I am reposting this revised “marching” song I wrote last year when the DBC (before they were formed) led a protest at AGBell’s summer conference on AVT in Virginia. This song was written and is now dedicated to DBC and their noble, honorable, and very important work for deaf children worldwide.
Octopus Volt refers to an archetypal character in the Deaf Child mythology symbolizing audism. The Volta Bureau, AGBell, and their organizations are the historical realities behind this archetype.
To the organizers and attendees of the DBC conference, have a great one!
Share! Empower! with Love!
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For the Deaf Child
A marching song dedicated to the Deaf Bilingual Coalition . . .
. . .
(drumming begins)
. . .
Soldier On, March On, Forge On
For our dDeaf children, the Deaf Child
. . .
Soldier on, thy Deaf comrades
With thy Deaf Conscience purest
. . .
March on, into the city of Milwaukee
To the Volt’s Bi-annual Conference
. . .
Forge on, to fight only an arm
Of the Giant Octopus Volt
. . .
Soldier On, March On, Forge On
For our dDeaf children, the Deaf Child
. . .
Soldier on, to awake the slumbering Giant
of the General Public about Castle Volt
. . .
March on, sign “loudly” and articulate well
Using interpreters and codas, our natural allies
. . .
Forge On, with hearing and deaf parents
Who believe in the Deaf Child, first
. . .
Soldier On, March On, Forge On
For our deaf children, the Deaf Child
. . .
Solider on, today’s battle won or lost? no matter
We have just begun a War against Octopus Volt
. . .
March on, to Volta Bureau in Georgetown
Another arm, recruiting soldiers from nearby
. . .
Forge On, against National Geographic Magazine
Another arm, refusing to do an article on the Deaf.
. . .
Soldier On, March On, Forge On
With loving kindness for our Deaf Child
. . .
Soldier On, toward new parents of deaf children
To make them realize that Language comes first
. . .
March On, to many more Battle sites
Against the people of Volt to wake them up
. . .
Forge on, show them the Book
Of our history and irrevocable bilingualism
. . .
Soldier On, March on, Forge On
With loving kindness for our Deaf Child
. . .
Soldier on, but don’t destroy the Volt soldiers
Love them as ones of our sacred comrades
. . .
March on, toward the dreaded Castle Volt
But don’t burn the castle down, cherish it
. . .
Forge on, make them our expert in teaching speech
Not on how to raise our Deaf Child holistically
. . .
Soldier on, March On, Forge On
For our dDeaf children, the Deaf Child
. . .
Soldier on, make them JOIN US in the War
To liberate the minds and souls our deaf children
. . .
March on, for our dDeaf children of the Now
and the Deaf Child of the Future
. . .
Forge on, for our dDeaf children
And for the Deaf Child within us . . .
. . .
Soldier On, March on, and Forge on!
. . .
Solider On!
March On!
Forge On!
. . .
(drumming ceases)
. . .
Amen
49th clip - Title: Entering the Monastery - 6:01 m./4:35:17 h.
This clip/post focuses on the world’s first public (free) school for the deaf in Paris, France, known either as the INJS or the St. Jacques school. The formal name is, in English - the National Institution of the Deaf Youth. To view the video about this school as visited in 1992, please click on this link to go to my website post focused on that school or this link to the video posted at my deafhistory youtube channel.
I also would like to share a short anecdote to reflect many “mystical” or “omen signal” connections the myth directed me to notice within the “Deaf” Life we experience on earth. For example, in one myth discussion session in 2003, a participant brought up the Martha’s Vineyard topic in deaf history - which led me to notice that the initials of the name of the god in this myth, VisMa, is VM which corresponds to the reversed initials of Martha’s Vineyard - MV. And then I experienced a goose-pimpled realization, almost mystical.
Another stronger but similiar experience happened when I first walked into the St. Jacques school in 1992. The name of this chapter, Siepee’s Monastery, was coined before I traveled to Europe to visit various historical sites behind the myth. When I opened the large green doors at the front entrance, the first thing I saw was the high iron gates few feet away directly opposite me. Both the iron gates and the green doors enclosed a small “foyer” where visitors need to go to a booth on one side in order to gain entrance to the school. As you can see in the St. Jacques video (links above), I noticed the two letters on the gate - S and M . . . . Lo and behold - Siepee’s Monastery! Goose-pimples all over. I knew what they might mean and after asking a local deaf person from the school for verification, my gut instinct was right that S stands for sourde (deaf) and M for muet (mute). I then knew that the name for the 5th chapter of the Deaf Child mythology was exactly right - to the bull’s eye.
All right, enjoy viewing the Deaf Child’s first reactions when entering the Monastery for the first time. Click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above is undownloadable, too slow, or wanting full screen. Thank you.
Myth Commentary: As in any myth/epic of an archetypal hero-savior, there are “way-stations” where the hero stopped by during her/his journey of “development”. Some of these places became obstacles or challenges to endure (for example, Hein’s Castle). Other places became refuges or temporary homes (for example, Siepee’s Monastery as for our Deaf Child. This 05.04 clip or scene is deemed universal because almost all deaf people underwent the similar experience of entering a “deaf” school (or class) for the first time. As in almost every clip of the myth (or the myth as a whole), it is probably not possible to stop analyzing the symbolism/applications/meanings the myth offers in connection to our dDeafhood, dDeaf experience, and Deaf history. That is why creating this myth over 19 years still is a long, slow, cerebral, and somehow sensual pleasure for me.
Deaf History Commentary: The connection between monasteries/monks and deaf education in deaf history is fascinating and document able. Words have been written about the use of sign language among the monks and its’ contribution to deaf education. Here are several links if the “curiosity got your cat.”
The wikipedia entry.
A book published by Cambridge University Press.
A 1997 book about Benedictine monks and sign language.
A journal article or the book by Susan Plann on the history of deaf education in Spain.
The use of a monastery to serve as the archtype symbolizing our earliest signing deaf schools in Europe AND of the monks as another archetype symbolozing our first signing teachers of the deaf is a way for me/us to give thanks to the ancient them for something fertile (sign language) they bequeathed to us, the Deaf, even though we signed among our families and friends long before that. It was the schools they established that “turned the wheel of motion” for us to form the earliest deaf communities in the last half of the 18th century in Europe. The manual alphabet ASL uses came from Laurent Clerc and the St. Jacques school (and Epee) which, in turn, was borrowed from the manual alphabet printed in the book printed in 1620 by a hearing Spanish monk, Juan Pablo Bonet.
Deafhood Question: (for a deaf person) Do you remember the first time you entered a residential deaf (signing or oral) school? If coming from oral school(s), any differences in arriving at the subsequent signing school? If entering for the first time, were you aware of the school or its’ use of signing beforehand?
(for hearing people) What was your impressions when you first visited a large school for the deaf (residential, state, day, etc) school? Like entering a foreign land? If you are a CODA, what are your feelings when entering one?
**************
Below is a thumbprint of a small poster I got in gratis, if I remember correctly, from the ALSF (Academie de la langue des Signes Francaise - click here for their website) which was housed on the fourth floor at the St. Jacques deaf school during the time I stayed there in the summer of 1992. As of now, I still do not have any information on who did the drawing or where interested people could get/purchase a copy.
Please click on it to enlarge for your viewing pleasure.
“Honor thy Deaf History”
48th clip - Title: Back to the Deaf Child - 6:30 m./4:29:16 h.
This clip is posted with gratitude to my soul brother, eLiot Helman, who was my first “Aaron” voicing the myth for me in 1994 at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA. We first met at Gallaudet in 1981 when we performed together as Herald (me in ASL, him in spoken English) in the play, “Marat/Sade”. We have remained close friends through all the highs and lows in our lives. Every time Eliot and I get together, he is always all “eyes” for juicy tidbits of the myth’s new development. Because of the above and his true friendship, I post this clip with deep gratitude to him. He is the one of the handful few who are riding on the wings of VisMa with me.
eL, we keep our chins up, our hands rooted inside VisMa, and enjoy the various breezes in life up there -
And now, everybody, enjoy the next clip about the time VisMa returned to the Deaf Child in order to bring her/him west to Siepee. Click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above is undownloadable, too slow to download, or wanting a full screen. Thank you.
Myth Commentary: This clip does not have direct historical background except for modeling after a classic situation where the countless of parents realized that it was their mistake enrolling their deaf child(ren) in an oral school and deciding that a school using sign language was the better option. There were some, maybe few, deaf students who succeed in a strictly oral only upbringing. My gut instinct is, based on my 25+ years in the field of deaf education, my research in deaf history, and interacting with many different kinds of deaf adults, that a large, anywhere between 70 to 90, percent of deaf people reared in oral environment turned to sign language at different points of their lives. It is possible to gather several examples from the actual lives of deaf people to support the metaphors used in this clip. Someday this will be done.
Deafhood Question: After attending an oral school for a certain number of years, what was your feelings when your parents (or someone else) informed you that you will be going/moving to a different school, this time the one using sign language?
For those of you who has been following the story, have you noticed two new additions to the clips? The clip title under the numbered chapter title. And a quote related to the myth or to anything Deaf at the end of the clip. It is much fun tinkering with the editing process and making the clips better as time goes along. Comments? Suggestions?
Worship the Deaf Child Within You.
47th Clip - Title: Discovering the Deaf Girls - (04:26 m. - 4:22:46 h.)
This clip is posted with homage to Charles-Michel de l’Epee who created the first Deaf “sacred” space by establishing an educational institution critical in the nascence of sign languages, deaf culture, and deaf communities. It is important to note that he did NOT “invent” sign language or started a deaf community. He merely established a public school using sign language - probably the world’s first Deaf sacred communal space where deaf people can flourish in Gaia-God given ways - where deaf people could finally congregate as a community which resulted in the creation of sign language and deaf culture by themselves. The school Epee began in Paris spawned more deaf signing schools in Europe and ultimately in the United States through Laurent Clerc.
This clip is also posted with hands outstretched welcoming a Deaf artist into this story. She is an actress and a children’s book author I was re-acquainted with last night at the KodaWest benefit gala. She was not aware of this DC myth so I explained, in as few ASL signs as possible, my artistic/scholastic/spiritual work on this story. Her enthused responses were typical of very few people who understood the use of metaphors and archetypes in sacred and popular literature. When she exclaimed, “I love metaphors,” I knew that she was one of the rare kindred spirits. As I began describing the Tower Mountain, her hand rose up in front of me, telling me to stop. She want to dive into the myth with a blank state of mind. AA, I give you a warm welcome into a sacred story that does belongs to you as a Deaf person.
Dive into this video clip describing how VisMa FIRST discovered Abbe’ Siepee. Click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above is undownloadable, too slow to download, or wanting a full screen. Thank you.
Deaf History Commentary: The historical background of the fifth chapter of the DC myth, Siepee Monastery, focuses on the birth of sign languages and deaf communities. The discussion on that history will be broken into parts that correspond to metaphors used the next 13 clips of this chapter. This clip discusses how VisMa first met Abbe Siepee as he met the two deaf girls who led him to begin a monastery (”school”) for the deaf which will be featured prominently in the SIepee’s Monastery chapter of the myth.
Abbe Charles-Michel de l’Epee is still revered today as the Father of manual education for the deaf. His legacy continues to shine as opposed to A. G. Bell whose legacy is now being tarnished based on the hearing public’s growing understanding of his role in degrading sign languages and the deaf community. For more information on Epee himself, please click on this link at Wikipedia, in New Advent - Catholica encyclopedia website, and at the answer.com site. We can find people all over naming their places after Epee. For example, Click here to learn a little more about a children playground named de l’ Epee Deaf Center in Mississippi or click here to look at a painting of a street in Paris named after him. Click here for a picture and some information on the gravesite of Epee in Paris. Click here for further information on Epee’s published works.
I asked Bernard Truffant, a deaf historian in Orleans, France in 1992 if he could sign this French Epee legend to me on videotape. Click here to go to my deaf history website where you can view him describing, in French Sign Language, the first encounter between Epee and the two deaf girls. It is also subtitled for those who could not understand his signing.
Also below here is one bronze plaque made by a deaf sculptor on the same event described in the myth. Click on the photo to enlarge.
46th Clip - Title: Finding Monks - (04:03 mins - 4:18:20 hours)
This first clip of chapter 5 is posted to give more recognition to Etienne de Fay, one of the earliest deaf teacher of the deaf in history. Even though the history of deaf education began in Spain in the 1500’s, barring more discoveries might be made, the world’s first deaf teacher of the deaf was probably Etienne de Fay from France. More on him below.
Enjoy the first clip of Siepee’s Monastery where VisMa, flying westward, sought help to raise the Deaf Child.
Click here for YouTube if above undownloadable, too slow to download, or wanting a full screen.
Deaf History Commentary: In this clip VisMa observed one monastery, convinently put together as one in the myth, which actually are several monasteries, first in Spain and then in France (possibly other places).
The world knew that the first teacher of the Deaf was Abbe de l’ Epee, partly the namesake of the title of this chapter. As Bernard Truffaut reported in his research, Etienne de Fay actually taught deaf students some 40 years before Epee started teaching the deaf (focus of the next clip, 05.02). Here is what we know of our first deaf teacher.
Etienne de Fay was born deaf around 1669, apparently from a noble family. At the age of 5, he was placed in the Abbey of Saint-Jean d’ Amiens where he stayed for the rest of his life. In the abbey (or monastery) de Fay learned reading, writing, arithmetic, mechanic drawing, architecture, a remarkable feat for a deaf person at that time. There are written testimonies that he was skilled in communicating with sign language (remember that was some 50 years before Epee in Paris). When the abbey expanded, he drew architectural plans on which portions were built. The walls and the plans survived today.
Several deaf children were placed under the tutelage of Etienne de Fay. The first glimmer of deaf history began when a famous deaf person, Azy d’Etavigny, was first taught by de Fay before going on to become the pupil of the famous French oralist, Jacob Periere. The venerated Abbe de l’ Epee knew of Periere and his famous pupil and started the world’s first public school for the deaf around the same time (the main focus of chapter 5 - Siepee’s Monastery).
There is a deaf history organization based in Orleans, France named Association Etienne de Fay. Click here to go to their website.
Bibliography:
Truffaut, Bernard. (1993) Etienne de Fay and the History of the Deaf. From Fischer and Lane (editors) Looking Back: A Reader of Deaf Communities and Their Sign language. Hamburg: Germany. Signum Press. pages 13 - 24.
45th Clip - Title: Fleeing the Dark Side - 2:36 mins. This last short clip of Hein’s Castle is posted with a pointing out to the deaf community about Daniel Plainview, a despicable hearing father in the new film “There Will Be Blood”, who mocked his son’s proud Deafhood. The dark side of audism in Daniel is revealed - the same VisMa saw in Dr. Hein in this myth. Refusing to communicate with deaf children through sign language and brutally forcing them to conform to spoken language could and should be construed as a biological crime, especially just what Daniel Plainview did.
I finished watching the film based on Upton Sinclair’s book about Daniel Plainview, the worst a human being can be: scheming and competitive, drunk rich in oil and whiskey, denouncing sign language and religion, not opening his heart to people around him, and not trying to be a better person. Pure greed and hatred. I had a hard time progressing through the film because I was filled with revulsion toward Daniel Plainview, well-acted out in the body of Daniel Day-Lewis.
This excellent film left me uncomfortable. I was not “entertained”. It was a “catharsis” experience - meeting a person you are propelled to detest. Are there still hearing parents of deaf children who feel strongly like Daniel Plainview on sign language? How can we, the Deaf, explain to the hearing world that the more everyone, especially parents, sign, the better the world will be. The more the world sign, the better chances our future deaf children can acquire language fully like any other human beings. The hearing world’s core primeval response to deafness is revealed in Daniel Plainview, in the vein of Doctor Hein here and later in the myth, in General Volt. What should we do with our fight against audism, or “Daniel Plainview”?
Enjoy this short clip about VisMa fleeing Doctor Hein with the Deaf Child below toward something in the West . . .
Click here for YouTube if above undownloadable, too slow to download, or wanting full screen. Thank You.
The emergence of video and blogging in the internet has created a great boon to the deaf community. Video in the Internet will serve as the Deaf “newspaper-radio-TV” of the future. Mass-communication has arrived for the deaf community. I am enjoying this new development, especially YouTube and the blogs (deafvideo.tv and deafread.com), and its impact on helping me continue developing an epic in ASL about our deaf history.
I am still not sure of the myth I created. What and how would the deaf community react to a long story in ASL about their deaf history, serialized like Dickens and Clemens in the 19th century? This is treading into new ground, I humbly feel, for the sign language viewers in the deaf community. New types of ASL literature. New terminology like deafhood in our discourse. We see glimmers of deaf spirituality growing. We reap opportunities technology has given us: videophones, pagers, and the cochlear implants. We now see more films in ASL. More and more hearing people learn sign language. We, the Deaf, are now confronting the AgBell organization.
Looking back at the topic of the talk I gave at the DeafRead conference, The Impact of the Blogsphere on Deaf Society, I reiterate the idea I made. We can not measure the impact because we are living in it right now. Jared Evans signed it well at the beginning of the conference by saying that we are treading into uncharted territory. This is truly the dawn of an new era for the Deaf.
As in the end of the clip, embrace while fighting Audism . . .
44th Clip - Title: Breakout from the Castle - (05:27 mins - 4:11:41 hours)
Posting this second to 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 here for YouTube if above undownloadable, too slow to download and play, or wanting a full screen. Thank you.
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: Final Surgical Experiment - (04:01 mins - 4:06:14 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.
Click here for YouTube if above undownloadable, too slow, or preferring full screen enlarged.
42nd Clip - Title: Signing Hands Swatted - (04:10 mins - 4:02:13 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.
Click here for YouTube if above is undownloadable, too slow, or wanting a full screen. Thank you.
41st Clip - Title: The Second Experiment - (06:18 mins - 3:58:03 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 . . .
Click here for youtube if above is undownloadable, too slow, or if you want to view the clip in larger screen. Thank you.
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 - (04:30 mins - 3:51:45 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 . . .
Click here for youtube if above clip is undownloadable, too slow to load, or if you want a full screen.
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 . . .
39th Clip - Title: Behind Oralism’s Facade - (05:35 mins - 3:47:15 hours)
This post is for all deaf people who experienced oral classrooms and knew what was behind the facade of oralism in those schools. Sign language could not be suppressed. It is like if you try to move the light on a plant which then would grow toward wherever the light is. Suppress sign language and it’ll pop up somewhere else.
Watch what the deaf child saw behind the facade in Hein’s Castle. Click away . . .
Click here for youtube if above is undownloadable or too slow. Thank you.
Commentary: We know very little of what was was life like in oral schools during the 18th and 19th centuries. We do have some information of student life in signing schools like in Paris from the writings of Clerc and Berthier. Not so for oral schools. What was it like to attend the Braidwood schools in England or the Heinicke school in Germany? We could guess safely that the oral students did sign behind their teachers’ backs and in the dormitory rooms. What did happen when they were caught signing? Hands slapped and/or what kinds of punishment did they receive? All this is subaltern or “minority” history that probably is lost in the mists of time. Historians might come across accounts overlooked in the files of those oral schools. Let’s hope they do find them and enlarge our understanding of deaf history in the 18th and 19th centuries.
38th Clip - Title: Hein’s First Experiment - (05:18 mins - 3:41:40 hours)
Caution: Graphic ASL description of an experimental cure of deafness. Not for the faint-hearted. A picture included.
This clip is posted in memory of those deaf people who needlessly suffered from painful experiments in the attempts by quacks, parents, scientists, and doctors from the past (and present) in curing their deafness and/or muteness. It is up to you to include the cochlear-implanted in this group of deaf people.
Enjoy the first of several horrible episodes in the deaf child’s stay in Hein’s Castle. Carefully click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above is undownloadable or too slow. Thank you.
Commentary: In the annals of medical history, we see countless horrible experiments in curing anything undesirable in human life. Several journals and blogs explained those experiments in curing deafness. Even today, we see people trying to cure hearing loss, see this website. As in this clip, people poured liquid imaginable and not into the ears and tried to enlarge the Eustachian tubes by inserting various sticks into them. A small and smooth metal stick, called the “Eustachian catheter”, was invented for insertion into Eustachian tubes by the famous Dr. Itard, teacher of the Wild Boy of Aveyron (see page 132 to 134 of Lane’s book, When the Mind Hears).
This picture below (click on it to enlarge) was scanned from page 498 of the book: Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and Their Sign Languages, edited by Renate Fischer and Harlan Lane, published by SIGNUM Press in Hamburg, Germany.
I want to share a story reflecting the nature of the clip here. I was a Montessori pre-school teacher for the Tripod school in 1988 and 1989. I remembered one 3 or 4 years old deaf boy who had a difficult time being separated from his parents, standing by the gate crying with his arms outstretched and hands clawing for several long minutes before I had to bring him inside the classroom. It went on for some weeks before this behavior began to subside. Anyway, for many weeks, I noticed cotton balls inside both of his ears. I had to inquire his parents’ on why, which was their homeopathic attempt in curing their son’s deafness. They put various liquids, some smelling bitter, some sweet, some both, in the cotton. Sure enough, as most of deaf people know, the parents stopped doing this and began the long process of accepting their son’s deafness.
37th Clip - Title: In Oral Classroom - (04:43 m. - 3:36:22 h.)
Many deaf people, including myself, had experienced oral classrooms therefore this clip is posted in salutation to them.
Enjoy observing the Deaf Child’s first experience in an oral classroom. Click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above undownloadable or too slow. Thank you.
36th Clip - Title: First Speech Lesson - (08:59 m. - 3:31:39 h.)
This clip is posted in gratitude to the 1992 committee of the GUAA’s Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund who granted funding for my airfare to Europe that summer. See here for this blog’s first deaf history video clip of the oldest oral school in Germany. I am grateful for GUAA’s support because this trip to various deaf history sites in Europe invaluably helped me visualize many scenes in the myth, even more so while presently enlarging the myth three times more. I will repeat my gratitude to the GUAA Clerc committee whenever I post myth clips having symbolic representations of places in Liepzig, Paris, Hartford, and Washington, D.C.
Enjoy the Deaf Child’s first speech lesson with Dr. Hein. Click away . . .
Click here for YouTube if above undownloadable or not working. Thank you.
I could not embed here my video of my visit to the Samuel Heinicke School in Liepzig, Germany. I will keep on trying. Meanwhile, please click on the words - Heinicke School - to view the video. Thank you. HEINICKE SCHOOL
Commentary: As you may notice, words used in the deaf child’s first speech lesson came from a different language. Yes, from the German language because it was in Germany where oralism first began (around the same time in England with the Braidwood schools) and was instrumental in spreading the oral method before the 1880 Milan Convention where Italian and French oral educators cemented the spread of oral method all over the world. The German words used in this clip were: sprechen, horle, taub, eule, vater, and mutter. Can you guess what they mean based on contextual clues in the clip?
Again this clip is too long. It can be split between after the speech lesson and the grieving mother’s return to the castle to sign the papers. I apologize for the length which could tax on your attention span. Thank you for you patience and continuing to view the clip(s).
Myth Commentary: In this TDC blog, I have not discussed the significance of the emergence of a myth in the deaf community. As the creator of a genuine mythology based on the Deaf Spirit, I felt it is arrogant and presumptuous for me to state that my story here is the myth of the Deaf because any story or epic becomes a myth only when its viewer/readers/users fall in love with it and declare it a sacred myth (or “bible-like” epic). My research/reading on the functions of mythology and religion in society have demonstrated to me that mythology plays a very critical role in making a community more cohesive and proud of themselves (very psychological). And that the deaf community has not yet seen, accept, love, and celebrate one that represent their Deaf spirit. People, both deaf and hearing, still do not understand the importance of the role mythology play in the their minds and souls.
Once deaf (and hearing) people fully understand and appreciate this (and any other) mythology, their Deafhood SOAR!
Let me close by sharing this anecdote. Few weeks ago, a deaf woman, a “famous” blogger, told me that viewing clips of this mythology is like reading the bible. I gasped at the truth she saw. She is beginning to grasp the full meaning of this myth and what it means for the deafhood of the deaf community. I have decided not to proselytize, attempt to “sell” this myth, or try to shove this story in any one’s throat (eyes). Truth and reality in life are best understood when voluntarily sought, and not forced upon.
May VisMa be with the readers/viewers/users of this sacred story.
Namaste’
35th clip. Title: Meeting Dr. Hein. (04:41 m. - 3:22:40 h.)
2 photos below. 1 is of a large painting of the Father of German Oralism: Samuel Heinicke and this inspired the name-sign for Dr. Hein. Another one is of a painting of his school which existed in the 1800’s until its destruction during World War 1. It was rebuilt and still exists today on the same site in Leipzig, Germany. Click here for their website.
Enjoy this clip of when the Deaf Child meets Doctor Hein for the first time. Click away . . .
Click here for youtube if above is slow in downloading or not working. Thanks.
Two photos here. This is how Doctor Hein in the myth could look like - and how Hein’s Castle could look like.
Above is a cropped photo of a large painting of Samuel Heinicke, founder of first oral school for the deaf in Germany, hung in the front grand staircase on the second floor (when I visited there in 1992). Below is a painting of how the school looked before it was destroyed during the first world war. It was hung directly across from the painting above.
Commentary on the two pictures above: I visited the school in the summer of 1992, just a year or 2 after the communist government in East Germany fell. I could see evidence of communism all around the school - decaying buildings and huge empty lot right in front of the school. The school was out of session but I was able to visit the whole school thanks to one music teacher from the school, yes a music teacher of a deaf school! I have videotapes and slides of the visit and will convert into digitial and upload here someday soon. The teacher even took me to Samuel Heinicke’s family cemetery plot.
34th clip of DC myth. Clip Title: First Hearing Test. (03:52 m. - 3:17:59 h.)
This clip is posted in joy to someone I just conversed with - who is following the myth and understanding the deep interplay of connections to everything Deaf this story entails. The more I ponder on this myth, the more enlightened and appreciative I am in being Deaf. This is how this mythology works for me, and other hearing and deaf people who saw that they are the Deaf Child (or other character-s) themselves too, and that we all are still living in this myth . This clip is posted for you, my Deaf Adult, who I just signed with electronically. The more you delve into this story, the more you understand and become _________ about being Deaf nudging you into a higher stage of deafhood. A big tbc . . .
Enjoy watching the deaf child’s first hearing evaluation . . . click away . . .
Click here for youtube if above is slow in downloading or not working. Tks.
To you, the Deaf Adult, from above the clip here, I sincerely wish I can elaborate here on the symbols depicted in the 04.04 clip but I have to go to bed! What could and should be here are: the history of early hearing tests conducted in deaf history, the deafhood questions on experiences being tested for hearing loss, and the pictures and videos of Samuel Heincke Schul in Liepzig, Germany. And more . . .
Ah, such bottomless pit this myth has . . . and falling with glee, I am . . .
33rd clip of DC myth - Clip Title: Into the Castle. (07:36 m. - 3:14:07 h.)
This clip is posted with congratulations to Tayler and Jared for such a wonderful DR conference! I am seeing impacts DeafRead and the blogsphere are making on the deaf community. The Pepsi-AgBAD uproar and how the NAD response is bringing, as new and non members, more grassroot deaf people into the fray. The subtitling whining on all sides is brought out in the open. The audistic cochlear impanted experiences being posted in DeafRead had brought their views into the faces of the ASLans. And the vociferous deaf-mute ASLans being shoved into the English speaking throats. All that is WONDERFUL! The more interplay among different people within the deaf community will bring us all together inch by inch.
Enjoy this clip about when the Deaf Child is finally brought into Hein’s Castle.
Please click here for YouTube version if above is slowly or un-downloadable. Thank you.
32nd clip of DC myth - Clip Title: Return to the Feral. (08:39 m. - 3:06:31 h.)
I would like to post this clip in gratitude and homage to Harlan Lane and his book, When the Mind Hears. In 1984, in the streets of Manhattan on a bicycle, I vividly remembered the moment someone signed to me that Lane’s Clerc book was finally available at the bookstores and the mad bicycle dash there thereafter. At that time, I was in the middle two things: trying to do a biography of Clerc and my seven years itch on Clerc, enamored by his legacy and the sacred purpose his story serves to the American deaf community. Once the book was in my hands and perusing it, I became “awed-shocked” to see how Harlan used Clerc to tell the sacred story of the deaf. Lane did the biography for me, telling Clerc’s life story. This historical method/technique was criticized by some historians, rightly so, I think. I am thankful Harlan opted to use this unconventional method rather than other dry conventional ones. The story became more powerful. The impact of Harlan’s book on me is immeasurable.
This clip is about VisMa finding the Deaf Child feral. Lane’s area of specialty before entering the deaf world, if I am not wrong, was on feral children with his impressive scholastic work on Viktor on Rue St. Jacques in Paris. He was so graceful to sit down and sign with me before a videocamera. If I may say so here, the Deaf should and will be grateful for what Harlan did for them. He belongs to the place on “Mt. Olympus” of the Deaf where Heinicke, Eppe, Sicard, Massieu, Gallaudet, Bell, Clerc, Stokoe and few others now live. More on that in LATER in the myth.
Enjoy the jaw-drop of VisMa at the feral side of deaf/humanity - click away
Click here for YouTube version if above undownloadable. Thanks.
Myth/Deaf History/Deaf Studies Commentaries: please go to the previous post of 03.11.01 for elaboration on feral children.
Clip Title: Finding Dr. Hein. First clip of 4th chapter (09:02 m. - 2:57:52 h.)
This clip is posted in gratitude to Joyanne Rasmus Burdett and Marlon “Lon” Kuntze, my former CSDFremont colleagues. They, in 1992, wrote letters for my application to the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund maintained by the GUAA. It was to apply for a grant to fund my flight to Europe to visit sites of deaf history behind the myth. I look back with fondness at the memory of working with Joyanne and Lon, along with many others at CSDF. Joyanne in the museum/library discussing deaf/CSD history and children books. Lon, as the Bi-Bi coordinator, elaborating on the development of Deaf Studies courses/curriculum which I taught in the HS dept. Thank you, you two.
I have never discussed in this blog on why I include a list of gratitudes. Maybe there is no need but it feels right that I do. I am still in “shock/awe” that this story got created - a mythology! “never heard” ever before - and it might continue for the rest of my life. I am grateful for everything that had crossed my life-path contributing to the growth of this myth. The books and other printed materials, visiting “sacred” places, acquiring “sacred” deaf artifacts, the people who lent support of different kinds, and _____________. I surmise some people will find the listing of so many people to thank to something odd, I don’t know, but it just feel right to thank them “publicly”.
About the length of this clip - 9 minutes. I aim to keep each clip to around 5 minutes. That is one of the reasons why I will need to revise some clips That is why the seemingly unnecessary last appendage of three clusters of two digits for each clip, 04.01.02. I apologize for such a long clip, taxing your attention.
Click away and enjoy the first part of Hein’s Castle
Click here to go to youtube if above not working or undownloadable
Deaf history commentary: As to how the myth naturally evolved in its creation, the duo-chapters: 4 - 5 and 10 - 11 occur somehow simultaneously in deaf history (more on that in other posts - or a book). Doctor Hein is an archetypal character which represents certain people in deaf history - all hearing white men who wrote about the educability of deaf people in the 15th and 16th centuries: Rudolph Agricola, Girolamo Cardano to name a few. Click on them to to go to wiki-info on them.
Bibliography:
Bender, Scouten, Lane, and more to be added. (Decided to add a new page above - biblio, so I dont have to type out the whole citation. Making a book in ASL is fun here.)
