Video: Brain-stem implant and cued speech for a deaf boy

Grayson Clamp, who was born with Charge Syndrome, recently became the first child to receive an auditory brain stem implant as part of a Food and Drug Administration trial.

Go here to the original site to see it in CC.

Before you track this parent down, which I suggest you do not, just so you can give him unsolicited advices or worse berate him. Here's a reminder why you should not.

Hogwarts, Deaf Schools, Mudbloods and Pure Bloods, oh my!

Recently I covered a piece about how some people view going to residential schools or deaf schools as similar as going to Hogwarts. That's fine. Each to his or her own. However, I saw that video as an excuse to bash and attack AGBell and oral/aural schools.

In the 2005 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education titled "Understanding Harry Potter: Parallels to the Deaf World" saw parallels of deaf kids in deaf residential schools similar to that of Hogwarts and Harry Potter but without the paranoid bashing of AGBell, oral/aural schools, and mainstream schools.  It was a good piece. It covered the essential areas about identity, isolation, acceptance and so forth. But there were a few things I noticed that were glaringly absent. It did not discuss the all important "pure-bloods," "half-bloods," "Mudbloods," the Malfoys as bullies, and the Houses of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.  Something that you would see in deaf residential schools when it comes to self-segregation along with the "have's" and "have's not."

Why leave those details out? You can easily check it out by typing in the keywords and do a look up and see what is missing in that parallels analysis.

What is interesting is that one of the main and recurring theme in all of the Harry Potter movies at Hogwarts is the constant bullying by Draco Malfoy and his friends toward Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and many others. Draco Malfoy was especially harsh towards Harry Potter who is half-blood because of Potter's being famous or well known in the wizarding world. Jealousy, utter hate, his loyalty to his pure-blood lineage (and to his father) and to "the cause" (blood-purity) were often manifested in Draco's own bullying spree which was patently obvious in the Harry Potter movies. The ironic thing is that Draco Malfoy is a pure-blood who comes from a long line of pure-bloods of the Malfoy family as the nth generational pure-blood who use that status and opportunity in his delight to sneer on "half-bloods" or Muggle-borns (not born into pure blood of wizard or witch parents) who on occasion call them derogatorily as "Mudbloods"  which makes a very familiar theme for some culturally deaf people who are doing their own little battles that they precipitate by bullying others. Pretty much like calling deaf/hh people as "deficit thinkers" or using their own Deaf organizations to attack other deaf/hh people or organizations who have different, alternate opinions, viewpoints or philosophies regarding deafness-related issues.

It was interesting that the journal study "Parallels to Deaf World" did not draw any parallels between Hogwarts and deaf residential schools on the bullying aspect. It also did not draw parallels on how deaf and hard of hearing students self-segregate themselves into the "pure-bloods" or nth generation Deaf family (born into Deaf parents) whose first language is ASL versus those whose first language is the English language, who are born into hearing parents, may wear hearing aids or cochlear implants and may have a preference to speaking and listening over signing.

The irony is simply too much.

In fact, in Gallaudet's 2004 Spring Odyssey electronic magazine has a dedicated issue on bullying. It discussed questions whether it was possible deaf and hearing youths are seeing and learning far more pro-bully messages in our culture than anti-bully messages. And how people encourage bullies to bully others (I can see how this can continue and carry over into adulthood through other means and medium). Just like how Draco Malfoy gets his pleasure whenever his friends encourage and support him when he does the bullying because he is seen as the leader of the pack because of his blood-purity lineage being the nth generational pure-blood. Draco Malfoy constantly initiate the bullying of Harry Potter and others, and openly call them "Mudbloods."

The question becomes this.

Who are the "Draco Malfoys" in deaf residential schools (or even at Gallaudet University) who secretly desire to eradicate the hearing aid and cochlear implant "culture" among deaf and hard of hearing people? Who are the "Draco Malfoys" who will bully other deaf/hh kids at school for their lack of "purity"? Who are the "Draco Malfoys" who sneer at deaf/hh kids who can speak and listen well in another language,  use CUED speech, wear hearing aids or cochlear implants but don't have culturally deaf parents?  Who are the "Lucius Malfoys" (Draco's father) who encourage Draco's bullying ways at Hogwarts? Who are the Lucious Malfoys who go after organizations that support the "mixing" of Muggle-borns ("half-bloods) with Muggles (non-wizards or witches) with their ways and culture rather than support the continuing lineage of blood purity, its culture and ways?

As an adult, Lucius was an aristocratic wizard and head of the Malfoy family, believing strongly in notions of blood purity and the superiority of pure-blood wizards. He joined the Death Eaters, who shared his views on blood purity, and participated in the First Wizarding War.

If I wanted to I could see a lot of parallels when it comes to the bullying aspect, the self-segregation that occurs at deaf residential schools much like the Houses of Slytherin, Gryyfindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, the ideology of Deaf culture and language in their own "blood-purity" aspect and to their "the cause" much like the wizarding wars one and two.

Another interesting parallel among deaf culture residential schools and Hogwarts is that in the Harry Potter movies they remind the audience that the wizarding population that is Muggle-born is on the rise while the pure-blood families shrink in size and number which has led to wizarding wars.  Sounds familiar? More deaf residential schools have closed over the years in favor of mainstream schools which allow the mixing of culturally deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing students much the same way Hogwarts allows both pure-blood, half-blood and half-breed wizarding students into their curriculum with Harry Potter being the most famous half-blood Hogwarts student.

Sounds awfully familiar. 

Dumbledore (half-blood wizard) explains the blood-purity complex and problem of what 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.

The whole crux on this argument of mine surrounds on this ideology of "blood purity" or "pure-bloods" and how the pure-bloods ways, language, and culture are seen as ultimately superior and the only way to, paradoxically so, live in order to "survive." Those who do not believe or support their ideology or cultural ways deserve to be eradicated or abandoned, hence these "wars." If you want to discuss "parallels" then this sounds pretty much like how some culturally deaf people and their organizations who are bent on destroying other organizations like AGBell, oral/aural schools, CUED speech, cochlear implant companies, hearing aids companies, and such. They attack through the constant slurring, hate, venom, disinformation campaigns, and protests in the effort to promote their way of living as superior rather than to accept the fact that many deaf or hard of hearing people have a different philosophy and ways of living. They are not the ones doing the attacking but rather among some of the, excuse me, "pure-blood extremists." Sirius Black is a pure-blood wizard who oppose the use of the Dark Arts and discrimination based on blood purity so not all pure-bloods believe in the blood-purity as being "superior".

.... a pure-blood wizard, son of Orion and Walburga Black and elder brother of Regulus by a little over a year. Although he was the heir of the House of Black, Sirius disagreed with his family's belief in blood purity and defied tradition when he was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which he attended from 1971 to 1978. As Sirius' relationship with his relatives deteriorated, he gained great friendship in James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The four friends, also known as the Marauders, joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. Sirius also became the godfather of Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter.

Sirius Black as a pure-blood was seen as a "blood traitor," too.

"Blood traitor" is a derogatory term commonly used by elite pure-blood families to describe witches or wizards who sympathise with the non-magical community and/or willingly associate with other such sympathisers or with Muggle-borns. Other similar terms include "Muggle-lover", "Mudblood-lover", "Dunglicker", "Scumsucker", and "Mudwallower", all of which refer disparagingly to those who are comfortable in the company of Muggles and/or Muggle-borns, whom prejudiced wizards and witches believe are dirty and inferior. The most notorious blood-traitor family was the Weasleys.

The message in this blog piece? Be careful on trying to use "parallels" between Hogwarts and deaf residential schools. It can go both ways, blood-purity or not because perspectives do differ. Also, just as well, there are way more "Muggle-borns" (born to hearing parents, English language, ability to speak and listen, use CUED speech, deaf or hard of hearing, do not know sign language, know some sign language, knows a lot of sign language, etc) than there are "pure-bloods" (nth generation Deaf family, ASL as their first language, deaf culture, etc) and that the "Muggle-borns" are growing every day whether they know sign language or not, and increasingly go to regular and mainstreamed schools, and even to private schools just like Hogwarts with school uniforms.

Bottom line, these parallels and fear-mongering nonsense need to stop. If you see "pure-bloods" doing the disparaging, attacking, libeling, hating, name calling, revealing of personal information, bullying or cyberbullying, misinformation campaigning, lying, and/or the deceiving for "the cause" then tell them that they fit nicely into the Slytherin House.  Otherwise I'd just as well drop this whole parallel nonsense comparison as an excuse to attack people and/or other organizations only because they are different and have a different set of philosophy and belief.  Because, you know, if you really want to get down to it  then ask yourself, who won at the Battle of Hogwarts - Voldemort, pure-bloods and the House of Slytherin or Harry Potter, the Muggle-borns, and the House of Gryyfindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw?

Yeah, better to just drop the whole thing.

Round Peg in a Square Hole - Open and Closed

The Growing Cued Speech Advocacy

One of the best way to encourage the growth and use of Cued Speech is have native cuers who grew up using Cued Speech help spread the message. They are now the first generation of native cuers in their twenties and thirties.

In the video below shows several young adult cuers getting together at a retreat on strategies to help spread the word about Cued Speech. This is one of the true examples of a positive grassroots in action at the regional and local levels in workshops, conferences, exhibits, cue summer camps (more here), and community of cuers on helping spread the use of Cued Speech. It has been proven to be highly successful and beneficial when it comes to helping improve English literacy. I'm quite encouraged to see these young adults taking the reign on helping spread the message about Cued Speech and an interest on improving English literacy.

For more information on CLEAR (Cuers for Leadership, Education, and Advocacy Retreat) or visit their Facebook page.



History of Cued Speech

• Cued Speech was developed by Dr. R. Orin Cornett at Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University) in Washington, DC in 1966. 
• The National Cued Speech Association was formed in 1982 and now has numerous affiliates across the country, including Cued Speech of Colorado.
• To this date Cued Speech has been adapted to over 60 languages around the world.

Before you say anything else, do yourself a favor and read this position statement by NCSA on Cued Speech and sign language.

"Hoodless"....

It was a sad day to witness the beginning on the calling of deaf/hh people as "hoodless."  I warned people in my blog 5 years ago about the dangers of judging people for what they "have" or "don't have" when it comes to "deafhood." Which was why many of us made the point of saying "Deafhood? No thanks" and joined the DNT Facebook for that very reason. We continue on with own our unique but deeply personal journey in life as people with hearing loss and how we identify ourselves as and whatever makes you happy. We recognize the value of diversity, and that we support and respect all forms of communication and language.  We say "no thanks" to "deafhood" because we recognized right away it would lead to acts of discrimination and segregation. It has simply become a glorified ideology specifically and mainly for culturally deaf people, and nothing more. That's the problem. It's not really about for anybody with hearing loss. There's a certain sine qua non when it comes to "deafhood," believe it or not. We don't presume who has "deafhood" and who doesn't, and that was the trap we recognized at the very beginning.  We prefer to move forward and not backward and instead would rather follow ICED recommendation to accept and respect all forms of communication and language whether combined or used alone be it PSE, ASL, SEE, cued speech, oral-aural, oral, the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants to help with the communication, or plainly just do without them.  We have respected those differences since day one even before ICED came out with their own recommendation.

I'm sad to say this but I continue to be correct on this.

I will continue to say "no thanks" and just simply accept you as for who you are, and not about what you are.  That's a simple recipe for happiness.

A public relation message to the deaf and hh community

What is John Tracy Clinic expertise in?

There seems to be a bit of a round robin by certain Deaf people in taking pot shots at the John Tracy Clinic program. What some Deaf people don't seem to understand is that the JTC program is very specific in what it can offer and the support they can give to parents of kids from age 0 to 5 years old that were diagnosed with hearing loss. Obviously, if an organization has a specific expertise in what it can offer then that is what they can offer and nothing else. The expertise at John Tracy Clinic is in spoken language which can be used with any other communication approaches. 

John Tracy Clinic offers information and distance courses for families of children with hearing loss ages birth to five. The focus is language development with ideas for learning through child play and family routines. The expertise at John Tracy Clinic is in spoken language which is emphasized in onsite programs such as the Parent/Infant Program and Preschool, as well as via Distance Education for Parents, but many of the techniques can be used in any communication approach. The key is to provide children with early and complete access to communication to help them fully develop their language skills. Development of complex communication skills helps children be ready for school. There are no limits to what children with hearing loss can achieve.

Many techniques used in the JTC spoken language program can be used with other communication choices or options such as Auditory-Verbal, Auditory-oral, Cued Speech, Total Communication, and Formal Sign Language (American Sign Language (ASL) or Sign Language of other countries).  It is obvious that JTC recognizes ASL but that is not their area of expertise. Their area of expertise is spoken language. It has always been like that. They do recognize that there is no one shoe size fits all and that the parents are the ones who make their own informed decision regarding their child with a hearing loss when it comes to communication and language options.

What does JTC offer?

1) Early detection of hearing loss and information on individualized intervention

2) A spoken language learning opportunity for infants and preschoolers who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and their parents

3) Guidance, support and instruction for parents in the special skills necessary tohelp their children learn spoken language

4) Distance education serving parents and families throughout the world

5) Over 60 years of experience in teacher and professional education

Again, John Tracy Clinic main area of expertise is and has always been in the spoken language area. Without their help I would not be who I am today as seen in my video dedication to JTC. May they continue for many more decades.

A "closed society" can also be a "hidden society"

When you have a society where the greater majority of the general population do not even know its existence or even understand its way life like, for example, a society of people with hearing loss. It becomes a "hidden society" no matter what that society is like. It wouldn't matter if that "hidden society" is a Deaf community, deaf and hard of hearing community, a cued speech community or a community of late deafened people. But a "hidden society" can also have a "closed society."  That's when it becomes a double whammy because a "closed society" removes itself even further from the general population and sometimes even from the sub-population.

Certainly I am a part of that "hidden society" of people with hearing loss. So are the people in the Deaf community. So are the people at Gallaudet University. So are the people who are late deafened.  So are the people at AGBell. So are the people with hearing aids. So are the people with cochlear implants. So are the people who sign in ASL, SEE, or use cued speech. So are the people who are oralists. Those are examples of people that live in a "hidden society" because hearing loss is an unseen condition not always readily recognized, seen or necessarily understood by the larger general population.

But out of that "hidden society" is a society that can have an "open society" or "closed society" type. I am for a more "open society" type when it comes to dealing with people with hearing loss rather than for a society that's controlling and restrictive. Diversity of hearing loss and preferred mode of communication are wide ranging among people with hearing loss and does not fit the "closed society' model.  An "open society" is not a culture with a rigid structure and little freedom but rather a society of people that is open, understands the differences and uniqueness of each person with a hearing loss along with greater freedom to do what we do with our choices. Our common bond in our "hidden society" deals with issues on communication access to language, the ability to communicate and to strive for better equality, not about Deaf culture or ASL.

Hooked on Visual Phonics - cued speech

Recently there has been another little round of huffiness over a recent article on cued speech written in the Washington Post. Either some people feel threatened by the title "Cued Speech Could Gain Popularity Among Deaf" or the fact that the article said about the similarity of cued speech to that of sign language (ASL) in the subtitle, "An alternate form of sign language could be gaining momentum in the deaf community."

Not knowing the full distinction between the two the writer is correct about the similarity and that it uses hand gestures as part of the communication package. Though I don't think the writer was attempting to equate cued speech as the equivalent of ASL as a language.

Here below is an excerpt in one of my blog I did on that subject back in 2006.

Cued speech or more appropriately Cued English is now believed to be the best source of visual language support for the spoken English language and it’s ability to identify idiomatic expressions and nuances. The main purpose of Cued Speech is not for speech purposes but for literacy.

You can read the rest of what I've written about cued speech back in 2006. Lots of information and explaination on what cued speech is about.

Also, you can watch four YouTube videos of native cuers with two subjects being an ASL signer. Those videos were blogged back in 2008 and be sure to watch the fourth video at the bottom in my blog.

And here's a recent article written in the Washington Post a few days ago about about cued speech highlighting the first known family to exclusively use cued speech for their deaf kids and not ASL or any signing methods at home.

Born deaf to deaf parents, identical twins Lola and Ella Scher of Rockville learned from the beginning to talk with their hands. When they were 9 months old, they produced their first word: shoe.

If they had used American Sign Language, or ASL, they would have said "shoe" by tapping their fists together twice. But their parents used a different form of communication, cued speech. So they taught each girl to make an "L" shape with her right hand, touching her index finger to her chin. That wasn't a symbol, like the ASL gesture; instead, it signaled how the word sounds in spoken English. They would have used the same gesture to say "shoo!"

Grace Consacro and Steve Scher had grown up using cued speech, and they taught it to their twins, now 5, and their deaf son, Max, who is 3. In May, the National Cued Speech Association recognized the family for its dedication to cueing.

"As far as we know, we're the only family [in the country] that uses cued speech exclusively," said Consacro, 34, who teaches both cued speech and ASL at Flower Valley Elementary School in Rockville. (note by Kokonut Pundit, she does not teach ASL - see Washington Post error correction).

This mother of two deaf twins made an important point about cued speech.

"It's not intended to be anything more than an aid to learn a language,"

There you go. An aid to help develop language. In this case, the English language even though cued speech can be used and adapted to with any spoken language throughout the world.

Another advantage of cued speech for deaf/hh children is to allow a relatively smooth transition into the hearing world. The article ends with a very profound remark from the same mother who uses cued speech.

Sometimes, the Scher-Consacro twins misinterpret or mispronounce words; but they can now follow conversations and speak very much like hearing children.

"My kids are deaf," Consacro said. "They have the miracle of the technology of cochlear implants, [and] they have the language from their dad and I cueing - it just works."

It just works. Just as I have said before, the power of hearing technology helps make oralism (oral-auditory) a very powerful draw due to its continuing successes. Oralism cannot be "stamped out" in favor of ASL. So, it's a matter of time until cued speech finally takes off nationwide on such a large scale. You can thank Gallaudet University for helping facilitate the start of cued speech.

Here's your chance to learn more about cued speech in a video below.

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.

F*ck you, Deaf Community!

Here's an interesting thread that has the title "**** you, Deaf 'Community' " from a hearing father about her four year old deaf daughter. This is an opportunity to read the viewpoints of mostly hearing people on their perceptions and understanding about the Deaf community and its culture, Gallaudet University, schoolings, ASL, sign language, oral/aural approaches, cochlear implant, and education when it comes to deaf and hard of hearing children and their parents. Granted, the views presented in that thread may not be representative of the hearing group as a whole but it certainly does give us some additional insights on their views of the whole Deafness thing in a more or less honest fashion.

Having said that, this is something to think about when it comes to communication choices in light of the upcoming California AB 2072 bill. Candy has a good bead on this as well. The AB 20727 bill states that:

Parents of all newborns and infants diagnosed with a hearing loss shall also be provided written or electronic information on American Sign Language (ASL), Total Communication, Cued Speech, and Listening and Spoken Language communication options for children with hearing loss, including, but not limited to, information about deaf and hard-of-hearing organizations, agencies and early intervention centers, and educational programs.

No conspiracy theory.

No mystery to this bill.

Just a straight up requirement that parents be given information for a wide selection of communication and educational choices be made available to them after the discovery of their newborn or infant with a hearing loss.

The irony is this. There are certain groups of Deaf people who seem to be undergoing an effort to derail this bill. And instead promote that ASL must be the first option for any parents of a deaf or hard of hearing child. Thusly leaving out any real choices for parents to decide. Nevermind the fact that this bill would make a requirement that these parents be given the necessary information so they could make a proper and informed decision on communication and educational options. An option that could involve one communication method or more.

Back to the "F*ck you" thread. This father explained in her first post on what he and his wife had to do based on information available at the time to help her deaf daughter.

We gave our daughter cochlear implants when she was an infant. We made this long and difficult decision based on the research that was available to us, based on the educational resources available in our area, based on the nature of her deafness, and, yes, based on our own biases and desires. She had her surgeries before she was old enough to make the choice for herself, because to wait so long means to give her hearing long after her developing brain can make the best use of it. It is a well-known and long-researched phenomenon that pre-lingual implantation leads to vastly improved speech and hearing skills. But you call it child abuse. You call it cosmetic surgery on an infant, and more than once you called me a monster for it. It is not child abuse, to make complicated decisions about your kids without their input - it's called parenting. Nor is it cosmetic to give my kid a developmental boost. So: f*ck you for heaping accusations of pre-lingual cosmetic surgery child abuse on me.

Our family is learning ASL, and have been since we learned our daughter was profoundly deaf. We will use sign as a second language, indefinitely. My wife is in school to become an interpreter. Nor do we believe in a purely oralist tradition; we acknowledge the importance of communication between deaf people without assistance. We get it, ok? We're committed. But because we gave our daughter cochlear implants, you automatically believe that we're out to destroy ASL, to destroy Deaf culture. You never listen to our reasoning, because what do we know? We're motivated by a desire to mingle in both worlds, and yet we're constantly scoffed at by the Deafies on principle. So: f*** you for your pernicious false dichotomies.

This AB 2072 bill will help alleviate the uncertainty for parents of a deaf/hh child in making an informed decision for the first time. But for groups to purposely derail this bill for the sake of demanding that ASL be given first priority and requirement for parents to follow are certainly not about parental choice but about control. Doing that could very well certainly earn the Deaf community many more "f**** you's" from hearing parents of deaf and hard of hearing children.

Give the parents the opportunity to make an informed decision for their deaf/hh child. Give them the respect and understanding they deserve. And understand that whatever informed decision they make, they still deserve our respect and support. It doesn't matter if you don't like their informed decision, they deserve our respect. Walking all over them and taking away their choices aren't the answer.

A Champion of Oralists?

Recently in Mr. Sandman’s blog suggested that I’ve become “a champion of the decidedly tiny minority of oralist/oralist-leaning blogosphere” and I want to take a short time to discuss this and clarify a few things for him and many others.

Whether I’m a “champion” or not is beside the point in what I believe in or advocate as a person with hearing loss who wears a hearing aid which have benefitted me enormously in my life as a Ragtime pianist, my career, and my life. I do support those who choose to use their voice to speak as their primary means of communicating, even if it means not knowing how or the need to sign. Though not just for those “oralists” who cannot hear well or at all I support but those who do hear well with their hearing aids or even cochlear implants nowadays. Talking has always been an effective means of communicating among my hearing or hard of hearing peers.

There’s a second term called “aural” that is often overlooked by the Deaf community of which the deaf and hard of hearing community is intimately aware of. Though some people often take the word “oral” to mean “aural” as well but not every oralist is an “auralist” or an "oral-auralist" (if that is even a word) . The word “aural” relates to the ear on the ability to hear, discriminate and understand words and sound while "oral" relates to the ability to speak and proper enunciation of words. For me, I've used mostly aural approaches to get where I am today only because of my ability to discriminate speech is high with thanks to early use of my hearing aid at around age 3. My speech discrimination score for spoken words stands at around 94% when a word is spoken alone but it goes up to 97 or 98% when spoken in the form of a sentence. Hence, my ability to use the telephone or cell phone with ease. So, in the case of being a "champion" I see myself rather as a huge supporter of those who can benefit immensely from the use of their hearing aids or cochlear implants knowing that many do cherish the world of sound. So, in retrospect, I'm more of the oral-aural supporter than oral. Still there is nothing wrong with speaking just like this deaf, motivational speaker, Stephen Hopson who is an oralist.

Browneyedgirl65 made a comment in her blog on not caring about the ability to hear birds chirping or hear a Mozart symphony which is fine. However, there are those who do cherish sounds much more than Browneyedgirl65 and that they are thankful with technology (i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants) giving them the ability and the miracle to hear beautiful sounds or the ability to understand the spoken words. Even I am grateful and blessed with what I have. Not even Deaf politics can take that one away from me. Being able to hear and understand words and sound are important to a lot of people with various levels of hearing loss. For others, it is not. I guess you have to hear the nuances of sound in order to understand where I'm coming from and really understand and appreciate the value and quality of sound to be enjoyed as a gift to those who can hear.

But here’s another myth. The so-called small blogosphere of oralists, which I will include "auralists" who are also "oralist," isn’t so decidedly small but rather a large group, much larger than you think. Rather, it’s decidedly larger than the Deaf community. Look around and you can see why but this is so only if you look carefully enough. Why we don’t hear from these hard of hearing bloggers? It’s because many don’t delve into the world of Deaf politics, ASL and bickering dominating their Deaf blogspace. For the most part they're not interested in Deaf culture or ASL. They have other interests not always deaf-related for the most part. You have to know where to look in Google and it isn't always patently obvious on where to look like you could with a Deaf community of bloggers.

Of course, you won't see them in YouTube videos mimicking a barking seal like a bad oralist ability to speak like one Deaf vlogger did as a sign of intellect even though he's going for his graduate degree right now. Yet this video has now been conveniently taken down. But then you have a Deaf person who mimic badly on the way some oralists may supposedly speak with exaggerated lip movements. Stephen Hopson he isn't - a recognized motivational speaker and oralist who is deaf. But if you think those videos were funny then I suppose this video is funny, too, on how people sign? Or if you really want something that's funny and a knee-slapper visit comedians making fun of sign language at the Laugh Factory with a "sign language interpreter" doing his job. Keith Wann he isn't. I guess the old mantra is that if you can't take a joke, take hike applies here, too?

Just as there is a “World Federation of the Deaf” there is an “International Federation of Hard of Hearing” organization that began in 1977 based out of Germany. And a few weeks ago they held their 7th IFHOH Congress in Vancouver, Canada. You can look and see the papers that were presented as well which is an interesting list of topics covered. Organization members of IFHOH in the United States are NTID, ALDA (The Association of Late Deafened Adults), HOHA (Hard of Hearing Advocates), SHHH (Hearing Loss Association of America), ATA (American Tinnitus Association), and AGB (Alexander Graham Bell). You can see a list of those members in other countries as well. It's quite a comprehensive list.

With 31 million people with hearing loss in the United States the decidedly much smaller community would be in fact the Deaf community consisting of some 900,000 Deaf people. So, if I'm going to be a champion of something it'd be for a much bigger picture than a narrow one.

Free Translation and Captioning Service for ASL Vloggers?

Here are some interesting questions on the equal access issue of signed video bloggings if you were given the opportunity to use a free service to translate and caption (or transcript) for your ASL video blogs. Would you take it if done free so other non-signers may be able to access your ASL vlogs?

Would you accept free ASL translation and captioning service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

Would you accept free ASL translation and transcripting service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

The Value of Cued Speech

When cued speech works.












I specifically choose these videos because they came with subtitles so that everybody can have the opportunity to understand what is being said in those videos. Subtitles are in short supply in many videos whether geared toward hearing, deaf, hard of hearing or Deaf viewers. Enjoy these videos and learn more about cueing. No attacking, please.