NAD 2020 Vision is purely about the culturally deaf agenda and nothing more. They have consistently served most of their interest to the side of the culturally deaf community (estimated population 600,000) rather than the deaf and hard of hearing communities at large that make up 98% of all people with hearing loss (est. 35 million). NAD should be titled "NACD" or National Association of the Culturally Deaf because members and staff are culturally deaf.
None of their vision outlines the right of deaf and hard of hearing people to speech and sound. Although they do outline an objective to protect every individual's right to visual communication in the U.S. which can include captioning, Cued Speech, and even Signing in Exact English but that's just a guess because for all we know they probably only support the captioning part (i.e. real time captioning, CART, movie captioning, etc).
The Vision 2020 do not even acknowledge that there are educational programs that combine signing and speech. And what's more they blatantly left out the rights of parents to make an informed decision regarding their children with hearing loss whether it's bilateral or unilateral mild, moderate, severe or profound hearing loss.
I'd say every child born with a hearing loss has a right to visual communication access which can mean Cued Speech, ASL, SEE, PSE, lipreading, captioning, etc. Just as well there are many children born with both hearing and visual loss that they should have a right to both visual and verbal/sound communication access as well. There are babies born with one of the condition and may gradually lose the other condition such as late deafened or late vision loss. So, in reality every individual's right is to both visual and verbal communication in the U.S. because frankly nobody is born with the exact same condition . NAD's 2020 Vision is purely a culturally deaf agenda promoting only one visual communication access, ASL, as the only acceptable language. There are visual and spoken language that every child born with a hearing loss should have access to. The rest is up to the parents to make an informed decision on what to do for their child.
NAD continues to play the game of political correctness to the whims of culturally deaf people and their ideals.
4 comments:
I think it's fine for NAD to focus on its primary population of culturally Deaf people who use ASL. Just like the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) focuses on d/hh people who sign, or don't sign, use TC, PSE, Cued Speech, or oral speech, and the AG Bell Association focuses on d/hh people who prefer oral communication. None of these organizations excludes the others. Even AG Bell has signing members and will provide ASL interpreters on request. Just because an organization is FOR somebody doesn't mean it is AGAINST another.
On the other hand, Audism Free America (AFA) and Deafhood Foundation are specifically, and very strongly against, any form of oralism. They deny it, but the proof is in their many videos on the Internet - in ASL, of course, without captions. They don't market their message in any sort of positive way. They don't welcome hearing people, parents, or professionals at all. Their videos state that any professional person who works with d/hh people is in it only for the money. That includes ASL interpreters. Pathetic, isn't it?
NAD, by comparison, is relatively benign. One good thing about AFA and DF - they are a tiny but vocal subset of D/d/hh people who mainly do nothing more preach to the choir in the form of their vitriolic ASL videos.
The smart thing for NAD to do is to work with HLAA and AG Bell Association in meeting the needs of ALL D/d/hh people. We are more alike than different. We have similar needs, for visual communication, text, assistive listening devices, telecommunication access, and so on and so forth. There is simply no need for divisiveness. If only we could step away from the stupid and endless arguments about communication methods, we could accomplish SO much together.
Anonymous the First
I agree about the minority subset of militant group of culturally deaf people that market mostly within their own group of people. They say they support communication access, etc, but they continually betray that in their own videos. But it's sometime done in the form of a transcript which is nice but I suppose they like watching movies or shows that come with a transcript, too, after all it's still access, right? I don't believe one bit the claim that putting captions along with signing causes distraction and "reduces the quality" or "purity" of their signing videos. Utter, utter hogwash. What they don't realize is that many people are learning sign language and by putting captions allows them to fill the gap missed on the signing portion. A transcript won't help much in seeing the emotion of what's said. Using a transcript is a crutch on their part making them veritable walking hypocrites who scream everyday about lack of captioning on videos but they're exempt from that for their own videos.
Pathetic is right.
I agree that NAD would do better if they work extensively more in their outreach with HLAA and AG Bell Association by working together. The rest of what you said I disagree somewhat. NAD's Achille's Heel is there motto statement:
"The NAD is the nation's premier civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America."
But they don't advocate nor support the right of those with hearing loss the right to speech and sound, and early intervention when it involves those two. They also do not explicitly support the right to use PSE, SEE, Cued Speech or any of the visual communication which can and does provide access to language. They simply say that deaf and hard of hearing have a right to visual communication which could be anything instead of being a bit more explicit.
Premier civil rights organization? Not really. Their agenda is bit more nuanced than that.
I agree about the minority subset of militant group of culturally deaf people that market mostly within their own group of people. They say they support communication access, etc, but they continually betray that in their own videos. But it's sometime done in the form of a transcript which is nice but I suppose they like watching movies or shows that come with a transcript, too, after all it's still access, right? I don't believe one bit the claim that putting captions along with signing causes distraction and "reduces the quality" or "purity" of their signing videos. Utter, utter hogwash. What they don't realize is that many people are learning sign language and by putting captions allows them to fill the gap missed on the signing portion. A transcript won't help much in seeing the emotion of what's said. Using a transcript is a crutch on their part making them veritable walking hypocrites who scream everyday about lack of captioning on videos but they're exempt from that for their own videos.
Pathetic is right.
I agree that NAD would do better if they work extensively more in their outreach with HLAA and AG Bell Association by working together. The rest of what you said I disagree somewhat. NAD's Achille's Heel is there motto statement:
"The NAD is the nation's premier civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America."
But they don't advocate nor support the right of those with hearing loss the right to speech and sound, and early intervention when it involves those two. They also do not explicitly support the right to use PSE, SEE, Cued Speech or any of the visual communication which can and does provide access to language. They simply say that deaf and hard of hearing have a right to visual communication which could be anything instead of being a bit more explicit.
Premier civil rights organization? Not really. Their agenda is bit more nuanced than that.
"Premier civil rights organization" is a bit of a stretch, I agree. Call it exaggerated PR. Again, NAD is staying within its implicit mission by advocating visual communication, which really means ASL.
I think most people know that the AG Bell Association advocates listening and spoken language (LSL). they are perfectly within their rights to do so. it's a free country. Deaf people say that they have been harmed by oralism, especially in the old days when they got their hands slapped or tied, or worse, for signing. I acknowledge that they were abused, but the responsibility lies with the abusive persons, and not the methodology, per se. Harming another is never okay.
Similarly, I think most people know that NAD is an organization for culturally Deaf people who use ASL. They advocate for and promote ASL, and it's their right. My point is that neither AG Bell nor NAD are obligated to be all things for all people.
so back to your original point, NAD is definitely not "of, by, and for" ALL deaf people. Not at all. But there is some overlap and common goals between NAD, AG Bell, and HLAA. Those of us who are already in the deaf world know this. Parents, educators, professionals, and the general public need to do their research. there's a lot to know. I think your blog is a great resource, Mike. Keep up the good work of spreading the word. I appreciate your letting me be a voice (sign?) on your forum.
Anonymous the First
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