Mishka Zena

I read with amusement about how Jay Leno commited a faux pas when he mocked the headline of an article titled Barbershop Singers Bring Joy to Deaf School (by lip-synching the words of the songs). Apparently his joke outraged some people, demanding an apology from Leno to the oral deaf educational program, which he wisely did.  However, the apology also caused a controversy among some Deaf people who feel Leno owes the oral school no apology. The principal of the St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf asserts that most kids use cochlear implants, which enable them to enjoy listening to music.  At the end of the article, there are many comments supporting the oral school and also those bashing against oralism and cochlear implants.
 
This reminds me of my days at an oral school. The top performing oral students were rewarded with tickets to musical symphonies. These students were honored to be given the tickets. For days, they eagerly anticipated going to the concerts. I believe there were four or five of us who went. We dressed up in our finest clothes and rode the van excitedly. Upon arrival at the center, we were awed by the musical instruments. Restlessly, we waited while the lights dimmed and we watched the musicians getting ready to begin their show. After five minutes of watching, it became a torture for us as none of us could hear the music well. I remember thinking to myself… that’s it? Since we were told to be on our best behavior, we sat in agony, hardly moving, while watching the musical instruments in use. Time crept by in an eternity. Finally after what seemed to be weeks, the opera was completed. Comparing notes afterwards, we all agreed that it was a horrible ordeal and none of us ever wanted to go back. When we returned to the oral school, we were peppered with questions by our dormmates. None of us would admit that we hated the show, so we made a big deal out of it, much to the envy of our peers. We thought one outing was all to it. One month later we were summoned to go to the symphony again and we were trapped. We couldn’t admit to our proud sponsors and teachers that we hated it, so we ended up once again going through the endless torture. Unfortunately we went there few times, with nobody having a clue how much we dreaded these outings. Mine ended only because I transferred to a hearing parochial school full time the following year.  *rueful laughing*
 
I would love to know what these deaf kids wearing cochlear implants really thought of the barbershop songs. Were they able to enjoy the songs or did several fake it like we all did several decades ago?

About the apology, my personal opinion is that Jay’s gaffe does call for an apology.  Not only is it insensitive, there are indeed some children who do hear well with cochlear implants.

Jay Leno Apologizing to St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO

Trivia: 

This is a neat site. Be sure to finish it. http://stuff.pyzam.com/toys/tictacscare.swf.  Oh, by the way, if you have heart problems or PTSD, it’s recommended that you don’t check it out.

An extremely weird behavior of raccoons is exhibited here. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I suspect I know the reason for their bizarre behavior as I’ve seen similar behavior from several bears, but I want to know if you can guess the reason or not. MySpaceTV Videos: ????? by yankiss

As we discussed not too long ago, unfortunately sexual abuses do occur in deaf residential schools, just like the hearing boarding schools and day programs, both hearing and deaf. However with better laws and supervisions, these violations are usually caught and referred to the law authorities to handle, unlike the earlier times where these incidents were ignored or tolerated.
 
But what the heck is going on with Louisana School for the Deaf? This is the sixth sexual offense reported to the police within one year. This latest sexual assault of a six years old female child by a sixteen years old male student was committed, of all places, in a school bus with a chaperon! An alert deaf student attempted to inform her, but the chaperon ignored the warning due to her limited knowledge of ASL. The chaperon has been fired since then and the older student allegedly charged as an adult.
 
Sexual abuses arise everywhere, even within the most supervised school setting. However, if it keeps popping up with increasing frequency, then the problem reflects more on the failure of the school to supervise the students and employees closely, screening the employees and lack of training. It was not by chance that this assault occurred while the state investigators were reviewing the school’s records and its procedures.  Geez, it’s really bad when they cannot even clean up their act while the state officials are investigating the school. One sexual abuse is one too many. Six cases less than one year? Totally unacceptable.
 
Hopefully the state will clean up this state school real soon, for the sake of innocent children who need education in a deaf setting.  Also don’t hire people who don’t sign! That is downright sheer idiocy. WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Teen accused of sex act with 6-year-old, both attend school for the deaf

By coincidence a reader, also an alumnus, left a comment few hours ago sharing her experiences being sexually abused at LSD and how her attempts to expose it were met negatively. Is this a long standing problem? I sure hope not!

What’s the best way to stop sexual abuse? Coming forward and expose it. Burying it only enables these shameful unlawful deeds to continue, victimizing more innocent children.  Also providing education to the children how to protect themselves and report if they are violated and educate the public yes, sexual abuses do exist and we need to put a stop to it asap rather than lambasting its victims for being troublemakers and liars.

Survivor: ” I was abused at Louisiana School For the Deaf for several years during my stay there.

almost 10 years ago, I went on the news to speak out against the sex abuse in hopes of preventing it happening to the future children that come in through these doors. Only that my action resulted in lot of people being angry at me and said “I’m a liar and troublemaker”. This frustrated me because I knew it would not stop because it seemed like everyone was in denial. The deaf school had task force set up and everything for the last several years. It seems like that it is not really making postive results.

I just feel very very sad for these kids that had to go through what I went through and have to deal with it later in life as an adult.

I never asked to be abused in the first place- my first sexual abuse was at 10 years old by a older kid. It wasn’t the first and last time. It stopped when I left the school at age 16.” 

Survivor, I am sorry you were abused few times on the campus and weren’t treated appropriately by the public when you came forward. You showed true courage by sharing your experiences. More victims are more outspoken nowdays. I hope you are doing ok.  If not, please seek counseling. There is a survivor’s group for Deaf people who were sexually abused that you may want to check out. If you are interested, contact this person   huggyangels@earthlink.net MZ

 P.S. I did some digging and apparently the sex abuses at LSD were chronic, according to this article. It’s much worse than I ever thought.  This is so sad that the only one 100% deaf school in the state isn’t safe for the students. The Deaf students deserve to have an appropriate education in a safe environment.  :/

 in the early 1990s, court records show. A four-part WBRZ series in 1999 uncovered “numerous and unabated” sexual incidents among students at the school, including rapes and molestations, many of which were not reported to police.

Additionally, hundreds of pages of police and school incident reports show at least 32 incidents of sexual misconduct among students in the past five years, ranging from rape to sexual battery to inappropriate touching

While in the 1990s the school’s problems seemed to be limited to inappropriate sexual behavior among students, the problem today includes teachers and staff accused of being offenders.

The seven adults arrested from May 2003 to April 2008 are all deaf and were either school employees or members of the state’s tight-knit deaf community. http://www.4hearingloss.com/archives/2008/10/deaf_school_abu.html

First post on this subject last April: http://blog.deafread.com/mishkazena/2008/04/14/victory-for-uk-deaf-parents-five-lsd-arrests-bot-unaware/

Last week was a difficult week in my life. I had to put down a two years old cat, Niku. Euthanasia is always an agonizing decision to make, but even worse when the pet is very young. Unlike previous times when I had to put down beloved elderly pets eventually due to advanced cancer, this time I had to make the decision on the spot after waking up. Finding out afterwards that a breakdown of communication had led to the worsening of Niku’s condition made her untimely demise devastating.
 
I was unable to go to the ER animal hospital, so a trusted friend took her for me. This person, whom I will not identify out of respect for her privacy, lives here with me and knows the cat very well. I have no reason to suspect something may go amiss as I’ve had gone to the ER hospital quite a few times with other pets during the off hours and had consistently received excellent services.
 
Unknown to me, the ER vet didn’t quiz my friend extensively after she gave a summary that morning. Customarily a vet would pose follow-up questions to obtain more information from a client. The first time I realized something wasn’t right was later that evening when a different vet asked me a set of questions in an e mail. I thought to myself, shouldn’t they have the information already that morning? They didn’t even ask me anything when I called the ER hospital several times earlier to inquire regarding the current condition of Niku. After reading my answers, the vet got a clue regarding the problem, something they hadn’t thought of earlier.  By the time they ran the barium test during the wee hours, it was too late as the intentines had already ruptured. They didn’t catch her obstruction in time.
 
When I woke up, I was contacted and given the grim diagnosis. Niku could have surgery, but the outcome was expected to be poor. Even worse, the cat was uncomfortable, even though she was on pain meds. I told them to PTS her asap so she won’t suffer, even though that meant I couldn’t see her alive to kiss her goodbye.
 
After few hours in shock and grief, questions began to form in my mind. Something didn’t make sense so I asked my friend for detailed information what transpired that morning and was stunned when I found out the vet didn’t question her after the summary. She has a normal voice, but she cannot lipread at all.  Was that a factor, I wondered to myself
 
The next day I asked that day vet a set of questions which she answered in an e mail. To the second round of questions, she made the mistake of patronizing me instead of answering them. She replied that she understands that I am grieving and attempting to find some closure, but some things are meant to happen. For some unknown reason, the cat had an obstruction that they weren’t able to diagnose in time. Apparently she doesn’t have a clue that not only was I a biologist, but that I also have an extensive knowledge as a pet owner, being deeply involved in various pet rescues for many years, including taking care of a feral cat colony outside my residence. To double check whether I’ve interpreted her comment correctly or not, I passed the exchange of e mails to my close hearing friends who made the same interpretation, too. I told the vet I don’t appreciate her patronizing attitude and that I deserved answers. Her attitude immediately changed and she responded to all my questions with one glaring exception: why didn’t she read the records from the animal hospital about two symptoms that are significant clues to the possibility of an obstruction? I was put off by the fact she actually implied earlier that my friend was at fault for not mentioning these symptoms. Well, what did she think the follow up questions are for? What about the animal hospital records? Does she think I am an idiot or what? I merely thanked her for answering my questions and decided to do some further digging. 
 
After I spoke with the vet at my regular animal hospital in depth, I obtained the records from both the animal hospital and the ER hospital. After reading them, it was obvious the ER vet didn’t read the animal hospital records carefully. She didn’t ask my friend about any other symptoms the cat may have. Was it because she couldn’t be bothered writing the questions down on paper?
 
I do plan to discuss this with the ER animal hospital and get some answers. I will after I get Niku’s ashes this Sat.

I feel very sick over this. The vet never gave Niku a chance.
 
Niku died needlessly because the vet treated my friend differently since she couldn’t lipread?

What went wrong?
  
Run freely, Niku

Apparently it is becoming a serious problem in DVTV. Deaf Christians are imposing their religious values and making righteous judgments on Deaf Gays and Lesbians. Normally I avoid religious topics. There’s an excellent reason why people shouldn’t talk about religions, politics, and money… these divisive topics get people all fired up, damage friendships, and poison the social atmosphere.

However, what I’ve observed disturbs me tremendously. This religious intolerance on the part of Deaf Christians is actually oppressive to Deaf Gays and Lesbians. Let DVTV be a pleasant and social cyber-gathering for Deaf people, both straight and gay. Please don’t use religion to drive out a certain portion of the Deaf Community from this wonderful ASL forum. It’s not right and fundamentally unfair for the Deaf Gays and Lesbians who have the right to exist as they are, not being able to participate in DVTV freely without constant harassment from others due to their sexual orientation. It is not your position to judge other people.
 
Hearing people oppress many Deaf people. Deaf Christians, you, of all people, should understand what it feels to be oppressed. Please leave the Deaf Gays and Lesbians alone.

Hurricane Warnings: Some time ago, I mentioned the improvement of accessibility with the emergency hurricane alerts for the Deaf and HoH citizens in LA and FL.  With the latest monstrous hurricane Ike, ASL interpreters were shown along with the state officials in TX, too.

Body piercing: Over the years we have witnessed the popularity of body piercing soar, especially among the younger people. Just like with other expressions of art, this does have an extreme side.  This site is not for people with faint heart or weak stomach. Some of the piercings actually looks very painful. http://wowcoolpics.blogspot.com/2008/09/very-extreme-body-piercing-is-part-of.html

Disclaimer: Posts here are written as a blogger, not reflecting my position as a DeafRead Editor. These two positions are completely separated. Why am I making this statement? Because apparently some people don’t understand the distinctions of wearing two different hats. MZ

P.S. Someone asked me for the link. Here is the link that prompted me to blog on this topic.  “To ASL Gay & Lesbian Community’ http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/24753/.  [It is now deleted by the DVTV administrator]

PPS. Since someone had already left a religious comment, I need to make this clear that from now on on this post, any religious comment against gay people will be deleted here. This post covers tolerance of gays and lesbians which means it is OK for people to be gay.

PPPS. Sigh. One of the reasons I don’t like to talk about religion is because people will keep talking about religions. debating it endlessly.  This post focus on the rights of gay Deaf people to participate without harassment from others due to certain religions beliefs. I would respectfully ask readers to refrain from making religious comments, pros and cons, too.  The new comments containing religious themes will be deleted as I want to focus on the tolerance and respect, not the religion aspect.  Thank you. MZ

Dramatic life-and-death scene at NC School for the Deaf.  Football coaches jumped over fence to rescue a CODA who trashed a motorcycle.  Injured Motorcyclist is thankful, feeling prayers and finding a renewed faith in people.

“Freeman, 21, from Morganton, was riding past North Carolina School for the Deaf on Saturday when he decided to ride a wheelie in front of people gathered on the football field at the school. He said his father is deaf so he’s familiar with the school. He admits he was being young and stupid and wanted to show them what he could do.

A large group of Pioneer Football League players and their families were on the field for the first-of-the-season “blitz” games. The league is made up of boys who are home-schooled or attend schools that do not have a sports program, said Shannon Friedmann of Lincolnton, a mother of a player.

Soon after Freeman’s bike started flipping end over end, coaches ran to his aid, while a group of 160 teenage boys knelt in prayer.
 
It was those prayers, Freeman believes, that saved his life and answered his own prayers. ” To read the full story, click on Injured motorcyclist thankful to be alive.  The motorcycle was wrecked, but he came out alive. No broken bones. No head injuries.  Man, this young dude is very lucky!

Fay and Gustav: Over a decade ago, a Category 5 hurricane was heading for my hometown in FL. Afterwards I’ve heard frustrations from the local Deaf friends who tried to find out the current status of the deadly hurricane in vain.  Some decided to hit the highway, woefully unaware that the emergency alerts on televisions and radios cautioned people to stay home due to massive traffic jams in the emergency exit routes.  After few hours being stuck in a jammed highway, they turned around and went back home where they hunkered safely.  Fortunately, by the time the hurricane struck land, it had already been downgraded to Category 2.  I was like Whoa! That was way too close for comfort.   Shortly afterwards, Hurricane Andrew struck FL. There was no communication accessibility to Deaf people during that horrible time. Ever since then, the FL officials have made its hurricane alerts more accessible. Unfortunately a similar scenario was repeated in LA a decade later with the hurricane Katrina, with minimal or no accessibility for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, mostly none. I recalled hearing that some weren’t even aware of the presence of the incoming hurricane. Unfortunately several have perished as a result of this inaccessible communication.

Over the last one and half weeks, the ASL interpreters were shown along with state officials in updating the public on the status of two hurricanes, Fay and Gustav.  A lot has changed for the better with the accessibility of emergency alerts for Deaf and HoH in FL and LA. I am hopeful it’s the same with TX, MS, and AL, too.  Thank you, interpreters, for doing a great job.

Theft of confidential data from NTID: Someone asked me if the theft of confidential data is serious. Oh yes, once your social security number is passed around in the wrong hands and used illicitly, you will have a hard time cleaning up your credit rating, often taking years to straighten everything out. While you are at it, your credit rating is severely damaged, making it harder to obtain loans. This theft affects not only the NTID students, but also all who have applied there, dating wayyyyy back to 1969. Deaf Sherlock has valuable suggestions how you could protect yourself and your credit rating.  http://thedeafsherlock.blogspot.com/2008/09/when-id-theft-hits-home.html

Employees’ rights and work computers:  Some people apparently don’t realize that their employers have special software tracking the Internet usage of their workers. There is no such thing as privacy while using computers at work. According to the judicial courts, it is perfectly legal.  An employee can get into trouble for using the work computers for inappropriate uses, even while the boss is away.  It pays to keep in mind that Big Brother aka your boss is monitoring you via your computer while you surf through the cyberspace.

Trivia I got an email warning about thieves armed with ‘code grabbers’ breaking into cars by recording signals sent by remote keyless entry devices. According to the article, they use an electronic scanner to copy the code released when the owner presses the buttons, digitally locking the car doors.  After he leaves the scene, they will use the recorded code to break in and steal all the goodies. Well, fear not.  According to Snopes, it is false.  Some people have too much free time on their hands

Want to test how good your memory is? Here is your chance: http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html