Deaf Schools similar to Hogwarts?

I saw Amy Cohen's link to a video in Facebook of Michael Stultz, an ASL teacher, who did a video explaining to his hearing students on what deaf schools are like. In a moment of inspiration he used the Hogwarts school that Harry Potter and his friends, and their enemies, attended as having that similarity. Mr. Stultz explained that Hogwarts and deaf schools have similarities such a having a cafeteria where students would come together and meet and eat, dormitories, classroom settings, and even sports or contests settings, and a place where self-identity would be realized. Although I'm wondering if deaf schools would include Gallaudet University as the final place for  "advanced wizardry students" to attend and graduate?

Seeing the video title I wondered who Lord Voldemort would be while I watched the video. Of course, I wasn't surprised when Mr. Stultz targeted AGBell and other oral schools as being the "Lord Voldemort" equivalent although never mind the fact that Lord Voldemort is a character and not an institution in the Harry Potter books/movies. Does teaching ASL includes teaching students on what to think about AGBell and other oral schools?

Just wondering.

Mr. Stultz gave an example of how "Voldemort's" goal would be to eradicate the Muggle born (not born into pure blood of wizard parents) and their kind of wizardry (which happens to be the good kind and used for good and not fall prey to the dark magic like Voldemort did - aka Tom Riddle). In other words, Mr. Stultz made the claim that the ultimate goal of AGBell and other oral schools (so called "Voldemort") would be to deliberately eradicate the culturally deaf community (so called "Muggles").

Desperate are we?

Problem number one. Lord Voldemort is Muggle born, too, but believe in blood-purity even though he became the most powerful and feared half-blood Dark Wizard. Dumbledore explains the blood-purity complex and problem that Lord Voldemort and other arch enemies of the dark magic believe in.

Dumbledore asserts that the much-vaunted blood purity does not exist, and is only a fiction maintained by the deceptions of supremacist wizards.

At Hogwarts they have their pure-bloods, too, like Draco Malfoy and others in the House of Slytherin. So, that's problem number two.

The pure-bloods are those born to wizard parents with many of them believing on mixing only with their kinds (e.g. nth generation family of pure blood, no miscegenation ). Examples of pure-bloods and what they do in order to maintain their "blood purity" lineage would be the Blacks, the Lestranges, the Crouches, the Fudges, the Gaunts, the Longbottoms, the Malfoys, the Potters and the Weasleys but not all of them believe in mixing only with their kinds like what the Malfoys believe (pay attention to the underlined bold below).

To maintain their blood purity, supremacist families have been known to inbreed into their own families by marrying their cousins, resulting in mental instability and violent natures. The Gaunts displayed both tendencies by the time of the sixth book with the exception of Merope, the last female member of the line.  

Pure-blood supremacists believe blood purity is a measure of a wizard's magical ability – notwithstanding examples of highly skilled Muggle-born witches like Hermione Granger and Lily Evans, and less skilled pure-bloods such as Neville Longbottom – and Muggles to be low-life, having no magic in them. Supremacists apply the term "blood traitor" to pure-bloods who harbor no prejudice against non-pure-bloods (enjoying their presence and relations with them).  

The antagonistic wizards in the Harry Potter books are almost all supremacists, while Harry and his friends disagree with this ideology. Rowling draws several parallels between the pure-blood supremacists and Nazi ideology in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the belief that pure-blood wizards have the right to subjugate the Muggle world and view themselves as a "master race", laws requiring Muggle-borns to register with the Ministry of Magic, rounding up Undesirables, etc.).

Sounds familiar? Traitors of "pure-blood" in the deaf sense would be culturally deaf people who enjoy intermingling with deaf/hh people of AGBell and those who are products of oral or even mainstreamed schools.

Who would the "pure-bloods" be if Michael Stultz is determined to use Voldemort and Hogwarts as examples?  Since "pure-bloods" are those wizards born to wizard parents sound very much like culturally deaf people born to culturally deaf parents and are a part of the "nth Deaf Generation." Those "pure-bloods" sometime advocates "Deaf purity" in all aspect of their Deaf life such as no hearing aids or cochlear implants coinciding with their own elitism of having been born, if they are lucky, as the nth culturally deaf generation who associate mostly with "their kinds" like other culturally deaf friends and families.

Deafhood anyone?

You see the problem now? The "pure-blood" at deaf schools would be the "nth born culturally deaf" students who do not wear or believe in hearing aids or cochlear implants, does not talk or do the "yowling" and use ASL only as their primary mode of communication. The "pure-bloods" at Hogwarts believe that Mugglehould not be taught magic and wizarding skills who limit their interaction with them by marginalizing them in many aspects of their lives.

Does that not sound familiar already? Do you see where I'm getting at?

Does the pure-blood Malfoys sound familiar, too?

Who would the "Deaf Malfoys" be at Gallaudet University and other (signing) deaf schools if you *really* want to go that far, Mr. Stultz?  Who would be the "Deaf Potters" be at Galluadet University and other deaf schools? What about the Longbottoms and the Weasleys who do not believe in the blood-purity requirement?

This gets worse (or better depending on your view).

Michael Stultz's attempted to compare (signing) deaf schools to that of Hogwarts using Lord Voldemort (aka Tom Riddle who is the ultimate character villain of Harry Potter) to represent AGBell and oral schools presents a number of problems as you can probably already see it by now.

Not everybody who attended Hogwarts were Muggle borns. You had the Malfoys, remember? The same pure-blood Draco Malfoy who sneered at Muggle borns at Hogwarts by calling them derisively and derogatorily as "Mudbloods."

Harry first encounters Draco's snobbish bigotry after their initial encounter at Madam Malkin's.[2] Rowling uses the Malfoys to introduce themes of intolerance and bigotry into a setting where people are often judged solely by their blood lineage rather than their good character or accomplishments. Draco, adhering to his family's beliefs, thinks that Muggle-born witches and wizards, which he and other characters derogatorily describe by the epithet Mudbloods, should be denied a magical education. Harry's first impression that the Wizarding community is a "magical wonderland" is instantly shattered. Says Rowling, "[Harry] found out that many people in power in the wizarding world are just as corrupt and nasty as they are in our world." Malfoy was originally named "Draco Spungen" in the earliest drafts of Philosopher's Stone. "Spungen" also appeared on her pre-canon class list, but it was crossed out and replaced with the surname "Spinks", while "Malfoy" was later added after the completion of the list. Philip Nel believes that Malfoy is derived from the French phrase mal foi, meaning "bad faith."In an article published in 2002, Nilsen and Nilsen argue that "Draco" has connotations with draconian, and that his name starts with "mal", a French prefix for "bad" or "evil". Many of Draco's relatives on his mother's side of the family (the Blacks) are named for stars or constellations (e.g., Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Andromeda Black Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Cygnus Black, Orion Black). Another constellation is Draco (the Dragon). Draco Malfoy eventually named his son for yet another constellation, Scorpius.

Again, sound familiar?

In Hogwarts there are four Houses in the school of witchcraft and wizardry: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Prior to starting school the Sorting Hat identifies each new Hogwarts student by wearing the hat. The Sorting Hat would either identify the new student belonging either to  Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin House,

The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity, is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members than on any accurate test of a student's lineage. Muggle-born Slytherins exist, but are very rare, as noted insultingly by Scabior the Snatcher.[9] There have also been definite examples of half-bloods sorted into the house, including Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) and Severus Snape. Harry Potter was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but ended up in Gryffindor instead.

So, what is the House of Slytherin?

Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness, and ambition. Its emblematic animal is the snake and its colours are green and silver. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron. Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the house is composed mostly of pure-blood students, due to its founder's mistrust of Muggle-born witches and wizards. Slytherin house has a negative reputation, with many claiming that it is the source of most Dark Wizards in Britain, notably Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, as well as many of his Death Eaters (followers). It has a traditional rivalry with Gryffindor.

The Sorting Hat selected Gryffindor House for Harry Potter who noted for his good character and strength rather than for his blood purity. The Sorting Hat almost put Harry Potter into the House of Slytherin. And if you remember the movie Harry Potter was praying/hoping that he wouldn't want to be put into the House of Slytherin. The Sorting Hat explains what a Slytherin would do :

Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means,
To achieve their ends."

- "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling        

The Slytherins will use any means to achieve their ends and that means cheating, killing, lying, providing misinformation, backstabing, defamation, and so on. Just making a point here and not making this a literal comparison so calm down by now.

But the House of Gryffindor emphasizes a completely different set of philosophy and belief:

The Gryffindor house emphasises the traits of courage as well as "daring, nerve, and chivalry," and thus its members are generally regarded as brave, though sometimes to the point of recklessness. They can also be short-tempered. Notably, Gryffindor house contributed many members to Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix.

Ah, remember Dumbledore's Army during the Battle at Hogwarts?

The Slytherin students left while many students from the other three houses remained behind to fight against Lord Voldemort.      

"Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking toward Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves." —before the Battle of Hogwarts.

If you want comparison, Mr. Stulz. I'm that "Muggle born" the "half-blood" deaf/hh guy. I'm that person in the "House of Gryffindor." Heck, I could be that "Harry Potter" who unwittingly became the leader in the fight against the Slytherins, the Malfoys, the Voldemorts and their evil "pure-bloods." I join with the other two Houses, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in the fight against the Slytherins and the "Voldemorts."

Nah. But I'm making a point here.

If you really want to get down to brass tacks then the "Muggle borns" at deaf schools (or even at Gallaudet University) would be deaf/hh students who are mostly born to hearing parents with most of them wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants who know how to talk and even listen, along with other communication tools such as CUED speech. The "pure-blood" would be those who are born to culturally deaf parents who advocate strongly ASL (as opposed to be open to PSE, SEE, Cued Speed, aural/oral methods), does not usually talk and usually do not wear hearing aids or cochlear implants. Their status as "pure Deaf" are coveted and used as an elitist badge of theirs.  I can play this game, too. Just humor me hear, folks. The "pure blood" would be the "nth generation Deaf family" students at a (signing) deaf school and Gallaudet University.

Mr. Stultz and others, do you really want to compare Hogwarts to that of deaf schools/Gallaudet University and "Lord Voldemort" to that of AGBell and oral schools supposedly bent on destroying Hogwarts and Muggle borns?  If I were you, I'd avoid the whole comparison game else you'd end up with the whole pure-blood contradiction and conundrum backfiring on you.

The continuing attacking, smearing, misinformation and disinformation campaigns against AGBell and other oral/aural schools are mostly done by those in the culturally deaf community and not the other way around. Look who really are doing the attacking. Look at those who are proud of their "pure-blood" as the "nth Deaf generation family member" (I have no beef about that one).

Look at the "Muggle borns" at deaf schools, Gallaudet University, NTID, and even CSUN who are made up of all walks of life those born deaf or late deafened. Those who grew up deaf, hard of hearing, or Deaf. Those who are CUED speech users, SEE users, PSE users, and ASL users. Those who prefer to talk and listen over signing. Those who are born to deaf parents, born to Deaf parents, or born to hearing parents. "Muggle borns" are the kind of people who simply accept others people with hearing loss for who they are. They do not care for the measure of "blood purity" (e.g. nth generation Deaf family, ASL only, etc) but rather look to the depth of a person's character born out of goodness and strength.


ADDENDUM:  See "Part II" of this blog piece.

Damn the ASL, Full speed ahead!

If you know a thing about naval history or two you'd probably might recognize this slightly changed phrase "Damn the ASL, Full speed ahead!" as borrowed from one of the famous and well known naval quotes. And if you look at the bolded italics below it's exactly what I've been doing lately as seen in my latest vlog in response to a deaf professor's rant against a deaf female blogger as I continue to steam full speed ahead on being who I am regardless of the "mines" around me.

"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"

Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870). Aboard Hartford, Farragut entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864, in two columns, with armored monitors leading and a fleet of wooden ships following. When the lead monitor Tecumseh was demolished by a mine, the wooden ship Brooklyn stopped, and the line drifted in confusion toward Fort Morgan. As disaster seemed imminent, Farragut gave the orders embodied by these famous words. He swung his own ship clear and headed across the mines, which failed to explode. The fleet followed and anchored above the forts, which, now isolated, surrendered one by one. The torpedoes to which Farragut and his contemporaries referred would today be described as tethered mines.

[Hearn, Chester G. Admiral David Glasgow Farragut: The Civil War Years. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988): 263-265. According to the book by Admiral Farragut's son, The Life of David Glasgow Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy, (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1879), pages 416-417, Admiral Farragut said "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells! Captain Crayton, go ahead! Joucett, full speed!"]

I've not changed in who I am. I have used my voice in the past at Gallaudet University's blog/vlog conference and I will continue to do so into the future whether it'd be on YouTube, my blog or in DVTV.  And "Damn the ASL" as I continue to sign in PSE or ASL or a mix of both. No shame in how I communicate. I acknowledge my own English language upbringing, my use of my voice, my hearing aid, and even my way of signing. So, full speed ahead! Those mines are duds!

My discussion in DVTV continues on the issues between PSE and ASL. It's not that I'm discounting ASL but rather questioning the fact whether deaf/hh people who know signing actually sign in PSE rather than in purely in ASL.  And seeing the irony of how some people proclaim to be ASL signers but sign rather obviously in a PSE or PSE/ASL format instead. There is no shame in signing and acknowledging the use of PSE over ASL. There are people who have a preference and reason to sign in PSE rather than ASL and vice versa. No shame in that. Just as there is no shame for me to use my voice in expressing my opinions in YouTube provided that I includes captions so that my videos are accessible to most people, deaf or not.

DVTV will allow my recent video to stay on and I'm thankful to Tayler for allowing that. I have not broken any rules and according to the R-List the goal is for a full and healthy discourse that are accessible for deaf and hard of hearing community users.

We at DeafVIDEO.TV are committed to increasing the accessibility of information for Deaf and Hard of Hearing community users and look forward to a positive and thriving exchange of views in a respectful and safe manner.

Tayler has been doing the right thing in DVTV on helping to try and keep dialogues in a respectful and safe manner.

Message to Don Grushkin

My video message to Don Grushkin on his recent PSE and ASL vlog discussion about Candy's blogsite, and going after Candy about her blog about the ASL language question issue.

Fund Ella's Hope

Here's a good Pepsi Refresh Project to click on and vote for $25,000 on helping promote greater awareness on the importance of Early Intervention Therapy for a child with this condition. Once a diagnosis is done early enough then proper treatment can begun in earnest that can enable a child to catch up to age appropriate grade levels on communication. Autism can be a life disabling condition unless early invention is done.

Next to vote for is the "Give Deaf Children a Voice" Pepsi Refresh project idea for $250,000. Currently it is in 33rd place. This is also another early intervention help on communication, only this time is to help deaf and hard of hearing children get the gift of speaking that will last a lifetime.

And while we're on the subject of Pepsi, some people continue to misconstrue the AGBell "Superbowl" Pepsi letter that was written almost 3 years ago on Jan 31, 2008 thinking it's a letter attacking sign language. Again, this hardly the truth when it's about raising awareness to Pepsi officials that the majority of deaf and hard of hearing people do not know sign language.  The letter explains to Pepsi that their commercial merely help perpetuates the false myth that most deaf and hard of hearing people know sign language. That is not true. The majority of deaf and hard of hearing people use spoken language as their primary mode of communication. Nothing more. Nothing less. And certainly not an attack on sign language or Deaf people.

My mother....My hero.

Last night I was going through my garage and found what I was looking for. My stuff when I was just a toddler up to a young boy with pictures, report cards, John Tracy Clinic letters, my stories I've written while in the 3rd and 4th grade, my old hearing aids with one of it a box (chest) hearing aid, a couple of pro-oral bumper stickers, Birney School information, drawings, a Washington state champion soccer patch in 1975 the team I was on, a wrestling letter congratulating my wins, and so on. Lot of it deaf related stuff along with my history of my childhood that I am collecting for later research and organization.

I sat down and read a few of the several John Tracy Clinic letters written to my mother (and father) when she took up John Tracy Clinic's correspondence kit when I was around two years old which helped me on my way to a better oral-aural development only after when I received my hearing aid. Those letters were very positive, encouraging and informative. In fact, my mother was so inspired, encouraged, and determined to help me where I've improved so much that I was placed at Birney School's oral program before age 3. And by grade 2 in a school report card from Birney School saying I was ready for public school (with a deaf teacher for supplemental support) for the 3rd grade. And then finally I was placed in a regular public school in the 4th grade and stayed in the public school system until I graduated at age 18.

You would think that I had a miserable time as a deaf/hh boy growing up with a box hearing aid but I didn't. I had fun, enjoyed my hearing aid and the sound I was able to pick up, and had both deaf and hearing friends. In fact, I drew a picture when I was 8 showing me and my friends playing on playground set. You can see in the drawing I included my box hearing aid with me smiling while swinging on a swing and with the sun smiling in the background and wind blowing while kids wore long stocking caps (which means it must've been around fall/winter time when I drew that). All good times with a few rough spots in between but that picture epitomizes my childhood time.

My mother is my hero. She's the one who rescued me, loved me and nurtured me into who I am today. I love my mother. And she knows that but I want to say that here for all to see.  Everyday is Mother's Day to me because what I do today was because of her love and dedication.

In the coming days and weeks here I will reveal letters, pictures, my personal stories and a bit of history about myself in my blog as a deaf/hh person growing up learning how to speak while I had auditory training at the same time with my hearing aid. Because oralism, when done right, does work. And to ensure its success, early intervention is the key.

Deafhood - religion like?

Recently over the last few days based on comments I received in my blogs I had the realization about how some people follow "deafhood" to such an extreme. How extreme? That depends. One commenter named "Kim" had this to say about "Deaf culture" in one of my most recent blog where she discussed "deafhood" and religion:

Language and religion are definitely huge. While we can't say that Deaf people have their own separate religion, their fervent belief in the Deafhood experience almost seems like a religion sometimes.

There it is. Religion and "deafhood" in the same sentence. So that got me thinking.

Kim soon clarified the next day on what she meant by what she said earlier.

Judging by v/blog posts (and comments) it seems like there's this strong fanatical, almost religious-like movement of Paddy Ladd worshippers who spout passages from his book like it's the Holy Bible of Deaf existence. So when people like Mike here ask questions, such as "is there a Deaf culture," there is a tendency among those "few" to over react, and sometimes they accuse him (and others) of not being Deaf since he doesn't seem to believe the right thing.

Candy also followed up about the whole oralism thing segueing into "deafhood" in that same blog.

This one need to be documented and published in the deaf blog as part of deaf history of deafhood and how they really are taking Paddy Ladd's colonialism too far. I suggest you all view Ella's comment number 41 in ASLrocks. It is a must viewing to see how delusional this deafhood thinking is. There is this evidence right there that indicates that dh is all about going after this oralism system rather than a personal journey to find one's deaf center.

Is there a conflict of interest here regarding certain "deafhood leaders"?

Let's look behind Curtain #1 about the Deafhood Foundation and you'll find a familiar name as who those board members are, and quickly you'll get to the "Vision" part where it says:

The Deafhood Foundation will provide financial, educational and social opportunities to end the economic exploitation of Deaf people. The Foundation aims to free the world from a*dism and recreate a society where everyone experiences full humanity and celebrates Sign Language.

So, this "deafhood" isn't about celebrating individual's own identity and personal journey wherever it goes even if it means identifying and embracing oralism and excluding ASL but about the attempt to wipe out oralism, avdism and have sign language to take its place instead according to one "deafhood leader"? Even though oralism has shown to be beneficial in many cases (even I have benefitted tremendously from it, too):

Deaf individuals who use Oralism have "proficiency with spoken language and . . . have an average reading ability . . . of thirteen to fourteen-year-old levels, which is approximately double the national average for all children who are deaf" (Stone 2). Furthermore, programs using Oralism generally have strong academic curricula resulting in high achievement levels and more students who go on to complete secondary or higher education programs (Schwartz 167-168). This also results in "more social, educational, and work opportunities . . . [and] to a more fulfilling and independent adult lifestyle" (168). With such results, it can be understood why those who value education truly approve of Oralism. These benefits of Oralism allow deaf individuals to reap the educational benefits and equal opportunities that people such as Mary Wollstonecraft strived to obtain and society, particularly the Oralists, continue to cherish.

It is obvious that oralism has its own benefits and that many deaf and hard of hearing people have benefitted tremendously from that. I understand that there are those who fell between the cracks and how beneficial signing is on an emotional and social level. But that's beside the point here. If people simply cannot leave alone the philosophical concept of what a personal journey of a deaf or hh person is like but instead use it as foundation to push their own ideology while espousing for the "death of oralism" and so on certainly does give it a religion-like feel. A fanactical-like following.

If this continues then this whole "deafhood" thing will simply stay within the Deaf community circle that is mostly accepted by some Deaf people rather than seeing it accepted by the rest of the hearing loss population that is 33 times bigger than the Deaf population of some perhaps 900,000 Deaf people.  This acceptance by the bigger population will never happen if this fanaticism continues. This is the perception of what many people would probably see whether they're hearing, deaf or hh who happen to come across this whole "deafhood" drama. Especially seeing how some "leaders" and other "followers" would prop up this "deafhood journey" under the guise of a friendly non-profit Deaf organization while in the background advocate for the "death of oralism," use of ad hominems, harrassment (see Tayler Mayer's example who is the owner of Deafread) and such. No wonder other groups like "Deafhood? No Thanks" cropped up recently as a response to this whole mess.

Many people do cherish the free and independent thinking regarding the many hearing loss issues out there and recognize the fact that there is no one shoe size fits all when it comes to addressing hearing loss, modes of communication, education and language development. Especially in a period of time when technology has been a boon to help address communication, educational and language developments owing to the simple fact is that hearing loss range from mild to profound. The diversity is large and mixed out there.

As a closing, I liked what Kim said in my blog "You have to be hard of hearing to understand":

People like Ella can never understand what it's like to be me. I experienced a life time of hearing before my hearing began to decline. Those experiences made me who I am. Naturally I still identify with hearing people.

Through HLAA and ALDA, I am part of a growing, thriving, powerful mostly oral deaf community, and we don't care what Ella thinks.

And you know what?  Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) would certainly look to be the better organization to join when it comes to advocacy and support in a more neutral manner rather than wade into chest deep the hypocrisy, the conflict of interests, unprofessionalism, rogue followers and petty politics. And I'm certain people wouldn't want to be a part of an organization or group of people that has a religion-like feel to it seeing how some use an inquisition-like process whenever one states a view opposite of somebody else's opinion. And then there comes the auto de fe.

This whole thing simply doesn't feel right.

Use of voice is way, way better than ASL!

There you go, this has taken me four years to get to this point where I can now use three different actual situations from three different people who are Deaf, deaf or hard of hearing and were either raised orally or orally-aurally (the pronunciation of words plus auditory feedback) and their choices between using ASL or voice. In each situation the venue had the proper number of ASL interpreters along with either having real time captioner available for the audience. The core understanding is that for each of them they had the right to choose between using their voice or sign in ASL to the audience. But because of their choice their reasons shouldn't matter because supposedly the enlightened Deaf crowd ought to know already that it shouldn't matter why voice was used but that they should be respected for their choice since their message was never lost that day.

The three people are:

1) Dr. Brenda Brueggemann, a deaf person who was the interim Acting Chair of the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees and chair of the ASL Department at Ohio State University chose to use her voice that day as the Commencement Speaker at the 2006 Gallaudet University graduation ceremony. But you have to read her story on why she used her voice before jumping to conclusions and make any further wrong assumptions.

2) Mike McConnell, a hard of hearing person who graduated from Gallaudet University in 1991 was one of the several panel members at Gallaudet University's first ever vlogging/blogging conference in 2007 that was televised live in front of an internet audience and the audience that were physically present. I already explained why I chose to use my voice that day.

3) Tim Riker, a Deaf person who is the chapter president of California Association of the Deaf decided to use his voice (English) at the committee meeting in the California Assembly building on June 23, 2010 in the effort to raise ASL by pleading and making a case through voice (English). Although Tim Riker has not yet offered his reason on why he chose to use his voice that day.

All of them are deaf.

In all three situations there were professional ASL interpreters available. In two situations there were real time captioners available at Gallaudet University's graduation ceremony where Dr. Brueggemann did her speech and at Gallaudet University's vlog/blog conference. In all three situations each of the person had their own personal reason for their decision to use his or her voice. It didn't matter if you think it was a "wrong" decision to do. What's important is that they had that right to choose between ASL or voice when it was made available. They all chose voice for a variety of reasons. And that should be the end of it. People should just simply respect their choices instead of going all nutso for not signing or go into some deep analysis to arrive at four different conclusions (that were never the correct ones) as to why the person did not use his or her voice is a waste of time and frankly quite inappropriate and none of their business.

So, kudos to Dr. Brueggemann and Tim Riker for paving the way when it comes to choices (I can't really kudos myself can I?) and not be afraid to use his or her voice instead of signing in ASL! And that, yes, deaf people can talk!

Dr. Brueggemann eloquently said four years ago,

"there also does need to be some flexibility and respect for all abilities and kinds of language and communication."

Amen. And that's true in this day and age. So true.

As for for my blog title, "Use of voice is way, way better than ASL." It's all about personal choices and not whether voice (English) is the better language and/or modality than ASL. It's just a preference.

Can you guys finally calm down now?

AB 2072 - passed

Great news. AB 2072 bill passed by the Health Senate Committee with a 5 to 1 vote, along with 2 abstaining. It now goes to the Senate which I'm sure they'll recognize this bill as a bill that empowers parents to make an informed decision.

This is about letting parents make the decision and not the government. No government or any other entity or agency will be doing the decision for parents. This is about empowering parents in making their own decision where an agency or government says, "Here you go, you decide." This exactly how it should be done rather than a government making the decision for parents of newborns diagnosed with hearing loss. The best way to lose your independence is when a government ends up making decisions for you. This would be an example of interfering into people lives rather than helping them make their own decisions for a change provided that they are given adequate and proper information so they can make an informed decision. Once a government starts to make decisions for parents of newborns diagnosed with hearing loss would be the day when the government practices communism.

However, this bill would force audiologists to provide information given to them on ALL communication options, including ASL. If there are biased audiologists out there who do not favor ASL they would soon be forced to provide parents the various communication methods and shall include ASL. The audiologists do not decide for the parents. The government does not decide for the parents. State, regional or local agencies do not decide for the parents. Advocacy groups do not get to decide for the parents of newborns diagnosed with hearing loss such as CAD, CENIAS, NAD, DBC, NORCAL, DCARA, Deafhood Yoga, and any other organizations. The sole decision makers are the parents. This is what the Senate will recognize and understand.

Adversity - a perspective from a deaf/hh person.

Here's my video blog discussing "adversity" and what it means to me. A chance for the Deaf community to see my side of my communication preference. This video is also a message of support to deaf and hard of hearing people, everybody. And a message of hope to parents of deaf/hh children as well that in life, anything is possible.



Transcript for the signing part:

What is adversity?

It is not the same thing as overcoming oppression. It's about overcoming obstacles in life successfully. Here I produced a video blog about 3 years ago in the desert landscape of New Mexico to discuss adversity. My vlog was a message of support to the deaf and hard of hearing community, and parents of deaf or hard of hearing children. A message of choice, support, and respecting those who choose to communicate differently. A message about respect. Mocking those who choose to face adversity in a different way lack imagination. Reserve your judgement while you watch my 6 minute video. The video is subtitled. And there is no signing involved. I hope you enjoy my vlog.