The new deaf generation....listening and speaking.

Cochlear implant technology has enabled a whole new generation of deaf people enabling them the ability to speak, listen and understand the spoken word, and acquire a language. Below are two split videos of a documentary of deaf children who were outfitted with cochlear implants while very young. They were interviewed later on in life as pre-teens and teenagers and talking to them, you wouldn't know they were deaf. These group of deaf people are the next upcoming crop of new generation of deaf people with cochlear implants.

In the documentary, those children and teens are from Australia where all of them grew up with all of the inflection, pitch and intonation in their voices with an apparent Australian accent. When that happens you know for fact that early intervention works and that cochlear implant provides that very access to a world of speaking and listening, and spoken language acquisition. For parents of deaf babies to watch this documentary would prove to be powerfully insightful and full of hope for them that anything else wouldn't be anywhere near as convincing. This documentary points out that cochlear implants do work and that early intervention is the most important key of them all because of the brain's early plasticity development. Parents would be the glue to make it all work.

Be sure to watch all of the video documentary before commenting so that you can be properly informed on what was covered in the video.

Part I
http://youtu.be/0lmCuyrgc80

Part II
http://youtu.be/ttd2l9J9oqE


When I watched that documentary I was simply amazed at the children and teens' voices and I could actually hear their full inflection, pitch and intonation of their accented (Australian) voices as opposed to hearing American kids with cochlear implants (they do just as well, btw). The difference was hearing their Australian accent vs American accent. Which means one thing, cochlear implant does work even to capture the accent of their (hearing) native spoken language. Not only just speaking but listening as well. The boy with the rocket ship doesn't need to look at his teachers' mouth (i.e. lip reading) to have a conversation. He even understood the electronic voice in the space rocket announcing a countdown (5, 4, 3, 2, 1...blast off!) and the boy would hear that and lifts the rocket up.

Early intervention is the key and parental involvement must play a huge role in this. Not doing those things would simply be left to chance. All this is from an aural and oral development point of view I acknowledge readily. I still see that signing such as SEE, SE, PSE or ASL can play an important role for deaf and hard of hearing children although perhaps in some areas not as critical to others (e.g. profoundly deaf vs those with mild hearing loss at 30 db). It's simply up to parents to make an *informed decision* before moving forward. And we must accept those parents' decisions. The decision does not rest with anyone else. Yet this documentary video will prove to be compelling to parents of deaf babies by providing them the biggest hope and a confirmation that it does work.  How can you compete with that when it comes to speaking and listening development?

"Being your best advocate"

That was a phrase coined by Stephen Hopson, who is deaf and became the first deaf person in aviation history to earn an instrument-rated pilot's license, spoke as a commencement speaker in front of the graduating high school class at Clarke School in Northampton. He told students that his life and accomplishments were proof that you "have to be your own best advocate."

Stephen Hopson, the first deaf person in aviation history to earn an instrument-rated pilot's license, told students that they had to stand up for themselves and ignore naysayers in order to succeed.

"If you do, your life will change and your life will change other people's lives. You have that power," he said.

Hopson, who was born deaf, also had a successful career as a Wall Street stockbroker and is now a writer and inspirational speaker.

And that's true. There will be naysayers who will attempt to detract your efforts  by negatively saying what you do will not work or succeed, especially against deaf people such as those in the global microbrand business. Jason Curry, CEO of sComm, is an example of that by "being your best advocate." He believed in his vision that a new product of his will help deaf and hard of hearing people communicate better with hearing people without the need of a sign language interpreter. And he did exactly that by designing a patented communication face-to-face device called "UbiDuo" which made its debut on April 22, 2006 after starting up his business in 2002. Most new businesses fail within 5 years but in the face of a downturn economy Jason's business continues to thrive and grow only because he became his own best advocate. That is key on ensuring success along with drive and focused determination. If you believe then you can succeed.

Marlee Matlin and her hearing aid experience

Marlee Matlin gives us an understanding why she wears her hearing aids in both ears and the reason she supports the Starkey Hearing Foundation on providing free hearing aids to kids around the world.

If you're in Minnesota or nearby, or can fly in, you can always attend the July 24, 2011 "So the World May Hear" 11th annual gala with celebrities and musicians stopping by to watch, celebrate, and perform. Last year, with their 10th annual Gala they raised a record $7 million dollars, the most ever. In 2009 they raised $4.6 million dollars with each succeeding year earlier raising more money than before.

This year 11th gala includes the ever present Marlee Matlin, former president Bil Clinton, Randy Hogan, and Doug Pitt as Honorees with hard hitting performers Miley Cyrus, Reba Mcentire, Garth Brooks, Meat Loaf, and the Kevin Costner & Modern West country band.

With Marlee Matlin's extensive coverage about her hearing loss as a deaf person on Celebrity Apprentice has raised her profile as well as awareness on hearing loss. I'm sure the 11th annual Gala "So the World May Hear" will raise even more money beating out the $7 million dollars raised in 2010. And provide even more hearing aids and services to kids around the world. Watch their latest captioned video of their visit to one of the towns in Africa they visited in 2010. 

The million dollar whine....

People need to stop whining about Marlee Matlin's $1 million dollar charity contribution via The Celebrity Apprentice show to the Starkey Hearing Foundation in their own utter befuddlement over on why she didn't contribute to NAD or some other organizations. Best to put your money where your mouth is if you are so darned worried about NAD not getting enough money. As for Starkey HF, I simply see evidence of them being a successful organization than anything else.  I've no need for these hokey, wild-eyed conspiracy theories about Marlee Matlin, and Starkey Hearing Foundation. Better to focus than to whine.

All this boils down to simple math if ya'll want to see $1 million dollars put into, for example, NAD's coffer each year.

Let's use 5,000 people who can contribute to NAD as an example. That's $200 per person per year. Or just under $17 per month if you prefer to contribute monthly. Are you telling me that a mere 5000 Deaf people are unable to contribute basically a few dollars a month to NAD? That's 100 Deaf people from each state in the United States that can contribute if they are so concerned about NAD or where the money "should be" going.

Which is it, folks? Complain and worry about NAD or other organizations not getting enough money for more and better advocacy while complaining incessantly on how Marlee Matlin should've forked over the $1 million, or actually have the balls to do something about it? BTW, you don't have to be a member to donate. 

As for me, I am more in line with HLAA's philosophy.  And more good news on "Walk4Hearing" fund raising goal. They are at 30% of their goal on raising $1.2 million dollars. At least they're doing something positive that reach across all folks with a wide range of hearing loss.  

Matt Hamill - prefight interview

Don't miss it. This Saturday, May 28 at 6PM West Coast time or 9 PM East Coast time. How will Matt Hamill do? The only way to find out is to watch the UFC fight.

Another new milestone......and upcoming Matt Hamill fight!

Whoo hooo! Over 900,000 visits on my Kokonut Pundit blog. Only another 100,000 more hits to go til I hit 1 million visits. You can see the Sitemeter number on the leftside of my blog and scroll down til you see it. After 7 years and 1799 blogs later I hit the 900,000 mark. How many deaf bloggers are in that same league? My 8th year will begin this October 22, 2011. Hopefully, sometime in 2012 I'll hit my 1 millionth mark.

One thing I noticed over the last few days is that I've gotten a lot of hits from Wikipedia on Matt Hamill it mentioned about my interview (see #13 in Wikipedia's references) with Matt Hamill back in June 26, 2006. This happens every time Matt Hamill gets ready for a fight but this time the fight against Rampage this Saturday, May 28, has produced an unusual number of traffic flow from Wikipedia compared to other fights.  I'm one of the very few bloggers who have done interviews with Hamill and I was given several photos of him practicing sparring and joshing around with Tito Ortez from Matt Hamill to use in my blogs.

Anyway, do not miss this epic fight!! I plan to go to a sports bar with my wife and enjoy the fight there. It's better to pay $50 bucks on drinks and snacks and watch the fight there than to pay $50 bucks for pay per view.

I just wanted to toot my horn and thank you all for visiting Kokonut Pundit, a nationally known professional patriotic purveyor of highly entertaining and informative blogging!

John Rich or Marlee Matlin?

Finally watched the last Celebrity Apprentice show and saw that Mr. Donald Trump picked John Rich as the Celebrity Apprentice over Marlee Matlin. It's interesting to watch the culturally deaf people grumble about the selection saying that Mr. Trump made a mistake. I, on the other hand, do not think Mr. Trump made a mistake but the correct one. John Rich was consistent in everything he did including being a leader. Had Marlee Matlin been more aggressive as a leader rather than be lead around like a lost puppy with Meatloaf making the decisions. That not only happened once but a few times throughout the whole Celebrity Apprentice show. Marlee Matlin may have raised the most money in the beginning with $1 million dollars, the most ever on the show but it was John Rich's consistency on being a leader as project team leader that everyone can look up to. Marlee Matlin was great but she fell a notch below Trump's expectation of her and she lost an opportunity to showcase herself to be a thorough leader. I wasn't surprised that Mr. Trump selected John Rich as the C.A. Trump made the right decision.

I'm not sure why during the show that Marlee Matlin grumbled about John Rich receiving $250,000 from two people who came up to him during the show and donated the money to his charity of choice. It would be nuts for him to turn it down and Marlee Matlin knows it. And with John winning C.A. and received an additional $250,000 makes him the highest fund raiser ever on C.A. for his charity of choice. He fulfilled his goal at the very beginning of the show to raise the most cash for his charity of choice. He certainly did just that. Shows great leadership and compassion. Marlee Matlin did a great job on raising $1 million dollars for her charity of choice, Starkey Hearing Foundation. Plus, the 7-up can her team helped designed supports deaf kids where the 7-up company is donating money to the Starkey Hearing Foundation as well. And that's another story on how some culturally deaf people are grumbling and whining over her charity of choice, too.

Taking Rein over Paddy

Once I took control of Paddy it was an exhilarating experience. It was a moment I've been waiting for when I finally confronted the beast. Over the years I gradually came to the realization that I had to confront this desire of mine and find a way to learn how to control such an animal when at one time I didn't really care for. It's a long history and I'll explain it later.  Confronted I did. And that was recently a few days ago on Saturday during a lovely warm day on a 20 acre ranch out in the green, rolling country hills of Missouri. 

With my worn cowboy boots I had for many years snuggly fit inside the stirrups I sat high up and comfortable on a saddle with Paddy, a young horse that was a few years old. I knew there was a risk when it came to controlling Paddy on my command since he wasn't used to having a stranger on his back but the owner of the horse was sure his horse was broken enough not to show any temperament while I had my fun for the day. Paddy has been in training for the past 10 months for a show competition called Reining.

Reining is a judged event designed to show the athletic ability of a ranch type horse within the confines of a show arena. In NRHA competition, contestants are required to run one of ten approved patterns, included in the NRHA Handbook.


Each pattern includes small slow circles, large fast circles, flying lead changes, roll backs over the hocks, 360 degree spins done in place, and exciting sliding stops that are the hallmark of the reining horse.


The NRHA Judging System is recognized as the leading format for judging an equine event that combines technical and stylistic elements coupled with consideration of "degree of difficulty". Many segments of the equine judging discipline have openly embraced the NRHA Judging System.

Here's a video of how Reining is done.

While trotting around I wondered if other deaf people used sign language to communicate with their horses just as those who have done that with dogs but I digress. There are after all deaf and hoh people who love horses and ride them, too.



After trotting awhile I was satisfied knowing that I was able to control Paddy with ease. So I tried spinning a few times in both directions. Backed him up. Trotted some more. A slight gallop. And then a trot. And finally got into position for a classic photo shoot of me with Paddy.

After that experience I got off and verbally thanked the horse for allowing me that opportunity and patted him. My good friend, Jason, was next. He got up and had his fun, too.

The horse riding was a part of my vacation out in the midwest. I had a great time and the next time I go I look forward to an all day horse riding experience with my new friends I made on that trip along with a good friend friend of mine who made this day possible. Thank you, Jason!

Now, I can't wait for my next horse riding experience. I think my inner cowboy is beginning to surface now. Just feels so natural riding a horse. Such a simple thing can be so pleasurable and fun.

Global Microbrand

There is a new concept in the business world called "global microbrand" that was coined several years back. For those not familiar with the phrase it basically means in a niche market you have a brand that sells all over the world but not yet at the tipping point on being able to produce in massive quantity the product being sold. There are some deaf-owned businesses that does this on their own designing, making and selling their own technology products. sComm is one of those very few businesses that does that. And by saying "very few" it's a true statement around here. sComm has a global microbrand called the "UbiDuo" which has been sold worldwide and it continues to grow. No matter how small or big this niche market is as long as there is big enough interest in a product there's money to be made and profited. In this case the UbiDuo has been proven to be a money maker ever since the first year it debuted.

sComm began as a company in 2002 and debut the UbiDuo communication device on April 22, 2006 at DeafNation. Jason Curry, who is deaf and the CEO of sComm, never looked back once his product took off that year and saw sales rise each year. It has been 5 years since the opening day when the UbiDuo was made available to the public. Most new businesses do not survive past 5 years and go out of business. But sComm is nothing but normal as a business in an economy that has been suffering for the last few years. In fact, in a depressed economy sComm is actually thriving because people are quickly finding out the value of 100% accessible communication of the English language. 

Looking back 5 years ago the year when UbiDuo first exploded into the conscious minds of many deaf people you had your naysayers and detractors on this new technology, a soon to be global microbrand. You had your deaf techno geeks and so called "experts" who derided and made fun of the Ubiduo and the CEO of sComm for making that communication device seeing it as "worthless" and not "doable."  This was a product I recognized several years back seeing it as potentially a valuable communication device for deaf people. A niche market I knew that Jason Curry, the CEO, could easily help fill not just in the United States but worldwide for deaf users who know English. And that's a lot of people my friends. Not really so "niche-y" if you think about it.

I first heard about the upcoming communication device back in 2004 from Jason Curry, CEO of sComm. Even the people at NIH was impressed with Jason's vision that his company was awarded a $1.3 million dollar grant in February of 2005 to help fund the Phase II of sComm's product that would enable face-to-face communication betweeen deaf and hearing people, and between people in other communication-challenged situations.

Again, you had those deaf self-appointed techno-geeks and so called "experts" on technology and communication laugh at Jason's vision and product only to be proven wrong year after year after year.  Jason easily made fools of those so called "experts" in the world of micro branding. The superb quality that goes behind every Ubiduo stands on its own. I've seen it with my own eyes which validated my strong belief that Jason's vision was right on the mark that this communication device can help deaf people communicate effortlessly with hearing people. And that alone could potentially help a deaf person's own career as well with the ability to effortlessly interact with hearing people.

But in a world of deaf people who rely on sign language to communicate where some have been resistant and one-minded that they must have interpreters  24/7 available to them in order to communicate with their hearing peers, friends, co-workers, supervisors or bosses, that idea simply will not work in all cases. Not everybody can have the luxury on having a personal interpreter shadow you all day long like Marlee Matlin's own personal interpreter.  Don't get me wrong, having an interpreter is quite important in many cases but having or demanding an interpreter in nearly every single situation doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the world of business where English is king. Most of your co-workers, supervisors, clients and customers are hearing people who use English to communicate on a daily basis whether on paper or by voice. It makes good business sense to interact with hearing people using English on a daily basis.

Let me ask you this question.

What would you say about a deaf worker who worked as a greeter at Sam's Club for 12 years without having any other responsibilities or promotion? What would you say upon learning about a deaf worker who obtained a piece of communication technology called the "UbiDuo" that allowed him access to hearing customers and because of that technology he was promoted three times and now supervises 20 hearing people in a space of a few years? How much would you pay for that piece of technology that would allow you to interact and communicate with hearing people where signing isn't involved nor required?

Before you answer that there's a sobering reality what many culturally deaf people do not realize in the world of business.  In the United States in one federal agency with 37 deaf employees it had to spend $2.7 million dollars a year on interpreting fees alone.  On average that turns out to be $73,000 per year for each deaf person. In a time of budget cuts, downsizing and rising unemployment rates the bottom line has become quite apparent for all federal agencies, state government agencies and companies in lean times all over the world, and not just in the United States. There are efforts underway by companies and such to find ways to help control their cost , especially among those who are not so "English-impaired" and can communicate using English instead of acting like helpless people who don't know a lick of English and demand sign language interpreters in every possible or impossible scenarios.

Deaf people have a choice. Either they take the reign and show what they're capable of by showing their independence on their capability to interact with hearing people. Or become overly dependent on interpreters when their English is sufficient to communicate in the first place in face to face scenarios. If you can chat online, use the email, use the TTY, go on discussion forums over the internet and type everything in English, then certainly you have the capability to use the UbiDuo instead of using interpreters as a crutch.  Either you can stand up and speak for yourself in your own words or have a third person do the speaking for you all the time. The choice is really yours to make.

How much would you pay for a proven piece of communication technology?

What would you say about a deaf worker who worked as a greeter at Sam's Club for 12 years without having any other responsibilities or promotion?

What would you say upon learning about this deaf worker who obtained a piece of communication technology that allowed him access to his hearing customers, co-workers, supervisors and boss? Not a big deal?

What would you say to the fact that he was promoted three times and now supervises 20 hearing people all because of that communication technology he used?

I'd say you would probably be dumbstruck seeing the drastic change in this deaf person's own career advancement by using a crucial piece of communication technology. He's now much more happier and confident in his new founded career path.

How much would you pay for that piece of communication technology that can easily provide you the opportunity to interact and communicate with hearing people where signing isn't involved?

How much would you pay for that piece of communication technology that will allow you the opportunity to succeed? And the opportunity to show your co-workers and boss your entrepreneurial and team-work spirit? And impress your customers and business clients as well?

How much would you be willing to pay for a proven piece of communication technology to advance your own career at your place of work? Would you use it if your company paid for it? Do you have the drive and determination to succeed in your place of work? Would you take advantage of this piece of communication technology knowing that it could help you with your career in a positive way?

Would you?

Post Office Worker and Communication Access

Here's a story about a deaf man who communicates in various ways with his customers. Sometimes with his hands. Sometimes with a binder that explains to his customers on what they need to do. Or the use of a technology that makes communication easier. Check out the article and video!

When hearing loss doesn't stop a deaf musician

Here's a captioned video of a deaf musician who can play the piano, flute, clarinet, most woodwind, strings and and most percussion instruments. He talks about his hearing loss and hopes to meet with Evelyn Glennie someday soon.

Cure for nerve deafness gets even closer

One step closer on the goal to help restore hearing loss.

A cure for deafness could be on the horizon after scientists created specialised ear cells in the lab.

Grown in their thousands, the delicate hairs could one day be transplanted into the inner ear, restoring hearing to millions.

The breakthrough comes after ten years of painstaking research.

It may also allow some balance disorders to be eased and aid the search for drugs to prevent people from becoming hard of hearing.

Age-related hearing loss affects half of Britons aged 60 and over and there is currently no way of holding it at bay.

Hearing aids amplify sounds but nothing can give sufferers back the hearing they once had.

In the latest research at Stanford University, California, scientists perfected turning stem cells - blank cells which can turn into other cell types - into the delicate hairs found in the inner ear. ones.

The linch-pin of hearing and balance, thousands of these hairs help convert sound vibrations into nerve impulses which are decoded by the brain.

Ageing, noise and general wear and tear make them wither away and, until now, there was no way of replacing them.

The hairs made in the lab from mice looked and acted like the real thing, the journal Cell reports.

Researcher Stefan Heller said: 'We knew it was really working when we saw them in the electron microscope.

'They looked more or less like they were taken out of the ear.'

If the same technique can be applied to human cells, within ten years it may be possible to transplant-the delicate hairs to restore hearing.

Using slivers of the patient's skin as a source of the stem cells means that any hairs generated would be a perfect match for their body.

It also raises the tantalising possibility of creating drugs to coax the ear into growing more hair cells of its own accord.

We may be only 10 years away on witnessing the impossible.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1278160/Deafness-cure-breakthrough-scientists-create-tiny-ear-hairs-stem-cells.html#ixzz1MIzLjDfu

Had enough oranges?

Incestuous Relationships in the YouTube Deaf community?

And so I sat and observed what some people have said about the recent brouhaha in DVTV land where vloggers went so far as to issue threats and/or violated the rules in DVTV earning them a quick ban. Issuing threats are not cool. Throwing a temper tantrum while on the floor isn't cool, either.  This is like witnessing another round of "Deaf Identity Gone Wild" but only this time people are aiming their badly focused sight on Tayler instead, the owner of DVTV. 

The role of bloodlines and pedigree in defining Deafness, along with the relatively small number of deaf people in the United States to begin with, helps explain the unusually active and even incestuous part that Gallaudet alumni, deaf parents, and even supposedly neutral organizations such as the National Association of the Deaf played in the battle against Fernandes.

Except this battle isn't about Fernandes but about Tayler who is at the helm of his own DVTV ship but he's no Captain Bligh. He's fair and makes sure that DVTV is "more safe" than YouTube because blocking against individual vloggers has never been easier.  It's not a right to vlog on DVTV but a privilege and must follow DVTV's R-List of rules. Maybe Tayler isn't quite "Deaf enough" to some of the culturally deaf people's taste because he isn't "radical" enough? Hence, the continuing protestations?

Deaf people have increasingly used YouTube to the point where their actions have morphed into this mutant, politically incestuous, illegitimate entity, ad hoc type of group that has increasingly become more "clannish" and even "cultish" in some ways. In other words, they've increasingly become the epitome of what online bullying looks like in order to get what they want as a group that matches their agenda.  It has even gotten to the point where people have condoned (e.g. keeping silent about it) making online threats to other people as long as they think if it benefits their agenda.

Not cool, and pretty sick, too. But you won't hear that condemnation from some leaders when it comes to online threats.  It can be done directly by making email/online threats or indirectly as in the case of the "neo-nazi" tattoo lie hoping it will stick and cause the person to lose his job which pretty much defines a "hate speech" in its own right. And the leaders were once again, silent.

So we ask these questions.

How bad is this particular incestuous lot in the YouTube Deaf community? Is it real or imagined? What is the connection? How many are we talking about? How deep does it go? Or is this a case of a massive misunderstanding taking place? Has "Deaf power" run amok amongst the leaders and people of that community? Is the wearing of hoods a manifestation of what hatred looks like?  The people who sent threatening emails to Tayler, do they represent the Deaf community at large?

The Suckees and the Suckers....

I'm thinking about all the whiners out there who are unable to debate or argue intelligently and knowing when to disagree tactfully so. But instead they throw temper tantrums like a 6 year old kid because their "feelings" were hurt or felt "insulted" and how they demand that the offending person be removed for having an opinion that targeted no specific person. In life, how are they going to learn to suck it up once in a while? Of course, what I'm referring to is the whole DVTV debacle (not Tayler's but the whiners' own). For those who learn to "suck it up" when it comes to vloggers they find "offending" they know what to do by either ignoring the vlogger, put a block on him/her, or able to learn to control their emotions by not getting unnecessarily upset over it. They're called "Suckees." For those who refuse to put a block on the offending person in DVTV or refuse to ignore vlogs they don't like, they're called "Suckers." Why? Well, they are suckers for drama and would rather be on the sucker end of the joke. Weak-minded and unable to resist the need to have drama in their lives, and so they are the suckers.

People can disagree tactfully by voicing their displeasure or disagreement in a reasonable manner. I have no problems when it comes to disagreeing, even strongly, and be respectful about it. But to put on a drama show, stage protests, walk-outs, act intimidating in front of the camera, crying and demanding that the offending person be somehow banned, create vlogs specifically to harass, mock, show extreme hate, name calling, and so on against a person or vlogger they do not like for whatever reasons make them....Suckers. Because once they go down that path then you know they are unable to reasonable debate or argue effectively on why they disagree with that offending person's point of view or opinons. They are unable to agree to disagree and move on. They MUST have drama.

Suckees know what to do, say and act. They refuse to be suckers, and would rather be on the "suckees" end and not on not be "suckers." They learn how to suck it up and not let emotions cloud their judgements. They try and see from other people's point of views and perspectives. They try and see it objectively rather than emotionally. Suckers are unable to debate or argue their case cohesively and clearly, and are perhaps temporarily "crippled" mentally-wise. They are emotionally "crippled" in their own pool of thoughts on hate, contempt, derision, and anger. They are unable to be reasoned with, perhaps on a temporary basis, and how they are unable to objectively argue. In short, they throw themselves on the floor and do these temper tantrums like a 6 year old kid who can't get what he wants and demand that Mommy or Daddy do something about it to make him happy. You need to stop running to Tayler Mayer for every little vlogs that you don't like. Making a personal attack does not replace an effective, well thought out argument.Throwing a temper tantrum doesn't help, either.

And so, in the case of Barry (The Holism) in DVTV, you have the weak-minded group of people who cannot even use the basic common sense to use DVTV's block feature to block out any vloggers they do not like. If not DVTV but in YouTube, they are unable to avoid watching vloggers they don't like. But I suspect that many refuse to block certain people or through act of will power learn not to watch certain vloggers they do not like because many are simply addicted to drama. They want something to complain and whine about. Tayler Mayer is not your Mommy or Daddy for you to cry and run to. If you don't like certain vloggers in DVTV you can easily block that vlogger. Easy! Tayler Mayer already explained recently on how to do that by spoon feeding you that information. But for your own sake and sanity, it's better to avoid watching any vlogger that you don't like in the first place. Use your willpower to make sure of that and get that peace of mind.

I'm telling you. Suckers are addicted to dramas. They want that. They *THRIVE* on that. Suckees know better than to let emotion get the best of them. DVTV is an open book for the world to see and what do you think they see once they take a look at vloggers in DVTV ? A bunch of Suckers? Or a bunch of Suckees? 

Are you a sucker? Probably so. Prove me wrong.

Rockin Ranch

I love it out there! Here's a subtitled video compilation of pictures and videos of my aunt's ranch in eastern Oregon when I was out there two years (and again last year). So much peace for me whenever I go and visit her ranch, and the chance to see her horses again. My aunt's husband has lost a good amount of hearing and now wear a hearing aid. He's not always happy about wearing it all the time but it gets easier with time. I think he can finally relate to me when it comes to trying hear and not always get everything as a hard of hearing person. He isn't in good health but he is in my thoughts and prayers!

It's not often I come across deaf or hard of hearing individuals who love the great outdoors and the ranch life as well. I probably wouldn't raise horses myself but I sure wouldn't mind raising alpacas on a ranch.

Someday....

A Deaf Trash Collector and Surfing in Japan

Here's an interesting movie that comes with subtitles.

Shigeru is the main character of the film. He is a young garbage collector who is deaf and mute. One day he finds a broken surf board in the garbage. After watching the surfers he starts to feel an uncontrolable desire for the sea. He takes the board home and fixes it as much as he can. After that point, surfing becomes the main thing in his life. He is ignored and laughed by the young & ignorant local surfers. But he gets all the support he needs by his symphatetic girlfriend who is also deaf and mute.

In this film, Kitano tells us about the surf scene in Japan. It is a western import in Japanese society which is favored by the youth in sea shore parts of the country. Kitano portrays the surf in a pure and realistic way but not without the the poetic and emotional camera work. Maybe waves are the best way to describe the Shigeru's inner feelings which Shigeru is unable to express to the out side world fully. He seems calm and relaxed on the outside but inside, a big fire burns for surfing and freedom.

What Marlee said about Starkey

I agree. And I support what she's doing. Check out the screen capture on what she said in Twitter just recently.

How true!

Having a fit over "Deaf Trash"

After seeing Barry's video "Deaf Trash" I can't help but think the people who are upset are just probably are so laser-focused on the words "deaf trash" rather than on what Barry discussed in his video. Much the same way on how some tended to focus on the words "ASL failed" rather than the discussion behind it and instead got all upset over those two words.

Now, I'm just thinking here. Bear with me.

Are some people upset because they think they are indeed "deaf trash" in their own minds and felt they were somehow "targeted"?  If they're confident about themselves then there would be no reason to get upset over those words since it would have no bearing on them or of no importance. Perhaps this is a case of people who are simply "context-impaired"?  Barry targeted no one single individual in that video and yet what did some some people do? The run over to Tayler Mayer, the owner of DVTV, and cry about Barry's latest video and demand that he be banned despite the fact that Barry broke no rules in DVTV.  Tayler Mayer knows this. In fact, Tayler had to resort to a video explaining again that members of DVTV have the power to block anyone they want and that DVTV is actually better in terms of being "safer" than YouTube. All this goes to show that Barry has not violated any of DVTV's R-list. Feeling hurt or upset when you weren't personally targeted doesn't count. People have the option to block Barry or anybody else in DVTV. It's easy.

Here's the conundrum.

If people claim to have no interest in Barry's videos then why do they continue to watch his videos on DVTV and continue to complain to Tayler Mayer? Makes no sense. I've a mind that they simply like to whine and complain all the time for whatever reason is simply beyond me.

Barry is a deaf person, he knows that and certainly I understood completely the context on what Barry said, for example, about "deafless" which was simply to mock all the new invented words out there such as the a-wordism.  Words like that are simply not in the dictionary. It was also to point out that the word "deaf" is not all that overly important, either. Much the same way he explained in context and concept in a video on the word "ageless" of an 80 year old man still actively hiking, biking, running or swimming. The 80 year old man knows he's old but that doesn't stop him. Same way with "deafless." Though he does admit he's deaf, too.  Get it? Many don't.

Yet Barry's videos gets the number one spot on the average number of views to each of his videos (60 videos) with OhBuckaroo (24 videos), Barry's son, coming in a 2nd place. All that makes me wonder about the people who don't like Barry and his videos do not make the effort to simply block him on DVTV.  Sure, there will be disagreements. That is to be expected. People can disagree and state their arguments in a good way. Nothing wrong with that. That's what makes debating great.  But run over to Tayler Mayer to complain about Barry's videos doesn't make it all very "adult like." Staging an effort to "walk out" of DVTV over Barry's videos isn't a good thing either but they're free to do what they want in voicing their displeasure. But I think it's rather a dumb thing to do when one can always use DVTV's block feature. The first walk out was a dismal failure. That didn't stop DVTV from its goal on making it as "safe" as possible for all members.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I do understand. The problem here is that members continue to watch in DVTV knowing they have the full power to block out vloggers for whatever reasons instead of demanding the owner of DVTV to ban certain vloggers they don't like. They are an adult. They need to act like one and use the block feature in DVTV.

Oh, btw, happy 4th birthday DVTV. It all began four years ago on May 7th. It is still running strong despite to continual whining.

Barry continues to make a big impact on the deaf community. His message continues to reach out even to the hearing community and the people who don't know sign or know very little with the help of his subtitling efforts in YouTube. He continues to evolve as a person who is a part of the deaf and hard of hearing community, and yes, even the culturally deaf community as well. Love him or hate him, he belong to no one.  His journey is his own personal journey and that no one can tell him what he can or cannot do.

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you, Mom for all the things you've done for us while we were growing up. With your love and dedication to help me as a child with a hearing loss you made sure I get the best help in education. I'll always remember how you helped me with my speech and listening skills, and all the fun books you helped me get so I could read everyday. I remember the times when you spent many hours standing in the rain to watch me play soccer at those soccer games. And the reward of seeing my hard work pay off with my team winning the soccer state championship. And the wrestling matches where I ended up in 2nd place in the final match, and the little league baseball games with my team winning the championship in Tacoma. All with your love, encouragement, and dedication not just to me but for my brother and sister, as well. We all turned out great!

I am sure you still relishing to this day your prediction when I was a little boy that the doctors and educators would eat their words about me thinking that just because I have a hearing loss I wouldn't amount much past the 4th grade level. You were right. The moment I graduated from high school with a 'B' average and at age 18 went to Valdosta State University striking out on my own for the first time was the day when they ate their words by the buckets. It was long road I took where I finally ended up with a M.S. degree in geology from University of Idaho with enough credits to get a 2nd degree. You still gave me lots of encouragement and hope even while I was working nights, raising a family and getting my graduate degree during my time at University of Idaho all by myself. Going to that university was one of the more memorable times I've had because it was a time when I was raising my own family showing my love and encouragements to my own daughters in return. Even the newspaper photographer captured that loving moment I had with my first child and I swinging together on one swing where our picture ended up in the Moscow, Idaho newspaper. Your 18 years worth of love, dedication and help paid off in spades and got me going in the right direction. I will make sure parents of deaf and hard of hearing kids that nothing is impossible when it comes to raising a child with a hearing loss.

Happy Mother's Day......and yes, they will continue to eat their words. And don't stop acting in those wonderful plays, too!

Sign No Evil

Bordering on hate speech with derision and contempt against a deaf man and his kids and wife. Mental objectivity is no longer there when that happens. Carl needs to learn to let it go.

Imperium of Man - spacey out of this world stuff

UPDATE: That tattoo belong to "trinitysite72" and is confirmed, which looks great by the way! Carl owes him an apology plus that video need to be yanked off of Carl's YouTube channel. He knows exactly who that guy is.  

UPDATE II: My next question, where did Carl get that photo? On what web page did he get it from?

UPDATE III: Just realized something. Since this info is out and I'm pretty sure he and others knew who this guy was in the first place. If not and he's just finding out who this guy is but decides to leave those videos in, then I have no choice but to call that action as an example of a deaf person committing a "hate crime/speech" in action. Wot irony! Especially after going on a failed mini-lecture "tour" about "deaf hate crime."   
 
UPDATE IV:
YouTube removed two of his offending videos. I'd say it was because of his bullying attempt (and slandering and hate speech, if you ask me).

This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube's Terms of Service.

Good riddance. For a professor who tried the "deaf hate crime/speech" lecture circuit which ultimately failed his reprehensible act of obvious hate shows the irony and hypocrisy. Real class and professionalism there, folks.



Carl needs to revisit history (or perhaps do a bit of online investigation first) before going on a wild goose chase (videos have since been remove for violation of YT's Terms of Service) about how there is NeoNazism within the culturally deaf community, a "secretive racist movement," that is. All because over a picture of a guy wearing a hearing aid with a double headed eagle tattoo on his back justified this assumption? Did anybody even bother to read what the words said below the eagle tattoo?

First of all, if you managed to read the words below the eagle tattoo it says, "Imperium of Man." It is a group that participated in an online Space RPG (role playing game) which officially disbanded last year. They carried that exact same double headed eagle on its page. You can look it up on Google and find a whole bunch of information on "Imperium of Man" including that same graphic double headed eagle.

The Imperium of Man is the galactic empire under which the majority of humanity is united. The founder and ruler of the Imperium is the god-like Emperor, the most powerful human psychic to date. Founding the Imperium ten thousand years ago, he continues, at least nominally, to lead it.

The Imperium is the largest and most powerful political entity in the galaxy, consisting of at least a million worlds, which are dispersed across most of the Milky Way galaxy. Consequently, an Imperial planet might be separated from its closest neighbor by hundreds or thousands of light years. As a stellar empire, the size of the Imperium can not be measured in terms of continuous territory, but only in the number of planetary systems in its control.

Several aliens and forces (the forces of Chaos, Tyranids, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks, Tau, Necrons) challenge the supremacy of the Imperium. From within, the Imperium is threatened more insidiously by rebellion, mutation, dangerous psykers, and subversive cults.

Without the protection of the Imperium, mankind would fall prey to the countless perils that threaten it.

Nothing remotely like NeoNazism.

And if you want more double headed eagles go here. But don't let your imagination run wild about this whole "Deaf NeoNazism" stuff. Except maybe for a good laugh or two. I'm sure that guy with his hearing aid isn't a part of that group. How about making a wild run with this CC tattoo instead?

Brain to brain? More like fried.

Meh.

Maybe this video would be to Carl's liking?

When signing could be hazardous to your health

Mostly it's the lack of education but people who use sign language in public places to communicate could potentially be perceived as to be something else and get attacked thinking they are a part of a gang by other gang members. So, it's not a real good idea to go along with this whole "hoodie" mentality when people can easily mistake you for a gang member.  It's bad enough when you have hearing gang members think deaf people belong to a gang just because of their signing. It'd be a bad idea wear a hoodie jacket with the hood up while signing might cause some real gang members to think they're seeing a bunch of new gang members flashing their own signs. It actually happened to a deaf guy who recently who got stabbed in the back for signing in a bar thinking he was flashing signs. Crazy world, yes. But that's just an unfortunate byproduct caused by a lack of education on the general public.

Gallaudet University gets bad grades on environment

Interesting report. Three years in a row Gallaudet University gets an average "D" grade from The College Sustainability Report Card. For 2011 an overall grade of "D-" was given. In 2010 an overall grade was a "D" and in 2009 they get an overall grade of "D."

A grade was given for each area of concern and how they deal with it on the environmental level on Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Student Involvement, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement.

For example, for 2011:

Administration

Grade: D 

A committee of faculty, staff, and students has been formed to assess the feasibility of Gallaudet joining the Presidents' Climate Commitment. The university has shifted to electronic distribution for one of its major publications.
===========

Climate Change & Energy

Grade: F 

The university participates in an energy conservation program run by a utility and went carbon neutral for the duration of Earth Day in 2010. The administration is working to develop a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Energy efficiency improvements are expected to save the university $500,000 in fiscal year 2010. A recent energy audit by Johnson Controls, which revealed $2 million worth of potential annual savings in energy efficiency improvements, is now under review by the administration.

============

Food & Recycling

Grade: C 

Dining services spends 7 percent of its food budget on local products, including produce, meat, and seafood. The majority of eggs served on campus are cage free, and most chicken and milk is hormone and antibiotic free. In order to reduce waste, used cooking oil is recycled for biodiesel production; discounts are offered to students who use reusable bags; and almost all meals are trayless. Fair trade coffee is available at all campus locations. Dining services has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent over the next three years and has set aside a Low Carbon Diet Day in support of Earth Day, pledging to use all low carbon impact foods.

See complete survey data

============

Green Building

Grade: F 

Gallaudet maintains one building that meets LEED criteria. The university only uses 100 percent organic fertilizers, and 20,000 used tires were used to create the turf of a new football field. Most cleaning products used in campus buildings are Green Seal approved.

============

Student Involvement

Grade: D 

An environmental intern works with the administration to address sustainability issues on campus. The environmental student organization Green Gallaudet has worked on a number of initiatives, including hosting Earth Day activities and a climate change awareness event, as well as raising awareness on sustainability improvements in the dining hall. The student government committed to using exclusively biodegradable dishware for all sponsored events on campus, and the student newsletter hosts a green column to spotlight environmental issues.

See complete survey data

============

Transportation

Grade: D 

The university partners with a car-sharing program, and a free shuttle service provides transportation to local, off-campus destinations.

============

Endowment Transparency

Grade:F 

The university has no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting record.

============

Investment Priorities

Grade: C 

The university aims to optimize investment returns and has not made any public statements about exploring or investing the endowment in on-campus sustainability projects, renewable energy funds, or community development loan funds.

============

Shareholder Engagement

Grade: F 

The university has not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.

Let's compare Gallaudet University's grades to that of nearby universities like George Washington University (nice school, I went there) where it received an overall grade of a "B" for 2011. 

American University in D.C. gets a B+ for 2011. 

Georgetown University in D.C. gets a B for 2011. 

Nearby University of Maryland gets an A- for 2011. 

George Mason University in D.C. gets a B- for 2011. 

Howard University in D.C. gets a C- for 2011. 

And Catholic University in D.C. gets a D+ for 2011 although in 2010 they got a "D" and in 2009 they had a bad grade of "D-."  You can see that Catholic University when you read the reports have slowly improved their standing. But for Gallaudet University they actually gotten slightly worse going from a "D" in 2009 to a "D-" in 2011. Of all the major universities in the District of Columbia, Gallaudet University turns out to be the worse one when it comes to grading on their sustainability for the environment.

What are they thinking? What's going on over there? Lack of enthusiasm? I wonder what their excuses would be?

ADDENDUM - An angry white blogger writes this:

No, this hearing impaired blogger sadistically enjoys writing about Gallaudet University with a negative perspective without any solution.

I dare this impaired blogger write the same about Howard University to a Black blogsphere.

Enough is Enough!….he needs to get a life and spend more time with his family.

John Egbert need to learn to be less angry instead of always talking about me and my family who has a history of making personal attacks against me by using a DBC site, for example. Very professional of him.  If Gallaudet University had gotten good environmental grades then it'd be a different story here. Unfortunately, for the third year in a row, Gallaudet University failed to improve their environmental stewardship. 

When oralism pays at the Royal wedding of the century

Yes, oralism literally pays when you are an excellent lip-reader at the Royal wedding of the century.

And according to one lip reader he even cracked a joke to his father-in-law, saying: "We're supposed to have just a small family affair".

Although via the Drudge Report it headlined "Networks employ lipreaders to catch private moments..." even though in the actual article it linked reported only one lipreader who caught the royal groom's comment to his father and no indication whether networks actually employed a bunch of lip-readers, either. If networks did employ lip-readers then I wonder how much those people were getting paid. Heck, maybe lip-readers are bad ones or fake ones and just wanted the cash and make up stories along the way? Who knows? At least the Drudge Report captured my attention on that one today. And that is what they're supposed to do. I do that sometimes yet some people actually take the time to whine about my methods. Gotta laugh whenever that happens.

ADDENDUM: More on the lip-reader and additional comments that were captured.

Having an apoplectic fit over "ASL failed."

It's one thing to have a discussion about Barry's "ASL failed" vlog or ScorpionAZ's vlog on the merit of the topic itself by delving deeper to understand why and how ASL or sign language "failed" and how it could be improved versus using the opportunity to make personal attacks against that person instead. You have two line types of crowd of people. One type of crowd is the kind of people who leave open the possibility for improvement or that such examples of "failures in communication" or misunderstandings do exist. Another type of crowd is the kind of people who would rather attack a person just because they don't like the analysis that was presented.

I understood where Barry and ScorpionAZ were going with the whole "ASL failed" topic when I watched both of their vlogs. I never once considered that they were attacking ASL with the phrase "ASL failed" but saw as how they noticed problems with ASL instead. I also noticed that they are ASL signers, too. It'd be quite unconvincing for someone to tell me that they were actually attacking ASL. We should know better.  Yet, and with no surprise, many people used the opportunity to personally attack Barry and ScorpionAZ in their vlogs rather than discuss the merit of the topic itself, and not about the person. Some attempted to do so under the guise of an "objective intellectual discourse" but their body language and sarcastic tone say otherwise. It's not end of the world when someone says "ASL failed." Learn to get past the "ASL failed" discussion and go a bit deeper in what they were trying to convey. We all fail at one time but only to dust ourselves and keep going.  At the very least attack the topic being discussed (or better yet simply disagree) instead of personally attacking the person who brought up his/her own points based on his/her observations. Disagreeing is one thing and that's acceptable but to make personal attacks is entirely a different matter. Doing so is example of an infantile behavior at work.

I have a good friend who is deaf and is quiet fluent in ASL. He grew up signing in SEE and later in life transitioned over to ASL without any problems. Yes, ASL. Not PSE. Although he has no problem doing that, either. One time during a court proceeding an ASL interpreter (Level 5 RID) was voicing what he was signing. He said "I did not mind" to the judge but the interpreter said "I don't care." He caught her saying that and made clear to the court that he didn't say that. With the intricacies of English, context is everything, especially in court. And in ASL a simple "I don't mind" was horribly mangled and translated into as "I don't care" to the judge. Both phrases are not the same thing on what he tried to specifically express to the judge in court. Context is everything.

More on that later but it won't be coming from me. You'll see.

Keeping it simple

I like to keep things simple in life and try to look for the more positive things. For me, I refuse to use my disability or my hearing loss as a crutch or an excuse in life. There are ways to educate people that's simple when it comes to communication access. People continue to learn new things when it comes to those with hearing loss. Many people I work or associate with have mild hearing loss and some do wear hearing aids. Few I know have moderate hearing loss. Sometimes in one ear or both. One is a young adult who has a hearing loss but only in the high frequency range but hears just fine but no hearing aids. And of course those who have much severe hearing loss and know signs.

Nothing is worse than to have people look down on you with pity especially if the person plays the game using deafness as his/her crutch. I refuse to see myself as a victim or behave like a victim all the time. Playing the victim card at every waking moment isn't a healthy life while accusing and blaming people all the time.

Accentuate on the positive. Keep it simple by keeping the path clear.

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.

Leader and a follower.......a short story.

A leader clears the path though a little slow here, be patient with the video.


Who is the leader and follower here?


The dancing begins. Figured out the leader yet? Hint: It's the lady god who pressed the buttons to get the robots moving after training them first.



Does any of that remind you of this whole "deafhood" mentality? No one defines anybody's journey. It's a deeply personal journey involving many aspects of your life into one big journey. It just so happens that hearing loss is one of those aspects.

ADDENDUM: Also, note in the Roomba dance video (the third one down) near the end of the video the lady god comes in yank away one of the Roomba robot for not properly following orders or maybe noticed a defect and retired that Roomba.  Hmmmm.

Maybe I need some Roombas for my house and help keep the floors clean and just watch them amble around for fun?

And, oh, as a bonus, we have this funny video where you have kittens having fun with a Roomba robot just following orders.

Yes, Ella, you are a leader in the eyes of your followers.

Back a few years ago in 2008 Ella first brought it up saying that she wasn't a leader but a "follower" and brought it up again in her recent vlog. Well, I don't know about that one since that's heck of a lot of people lining up behind her to do what she says. But that's rather strange because in 2007 there was an press release from the California School for the Deaf Fremont that mentioned her where she posted that article in her old blog.  CSDF described her as a "community leader."

A community leader and California Association of the Deaf Board member....

I certainly did not see her object to that description where she proudly displayed the press release on her own blog.

Not a leader? Um, right.

David Eberwein certainly didn't seem to mind being called as one of the Deaf leaders described by one follower/admirer.

#5. A Great Leader is always in high demand. Take Ella Mae Lentz, for example. Her personal and professional contribution, advocacy and stewardship of the language and culture of Deaf people in our world today has been profound. Yet, even after her retirement, Ella Mae continues to change the face of the Deaf World today with her contributions and discourse on empowering concepts, such as those ideas involved in the term Deafhood. And, she’s not alone. Deaf Leaders such as David Eberwein, Genie Gertz and many others also share such contemplative devotion. It’s an enviable gift. Focus and endurance are clearly the cornerstones of their creative genius and leadership.

David certainly didn't mind being seen as a Deaf leader if you read his comments. By de facto he approved LaRonda's blog piece which tells me that he agreed with her analysis that Ella is a leader, too, by basing on "specifically identified behaviors" on what makes her a leader.

Picking myself off the floor. What a great blog.

Yes - it is probably your best (so far), not because you named people, but because you SPECIFICALLY identified behaviors, ideas, etc

Not a leader? Not even one of the "deafhood" leaders? Um, sure!

From the mouth of an ex-founding DBC core member who identified Ella as one of the (top) DBC and "deafhood" leader

I’ve thought long and hard about this. I have encouraged DBC twice to become more transparent. I’ve asked two DBC leaders to vp with me, so we can discuss this further, but they both weren’t ‘available’. In e-mails, I asked them why they don’t want to acknowledge to the Deaf Community that they practice Deafhood heavily but received no response. Transparency and integrity are essential as these will benefit the organization and also the Deaf Community.

Since the top DBC leader, also the Deafhood leader, Ella Mae Lentz had accused me of assumption and confusion in the comment section of a vlog, I have no choice but to come forward. These are the facts.

I was one of the founding core members of DBC. When it started, we had a very simple mission: baby signs for deaf babies. Later it was expanded to include deaf babies and deaf children by several members. Two Deafhood leaders began to push Deafhood on us. The majority wasn’t comfortable with that as they only wanted to focus on Bilingualism and nothing further. However, these leaders persisted, ignoring the moderates’ objections. As Anne Marie Baer said, there was no voting or due process, including an election of DBC leaders, though we wanted to set up a formal system, etc. Finally two moderates, including me, resigned and four other moderates were pushed out summarily without notice afterwards. Then I found out two other leaders, including a strong Deafhood proponent, were appointed one month prior to my resignation and none of us knew about this new development. We went ahead and set up our organization which addresses to deaf bilingualism only. Some wanted to disclose to the public, but another former member and I asked them not to mention anything. We still want to see DBC succeed. Looking back, I wonder if that was a mistake keeping quiet as afterwards Dr Hocokan volunteered his hard labor for four months, believing in bilingualism only to find out the Deafhood agenda has been infiltrated into the organization. What Dr Hocokan had described so far, run parallel to what we experienced. Very recently, Dianrez and Anne Marie acknowledged being booted out without any notice.

Not a "deafhood" leader? Right. Right. Who was doing all the "deafhood" pushing again? Of course, she's not the only one doing that but people *are* certainly following her. Yet she says she's a "follower." So, who are those people following her? Man, that's a lot of followers following the "follower." 1150 subscribers to be exact. 

Heck, even one well known culturally deaf person, he who shall not be named, in his own right called Ella as a leader.

.....by bashing Deafhood/DBC leaders from day one. You see, Ella Mae Lentz, David Eberwein, Barb DiGiovanni and John Egbert made a lot of leaps and efforts to reach and educate people of social injustices upon Deaf individuals and communities.

Not..a...leader? He just made a ringing endorsement calling Ella, DE, Barb and John as "leaders."

BTW, Barb G. resigned from DBC. You could probably figure out why, too, if you study up a bit of history first.

There is no bashing here but simply pointing out the facts that perhaps the majority of culturally deaf people who know Ella already see her as a leader in their community, a leader of "deafhood" and a leader in DBC. For a follower, Ella sure act like a leader.

Professionalism or name calling?

When you are tied to name product, service or an organization where the community sees you as a "leader" you are an extension of that name recognition. Abusing that name recognition does not help. Going onto a public (as opposed to private) online discussion group (e.g. Facebook, YouTube comments, discussion groups, etc) and addressing people you do not agree or don't like you call them names instead. As leaders or "leaders" as in this case, such attitudes WILL reflect poorly on a product, service or organization as a whole. And in this case, I call on the poor professionalism on some of the "leaders" in Deafhood Foundation. If they are unable to address people by their proper names then it's best to say those things in private and not online in full public view for all to see.

Legally blind woman advice to the world....stop with the labels!

As I've said before, no need for labels because we're all human beings where we are unique in our own way. And this includes people with hearing loss. Be sure to click play and the subtitle feature will come on. Choose "English."

Two books on a life's journey - burn one and keep the other.

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 us happy. We recognize the value of diversity. We support and respect all forms of communication and language.

We say "no thanks" to "deafhood" because we recognized right away such labeling would lead to acts of discrimination and segregation. Even threats of violence if one disagrees. 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 when it comes to a personal journey. There's a certain sine qua non when it comes to "deafhood." 

We don't presume who has "deafhood" and who doesn't, and that was the trap many people recognized at the very beginning.  

We don't figure out whether if a person is "deaf centric" or not in private meetings to see whether or not a person meets their main criteria. That's called "looking at a person's label on his shirt" behind him instead of looking at the person for who he is.

We prefer to move forward and not backward and 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.  In fact, we have respected and accepted those differences since day one even before ICED came out with their own recommendation.

This is about accepting a person for who she/he is and not about what the person is when labels are concerned.

You cannot force or fool a person's own personal journey in order to align it with your own journey. Otherwise it'd be a description of selfishness and dishonesty.  

Think for yourself.

Embrace diversity and everybody else for their uniqueness on their hearing loss and how they live their life with culturally deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people and the respect and acceptance for all forms of communication and language. And be open with everyone.

Or...

Embrace conformity based on requirements, norms, memberships, restrictions, and expectations that people expect from you as a closed group.

A simple test here.

Watch what happens when you say, "No thanks," and see how certain people respond. Instead of acknowledging your personal decision on what you want to do with your life and how you spend it you will be attacked for your decision because they have lost their ability to own you, (see below as an example):

Four days later seemingly upset or mad he made a vlog on June 9th "Where is our money going?" raising a ruckus about why $656 (of fake Monopoly money) was going to an "unworthy" organization and how dare they use "our" money for that (Whose money again?? "Our"? Quite presumptuous, ain't it?) so-called organization.

Your money is your money and not "their money." It is your personal decision on how you see fit to spend YOUR money. It is not their decision. And if they get angry about your decision then that's a red flag on something wrong with that picture.

Remember, your life's journey is a deeply personal one. No one should tell you how you must live your life. You shouldn't be made to feel guilty on what you do with your life or even how you wish to spend YOUR money.

You have two books that addresses a life's journey. You have a choice. An important choice. Embrace one book and burn the other book in an incinerator. You cannot have both books since they are not mutually compatible.

I *know* which book I want.