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
Posted on April 19th, 2008 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
ASL 3705
Guest Speaker/Visitor Paper
SheXXX XXXXXX
April 16th, 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.
Posted on April 18th, 2008 by egbertpress
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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
Posted on April 17th, 2008 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized | 34 Comments »
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
Posted on February 11th, 2008 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
What do you think? http://www.xanga.com/SLDeLaune/629535143/item.html
Posted on February 11th, 2008 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »