The vilification of Dr. Karl White

Generally, I'm not surprised by the utter hate and vilification that get thrown at Dr. Karl White by some in the culturally deaf community only because this is to be expected, unfortunately. This is true even in a YouTube video he was in recently. Dr. Karl White holds a different opinion when it comes to helping parents of deaf children and the Early Hearing Detection Intervention for babies that he supports. As a result on the differences of opinions when it comes to deaf children charges against Dr. Karl White run the gamut of "verbally attacking" culturally deaf people to calling deaf protesters as "terrorists" to accusing him of blocking submissions of papers on ASL at EHDI conferences.  All this even though Dr. Karl White is fluent in sign language. 

There are a place and time to agree to disagree and state your case but to vilify Dr. Karl White with slander and character assassinations won't go anywhere. Hearing parents will see these vile attitudes and see them as deaf zealots and assume the worse thinking the culturally deaf community acts like that and are nothing more than a group of people with extremist attitudes. Not exactly an ideal way to boost the image of the culturally deaf community.

Instead of throwing temper tantrums it'd be better to be more involved in the EHDI process and help spread awareness just like Dr. Beth Benedict has been doing.

It was established ten years ago, and not one deaf person attended the first conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where the latest conference was also held. Dr. Beth Benedict, a Communication Studies professor at Gallaudet University, heard about the EHDI conference, went to the second one and has been a loyal attendee ever since. She and the Alpha Sigma Pi fraternity hosted three workshops on EDHI, explaining how you can become involved and what you can do to spread awareness. 

That is a much better alternative than going online on YouTube just to piss and defecate every where in the comment section about Dr. Karl White like some 3 year old kid not yet potty trained.That's not spreading awareness. That's being petty and immature. Spreading awareness in the most positive light about sign language, early detection and intervention for babies born with hearing loss are what get hearing parents' attention. And certainly by not acting immaturely.

2013 EHDI Annual Meeting

For interested stakeholders on attending the 12th Annual Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Meeting on April 14 - 16, 2013 in Glendale, AZ.

In its 12th year, the EHDI Meeting has built a strong reputation for bringing together a wide variety of attendees including those who: work in state Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs; assist in EHDI efforts on the federal level; provide screening, diagnostic and early intervention support at the state/ local level to young children with hearing loss and their families; champion Medical Home activities within each state; are parents of children with hearing loss; or are deaf or hard-of-hearing adults who are helping to expand opportunities for young children with hearing loss. EHDI Meeting participants will range from state and local programs to the federal level and from academics to families.

The goals of the meeting:

1) Enhance the implementation of comprehensive state-based Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs.

2) Participants are better able to identify and promote knowledge and awareness of successful strategies for implementing comprehensive state-based EHDI programs that include screening, audiologic diagnostic evaluation, early intervention, medical home, reporting, tracking, surveillance, loss to follow-up issues, data integration, and other related surveillance components. 

3) Participants are better able to interpret and describe current research and research methods related to EHDI. 

4) Participants are better able to examine cultural competence of providers and assess their ability to work with children who are deaf or hard of hearing, their families, and communities. 

5) Participants are better able to discuss the importance of enhancing and creating new and ongoing working relationships among federal agencies, non-profit organizations, state health departments and educational agencies, advocacy groups, families, and professionals.

This is an opportunity for qualified people or professionals in the culturally deaf community to get involved and properly make submissions according to EHDI rules of participation.

The EHDI Annual Meeting opposes the disruption of any meeting sessions or events that results in the inability for dialogue to take place. The EHDI Annual Meeting reserves the right to withdraw the name badge, and therefore deny access, to participants who do not adhere to these Principles of Participation.

This is the best way to get on the "inside" of the EHDI organization and have a stake or say on various matters relating to early hearing loss detection in babies and join other professionals and parents who are also intent on improving early hearing screening, diagnosis, and intervention for infants/young children and their families.  As part of the intervention package it could include the use of sign language for deaf/hh babies and combine that with various other intervention options. Instead of accusing EHDI, CDC, NCHAM, etc, everything under the sun and throwing hissy fits for supposedly not including sign language as part of the whole hearing screening, diagnosis, and intervention system package for parents of babies with hearing loss, it's better to have more meaningful inputs at an EHDI conference than not by getting in on the "inside" and have a say as professionals. Protesting, raising a ruckus and making fools of themselves and giving the culturally deaf community a bad image with the public thinking they're a bunch of militant zealots will not "help the cause." It's better to go in and be a part of the system (ie. EHDI conferences) and help change certain mindsets regarding hearing loss, communication access and language development. In other words, act professionally and play by their "rules" when you register and participate at the EHDI conference and have a say that including sign language for children with hearing loss is really beneficial on many fronts.

Let's hope proposed papers were already submitted even though submittal for abstracts is now closed and see whose papers got accepted. If it's anything like last year we should see more than just a couple of papers on ASL. The key is to be a part of the process, and when you do become a part of the process you then have a voice and a chance to reach out educate people. Stop with the nonsense accusations, participate and be a part of the process instead.