. So am I.
So, Amore- what you re missing out the point is that so so so many hearing parents who has not been exposure to Deafness, would turn to professionals for help. Unfortunately most professionals also have not been exposure to both worlds. AGB have funded millions of $$ toward specific professionals which is why they often gave out one or limited options to hearing parents and that excludes ASL.
On the other hand, as a teacher of deaf children, it is always sad to see many children who enrolled in my school at a late age without any foundation of language. Unfortunately, many xxx ALL of them came from oral programs and many have failed CI.
I really appreciate parents who support the use of ASL even when their children have CI. I really do, because they gave them a language that they could fall on when oral is not working for them.
Many children were forbidden to learn or use ASL. When they did not success in their oral program and then now what? This is what I have seen in my professional field. I have taught children coming from this kind of background. One of my current students has failed CI T-W-I-C-E. Yes, you read right, twice. Now, his parents use ASL, even his brother. They have told me how remarkable progress he has made since he joined our school that advocates bilingual education of ASL and English. I spoke with many parents, and they often said they were not aware of ASL because of the professionals that did not share the information with them. Again, AGB were the strong advocate of this.
Therefore, this is what we are doing today. We need to make Bilingual Education of ASL and English information accessible to ALL parents of Deaf children. Let them be aware of options that they have. Let it to be known that Bilingual Education of ASL and English have not fail any child. Let them know that AGB is shielding some important information. Let them be known that their deaf child can success and it is a guarantee if their child were exposure to ASL as their first language, he/she will success greatly in English through bilingualism. We can guarantee this when oral program cannot guarantee this for all deaf children. Allow parents to learn that it is okay for their child to be Deaf. Let parents be aware of the facts that have been given to them and let them to make the choice that is the best for their child.
Sorry for rambling on soo long but it is how I feel based on my experience with students.
So, Deaf Bilingual Coalition- I support all of your actions and beliefs in this movement. Thank you for making this happen.
Hi John!
There is a new video up about the DBC rally at the AG Bell convention in Milpitas. It should be up on DeafRead soon, but for now, you can see it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDeARF6lSX8
Hope you like it!
- Linda