When a journey is unique and special

Here's an actual discussion about "deafhood" that took place on a forum a few years back in 2011. See line below where the discussion begins.  Notice how people tried to define what my journey should or ought to be instead of saying, "Certainly, it's your journey." But they continue to define what it should be for me and how mine cannot possibly be a special one. It's the whole "deafhoodism" trappings because in reality it becomes a fantasy that anyone with a hearing loss will be embraced. No politics, politicization or political correct. Honest Injun!. But it's actually voodoo deafhoodism. Only because they say since your journey is a personal but, but!, you have to understand something else first in order validate your own special journey as Paddy Ladd once emphasized.

The concept of colonialism is central to understanding Deafhood, to understanding what has been done to us. And both also helps us point us towards some models of what to do and what to avoid.

I see this "us" as generally those belonging to a class of people with greater hearing loss versus those with less hearing loss. One class of people may feel that oppression is indeed real and does occur (or have occurred or continue to occur) to them while others may see little or no oppression issues. It probably has to do with the ability and ease to communicate with the hearing society.

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koko: I see XX as a forum for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people who deal with hearing loss. There is no rule requiring deaf and hard of hearing people who must embrace "deafhood" in order to participate. A bunch of bs using the same "why are you here?" spiel. Sounds pretty darned territorial. Reason why I have no need for labels of that sort. I accept my hearing loss. I acknowledge it. What more do YOU want? I simply accept people with hearing loss for who they are. I don't need to bring a microscope for each one of them to see if they "qualify." I'd say, hell with that, let's just go to a sports bar and enjoy the company.

>G: a Classic mainstreamed denial.

>>M: Koko still doesn't get it. Again, Deafhood is not a GROUP. It is a personal journey...
      
(note from koko - I never said it was a group and have been saying for years since 2006 it's a personal journey without the need for a label to define what my journey is supposed to be).

>>>T: Actually I think Koko gets it and pretty much agrees with you. I think the issue he is stating is that some tend to pervert that journey into something akin to deaf culture. Koko is certainly choosing to live with his hearing loss his way. I don't think there is any question he has accepted is and coped with it. It is just a different path than many others took.

>>>>J: nope. He does not like the "Deafhood's" label and its political ideology and group think. no one's journey is same anyway. His journey is nothing more or less unique than ours. I dunno but it sounds like he thinks his journey is "special."

>>>>>T: As for thinking his journey is special.....I would hope he thinks that.

>>>>>>M: I think J meant that his (koko) journey is not unique...everyone's journey is special.

>>>>>>>koko: Fine but I say my journey is unique. Think of it as a thumbprint. It's unique but they all may seem identical but when you look at it closely it is definitely unique. Your journey is unique.

>>>>>>>>B:  I personally think you are rejecting the quality of Deafhood as a part of you because you are rejecting the journey. Therefore you insult it by calling it a label.

>>>>>>>>>koko: When it becomes an ideological and politicization labeling game then I have no need for it. I prefer to keep it simple. My journey is a deeply personal one yet there is no rejecting my own journey. You've attempted to define what my journey should be.

>>>>>>>>>>B:  I'm (sic) not commented on what your journey should be, I'm simply saying I don't think you taking one. I think you are sitting on the crossroads refusing to budge.

>>>>>>>>>>>koko: Yes, you've attempted to define what my journey should be when you said this - "I personally think you are rejecting the quality of Deafhood as part of you because you are rejecting the journey."

>>>>>>>>>>>>T to B: Seems to me he (koko) is on that journey..... You don't have to be part of the crowd to experience a personal journey. Koko seems to accept his deafness and cope with it quite well. Of course that is actually wrong for me to say too as I am judging his journey as well....even if it is in the positive. How about we let Koko decide for himself and we decide for ourselves about OUR journeys? I think that is the best idea.

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Indeed. And that, my friends, is what I've been saying for years. My own journey is unique and special. It's also private. In their ego they attempt to judge my journey. This is what some deaf people do by telling what my journey should or should not be, and that my journey cannot possibly be a special one. Sure it is. Each of our own journey is personal, private, special and unique. No two are the same. Just like the whorls on our fingerprints. Just get rid of the ugly politics and idiotic deaf political correctness.

Milestones....

I recently looked at my site counter and saw that it is nearing the 1 millionth hit mark. It'll be a few more months until that happens. I figured that this is an opportunity to pause and reflect back on my blogging history going back 8 years beginning in October of 2004. I've become, I believe, the longest running and most posted deaf/hh blogger with probably having the most cumulative blog hits as well.

I covered many subjects on American politics, deaf politics, deafness issues, technologies, medical science, the environment, Earth science, the nonsense global-warming-as-caused-by-human-beings-which-will-cause-sea-levels-to-rise-20-feet, interviews with Matt Hamill over the years who is now making a comeback, the "deafhoodism" cultural mindset that people would swear it is a cult following, the failed walked outs against DeafTV and Deafread, and many more topics. Some blogs I wrote were funny ones like the ever so famous Monopoly money debacle to covering serious issues like the rapes at Gallaudet University which continues to get worse are enough to keep pace with my varied interests on what to blog. Enough so for readers and fans to keep coming back. I thank you for that. With 1,978 blog posts so far and another milestone coming up as reach closer to my 2000th blog post I never imagined my blog would come this far 8 years later with so many twists and turns along the way. I met a lot of haters along the way but they were by far outweighed by the many fans and readers who like to read my blogs and contribute their opinions and thoughts.

Milestones.

They can only be reached if you take your first step and keep moving forward.

Thought of the day: Double standards

There is no "anti-deafhood." Just that we have no interest in such a concept and certainly don't care for these fanaticism and pushiness by means of peer pressure in order to get people to conform to their DH. They play the games of double standards. Their words betray their actions. And their actions betray their words. We prefer to accept diversity as it is and keep things simple without all of the utter nonsense.

The big boat

I've maintained the same outlook and philosophy on not needing a label to describe people with hearing loss from mild to profound and their own personal journey well before I began blogging. I made that clear in July 2006 and it is still true today:

- Basically it boils down to common sense knowing that we all go through, including hearing people, our own self-awareness discovery process as part of our journey. Self-discovery about one's own deafness or hearing loss doesn't mean the person will be led into a Deaf culture life......

- I’ve always accepted deaf and hard of hearing people for who they are and not worry about their background, signing abilities, the ability to speak or hear, or what have you. It didn’t matter to me. But to others, in many instances, did matter a lot.

- I just simply accept people for who they are since we're all basically in the same boat when it comes to equal access issues, legal rights and the narrowing of our communication gaps with hearing people and vice versa.

With that philosophy in mind the overloaded dinghy in tow is in danger of capsizing while one heavy person continues to feed himself ego, hatefulness, jealousy, fear, politics and political correctness. The eating continues to slowly weigh down the little dinghy ever more so. Sailing on the larger and studier ship are people with their own private and personal journey who don't care for the same food of politics but recognize each other for who they are. There's no denying their journeys. There's no denial in my journey or my deafness or who I am. My journey involves many things which is deeply personal to begin with. No labels. None of the politically correct terminologies but simply a journey of self discovery covering many things.

Deafhood truth??

Dripping with sarcasm and heavy with hyperbolic facial expressions signifying suppressed internal rage and anger in a video and at around the 12:30 mark where Ella essentially proclaimed (or was it blessed?) Barry to be free of "deafhood" saying Barry doesn't want to know or acknowledge the "deaf truth" known as..."deafhood."

I thought that piece was a bit arrogant. "Deafhood" is all about truth now?

Sounds so very new age-y there.

The real truth is that each person's journey is a deeply personal one. I cannot tell you what your deaf or hard of hearing journey should be. Or how your journey should emulate. No one has that right to define exactly what your journey should lead to. There is no need for a label because a journey is unique and very personal to begin with. That's really up to each person. I cannot stress that enough. All we can do is acknowledge that a deaf or hard of hearing person's own journey is unique. Our own identity is unique. Just like our whorls on our finger tips. Each whorl of our own fingerprint is unique.  We may look the same but we are indeed unique and different. We travel different paths.

I have no interest on wanting to be a part of a fold that thrives on negative energy attacking people who decide not to embrace their ideology of "deafhood." Why get upset? Pretty silly to get personally upset over that. It's a personal decision. Myself, I have no need for labels like "deafhood." I know who I am. I know what my identity is. I have friends who are culturally deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing. I don't have a need to peel their skins back like a banana and see whether if anyone of the people I meet are "deaf centric" enough or not in behind closed doors. Right, Don? I don't have the need to judge others whether if they are "deafhood" enough. If Barry doesn't want to do anything with "deafhood," then so be it. His decision isn't hurting anyone. He still provides inspiration to culturally deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people. He is sensitive, respectful and understands about Native American Indians and their ancient culture. His past videos and blogs have shown that.

Again, Barry, thanks again for the subtitles. Thousands of other people down the road will appreciate your effort to include subtitles to your vlogs. That's the true spirit of including people who are deaf, hard of hearing and hearing who do not know (or very little) sign language to understand your message. That's true inclusion and not discrimination or segregation.

"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

Deafhood? No Thanks.

A highly secretive group was recently discovered in Facebook a few days ago. I was dumbfounded that this group even existed. This select group is so secret that their password was never discovered until now. I was fortunate to come across this password given to me in an email by a mysterious person who claimed to have cracked the password code. The secret password can now be finally revealed to the world. The password is, "Deafhood? No Thanks."

Once inside I discovered that all new members who pledge themselves to become contributing members for an open society must undergo a rigorous initiation rite. Once a sacred pledge has been made they were all quickly introduced to the Grand Shoobeelabpterodactylrex Poobah through a video phone. After a quick introduction new pledges began their initiation rite by standing in front of a video phone screen and repeatedly say, "Deaf Power is No More!" over and over until the Grand Shoobeelabpterodactylrex Poobah is satisfied with the eerie incancation. He then ask the new pledges to repeat the words, "One Communication Option is No More!" over and over until the Grand Shoobeelabpterodactylrex Poobah is once again satisfied with their incantation. The next and last initiation rite was the most shocking of all. By holding their hands together and forming a circle the pledges, using their voice, scream at the top of their lungs while mysteriously shouting in tongues, "Ulaubooooo, scoobie doooooo, fuggamatich sammywich with mayo hamncheese." If the Grand Shoobeelabpterodactylrex Poobah finds the holy incantation mumbo jumbo acceptable he would smile and say, "Welcome, you are now free! You are no longer in the stone age." And then each of the pledges would get a golden certificate that says:

For people who do not subscribe to deafhood's ridiculous closed society philosophy and movement such as 'deaf power' movement and 'one communication option' approach.

For people who favor open society approaches such as equality for all deaf people regardless of their backgrounds, communication methods and technology options. Welcome brothers and sisters!

Yes, I'm telling you, this new Facebook organization does exist! Honest injun!

Yabba dabba dooo!

Is "Deafhood" a new tool for oppression to those who disagree?

When new labels are introduced such as "audism," "Deafhood," "deficit thinker," "Deaf," "colonialism" and so on they are oftentimes used as a tool to oppress or even discriminate others who do not share their exact ideals or thinkings. This blog is a response to another round of "Deafhood" being discussed in the deaf/hh blogosphere. In my mind the word "Deafhood" pertains to a mostly, if not exclusively, Deaf culture ideal involving ASL rather than about the various deaf/hh experiences and preferred mode of communication. For one, there has been a mixed use of the word "deafhood" and "Deafhood" to define and even discriminate. Others try and downplay the use of the "D" and say instead "deafhood" while others insist it be called "Deafhood" as it relates entirely about their Deaf culture.

Jamie Burke in About.com Deafness used the lower case 'd' in "deafhood" rather than "Deafhood" to define her various experience as a person with hearing loss.

But the word "Deafhood" used by the likes of Paddy Ladd and others who insure that any experiences are about striving toward a Deaf culture mentality than not. Suddenly it has become NOT about the various life experiences and perspectives among the 33 million people who deal with their hearing loss in the United States, where most have gotten along quite well without the need for ASL, but about the presevation of Deaf culture. It's kind of like "It's my way or the highway" kind of thinking when it's about "Deafhood" rather than "deafhood" based on total acceptance and understanding. "Deafhood" has become, as it would seem, a required path to this other-worldly state of nirvana through self-submission. It has become the new found feel-good religion for Deaf people or deaf/hh people who want to seek that path for whatever reasons. Though the irony of this is that it's being used as a political tool instead.

The attempt at activism using the Alinsky's model on radicalism to push "Deafhood" simply leaves a bad taste in a lot of mouths among the many Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing people alike. Granted, we all have various experiences growing up with hearing loss or by those who acquired deafness later in life that shapes us. Some good, some bad ones. There are people and businesses who do discriminate against those with hearing loss and the need for communication access. It's a fact of life but that doesn't mean we should ignore those problems. but address them. We all should strive for choices and accessibility whether it's better Closed Captioning, introduce the concept of signing to parents of deaf/hh babies, oral/aural methods, cued speech, SEE, the introduction of cochlear implant, advances in hearing aid technology, advances in communication technology, advances in the biotechnology such as stem cells and gene therapy and so on. There is no one shoe size fits all.

Each of us function accordingly with our preferred mode of communication and who we prefer to associate with. Most function just fine and are quiet happy without ever knowing sign language or even Deaf culture. Others are happy that ASL is their primary mode of communication and thrive in a Deaf culture atmosphere. Some fall between the two and that's fine. However, with new labels introduced over time we have seen an increasing use of those new words to discriminate against those who follow a different path or ideal. With "Deafhood" being squandered shamelessly we see less room in the boat for others to get in. Why would anybody jump onto a boat that is on the brink of capsizing? It's time to get rid of that S.S. Deafhood boat and the person in it. I'm content for who I am and not about what I am. No need to assign labels here. I just so happens to be a person with a hearing loss who enjoys life in a variety of ways.

Deafhoodism Voodoo

* click me and check inside for free! *

Just to be fair in the name of this so-called "transparency" game I am just now realizing that DBC, a grassroots organization with several core leaders running it, never disclosed any financial or commerical or venture gains with, if any, "Deafhood" workshops," amount of money donated to DBC via CAD (which is questionable on tactics used to receive money), products sold (e.g. t-shirts) , "Deafhood" trainings, re-imbursements, gifts, any relationship to Deafhood Foundation and so on.

Under DeafRead's policy regarding using blog or vlog sites on commercialization:

6) Commerical Sites

We do not link to commerical sites for the purpose of generating profit, other than our own (we have expenses to cover!)

Though DBC's website was linked numerous times in DeafRead and now it is reasonable to ask the question regarding any commercialization aspect, according to Jared, concerning the danger of becoming a "mouthpiece" for an organization:

DeafRead highly values the true ethos of blogging- that is a blogger sharing independent thought, meaningful analysis and personal opinions without undue influence.
When a blogger is part of an organization backed by a for-profit corporation and both of them can stand to benefit financially from the blogging effort, there is an inherent conflict of interest. These bloggers can optionally receive other means of compensation. The integrity of the blog posts then is called into question. The blogger can run the risk of becoming a mouthpiece for the corporation.

DeafRead prefers to distance ourselves from these types of blogs. This is why we continue to allow personal blogs of CI bloggers who display the true ethos of blogging. Any blog that start to push for a product to the point of almost becoming commercialized will be revisited by the DeafRead team for a possible change in its subscription status.

Indeed. So, what makes a product a product? Is it something tangible that you can touch that has value? Or can pushing a product be about pushing certain ideology or a concept in the hope of receiving some kind of monetary or beneficial (self-serving) gains through the incorporation of an idealogy and use that to sell their products?

Seems like this whole thing is this inexorable march towards this whole"Deafhoodism" folly. A few years ago I, as the original author (see here, here and here), came up with word "Deafhoodism" and provided a definition on what it means:

Deafhoodism - a Deaf status quo regarding Deafhood; a system of Deaf beliefs accepted as authoritative where acceptance and, sometimes, blameless actions toward other deaf and hard of hearing individuals outside of Deaf culture would be required. It is also a self-discovery oriented process involving sustained meaningful interaction with and commitment to, Deaf social, cultural and/or political life where a deaf or hard of hearing person would become a Deaf person someday.

In short, hoping these "deaf and hard of hearing people" will "see the light" and reach for "Deaf nirvana" someday.

But it seems like DBC cannot keep "Deafhood" separate from their now quagmire of a mission that's already beginning to show mixed messages and letting Deaf politics become their mission du jour that's seemingly filled with hidden agendas. It's becoming more and more painfully obvious in what some of these people are doing.

But with the latest revelation by Barry Sewell with a copy of an IM between core leaders of DBC did it show that there are clear disdain towards hearing parents who get cochlear implants for their deaf children or the use of AVT. And the general atmosphere of disdain towards the idea of oralism as well. Not to mention personal agendas of somehow tying DBC with that of Deafhood Foundation. Of course, they have a right to their own personal opinions and beliefs but certainly and obviously so we are seeing that conflict of interest is occurring.

All in all, it seems like all of a sudden a bunch of Deaf people are simply wearing masks with the intention to further their own personal agendas regarding ASL, "Deafhood," "Deafhood" workshops, NAD, DBC, grab for power and any and everything in between. Remember what I said about carrying unnecessary baggage with you? Which is exactly why the below cartoon precisely describes what's going on.