“People of the Eye

There are many short postings discussing Veditz lately

• Veditz Memorial Sculpture Needed in SLCC by Amy Cohen Efron

• Got George? by Martha Anger 3:12 min

Video discusses George Veditz’s background and as a few short clips from his “Preservation” Speech

• Veditz vs. Bell by Martha Anger 8:17 min

Video discusses George Veditz tried to convince AG Bell of the errors of his ways
(Martha Anger is a student at NTID/RIT - yes, her real last name is Anger)

• About George Veditz by Ridor

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• NTID/RIT VP Dr. Alan Hurwitz discusses the importances of signing in public places and shows a clip of Veditz’s speech - see bullet 4 for the Veditz video clip

“As long as we have Deaf people on earth, we will have signs. And as long as we have our films, we can preserve our signs in their original purity. It is my hope that we all will love and guard our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift God has given to Deaf people.” George Veditz (Translated by Carol Padden)

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Numerous Vlog You Tube postings on Veditz

In a few vlogs Carl Schroeder (Kalalau’s Korner) analyzes Veditz’s quote -

“A new race of pharoahs that knew not Joseph are taking over the land and many of our American Schools.”

The rest of the quote goes on to state:

“They do not understand signs for they cannot sign. They proclaim that signs are worthless and of no help to the deaf. Enemies of the sign language, they are enemies of the true welfare of the deaf.”

I like his analysis of why Veditz chose Joseph to represent Deaf people (dream interpreter and leader to save the Jews from persecution) and why he calls the oral only advocates - A new race of pharoahs. Veditz is using biblical text to do a bit of prophecizing. If Deaf education is colonized by oralism no one will really know who are what Deaf people are or can be. We will have no Joseph to prove the worth and value of our people - to have the pharoahs favors shine down upon us.

By denying Deaf people the right to be fully people of the eye - Oral Only Advocates will be attempting to exocrisize the Deafhood out of them. To me the JOSEPH in this quote is ASL itself and Deafhood.

In the orbituary for AG Bell that Veditz wrote - he echoed this sentiment of how the new race of pharoahs knew not Joseph.

“He (Bell) denied these educated deaf the privilege to decide which methods and means of education were best for the younger generation of their kind.

In this respect he was like the pigeon that defends its nest but not its eggs or young. He was concerned more with the manner of their education than with the deaf themselves.” The Jewish Deaf October 1922, pp. 13-15 (see ASL Community Journal for full obit. - scroll down a bit)

Veditz referring to a “new RACE of pharoahs…” also seems to hint at Bell’s paper on “the formation of a deaf variety of the human race” and Bell’s interest in Social Darwinism (Eugenics). To see article on Bell’s paper in New York Times 1884