Friends,

David Reynolds and I will speak at the NAD convention next week in New Orleans on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 8:30 am.

Please come to New Orleans and see for yourself about DBC and its mission. Our topic will be Deaf babies as well as the topic of state associations working with DBC state chapters across the country.

Also, we will be working together to create strategies to reach out to policymakers and people in decision-making roles who made decisions that affect the quality of education and rights of Deaf children and students.  EHDI is one area of concern that we can focus on, as well as the question of AG Bell, Association of College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACEDHH), and more.   

The DBC is a coalition that will continue to promote this new movement by taking actions which will help empower our communities everywhere by participate in rallies and educational workshops, all based on showing people the truth about Deaf children and language.

Bilingually Yours,

John Egbert

The main reason why many people in the world do not know much about Deaf culture is because of the wall that needs to be torn down.

Please read Deaf Chipmunk’s Vlog about “Tear down this wall”

http://deafchipmunk.com/?p=29

All the people in the Deaf community need to do their part to educate the society about American Sign Language and Deaf culture.

Hundreds of hearing ASL students now starting to read MindField book and read below about one of the many reaction papers students wrote;

Kim

ASL 3705

April 23,2008

MindField Paper

MindField is more than an entertaining novel; it is a piece of literature that brings up extremely important issues about societies reactions and views of deaf people. I personally enjoyed it, but found its underlying issues fascinating and worth thinking twice about.

There were several hidden messages in MindField. One hidden message I saw was the identification of organizations that do not support ASL. The Secretary of Education who supports oralism is like the equivalent of Alexander Graham Bell Association. These groups believe that the hard-of-hearing and deaf people should learn to lip read and speak English. This is not only almost impossible for all people to do, but incredibly ignorant. The secretary was the President’s advisor because she had a deaf daughter and was thought to know the “correct” way of dealing with newly deaf people. Because the President was poorly informed, he was unable to make a decision that was best for everyone. Instead, he agreed to put newly deaf people in camps to teach them to speak and lip read. This is exactly what the AG Bell association support. They think like the Secretary of Education when says, “The whole signing ‘thing’ was a joke, as far as she was concerned-the children’s hands and arms flailing about, struggling to make some sense out of some archaic three-dimensional dots and dashes-not only were they advertising their disabilities, they were acting like clowns.” This aspect of the book certainly influenced me. It made me much more aware of the seriousness of the issue and just how oppressive the AG Bell association can be. I was extremely offended that there are people who would suggest that “flailing your arms” is embarrassing. It seems particularly selfish to believe that English is the only means of communicate which is “normal” when it is only one of hundreds of different languages. Not to mention that those who sign ASL are bilingual because the English in its written form which far more than most hearing people can do.

One of the other hidden messages in MindField is society’s current perception of the deaf as disabled or in need of fixing. This is a problem today, not just a possible problem of the future that might happen if the events in MindField were to come true. In fact, many believe that cochlear implants, hearing aids, and other devices are attempts at “fixing” the deaf of their “problems”. Although MindField presents this issue as a future occurrence, the fact is that it is happening today. Again, the AG Bell association comes into the picture here because they are one of the biggest supporters of cochlear implants in young children. They believe they can “fix the problem” as early as 12 months in babies. However, deaf people are just as capable as any other human being and a cochlear implant doesn’t give a deaf person the ability to hear like a hearing person in most cases.

I was also influenced by the book in respect to the importance of educating people about things such as the Deaf culture. Society takes for granted things that they don’t have to deal with on a regular basis and are therefore ignorant and judgmental when they do encounter such a situation.

I do feel that MindField gives off a strong anti-oralism vibe. This is because the Secretary of Education is portrayed as a puppet; simply telling others to do as she had been told. Someone told her to teach her daughter to speak and read lips and in turn she then thinks that oralism is the right way to teach newly deaf people to communicate. In the camps, the teachers couldn’t even communicate with the two women who were signing because the teachers did not know how to sign. I think that part of the book made a very strong point because while reading lips and teaching people to speak is possible in some cases, it is not the best option for everyone. American Sign Language breaks down huge barriers in terms of communication because it is its own language. Instead of guessing what someone is saying by reading their lips, they can say it perfectly clear using sign language. Also, the government is portrayed as a nasty agency because it wants to force all the victims to learn in terms of oralism. Clearly MindField is anti-oralism or else it wouldn’t have portrayed it in such a negative way. I think it is a positive message in terms of the bigger picture because it shows the real-life struggle deaf people have with pro-oralist organizations. Sign language is completely functioning in its own right and being forced to speak when one can’t hear themselves just seems barbaric.

When the epidemic broke out in Montana, I definitely think that the government should have asked the Deaf Culture for assistance and advice. There are already thousands of Deaf people who function normally within society and so could the newly deaf victims, had they been properly taught to communicate in a language without barriers. The government could have set up schools such as those already established, and simply given them the capacity to teach so many people. The education of deaf people shouldn’t be left solely to the decision of hearing individuals. Deaf people know what is best for them because they have lived it, and experienced it. They know what works and what doesn’t. If the government had taken the time to compile information on both sides and liked at the results a much better resolution would have been made then forcing oralism all the meningitis victims.

Overall, the information that the book provided was helpful, insightful, and at times hard to read. It is not easy to look at a problem such as this and realize that I wouldn’t have known any better had I not been in ASL or this Deaf Culture class. If an epidemic such as this one really broke out, I probably would have trusted the government to so what is right. But really, the government isn’t always properly informed and can’t always make the best decision for a group of people such as the ones in MindField. Therefore, I think it is even more important now that people get the facts about sign language and Deaf culture before they assume what is right based on what organizations such as AG Bell or others might say.

For 128 years, it is time to Tear Down “BERLIN” Wall

If Hearing babies can learn sign language at the age of 4/6 months to 18 months to build their cognitive development while waiting for their vocal chord to be fully developed to be able to learn speech…so can Deaf Babies.

But AGBell/AVT and its associates built a wall “Berlin Wall” so that parents of Deaf babies will not know the whole truth about American Sign Language.

Many ASL students at University are learning more about Deaf Culture after reading MindField

Here is one of the ASL student’s reaction paper after reading MindField.

MindField Reaction Paper

ASL 3705

April 23, 2008

Sephanie

MindField by John F. Egbert made me ask myself, how would our country cope to having a majority of its citizens become deaf?  Moreover, with old age, almost all of us will lose our hearing at some point, so why not learn sign language now? Due to ignorance, the majority of the population is uneducated about deafness and assumes people should be able to read lips. It is quite obvious that if someone is expecting a deaf person to read lips they have little understanding of how difficult a task it really is. Reading this book was an eye-opening experience to how influential the government can be. People in a seat of power quickly make decisions. They are slow to admit what they do not know and can easily change our lives without ensuring it is the right choice.

There were many hidden messages in this novel. Overall, it was easy to recognize how the author used his language to depict how corrupt the government is. He explained how the government dealt with past epidemics and issues involving panic. It is understandable that during times of chaos decisions need to be made and made quickly, but many times the decisions made are not reasonable. MindField also really stresses how uneducated the general population is about deafness and American Sign Language (ASL). The author continually had characters explaining the most basic aspects of being deaf, being a member of Deaf culture, and explaining how ASL was a language separate from English. I feel that the hearing community was realistically represented as unfortunate as it may sound. Despite the lack of knowledge of what it is like to be deaf or Deaf, the government felt competent to make a huge decision that would impact millions of people. The Secretary of Education and many other people in the book pushed for oralism without having any evidence to back up their decision. There was a general message throughout the book how ignorant people can be and how easy it can be for people to make decision that impact people’s lives without having a strong research base to back up their decision. I think the quarantine of newly deaf people in the book was a metaphor for how many people treat deaf people today.

MindField reiterated lots of the controversies and topics of Deaf Culture I have learned in my four ASL classes and Deaf Culture class, yet this novel put beautiful stated what it must be like to go from living in a hearing world to living in a deaf world. I was moved by how the author described the transition; it was magical. People quickly accepted that they may be deaf for the rest of their life, and they all found more meaning to their life. People’s thoughts were no longer interrupted by all the noise in the environment. Also, people were better able to read others’ emotions on their face and see how genuine a person was by simply glancing at them. Next, I was influenced by how willing people were to learn ASL as well as how a simple blog could influence thousands of people to open their hears to teaching their language to others in need of a communication mode.

Although this was a fiction novel, after reading it I learned a little bit about the history of the United Sates, the government, and computers. I realized how important it is to learn about how our government has dealt with issues in the past to ensure these problems do not happen again. Like Egbert put it, it is important to put history in a glass box and to be aware of the mistakes we have made but not to dwell on them. I now want to go and learn more about past epidemics and quarantines to see how operations were conducted. In this novel I learned about how the Japanese were quarantined during World War II, and how quickly a civilized country can become poor and helpless to the government under martial law. It was also interesting to see how easily influenced people can be by media.

This book is anti-oralism. After many weeks at the Hearing Habitats, the diverse group of people who lost their hearing were still not able to communicate. The author was trying to illustrate how the United States continues to use oralism an effective method for teaching its youth despite its lack of success. The Secretary of Education kept fighting for more time to see the effects of oralism, but the truth was it simply does not work. The newly deaf people cannot hear; therefore, they cannot speak. Teaching them to lipread is a waste of time, for many sounds are not easily visible. Teaching people ASL allows effortless communication and encourages people to think for themselves, not act as a robot.

The government should have asked deaf people and established organizations for their opinions on what should happen after the widespread of deafness. They acted as if deaf people were aliens to this country. They should have realized that deaf people have been around forever, and there are already established ways of communication and education. There was no need for the government to come up with a brilliant plan; the research had already been done. The Secretary of Education’s way of educating her deaf oral child was just one way. They should have asked a deaf parent with a deaf child.

After reading this novel, my eyes are more wide open to the lack of education the general public has on deafness and Deaf culture. I now will make it my duty to educate people during any given opportunity. This book made me think of all the other cultures that have been told what to do and forced to learn English-only to be mainstreamed into society. This book taught me that every culture can teach you something that may improve your own way of living. For Deaf culture, it was appreciating our sight and seeing the beauty of nature and reading people by their body language. I will definitely recommend this book, for I think it will give the general population a better understanding of deafness and maybe even motivate people to learn sign language.

John Egbert    http://deafbilingualcoalition.com/

YES!

It was Amy Cohen Efron that lit the “fire” in the “World” with her vlog “The Greatest Irony” last year in DeafRead.com


http://blog.deafread.com/abcohende/2007/07/25/the-greatest-irony-voice-interpreted-encore-presentation/

She woke up the Deaf Community, the World and DBC became established.

If Hearing babies can learn sign language at the age of 4/6 months to 18 months to build their cognitive development while waiting for their vocal chord to be fully developed to be able to learn speech…so can Deaf Babies.

But AGBell/AVT and its associates built a wall “Berlin Wall” so that parents of Deaf babies will not know the whole truth about American Sign Language.

DBC wants to tear down that WALL and educate all parents of HEARING and DEAF babies that learning sign language early as possible will help all babies to learn how to learn, especially speech.

AGBell/AVT and its associates will do all their mighty to keep that WALL up.

So how are we to take down that WALL? 



DBC is here to help. And so can you!

If you have a better idea, DO IT!

That “Berlin Wall” has been up for 128 years. It is time to take it down and educate all parents so that they can make the BEST INFORMED DECISION for their Deaf babies.

John Egbert    http://deafbilingualcoalition.com/

Do Deaf and Hearing Babies Learn Alike?

This is my analogy about how Deaf and Hearing adults or children or babies are created differently just like a Mac or PC. They, hearing and deaf people are the same in very way just like a Mac or PC. But the only difference is the software program. The software disc that you put in the Mac or PC computer got data information that the Mac or PC understands what it written(embedded) in it and functions according how you communicate with the keyboard. The software disc could be Word processor program, accounting program, video game program, drawing program like Photoshop, etc.

Hearing and Deaf people are human bionic-computers. Before I go any further explaining more about what I will write on this post, you might ask this question, what is a bionic-computer?

Bionic-computer is a human being that its brain can compute to do things such as like calculating the coordination while walking or picking things up, etc. Your brain is always computing like a calculator doing the adding, subtracting, etc while controlling your balance, reaching for something, jumping or hopping over something, etc.

No one was born as a full functioning bionic-computer human being. Keep in mind that we all had to learn to crawl, walk, talk, sign, run, respond, think, etc since the day we were born. Our parents were the main educators, motivators, etc in the beginning of our lives. Then teachers, your peers, people, media, TV, etc became additional educators, motivators, etc. This process is the education of our bionic-computer body(mind) that goes on until the day we die.

One more thing that I want to say about the terminology of the two words;

Software and Hardware.

The computer that you are using right now while reading this post is call hardware.

The disc that you put in the computer contains data so you can watch movies or video game or Microsoft Word is call software.

The Human Bionic-Computer is the hardware of the human anatomy. This would include the brain, internal organs, and other human organ systems such as Cardiovascular, Endocrine, Immune, Muscular, nervous, Reproductive, Respiratory, Skeletal and Urinary systems.

Your bionic-computer has stored program properties and self- metaprogramming properties, with limits determinable and to be determined.

You might ask, what is metaprogramming?

Metaprogram is defined as a set of instructions, descriptions and means of control of sets of program.

How did we get the metaprogramming properties?

You got them since the day you were born, from your parents, teachers, etc. It is the software education that you have and it is stored in your brain.

Now, let’s go back a little about what I wrote above;

The bionic-computer has stored program properties and self- metaprogramming properties, with limits determinable and to be determined.

You might ask, what you mean by with limits determinable and to be determined. It means that it depends on how you have been educated, how much data flow you have gotten or able to receive from your parents or teachers in early childhood, etc.

It could also means that it depends on if you are deaf or hearing. In this society now days, a deaf person will have a good chance to get into the phrase of with limits determinable and to be determined.

This is very, very important to keep this in mind as you read on in this post.

The title of this post is

Deaf and Hearing Babies Learn Alike?

This is the same as if I had said,

Mac and PC function Alike?

What is really the different between a Mac and PC computer?

They both look alike, same hardware, functions the same. They both have low level, average level and high level performance.

Just like in the society, we have low level, average level and high level minded human beings. You might ask, why do we have three levels. With the computers (Mac/PC), it depends on the speed of calculating, the amount of ram memory and the software program. With human being (bionic-computer), it depends on the early childhood of language foundation, how much you’ve learned the software program.

You might ask, what was our human software program?

Well, for a hearing baby, it was the data flow of informations that enter through the ears.

And for the deaf baby, it was the data flow of informations that enter through the eyes.

This means that the hearing baby and the deaf baby, both have different type of software input for eyes or ears.

The software makes our bionic-computer to function and the more data flow of informations that each receives through its eyes or ears, will categorize each of us accordingly as low level, average level or high level minded person.

Macintosh are the Deaf baby.

PC are the Hearing baby.

Hearing and Deaf babies, both require different software to be able function for its highest potential capability to learn… the earlier, the better.

This is why Deaf babies and children must have bilingual education- ASL/English(reading and writing) to be able learn to achieve the level at its highest potential capability. ASL is American Sign Language.

These Eye software input bilingual education program are for babies that don’t have the natural Ear software input capability.

Over the years, we, the deaf people, or should I say, the Mac computers have been using the PC “ear” software indoctrinated by the so-call-experts ( i.e. AGBell ) thinking that we deaf (Mac) people could hear and speak 100% like hearing (PC) people.

 The Deaf babies have been deprived of having the use of appropriated software program to be able to function fully like hearing babies since 1880.

Parents of Deaf children need to grasp this simple concept that once the child learns a language(ASL) to learn how to learn. Teaching speech  and English language is so much easier.

DEAF BILINGUAL COALITION believes that all babies should learn sign language regardless if the baby is hearing or deaf because it has proven that all babies can learn signs as early as 4 months and every baby will not have their vocal chords fully developed enough to learn speech until they are 18 to 24 months. (Babbling is not speech).

http://deafbilingualcoalition.com/

But the ironic concept by Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Auditory Verbal Therapy do not allow deaf babies learn any visual language (sign language)

http://www.agbellacademy.org/whatISAuditoryVerbalTherapy.htm

Bilingually yours,

John Egbert

Oh My God, I wonder if AGBell/AVT and its associates will write a letter to the Pope to complain about having Deaf Choir on TV  signing to the Pope similar about Pepsi commercial on Super Bowl.  

What do you Bill Maher have to say about the Deaf Choir?  

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351758,00.html

Guest Speaker/Visitor Paper

SheXXX    XXXXXX

April 16^th, 2008

Guest Speaker/Visitor Paper

I thought the guest speaker, John Egbert was absolutely amazing!  I personally felt that he kept the audiences attention the whole entire time, which is obviously really important when speaking to people.  When John started talking about his life, and when he was growing up in Mississippi, I instantly felt how passionate he was about being Deaf and the Deaf culture in general.  He really made people know that he had a “normal” life, just like people who are of the hearing culture.

There wasn’t really anything about the speaker that I didn’t like.  He kept my attention the whole entire time and in fact made me feel very passionate about some of the things he was talking about.  I never really put much thought into the idea of Deaf babies not being able to use American Sign Language.  After John talked about it, I completely understood it though.   It got me to thinking about my other Deaf Education classes and what I have heard in them, and I realized that I have kind of been “taught” to push for something other than ASL for really young Deaf children.  This concerned me as there is a big push for hearing babies to learn American Sign Language.  Why can hearing babies learn ASL but it sort of frowned upon by other people, like the Alexander Graham Bell Association, to teach Deaf babies American Sign Langauge?  

I have been to other Deaf events, such as panels, tours, and plays before, but they weren’t quite like this one.  When I had to go to the other events, I felt the need to jot down little notes to help me remember things.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought all of them were very interesting, but I just felt differently about this one.  Even though I took notes when John was speaking, I didn’t really feel the need to.  When I came back to write this paper a week later, I felt like I had just heard him speak that day.  Everything was fresh in my head and I still felt as passionate about him speaking as I did before.  I thought that was a great feeling because it really allowed me to get information about Deaf culture, in a completely different perspective.  

I am very excited for the protest in Milwaukee in June.  I am definitely going to try and get down there to help protest.  Listening to John talk about the protest made feelings arise in me that made me want to help in anyway that I could.

I definitely think you should have John speak in every Deaf culture class that you have from this point forward.  I’m not sure if it is something you have done in the past, but I think it was really interesting to get his perspective on life, and hear him talk about things that he is really passionate about.  I think I learned a lot about the Deaf culture and how they are finally taking a stand on issues against them as a whole.  I think this is great as the Deaf culture is no different than any other culture and deserves to be treated equally.      

Many are concerning about some inconsiderate group of people coming into Deafread.com to prove that ASL is not necessary and they are doing just fine without using sign language.  

It is their right to enter any blogsphere if they feel that they can have their opinions made if they are “welcome”.

These people are the very few in numbers but makes the most noise.

They assume that we are too docile to ask them to find another playground to express their abusive attitude. 

The best way to have Deafread to become respectable by the larger group as a genuine blogsite is to bring in more genuine Deaf people and also hearing people such as many hearing ASL students at many Universities to come in Deafread and speak their mind.

Do many ASL students have the desire to help the Deaf Community and its culture?  

YOU BET!

I have spoken to many ASL students and they want to join us to see that we get our American Sign Language to be respected and stand beside us against those oppressors.

Here is an example from one Deaf Culture ASL student’s reaction paper about my speech in class.  

I will post different reaction papers from different students. This shows you that there are many more people that care about Deaf people that are bilingual, ASL/English. 

Ashley XXXX

Deaf Culture

Reaction paper

April 12, 2008

Guest Speaker: John Egbert

Having the opportunity to hear John Egbert speak in our class and share his viewpoints and personal experience was very inspiring for me.  He turned me on to a perspective of deaf culture and deaf people that I hadn’t recognized before. His perspective was very personal and eye opening.

After hearing John speak, I found myself having learned many new things. First, I learned about John himself and the kind of man that he is. He showed me he is a family-oriented and kind man that shows great compassion for what he believes in. He also carries with him a wonderful sense of humor that has the ability to make others laugh. Second, I learned about the way he feels about the education and deaf people. Make no mistake about it, he believes in inhibiting American Sign Language into their lives of deaf people starting at birth.  He also taught me about the kind of organization Alexander Graham Bell is and what their motive is.  Their organization pushes ASL away from deaf people and promotes alternative options that make money.  In essence, they take away from people what they never had to begin with. It saddens me that some deaf people have to fight to utilize their language.  I also learned from John a little bit about the Deaf Bilingual Coalition that he started that promotes sign language and speech in deaf people’s lives.  I think it’s a great contribution to the deaf culture and it sounds like so far it has been a success.  Last, I learned that John is an inspirer.  After hearing him talk, I was convinced that someday he is going to change the world.

Listening to what John had to say, I realized a part of deaf culture that I hadn’t noticed before; one that is quite different from the hearing culture.  It seems as though deaf people have to fight for their language.  Others in the world are against their language and make it difficult for deaf people to be heard.  For hearing people, I think it’s an issue that we will never quite fully understand.  I couldn’t imagine what that would be like having to fight for all American people to speak English.  It’s the standard for Americans and I don’t know why it can’t be the standard for deaf to have sign language.  I am aware that it has grown and schools are now offering it as a second language requirement; even high schools are starting to participate.  Bit it seems like a significant amount of people are also trying to prohibit it as well.  They want to promote cochlear implants, lip reading and oral which are more difficult alternatives for deaf people in the end.  John really opened my eyes to a new point of view when it comes to the alternatives.  His PC and Mac analogy helped me to understand where he and other deaf people are coming from.

This “deaf event” or guest speaker was very different than any other I’ve witnessed or attended. It was the first time I had an insight into someone’s personal experience and feelings.  Also, it was the first guest speaker I’ve listened to that could speak orally.  I was surprised at how well John spoke; he spoke with great clarity and it was easy for me to understand what he was saying.  It was very different.

I really did enjoy having John come to our class and speak.  I hope that he accomplishes his goals he has set forth and I can truly see him making a bigger difference than he already has to the deaf culture.  I think he is a wonderful man with many great talents

I wrote a novel. The novel that I wrote, MindField, needed to be checked for grammatical errors, so I obtained a ghostwriter.  This assistance helped in achieving my goal of spreading the message of the book.

Some people with “excellent” skills in the English language have criticized the book, despite them NOT understanding what the book was all about (!)  Truthfully, I do not feel demoralized or defeated by this “vast” (i.e., micro-) minority that likes to focus on the negative aspects of my writing style. It was actually the vast majority of the readers who were very impressed to learn about how the Deaf community uses American Sign language at an equal level of abstraction in the visual modality, compared to how hearing people use English language in the verbal modality.

But here is something that you need to understand about me. As the author of MindField, despite of my so-called “4th grade level” skills– I WROTE a book! And many readers have given positive testimonials about their experience in reading it.  This tells me that I shouldn’t listen to those infinitesimally small number of pessimistic reactions that come from the purveyors of negativism.

But the crucial issue has nothing to do with having a so-called “4th grade” level of reading and writing skills.  You see, I am actually a by-product of the AG Bell ideology. It took me 18 years of being stuck with that mindset before I realize the truth of who I am. I learned American Sign Language at Gallaudet, the only liberal arts university for the Deaf in the world. That was when I became a (truly) “normal” person, when I finally found a language that is natural to me, which enabled me to interact fully with other human beings!

I married a wonderful deaf woman that graduated from Gallaudet and we raised two deaf children who grew up without the oppressive AG Bell ideology being forced upon them. They were then able to acquire a natural language. My two deaf children became what they are now and they cause me to be quite proud, because they were able to experience what I was not able to experience, a completely normal childhood where they could develop complete communication skills and be fully capable of interacting with others on an equal basis..

I have come to realize that a majority of the hearing teachers of the deaf, and also a few deaf teachers of the deaf, all across the country also have “4th grade” level  skills in schools where either sign language or the oral method is used. I often had to “decode” my conversations for these teachers and dumb them down, because they did not have the intelligence to be able to communicate above the 4th grade level. This is the reason why many deaf people also have 4th-grade level reading and writing skills.  It’s not because we are incapable of learning, it’s because the teachers are unable to teach at a higher level. Many of you know this is true!

And by the way, I really cannot blame my parents for making the decision that they made, based on the information they were given, because they told me that they thought the AG Bell people knew what they were talking about and they were convinced that the AG Bell ideology was a very successful one.  Many parents have said the same thing, and also many parents refuse to realize that they made a huge mistake in deciding to place their trust in AG Bell and their ancillary so-called professionals.

Be that as it may, 90% of the people that have purchased MindField are hearing people and ASL students who, by reading the book, came to realize the worth and equal status of ASL and the American Deaf Culture compared  to English and mainstream American culture.

John F. Egbert