44th Clip. Title: Breakout from the Castle. 5:27 minutes. Total: 4:11:56 hours.
Posting this second to the last clip of chapter 4 with a brief message. We must never forget the crimes on deaf people from the past. Most information about those crimes is lost to time. With creative mythology, some lost information is “transcended” to the present through “epic” storytelling based on what deaf history we have unearthed . . . . we must never forget . . .
Enjoy finding out how the Deaf Child got out of the Castle. Click away . . .
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Commentary on the Deaf Child in Hein’s Castle: We do not have thousands of stories of individual lives of deaf students/people in oral schools all over Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The character of the Deaf Child in Hein’s Castle is assembled to give both positive and negative aspects of the deaf experience, all rolled into one deaf person undergoing the older (pre-electronic) oral deaf educational method. Some deaf students did enjoy and could acquire (at varied levels) spoken languages, no question about it, but what about the (seemingly, larger) segment who did not like it. What was it like to “suffer” in an oral school?
Deafhood question: Have you ever suffered of any kind in oral classroom with other deaf or with hearing students? Have you ever thought of really want to get the hell out of the oral (or public) classroom to go elsewhere? If you were aware of sign language and the deaf community, then have you ever dreamt or fantastize of getting out of “hearing” world and seek the Deaf World? Would you like to share your experience here? Anonymity is fine here.
43rd Clip. Title: The Final Surgical Experiment. 4:02 minutes. Total: 4:06:29 hours.
Posted with hands forward out saluted open-palms good luck for another wrinkle in the transformation of DeafRead and related sites produced by the gray matter upthere and mousestrokes of taylorinfomedia.
Now click away to view the final brutal surgical experiment done on the deaf child.
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42nd Clip. Title: Signing Hands Swatted. 4:10 minutes. Total: 4:02:27 hours.
Tired of cochlear implant topics and movie reviews? Here is a change of scenery. Click on to find out what happened to the Deaf Child after the second surgical experiment. A classic oral classroom scenario.
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41st Clip. Title: The Second Experiment. 6:18 minutes long. Total: 3:58:17 hours.
This clip is posted in gratitude to Brian Malzkuhn who was instrumental in making it possible for me, in the spring of 1994, to teach a deaf history course at Ohlone College where the myth was used for the first time in a college course. I wrote this sentence in the second edition (draft) of the Deaf Child Deafhood workbook: “to Brian Malzkuhn, an avid fan/instructor of deaf history, for falling in love with the myth and pulling me into Ohlone College.”
This was also when I began observing the role the mythology played in the effortless learning of deaf history by hearing and deaf people. Read below for two excerpts of students’ responses to the idea of using the myth to learn about the history of the deaf experience.
Click away and enjoy the second horror the Deaf Child experienced in Hein’s Castle . . .
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Commentary: Please go to the 04.08 post to read the commentary on the history of experiment in curing deafness.
Here are two written responses by hearing students who used the Deaf Child mythology to learn about deaf history. Soon to be part of a new page - see the top row of this website.
Throughout this course, “Deaf History,” I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding the evolution of deaf culture, the deaf community, deaf education, and influential deaf individuals. Initially, I had difficulty translating the mythology into true historical events. By mid-term, however, I began to understand the symbolism presented in the myth. Actually, when I experienced the “ah-ha” and the light came on, I began to really enjoy studying deaf history from this perspective.
I must admit that at first I really had my doubts about learning history through the myth. I vividly remembered the ear-mouth soldiers, the gruesome experiments, and the hands getting chopped off. I thought I would prefer to just have the names and dates thrown at me, and learn it all through memorization. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I can honestly say at this point after going through it that the myth made the learning process more interesting and much less dry. One of the most important aspects of the myth as a learning tool, I think, is the way more than one real-life characters can be combined to form a mythical character; for example, Dr. Hein, Gen. Volt, and Abbe Siepee.
40th Clip. Title: Selling False Hope. 4:30 minutes long. Total: 3:51:59 hours.
This clip is posted for those oral deaf people who “exclaim” about their speaking skills, needing to express “I can speak”. Signing deaf people usually don’t do that, not needing to express “I can sign”. The spirit behind this clip, “Selling False Hope” describes the soul, the quintessence, and the epitome of oralism.
Click away and enjoy Hein’s false advertisement . . .
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Commentary: Research on the history of oral education have shown that oral educators, in the 18th and 19th century, had used various deceptive ways to demonstrate that oral educational method was superior, worked better, or appropriate for deaf children. The infamous 1880 Milan Congress used students from local deaf schools, most of them POST-lingually deaf, to demonstrate “good” speaking skills. Oral schools in the past AND the present would select students with best speaking skills to give demonstrations. It is false hope given to parents and the public that “all” deaf children can be like this “one” deaf person who can speak.
The shrill of the oral educators of the deaf, oral deaf people, and few signing deaf people - who say “The deaf can speak” or “I can speak” - epitomize the spirit behind this clip. Want to see/hear the most current shrill - click here. That DEAF person wrote this sentence, “I’m able to hear and speak well.”
I find that very same young deaf oral woman’s brave stance very helpful for the deaf world to accept the fact that cochlear implants are probably not the death knell of sign languages and deaf cultures, yet her shrill still resonates the spirit of this clip.
I find Patti Durr’s response to “the shrill of the oral” reasonable, balanced, and intelligent. Click here to read her words.
This endless cycle of the Deaf Question (to speak or not to speak) OR (to sign or not to sign) will not stop until the prophecy of this myth happens, that is IF. That comes in the 12th and last chapter, so hold our pants, we need to.
Tikkun Olam, we must . . .
May VisMa Be With You . . .