The Death of Deafread

I just find it funny whenever the words like "balderdash" and "poppycock" are expressed, especially if its done with a British accent. There are many synonyms that go with it like "flapdoodle," or "humbuggery" which is just as funny. So are the words like "crapola," "crock," "drivel," "fiddlesticks," "rubbish," "hokum," "hooey," "malarkey," "tosh," "piffle," "taradiddle," and, probably my favorite, "twaddle" because it sounds so funny when one says it. Why am I bringing up those words? Well, in a word, Deafread. Or more specifically it's the moaning and gnashing over Deafread's aggregator site and how it supposedly cause the a-wordism to overflow. The problem is that it's an aggregator site. It does not discriminate. In fact, there is a disclaimer saying,

"DeafRead does not endorse any of the blogs by the mere act of publishing."

Secondly, it publishes anything that's related to hearing loss, Deaf culture, deafness issues and so on. No where does it says "Deaf people only" or "Deaf culture only" in bright pink neon letters. And so these frothing of mouths over what Deafread publishes is a bunch of, well, twaddle. The idea of Deafread is to allow a variety of viewpoints, opinions, experiences, and perspectives to be published by bloggers and vloggers who are either hard of hearing or deaf, or have a connection to those people. There are bound to be unpopular opinions, perspectives and viewpoints to be blogged. That just goes with the territory.

Lately I haven't been keeping up with all the readings over the last few months and I'm a bit behind on what's going on. It's like riding a roller coaster. You just want to get off for awhile and have a picnic on a green grass by the lake for a calm and peaceful moment.  Do I want to get back on that roller coaster? Not really but I do have my own thoughts and opinions on a lot of things and so I blog.  Just recently someone told me to go and check out Jeff's blog. I asked why but told me to check it out anyway. And so I did. Nothing unusual. Just that Jeff is being Jeff. Just a lot of bitching. And he has every right to say what's on his mind, however cryptic it may be. I wasn't sure where to look but I suspect it had to do with what started the conversation was J.J.'s comment on Deafread, myself and Candy on the problem of trying to enforce a-wordism in an aggregator site. That was confirmed by my friend when I asked for clarification if this is what he was referring to. The discussion continues with Jeff, Deafpundit, Dianrez, Ann, and a few others jumping in. From the looks of it comes down to is people somehow trying to find a way to control Tayler's Deafread. That sort of thing has been going on for some time.

First there was a group of Deaf people that wanted to get rid of "deficit thinkers" from Deafread in order to control views seen and heard in the Deaf community via Deafread aggregator site beginning in 2007.

They tried that and....failed.

Another year passed and suddenly a new idea on the effort to control Deafread's content and that was to try and force Tayler Mayer to institute guidelines in DR by implementing the "a" word. And attempt to heap social guilt on him. But Tayler realized it'd be an impossible job to enforce that concept because there is no acceptable definition and it was just a cover.

They tried that and.... failed.

So after three years of trying to control Deafread people as a last resort boycotted DR by walking out as bloggers who were once linked in the Deafread aggregator list.

And so what I'm seeing is another round of discussions on finding ways to try and control Tayler's Deafread aggregator's site according to their demands.  Yet Ann makes a good counter point.

There's the other side of the coin, Jeffrey.

There are some Deaf-centric ppl who actually criticize and deride those deaf who choose to hear and speak. Mind you, I KNOW I'm deaf and don't pretend to be otherwise. Yet I don't go around criticizing those who use ASL and are culturally Deaf as inferior.

The prob is that some ppl, regardless of language preference and hearing technology or not, cannot respect the choices others make for themselves and are comfortable with. That's what it comes down to.

There would have to a "deafism" guideline, if an *udism guideline is to be adopted in DR.

Fair's fair, but oh, what a headache to enforce such guidelines...

Just because I don't discuss ASL/sign language in such breadth and detail with lofty praises does not mean I have a disdain for it even though I do sign. Even my daughter signs. Ditto my wife. And even my friends whether they sign in SEE, PSE, SE, or ASL.  Granted, I am comfortable speaking and listening, and I prefer that communication route because that is what I do daily with my other friends, relatives, family, co-workers and people in general as well. I have my preferences and nothing about superiority.  If that were the case then I wouldn't have friends in the Deaf community. I simply would not want to interact with them. Remember, having a preference does not equate with superiority. Just because I see things differently does not mean that the Deaf community ought to be extirpated or that ASL be vanquished or shunned. I just have a differing viewpoint and perspective on these things, and the people I wish to associate with in the deaf and hard of hearing community, and Deaf community. There are people who do not like my blogs. And then there are people who do like my blogs. These people happen to be Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing. Nothing new there.

This is a problem on the internet because it's easy to judge people from behind a screen and thus I must remind myself constantly the caveats of using the internet versus meeting people in person which can result in a totally different perspective about the person. Each person who reads a blog read it differently than the next person. The reader forms a picture about the blogger. And if it's something that the reader doesn't like about the blog piece for whatever reason it can leave a negative impression about the blogger based on his or her interpretation. But the next reader may come off with a positive impression. No matter what, people will either like the blog piece or not. Despite that fact what doesn't do any good is to target people like Deafpundit did by calling certain known deaf, hh, and Deaf bloggers the a-wordism. Only this time people are attempting to use the a-wordism as the de facto reason or guideline for removal from Deafread under the guise of "non-conformity." In other word, finding another way to encourage censorship. This is just as bad when John advocated for the removal of "deficit thinkers" from Deafread. Like Ann said, "but oh, what a headache to enforce such guidelines." I agree.  And I think it all boils down to absolute control one way or another come hell or high waters. 

In case you're wondering at this point on why I'm writing the word "a-wordism," it's my way of disagreeing on how such a word is used against other people for political and ideological purposes in the attempt to harm people whether done consciously or subconsciously because of prejudice or hate.  I recognize that discrimination does exist against people who are deaf and hard of hearing which is why I favor technology to help bridge that communication gap. I favor all kinds of communication and language access because there is no one shoe size fits all.  It is a complex issue in a complex community of people with hearing loss from all walks of life.

As for Deafread, perhaps people would rather see the aggregator site die and shut down for good rather than see it continue as it were? Maybe it's time that Tayler shut down his site once and for all? Maybe it's time that Tayler repent to the Deaf gods for his transgressions and get his 50 lashes across his back?

Poppycock.

Fiddlesticks.

Piffle.

Drivel.

Twaddle!