Karl White's Speech at a TEDx Event on ASL and Speech/Listening

Here is a captioned video (Establishing a Sound Foundation for Children) of Dr. Karl White who is a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University and the founding Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) presents a talk about newborn hearing loss detection and early intervention, deafness, ASL, speech, speech intelligibility, listening, hearing aids,
and and cochlear implants.

 


In one examples Dr. Karl White provided in the video was two young boys (around 5 or 6 years old) with their cochlear implants and the level of speech intelligibility they have virtually indistinguishable from other typical hearing boys. Dr. Karl White also acknowledged the importance of early use of ASL as well for parents who choose sign language. And provided a video of two deaf boys (approximately 3 years old) sitting in their car seats signing to their parents and to each discussing what they see outside of their windows like a passing airplane. Cute video. Dr. Karl White is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on early identification and treatment of hearing loss in infants and young children. He has hundreds of publications and presentations at scholarly meetings, and has been invited to more than 30 countries to assist in the implementation of newborn hearing screening and intervention programs. His work has been recognized with awards from such diverse organizations as the Deafness Research Foundation, the American Association for Speech Language and Hearing, the Swedish Society of Medicine, the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped in India. He also serves on many national and international advisory groups and boards for organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Global Hearing Health, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, March of Dimes, the American College of Medical Genetics, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Gun-wielding deaf man shoots gun inside bank

A deaf-mute grabbed the gun of a bank security guard and fired it into the celing after becoming frustrated because he was unable to communicate with bank employees. 

"I kept pleading with him to put the gun down by using hand motions," Joel Lowenstein, manager of the Chase Manhattan branch in Queens, said "The police kept yelling at him to drop his weapon. I kept yelling at the police that he was deaf." 

For 10 tense minutes police kept their revolvers aimed at the deaf-mute, Jonathan Lyles, 33, of Hicksville, N.Y. "He was holding the gun near his hip, and it pointed at just about everyone as he turned in different direction," said Police Office Nick Ucc. 

Some 30 bank customers huddled in fear under counters and against walls during the confrontation. Lyles, clutching the gun nervously, eventually surrended it to Lowenstein, who said he was able to pacify him because of his volunteer work experience with the deaf and handicapped. Lowenstein said.

Lyles had come into the bank last week and early Wednesday morning before returning again at 2:30 that afternoon. Each time, the bank was unable to determine what Lyles wanted. Lyles was charged with menacing, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon. He was also charged with third degree robbery for taking the guard's gun. 

The above article was taken from a Jnuary 14, 1976 Tri City Herald newspaper which demonstrated the level of frustration deaf people had back then when it came to communicating with hearing people. If Mr. Lyles is alive today he'd be about 69 years old. Where is Lyles nowadays?

A screen capture of the newspaper article. 

Matt Hamill's UFC Video Highlights

Here's a 6 minute plus video highlights of Matt Hamill's past UFC fights over the last several years. Enjoy.

Privacy or No Privacy...that is the question.

Ah, sign language interpreters can be great to have around and they do have a code of ethics regarding confidentiality on discussions between lawyers and their clients,or between doctors, nurses or dentists and their deaf patients. But sometimes that's not enough for some deaf people when all they want is to have absolute privacy without the need for a 3rd person tagging along and listening in on all of the intimate details which can get awkward. They want the full and accessible face to face conversation in real time and not worry about the lack of privacy or trust issues. How is this possible? The answer is surprisingly simple and there is a choice on this matter, too. For example, in some centers like the St. Luke's Women's Center in Missouri they offer opportunities to allow deaf patients or clients use their UbiDuo Face to Face communication device to have private, in depth conversations with their doctor or nurse and not miss a beat. Sure beats writing boring short sentences with pen and paper. And to boot all conversations using UbiDuo are automatically saved for future reference, too. So, if one is available on the counter at your doctor's or dentist's office, why not go ahead and use it. It's certainly better to relish the complete independence and privacy than to rely constantly on a third person, your sign language interpreter, in every facet of your life when the alternative is already available.

There are a variety of circumstances when the use of an interpreter would be appropriate, at other times circumstances would dictate the need for privacy or the emergency use of the UbiDuo Face-to-Face communication device like getting a doctor's appointment at the last minute when getting an interpreter would have been impossible within 24 hours. Why delay an appointment just because an interpreter is not available? I'm sure you get the picture by now. Is it privacy you want? Is it the convenience? Is it the real time conversation with the ability to record you want? Look no further than using the UbiDuo, the only patented real time face to face communication device on the market today.

YouTube Flagging Abusers - Haters Gonna Hate

Caption your signed videos in YouTube! Be forewarned. They are out there. Waiting for anybody on his or her "enemies list" as their motive to flag your video when it does not violate any of YouTube's community guidelines. These abusive flaggings were perhaps made easier when videos were done in sign language.

In a YouTube video presentation Th3HaroldDeafVideo brought up a possible problem of YouTube and that is they don't have YouTube video reviewers who know (at least skillfully enough to see the nuances) sign language of signed videos that were flagged. Th3HaroldDeafVideo recounted a time when a few well known deaf vloggers who were targeted by haters had their YouTube account suspended for the supposed violation of YouTube's community guidelines. And raised the specter that YouTube may have video reviewers who may know some sign language but not enough to understand adequately the nuances of sign language, do not know sign language at all when reviewing, or they are deferring to the number of flags a video received without attempting to understand what was said in a signed video.  Those are the possibilities.

Has anybody ever been a victim of flagged (signed) videos by malicious flaggers in your own YouTube account when those videos did not at all violate YouTube's community guidelines? 

Hence, one of the good reason to include captions to your signed videos as a way to protect yourself and minimize the chance of your videos getting flagged by haters who will hate you (as a person) regardless of what you said in your videos. Especially when haters who come in packs and target your videos for removal with the goal of getting your YouTube account closed through excessive (abusive) flagging of videos.

Here is YouTube's community guidelines. And here's the page to YouTube's Content Reporting and Removal with specifics like Flagging Videos in the menu to select from. Here's is what they say about flagging.

Flagging videos is anonymous and no one will know who flagged the video, however we do require you to be logged in to flag a video. YouTube staff review flagged videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine whether they violate our Community Guidelines and nothing will be removed automatically or with enough flags. Encouraging others to flag another user's video off the site may be considered harassment and could result in a strike on your account or account suspension.

Note the yellow highlight. Th3HaroldDeafVideo may be right that there is a group of deaf people in YouTube land who have in mind to collectively harass any particular deaf vlogger in YouTube they don't like by flagging his/her signed videos as an attempt to get the person's YouTube's account suspended. If that's the case then those people are simply cyberbullies who have nothing better to do but flag videos of people they don't like.  Flagging abuse is common in YouTube as you can see. Although I do wonder why these abusive flaggers behave like? Is it the content they don't like or more like they don't like the person because he or she violates their own "deafhood" sensibilities and don't know any better?

My signed videos have never been flagged. I include my own captions in my own videos.  Maybe it's time to include captions in your own signed videos just for good measure in case your YouTube video gets flagged with the possibility that YouTube video reviewers may not know or know little sign language to know the difference? If you know you're a controversial person or are not well liked by some in the deaf community, maybe it's time to include captions to your signed videos from now on? Might be a smart move. After all, haters gonna hate. I've had my share.

Addendum:

It's just not a YouTube problem but anywhere on the internet social scene such as Facebook or even in a deaf run community forum where haters who try and appeal to moderators with constant whining and complaining by hitting the "complaint button" or, if you're unlucky enough, get moderators who are themselves unwitting abusers of their own moderating powers by making up stuff along the way as a reason to get your account suspended or banned. Either way, haters gonna hate.

Addendum II:

In YouTube's Community Guidelines on "Harassment" near the bottom it states:

It comes down to respect. YouTube is all about sharing and interacting with the community in respectful ways. If you're not sure whether a video or comment you've made crosses the line, follow a simple rule of thumb: if you wouldn't say it to someone's face, don't say it on YouTube. And if you're looking to attack, harass, demean, or impersonate others, go elsewhere. 

The problem is when harassment really becomes a harassment issue? Or perhaps the real issue is whether the person has a thin skin or thick skin who would either squeal like a stuck pig and make harassment charges or have that person simply shrugs his shoulders and move on?

Captioned Viral Videos

Rarely has viral videos on YouTube ever been captioned simply because the originator of the video didn't take the time to include captions.

VIRAL videos may be good for sharing ideas and spreading funny foreign pop hits, but they are also leaving millions of deaf and hearing impaired people out of the loop. 

Online video is becoming a more ubiquitous part of American life. Netflix videos made up one-third of online data used in the United States last year. YouTube expects 90 per cent of online traffic to be video in the next few years. By 2016, Cisco estimates, 1.2 million minutes of video will be streamed or downloaded every second. 

That video explosion has been great for small-film and TV producers, who are able to reach an audience without a big studio budget, and fans of niche programming. But in some ways, it has left the deaf and hard-of-hearing community starting from scratch after years of advocating for captions on traditional television.

Forget YouTube's speech-recognition software since most times it simply doesn't work well and you get a bunch of garbled nonsense captions, especially when background noise or music interferes with the speech-recognition process. So much for inclusion but they are certainly trying their best. But should a Federal or company's regulation be done to ensure that these independent videos uploaded by hearing John Qs be captioned or else it cannot be uploaded at all? Which is better? By force via regulatory fiat or by gradual educational awareness by making captioning fun and popular?  I'd say the latter is better. Otherwise if it's the former by regulatory force then I'm sure people would like to see it be equally done for deaf people who upload their signing videos without captions as well. That's the idea. Provide open communication access to hearing, deaf and hard of hearing people with different languages whether it's by sign or speech. Just because you're deaf doesn't supersede hearing people's need on wanting to see what's being said in signed videos.

Be a positive role model when it comes to uploading your video by including captions whether the video is in voice or by sign. Others will soon get it and start including captions.

Crapping on other people is not a right

In the deaf community, like in many others, if you spend enough time you get to see who's who in the deaf community and what their beefs are. Many deaf people have the ability to provide positive examples of themselves when it comes to positive use of sign language and spread the "gospel" the good things about sign language and by convention provide a positive image for those in the deaf community. While others feel the need to use politics or pissy attitudes to attack people who are not familiar with sign language or against those who have different opinions on communication options and sign language. The best promotion to spread the idea of sign language or that deaf people are simply a bunch of good people is to be a positive force about it even in the face of others who might disagree or have a difference of opinion.  

For some culturally deaf people who like to constantly attack hearing people, belittle them, and just be plain rude will only add to the image problem of culturally deaf people as a bunch of angry, uneducated, ungrateful, rude, anal retentive people who have nothing better than to complain and whine incessantly like a little child. Freud would be so happy to have them for his couch.  I don't believe one bit that these are the "intrinsic attitudes" and "behavioral norms" for culturally deaf people. You just have a few bad apples, rotten to the core and filled with writhing worms. There's a time to speak up but certainly not in the manner to attack every living hearing or deaf/hh people for that matter who think differently or have different set of opinions.  And yet, of course, there's a bit of cultural norm when it comes to being direct that are a part of deaf culture.  Being direct isn't a cart-blanche right  to be downright rude or hostile at hearing people just because you're deaf.

I worked at a bowling alley as a bartender. During the “league season” we have on average a couple hundred regulars coming through in just a few hours and a lot of them like to drink. Bartending for bowlers is a chore in itself, but every customer set is different and that’s the job. 

However, there was also a large party booked that day of around 100 deaf people. I was still the only bartender working at the time. My bar had access from 2 sides to it, one from the lanes and one from the bar area. We had slips of paper and pencils out for the deaf party so they could better communicate their orders. I understand that being deaf is a handicap, but I don’t understand sign language and you can’t understand me, so let’s use the paper and help each other out. Screaming “tah key one eye!” (obviously a Tequila Sunrise) at me over and over again when I offer you a slip of paper because I can’t understand you doesn’t resolve the issue. And when I turn to help the line of league bowlers, who are in there drinking every week for the next 6 months, don’t slam the glasses on the bar to get my attention. I am CLEARLY busy serving people who have been patiently waiting. Don’t throw the paper at me that we set out for you to write orders on to get my attention. Don’t scream at the top of your lungs because you think I can’t hear you. I have acknowledged you, politely held up my hand to ask for a minute while I serve someone else. I even asked some partial deaf people to teach me some basic signs so I could try to communicate better. Don’t use your handicap as an excuse to be rude.

Versus a situation when a bartender gets a $10 tip from a deaf person.

I’ve waited on a few deaf people in my life and never really had a problem. I used to have this one “regular” who was really cool and tipped well. He would write his order down on a piece of stationary then hand it to me. On the top of the stationary, it explained that he was deaf and mute. He would tip a solid $10.00 every time. 

People will certainly draw the line if people use their existing condition as an excuse to crap on everybody and think they have some kind of entitlement because of their lack of sense.

Ok. That was a double entendre, so sue me.

When Hearing Aid Companies invest in Regenerative Medicine on Cure for Hearing Loss

It was a matter of time when hearing aid or cochlear implant companies decide to invest in promising pharmaceutical companies on developing a drug that can either prevent further hearing loss or restore it.

One intriguing possibility for the future is the convergence of future drugs and devices. Hearing aid manufacturers have certainly not been deaf to the noises from the pharma sector. 

Sonova, the world's largest maker of hearing aids, has invested in two start-up companies - one in the United States for drugs to protect hearing and another Swiss biotech working on a treatment for acute tinnitus. 

It bought U.S. cochlear implant manufacturer Advanced Bionics in 2009 in a bid to increase its focus on the inner ear and understand how drug treatments could work with implants. 

"It will be interesting whether the innovation will be driven by pharma companies moving in or whether the hearing aid companies will branch out," said Auris' Meyer.

More and more investors are paying more attention to pharmaceuticals or biotech firms who look promising on developing drugs that target the cochlea on the restoration or improvement of hearing loss.

U.S. giant Pfizer is arguably the most advanced of the big players, with a drug in initial Phase I clinical testing trial for age-related sensorineural hearing loss that looks to enhance the function of existing hair cells.

Some of its biggest rivals are laying bets, too. Last year French drugmaker Sanofi inked a two-year research deal with privately held Dutch biotech firm Audion Therapeutics to develop small molecule drugs to improve hearing.

In October, Roche joined forces with venture capital firm Versant Ventures and biotech Inception Sciences to find molecules targeting ear hair cell protection and regeneration in the cochlea, the spiral-shaped cavity in the inner ear.

Cross-town competitor Novartis, meanwhile, struck a 2010 deal potentially worth more than $213 million with U.S. biotech GenVec to develop gene-based treatments to replace hair cells in the ear that transmit sound.

"We're looking at restoration as our main line of work and we're interested in whether there are chemicals that might also play this role instead of having to introduce a gene," said Novartis research head Mark Fishman.

The question why are they investing time, resources and money for a drug that could revolutionize regenerative medicine in the field of sensorineural hearing loss? The answer is simple. The returns on their investment would be huge.

But the science is developing and investor interest is growing, piqued by the huge commercial success of recent new treatments for sight loss, such as Lucentis from Novartis and Roche and Eylea from Regeneron and Bayer. 

British charity Action on Hearing Loss conservatively puts the potential Western market for new drugs at $4.6 billion a year - a figure that could grow quickly as ageing populations swell the ranks of those with hearing problems.

With each progressive successes such as restoring some of the hearing loss in gerbils will only embolden and encourage investors to help speed up the search for a regenerative medicine for the restoration of hearing loss. It would only be a matter of time in several years time rather than decades until success in the field of regenerative medicine on sensorineural hearing loss would be realized and capitalized.  In the inexorable march towards on the cure for sensorineural hearing loss will continue to march forward and unabated. The writing is on the wall.

Couch Surfing Silently around the World

Nothing like the ultimate travel extra-ordinaire Joel Barish of Deaf Nation but Jenny Lu comes close when she video tapes her travel to countries in Europe visiting deaf people and learning their different sign languages and cultures. Excellent video editing with a good music sound track to go with it.



Jenny Lu explains about her CouchSurfing project and thanked those who influenced and helped her with this project of hers.

The admirable CouchSurfing project has allowed me to connect with local Deaf and signing folks from four different countries, and my expectations of the possible communication challenges were defied by my hosts' willingness to communicate with me in all ways possible. By inviting me to their homes, teaching me how to cook their local foods, and showing me their cities, my new Deaf and signing friends have imparted me with valuable knowledge - academic, emotional, and artistic - and have exposed me to sign languages of their countries that would have otherwise been extraordinarily difficult to discover if it weren't for this project. Most of this video's imagery was composed with the use of a Canon PowerShot, although after an unfortunate situation in the mountains of Switzerland, was replaced with a less-stellar phone camera.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the following people who made this project possible:

My father who accompanied me at the beginning of my journey. Thank you for your wonderful company and for documenting a part of my trip. Jacob who gave me valuable insight about my video's overall structure and most importantly music. Samuel who gave me a new perspective on traveling, philosophy, and life. My friends, new and old, thank you for teaching me something new everyday.

Reported Rapes at Gallaudet University Goes Up! Again.

Absolutely incredible. I went back to the The Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis provided by the U.S. Department of Education on the number of forcible sex offenses (i.e. rape) reported on the campus of Gallaudet University and found that the number of reported rape for 2011 has gone up significantly!

Compared to last year (2010) and  all the years before that starting in 1991 that I covered in previous blogs the 2011 reported number of forcible rape ( forcible sex offense) is an all time high when compared to all of the reported rapes beginning in 1991.

2011 - 14
2010 - 9 (now changed to 11 in this 2011 report see below why the upward change)
2009 - 6
2008 - 4
2007 - 6
2006 - 5
2005 - n/a
2004 - 2
2003 - 7
2002 - 3
2001 - 5
2000 - 3
1999 - 2
1991/1992 - 1

What we need to know is why has the number of reported rapes has gone up. Was it due to more rape victims willing to step forward and report the incident or that simply the situation has exacerbated seeing more rapes for some reason?   What was interesting was to see a correction that was done for year 2010 and the reason why seen in the caveat box in the screen capture above:

For year 2010 line "c" was changed from "9" to "11" because the University re-interpreted the law for on campus property and was advised by the help desk to merge statistics for our Clerc Center campus with the University statistics.

The University re-interpreted the law for on campus property regarding rape? Interesting if not disturbing. Rape is rape, no?

Just to point this out the Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis does not provide information on prosecutions for rape charges. All we see are the reported forcible sex offenses which is a watered down euphemism for "rape."

Last year in 2011 I investigated rape statistics at Gallaudet University up to year 2009 by crunching some numbers and included data as far back during the 1991 and 1992 school year as reported in my 2006 blog piece "Deaf Residential Schools and Other Dirty Little Secrets - Part II of III." Last year I found out what the ranking of Gallaudet University on the number of reported rape for 2007, 2008 and 2009 in comparison to 291 other colleges and universities of similar student population size that have campus dorms and are 4 year institutions showed that the university was in the top 5 on number of rape reported. Since the 2011 data are now available when it wasn't at the time when I did my blog piece on the subject earlier this year in July I wouldn't be surprised now if the ranking on the number of reported rape for 2011, 2010 and 2009 would still be in the top 5 if not in the top three with recent upward changes on the number of reported rape on campus.

With the inclusion of the latest 2011 reported statistics on the number of forcible sex offenses (i.e. rape) on the campus of Gallaudet University has gone up. The 2011 reported number is now the highest ever reported since the 1991/1992 school year according to publicly available information. Why has the number of reported rape continues to go up? Why more rape victims? Could it be that more students are recognizing the importance of stepping forward to report a crime rather than to keep silent because of stigma and fear according to Donna Ryan?

According to Donna Ryan, a history professor at Gallaudet, the insularity of the deaf culture has made it hard for Gallaudet women in particular to come forward to tell their stories. "Part of the difficulty for deaf women in dealing with women's issues like rape involves a fear of trashing the deaf community," she says. In many cases, the women are afraid of being put down by their fellow students for bringing shame upon the university. "The deaf community is small and close-knit," says Denise Snyder, executive director of D.C. Rape Crisis Center. "If you make a fuss at Gallaudet, you've closed a big door."(Silent Screams: a People Weekly report on sexual assault at the nation’s only university for deaf students. People Weekly, June 20, 1994, v41 n23 p36(6)).

The stigma for reporting their own rape needs to go away. I've reported on this continuing problem in several of my blogs over the years and had commenters attack me for reporting this continuing problem in a blog as seen in some of the 45 comments in a blog I did in 2011 on the same subject.

Anonymous said...

can't you just like stop rambling on about Gallaudet? You make me sick. You are not concern about rape.Please leave it to the people who are victim, they don't need you to use them to ripe Gally.

Anonymous said...

I've seen you post many things about Gally, I ignored it, but when you post about rape, it just make me sick that you just had to go there.

Don't make it harder for them.

Absolutely surreal that these anonymous commenters would rather not step up and support the victims and see the problem for what it is.  Those attitudes sound more like a fraternity or "deafhood" type of mentality bent on protecting an image through oppressive tactics rather than lend their full support for the victims and confront the problems head on.

Solutions are needed here. Locking the Gallaudet University bathrooms at the Student Academic Center at night because students were getting raped in there isn't a solution to the problem. If that's how Gallaudet University treats the problem then this is a bigger problem than we thought. How about establishing a year round tuition free self-defense martial arts classes on campus available to anyone on campus and learn how to protect themselves in a potential rape scenario? Volunteer student security patrols? Inform students at freshman orientation to not rape and that violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What could the possible solutions be to this campus-wide problem?

Students need not to be afraid to report their rape incidents. There should be unconditional support of rape victims rather than to try and protect the institution's image at all costs and to some extent protect the rapists even more so. This sort of thing should not be kept hidden away from the public eye and such forcible sex offenses data should clearly be displayed on Gallaudet University's webpage and easily found. Sadly, this is not the case. Even more sad is when students get raped not knowing the serious problem of rapes on campus.

Here's sobering historical look of how many students reported their rapes back in the early 1990s. Click on this link and read what victims at Gallaudet University back in 1994 had to say. Is this still true today, almost 20 years later, the hidden number of students raped still go unreported?  Has the problem actually gotten worst now at Gallaudet University with the 2011 data being the worst since 1991? Or is this a sign that more students are finally stepping forward to report their rapes and is a product of better information given to students at Gallaudet University about rape and what to do about rape? Regardless, let's see a better, much improved campus environment and security, and that students and parents are better informed about rape statistics on campus. They need to have access to that information readily on Gallaudet University's website for prospective students and concerned parents.

Easier said than done but students should not be afraid to report these rape incidents. And should not fear going to Gallaudet University, either. Each student on campus needs to be approached and be duly informed on a regular basis about rape on campus and what they can do about it and what the university can do to protect students from becoming rape victims and be on their side and prosecute the rapists even more so. No one should suffer and be a victim of rape.

One rape is one rape too many.

Get the word out.

To the Gallaudet University students, you have the power to change this.

Will Matt Hamill fight Vinny Magalhaes in 2013?

Vinny took a few jabs at Matt Hamill saying that his recent fight win was boring enough to put 19,000 spectators to sleep.

"I don't like when people still say that I should have won (Submission of the Night) on (UFC 152)," Magalhaes posted. "(Hamill) deserved it more, he put 19,000 to sleep in Toronto."

Never mind in 2009 Matt Hamill landed a vicious kick to Munoz's head delivering a knock out punch three minutes into the first round of the fight that earned him $60,000 in the UFC's $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus money.



All this trash talk by Vinny Magalhaes brings up the speculation that Magalhaes will fight Hamill in 2013. Only time will tell.

Best and worst deaf/hh forums?

Facebook, Twitter, and other online social media have gradually impacted many deaf/hh online discussion forums in the competition to maintain relevancy when they lose members. Over the years many forums have come and gone.

The first online deaf discussion forum outside of Listserv newsgroups that came onto the scene was Deafnotes (www.deafnotes.com). It began in July of 1999 but prior to that with the same website owner a site called www.deafchat.com started in 1998. This began to draw the attention of participants of Deaf-Lnewsgroup on wanting to belong to a forum that is owned and operated by a deaf person.  The number of participants in Deafnotes was about the same as bit.listserv.deaf-l at the time and consisted about 20 or 30 active participants each day. It wasn't long until people gradually began to prefer Deafnotes over Deaf-L newsgroup.

For example, the popularity of Deafnotes bulletin board lasted only a few years when some members of Deafnotes who felt repressed by Deafnotes abusive moderators began to design their own online discussion boards. Others wanted to branch out into discussing more about U.S. politics, or cochlear implant issues and not feel restricted to discuss them whether you're supportive of it or not. Some felt that forum members should be allowed more freedom to discuss various deaf, hearing loss or non-deaf related topics without fear of getting banned or locked out of a discussion forum for political or apolitical reasons. Some members left because of personal reasons.  Others left because of obvious bias and prejudicial behaviors seen in moderators favoring certain members over others. Or saw bias towards a certain issue. The reasons for leaving or joining a deaf/hh discussion forum are many.

During the 2000s the number of deaf/hh discussion forum websites began to increase and suited and appealed to certain groups of people. There were online deaf discussion forum websites, discussion groups and even chat groups during that decade such as www.deafonline2.com (cochlear implant friendly although the site is in limbodeafonline2 was established after leaving www.deafnotes.com), www.deaflore.com (defunct see Wayback archived section), www.deafnotes.com (in limbo but is vociferously anti-cochlear implant anything),  www.deafbase.com (see Wayback archived section),  bit.listserve.deaf-l newsgroup (hardly any activity but is now a Google run newsgroup), www.deafreedom.com (defunct, see Wayback archived section), www.hearingexchange.com (forum does not exist, it was once a private forum, see Wayback archived section), www.deafmadness.com (defunct but see Wayback archived section for goodies),  www.alldeaf.com (forum is active but favoritism and moderator bias continues to be a problem, supporters of CIs are out of luck), www.deafchat.com (defunct, see Wayback archived section), several deafness related listservs newsgroups, www.deafspot.com (defunct, see Wayback archived section), www.hohtimes.com (defunct, see Wayback archived section but forum was private), and a few other similar deaf and hard of hearing discussion or forum websites that I'm sure I may have missed. Let me know what I missed.

Over the last 4 years deaf/hh people have been increasingly moving towards Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (the "Big 3 social media") rather than go to a forum website as part of their online socializing activity. Online discussion forums are becoming a dinosaur in the age of online social media.  It will only be a matter of time until some of the remaining existing deaf/hh online discussion forums will simply cease to exist. These forums show the nature of people on how they essentially need a "refuge" to come together to mostly agree with each other rather than a site they can't  agree to disagree in a discussion. There was only one forum site that I've been a member of whose moderators did not abuse its moderating duties. As moderators they had a policy to  "agree to disagree" rather than to allow prejudice and bias rule the day when it came to politics and deafness related issues. They expected members to handle arguments without needing kids gloves from moderators to handle constant and ongoing complaints from thin-skinned members who cannot handle a difference of opinions. This was a site where no members need not fear reprisals (i.e. banishment) from other members over a difference of opinions in their effort to "game the system" and that forum was Deafreedom. Which reminds me of this....

As a matter of curiosity sake which one of the past (defunct), old and active discussion forums were the best ones and worst ones that you have participated in, and why? This is your chance to speak up.

In a long nutshell....the fake terp controversy

Sign language interpreter Lydia Callis became an internet viral sensation for her signing at a Bloomberg's post-hurricane media conference. So who or what shows took advantage of this internet video sensation?

Chelsea Lately.

Saturday Night Live.

Ron Stewart on the Comedy Central Show.

And probably few others out there we don't know about yet.

But here's in a very long nutshell the fake terp controversy, and, why is Marlee Matlin so indifferent about Chelsea Lately's own joke using her own "sign language interpreter" sidekick who didn't know an ounce of sign?

First, Lydia Callis signs for the deaf what Mayor Bloomberg is saying at a post-hurricane press conference.

The capturing of Lydia Callis signing on YouTube went viral. People watching are not used to seeing an interpreter up close using such expressive signs. This, of course,  became comedic fodder.

On the Chelsea Lately Show Chelsea wanted her own "politically incorrect" sign language interpreter "sidekick" for her comedy skit using a fake terp which failed miserably (watch the video). Not a single recognizable sign was made during the comedy skit except for perhaps the universal sign for being an idiot as seen in the picture below the comedian, Heather McDonald.

The Chelsea Lately's skit angered many in the culturally deaf community except for Marlee Matlin who is seen by many as the "ambassador of the deaf."

There were two other so-called "politically incorrect" comedy skits which quickly followed suit after Chelsea's on taking advantage of the very expressive Bloomberg's sign language interpreter.

Saturday Night Live (watch the video).

And Ron Stewart on Comedy Central (watch the video starting at the 5:43 mark)

The SNL version actually had a person who knew some actual signs and many were passable signs which was at least a nod acknowledging the existence of sign language. Although it was used in their own preferred way ladened with visual sight gags and exaggerated signs. The Jon Stewart show had an "interpreter" but was used in way to segue into the "wanking off" and "crying" part, a visual gag easily recognized by the audience to mean a familiar sob story heard a thousand times but nobody really cares about. Not really an area to cry foul about "making fun of sign language." I believe "wanking" is a universal sign anyway.

But, surprise! Marlee objected and fumed in her tweets about poking fun at sign language although she doesn't specifically mention about SNL or Jon Stewart. Yet we can safely discount the fact that she didn't complain about the Chelsea Lately's faux pas terp gag.

Looks like Marlee Matlin sure pushed hard to advertise her new "Marlee Signs" phone app between her indignant responses about mocking sign language. Nothing about Chelsea Handler though but not a wonder since three years ago Chelsea Handler on her show was seen pimping Marlee Matlin's new book, "I'll Scream Later"  (watch the video). I'm sure that must've protected her *wink* *wink* from Marlee's wrath 3 years later in that terp gag gone bad in one of Chelsea Lately Show's comedy skit.

They had a lively chat with a real interpreter in tow that was, of course, mostly blocked by camera angle and, of course, no online captioning. Captioning advocate anyone?

Marlee was indifferent about the terp gag on the Chelsea Lately Show but the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) certainly fumed with indignance wrote three letters to the Chelsea Lately Show, SNL, and Jon Stewart "Comedy Central" Show *demanding* an apology!

*Insert laugh track here*

Marlee Matlin poo poos comedian Heather McDonald imitating a sign language interpreter on the Chelsea Lately Show but back in August 2009 she had some choice words in Twitter for Heather regarding her character on the show "The L Word" (watch the video) when Heather mocked Marlee by using a "deaf" voice and pretending to sign.

4:27 PM Aug 16th. So doing Chelsea Lately on Weds. And on the show bout year ago Heather McDonald made fun of me (my voice) Should I address it, make a crack? Or should I be above it? The show is bawdy..pretty much no holds barred..but hey, I got an Oscar and Heather doesn't so thats enuf said? I'm tempted to say when I walk on Chelsea that @mcdonaldeather can kiss my deaf a** but then, I'm an Oscar winner and she's not.

Hmmm...interesting reference of being an Oscar winner and that Heather has none.

But interestingly on November 8, 2009, two months later after her tweets about Heather McDonald, Marlee appeared with Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy and comedian Alex Borstein who did a "tribute" by making fun the "ambassador of deaf people" Marlee Matlin's deaf voice.  Marlee was, of course, party to that skit by pretending to be angry about the mocking of her deaf voice.

Watch the captioned video below.



That skit did raise a lot of ire from deaf, hard of hearing and even the hearing community for making fun of her voice handicap, impairment deaf voice. But Marlee told people who complained about it to "lighten up" since it was aimed at Marlee and not at deaf and hard of hearing people way of speaking.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you become involved with this special?
MARLEE MATLIN: I had been in touch with Seth MacFarlane’s office to ask him to let me use my own voice in the segments where they had a cartoon character based on me. After all, I have an Oscar and Alex [Borstein], who voiced me, doesn’t. God knows, I would have done a far better job of playing me than her.

Geez, there's that Oscar reference again noting that Alex Borstein doesn't have one.

Marlee continues,

As a very visible member of the hearing-impaired community, were you hesitant to be involved in a skit like this?
No. If I were, I wouldn’t have ever done Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Howie Mandel’s hidden camera show, My Name is Earl and this show. And it’s why I’m developing a very politically incorrect and very funny show for Showtime with Mario Cantone and Carol Leifer (who, BTW, wrote my episode for Seinfeld).

Were you aware that Microsoft withdrew its advertising from this special due to its controversial content?
Yep. That’s their right. But I had a hard time believing that they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they said they’d sponsor a show written by Seth MacFarlane.  What were they expecting? Sesame Street?

Did you find any of the other controversial jokes in this special to be offensive?
Offensive. No. Sick, very. But that’s Seth and Alex. Humor comes in all forms and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh. But the day we censor humor is a sad one for sure. All I gotta say is, “Lighten up, people.”

I guess being a part of Seth Macfarlane's skit along with Alex Borstein was Marlee's way of showing up Heather McDonald that she can, too, be a comedian and be able to poke fun at her own deaf voice in a politically incorrect way.

Don't give up your day job, Marlee.  Oh wait a min... never mind.

All in all, I suppose we need not to try and censor the Chelsea Lately Show for Heather McDonald's humor for a bad imitation of a sign language interpreter? But, gosh durn it, we'll certainly try and censor SNL and Jon Stewart on Comedy Central for daring to mock sign language! Maybe Marlee Matlin need to "lighten up" about SNL and Jon Stewart's own brand of using a sign language interpreter humor since she said a few years that "humor comes in all forms and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh.

Sure.

Now, tell us, Marlee, in a nutshell, exactly what would be the "wrong way" of doing a deaf joke for hearing people? Or would censoring be preferred?  The hypocrisy is deafeningly loud so, please, turn it down, Marlee.

A captioned commentary about Marlee Matlin

A little something to say about Marlee Matlin and her thoughts about the recent SNL skit using a fake sign language interpreter as part of the whole sight gag joke routine. Marlee is a great person. Lots of wits, humor and a talented actress. I have a lot of respect for her. It's ok to disagree on things but there are times when some things just do not make much sense and this is one of them. I saw it as a double standard.  Although I do have some mixed feelings about the whole SNL skit thing, otherwise it has its funny moments while other people do not. That's what comedy is about. The envelope gets pushed. And see what happens.

One million hits and counting....

I finally hit the ultimate milestone that any blogger would be proud of and that is to hit the one millionth hits as seen on my Sitemeter counter near the bottom of my left column side of my blog page that I installed 8 years ago. It has been a long time coming. I've covered a lot of topics and issues (deaf and non-deaf related topics and issues) along the way. Truly a remarkable milestone for me just like hitting my 2,000th blog piece this year and getting into my 9th year of blogging.  No other deaf blogger has ever attained those milestones. I am just thankful for my readers out there who have visited my blogs to get their regular dose of my entertaining and informative blogs. 

Do ya want some more Kokonut Pundit?  One lump or two?

Interpreter sidekick II, Saturday Night Live's version

If you haven't seen it there's another comedy sketch on SNL using a fake sign language interpreter signing at "Mayor Bloomberg's" meeting with the press.  Some signs are recognizable but it looks like she had a crash course in sign language just for this comedy skit.  Is this better than Chelsea Lakely's comedy skit on using her own "interpreter sidekick"?  Even tho in the SNL's version the interpreter exaggerated a lot with her face and body and even threw in some recognizable signs. Although the next interpreter was an Italian one using Italian gestures to "translate" what "Governor Christie" is saying. Which ones is better or worse? Any complaints on this one here?

Chelsea Lately's Joke on Interpreter Sidekick

You can't find the video of Chelsea Lately's sign language "side kick" interpreter joke on YouTube due to copyright violation. However, the whole video can be viewed legally on the xfinity tv website.  The joke was conjured up by Chelsea when she saw Mayor Bloomberg had his own "interpreter sidekick" during his emergency meeting with the media and public about the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. 

As with comedians, they often push the envelope in pushing out "edgy" materials. This was one of them.  People may chalk Lately's use of that comedic skit due to ignorance or are not familiar with sign language. But there are a couple of things to remember. Marlee Matlin was on Chelsea's show back in 2009 which means Chelsea was and is familiar with sign language. So, no excuse there.




Also, back in 2009 Seth McFarlane of Family Guy did a live tv comedy show that mocked the voice of Marlee Matlin. After the joking Marlee comes on stage and delivered them a taste of their own medicine, obviously all set up and staged at that point. Of course, many found it offensive mocking the voice of a deaf person and at the same time many found it to be hilarious if you read the comments.  Of course, you get the same people who found it hilarious also made fun of other deaf people's voices, too. Go figure. But Marlee Matlin did say "lighten up!" when people objected to the comedy skit that made fun of her voice.

Were you aware of being mocked on previous Family Guy episodes?
Mocked isn’t the right word. I was just part of the joke. I learned a long time ago from when I did Seinfeld never to take anything seriously and to be part of the joke is the best way to show what a good sport I was.

Were you ever offended by those jokes, or did you always think they were funny?
I personally have dealt with any adversity in my life with humor. That’s why I told America to “Read my hips!” on Dancing With the Stars or was happy to play along with Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld in the great restaurant scene on Seinfeld. I know a lot of deaf people might have been offended when they made fun of my voice but remember, it was MY voice they were making fun of. I was more than happy to show up and show them that I could dish it as well as I could take it and that being offensive works both ways.

What about this skit — offensive or funny? (Or both/neither?)
It was sick. It was twisted. It was rude. And it was very Family Guy. People love [MacFarlane's] stuff. They don’t pay him the big bucks for nothing and I was glad to be part of it. I want to do it again and BE the voice. BTW, it only would’ve been offensive if I hadn’t laughed and I loved that you couldn’t quite figure out if I was seriously angry at Alex or not!

As a very visible member of the hearing-impaired community, were you hesitant to be involved in a skit like this?
No. If I were, I wouldn’t have ever done Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Howie Mandel’s hidden camera show, My Name is Earl and this show. And it’s why I’m developing a very politically incorrect and very funny show for Showtime with Mario Cantone and Carol Leifer (who, BTW, wrote my episode for Seinfeld).

Granted, it was HER voice they were making fun of, and not that of the deaf and hard of hearing community. Although some people would disagree with that.

A few years ago I blogged about David Armand, a brilliant English comedian who uses quasi-sign, more like universal gesturing of sorts, to make his visual joke to the song "Torn." He's not trying to be like a deaf person but more like a hearing person who cannot speak and he's miming/gesturing his way through a song full of visual sight gags. Watch the video with captions and you can see how some of the captioned words related to his "signs."  Even for David Armand's comedic skit did it upset some Deaf thinking he was making fun of sign language. Hardly. What David did was use a very visual but funny form of miming and connected that with the words to the song, "Torn."

Now, this brings me back to Chelsea Lately's "interpreter sidekick" joke. I have mixed feelings about this. Maybe all this would be better clarified if Chelsea Lately would invite Marlee Matlin again to her show again and have a discussion about the whole "interpreter sidekick" joke and get Marlee Matlin's input.  Although Marlee tweeted to Chelsea on Oct 31, 2012 on a video response saying that Chelsea should apologize for doing that interpreter joke finding it "offensive."  Maybe more accurately that it was painfully unfunny rather than "offensive"? Marlee thought otherwise.

Frankly, I find Marlee's message a bit confusing when you look at what she did on Seth McFarlane's tv comedy skit mocking a deaf voice of Marlee's when other people commented saying it was offensive or painfully unfunny by painting a brush on how deaf people talk. Both Lately and Matlin went that route using a different format. One on making fun of how people sign, another making fun of how deaf people speak. Comedians are known to make mimicking an ethnic group they way they speak but off limits when it comes to mimicking how deaf people sign?

I suppose when it comes to making "edgy" jokes it either flops or succeeds.  Marlee tried it. So did Chelsea. And the SNL version was tame compared to Chelsea's and Marlee thought SNL was bad? Mon Dieu!

NBC story of deaf girl to hear again

Once a year, Bill Austin, founder and CEO Starkey Hearing Technologies - the largest hearing aid technology manufacturer in the United States, with the Starkey Foundation visits the Yankee stadium and donates Starkey's state-of-the-art hearing aids to any children and adults who would not have otherwise able to afford the latest hearing aid models on the market today. Stephanie Montalvo recently received a Starkey hearing aid that her family's insurance wouldn't have been able to cover. And upon receiving it the sound around her was louder and with more clarity over her old aging hearing aid that barely provided much sound. "I feel like I'm a newborn baby, being able to hear again," she said. 

The Starkey Foundation has given the gift of hearing to over 800,000 people in the past 12 years with free hearing aids. In 2012 notable celebrities like Chelsea Clinton who helped Bill Austin distribute new hearing aids to hundreds of kids at Yankee Stadium. . And deaf kids still get excited upon receiving a free hearing aid.  Deaf boy at 1:06 into the video (first video at top of page) signs and says while smiling "I have a new hearing aid! I am happy!"

At the Clinton Global Initiative in 2012 President Bill Clinton challenged Bill Austin to do more on providing free hearing aids to kids and adults around the world. Starkey Foundation for awhile remained "stuck" at 50,000 fittings a year decided to meet Bill Clinton's challenge to scaled up their efforts to more than 100,000 fittings a year to kids and adult so that they may experience, as Bill Austin said, the gift of hearing.

Besides Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton who are championing for free hearing aids to kids around the world so does Marlee Matlin who champions for the donation of free hearing aids to deaf and hard of children around the world. In fact she regularly attends this annual gala event called "So the world may hear." This year's gala 2012 event raised a record $7.6 million dollars and had many notable celebrities like:

President Bill Clinton, Maria Bello, Robin Williams, Marlee Matlin, Billy Crystal, Forest Whitaker and Sammy Sosa attended this year's Awards Gala, which raised a record $7.6M. But the biggest star was the power of hearing.

Indeed, the power of hearing. Yes, that's a strong draw and reason for people to support on finding ways to alleviate hearing loss. Even Lou Ferrigno (who received his Esteem Envoy implantable hearing device) and Gary Busey who were at the gala event as well. It was Marlee Matlin who confronted Busey in the Celebrity Apprentice show about his hearing loss that he needs to get a hearing aid. It was on the Celebrity Apprentice when Marlee Matlin helped raise $1 million dollars for the Starkey Hearing Foundation. And now Gary Busey has become a big supporter on helping deaf and hard of hearing kids get their free hearing aids.

Now, here's the irony.

Marlee Matlin is perhaps unwittingly helping people understand and value the power of hearing for several years by attending the "So the World May Hear" gala annual event that began in 1984. Marlee Matlin supports the distribution of free hearing aids to children around the world and for them they are getting a taste of that power of hearing and experience the joy of being able to hear sound.

When gays support McCaskill

Here's a guy who is gay makes a point about the importance of not stifling a healthy debate and makes a note about the whole marriage thing by referring to the McCaskill/Gallaudet snafu.

As actively engaged citizens, we are supposed to be involved in healthy, productive debates about this topic from one end of the Free State to the other in advance of casting our ballots. But for some reason, decent folks with legitimate viewpoints frequently choose to remain silent. Why? 

We've seen pundits like the Washington Post's Richard Cohen saying, "The opponents [of same sex marriage] have no case other than ignorance and misconception and prejudice," (June 28, 2011). Is a statement like this intended to invite robust debate, or shut it down?

Who can forget the mayors of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco last summer, vowing to exile beyond their city limits any person or business (i.e., Chick-Fil-A) questioning the notion of same-sex marriage? Seems more like tyranny than collegial dialogue.

When the Washington Blade published the names and addresses of everyone who signed the same-sex marriage petition which led to Question 6's inclusion on the Maryland ballot, this incited multiple instances of personal harassment. It led to people being confronted by strangers in their driveways. It went so far as to jeopardize the employment of Gallaudet University's Chief Diversity Officer, Angela McCaskill. These types of incidents are meant to intimidate those who hold a differing view from expressing their views. Yet these folks had only signed a petition, not a letter of condemnation.

People who don't have a prejudiced, homophobic bone in their bodies are afraid to make known the fact that they're not prepared to jump on board with same-sex marriage. The too-clever proponents of the new law have conflated the issue of ending prejudice against gays with the notion of same-sex marriage. They are unrelated.

Doug Mainwaring is right. Dr. Angela McCaskill only signed a petition, not a letter of condemnation. Equally true is that the stifling of true dialogue through fear and intimidation will not go anywhere. The very act of turning this into a personal agenda for the ulterior purpose to make sure McCaskill gets fired is nothing more than a personal harassment case. In short, the hallmark of a bully. Yet the irony plays itself out here when president Hurwitz requested that Gallaudet University establish an anti-bullying policy for faculty, staff, and students back in 2011 stating (see page 2):

We are currently developing an anti-bullying policy for faculty, staff, and students. A brief video, “It Gets Better,” was made by Gallaudet students and is available at http://youtu.be/WoaYsF_OzXU."

It gets better? I beg to differ. Who would've thunk that a faculty member would actually try and bully another faculty member into submission in the hope of getting that member fired? 

Stem cells for hearing loss gets closer

We're now at a point where researchers can take your own skin cells and convert them into  regenerative cells to help re-grow damaged hair cells within your own inner ear and restore hearing loss.  Clinical trials begin soon over the next 10 years. And believe me, this will come a lot sooner rather than later with the way medical researchers are advancing at a rapid rate to reach this unprecedented milestone.  Not only would this be hugely beneficial to recipients of hearing loss for millions of children and adults researchers also recognize the extremely lucrative potential when it comes to regenerative medicine.

Deaf Nation and captioning

Well, unless I've missed it before but Deaf Nation has begun to caption more of its videos when I came across a video of Joel Barish interviewing Kay Amos about her bed and breakfast business "Aliuqet." Her business does not deal with the "breakfast" part but provides a variety of tequila mixes for her guests to experiment with and enjoy. The name of her business, "Aliuqet," is backward for "tequila."  Nice play of words there. I went back to Deaf Nation's video website and saw several other captioned videos on the first page. It appears they were recently captioned this year. The older ones did not have captions on other video pages. I commend Deaf Nation for taking the first step to include captioning in their videos. The audience is diverse out there when it comes to native signers to quasi-fluent signers to beginners to those who do not understand sign language. What better way to reach a larger audience? Without captioning the audience reach becomes extremely limited. But with captions the potential size of having a captive audience goes up tremendously, even among those who are not familiar with sign language.

Way to go, Joel! And welcome to the world of captioning. It can only get better because your audience size and reach just got bigger!  About time.

Doubters of Sarah Churman...and the hypocrisy

Oh, I covered this before but it was done in a video format about how so many people, especially some deaf people, doubted Sarah Churman's ability to hear and even speak so well even after getting her implantable Envoy hearing device. What surprised me out of all of the videos I produced this one video I did has netted me with over 8,500 hits since last year in October 2011.Must've been a flurry of video searches going on when Sarah Churman's video went viral.

Neat.

The other video I did in July of 2009 that turned out well netted me over 5,400 hits. A video I produced called, "A positive ASL video of a 1 year old baby." And the next video I produced back in July 2011 was a video for hearing people only called, "When deaf/hh people speak, the hypocrisy from the deaf culture." A video where I discussed the hypocrisy I saw from a certain select group of deaf people in the deaf community when I pointed out to Jeff who did the very same thing producing a video for hearing people only. Just as well I also pointed out Tim Riker who did the very same thing by talking at the AB2072 Senate Health Hearing on June 23, 2010 instead of signing. And when I pointed that out in my blog about the hypocrisy they certainly circled the wagon around Tim Riker in the effort to "protect" him for speaking when they have furiously for years tried to prop up the positive message of ASL. And in the end, that group had to fall back speaking to a group of hearing people at the Senate Health Hearing despite having an ASL interpreters readily available. And this was a deaf guy, fluent in ASl, who was the the chapter president of the California Association of the Deaf (Sacramento chapter). A chapter that represents culturally deaf people who chose to speak over signing.

Now, as I think about it, my "for hearing people only" video for some reason has gotten more attention than Jeff's video even though we both produced a video for hearing people only. Why is that? Interesting.

Oh, and don't forget. Sarah Churman's new book is almost out. Don't forget to buy a copy.

A milestone report....

I nearly missed it. I've officially been a blogger on my blog, Kokonut Pundit, for 8 years. I began blogging on October 22, 2004 and now I'm into my 9th year blogging on my blog site becoming the longest running blogsite run by a deaf/hh blogger. Whew! That was a mouthful of saying "blogs." 

It was only a couple weeks ago when I reached my 2000th blog and I nearly forgot that milestone. Although I've had a few blogs before I began my Kokonut Pundit blogsite about a year before I finally settled on Kokonut Pundit which has become my number one main blogsite to blog on.

Again, thanks to my loyal readers and fans for stopping by. Come back in a few weeks for another milestone and guess what that might be.

Stay safe for those on the eastern states!

Having "perfect speech"....

What still boggles my mind today is to see some deaf people who are still hinging on the idea that speech theraphy is all about attaining "perfect speech." 

No.

There is no such thing. It's laughable to even think that.

If you don't believe me then you certainly have not heard a hearing native southerner or hearing native northerner speak.

This is all about attaining intelligible speech and not about "perfect speech." It's important that people need to understand this. This is about attaining good diction habits. Good enuciation of words to be spoken well. It is about obtaining an oral skill that will last a lifetime.

There are many benefits in having intelligible speech whether it's done as a one way conversation or to have a dialogue with people around you.

To say that speech theraphy is about trying to get deaf or hard of hearing people to get their speech as "close to hearing people's speech" is nothing more but a play on emotion rather than about facts.

Speech sessions have its benefits for deaf and hh kids. I should know because I was one of them and the beneficiary of having taken those sessions.

Editorial questions keeping Gallaudet University Open

More troubles at Gallaudet? Interesting article.

Sometimes people with an outside view can only see so much the value of keeping an institution open thinking it's a waste of tax-payers' money seeing "little in return" while others, primarily those "on the inside," see Gallaudet University as a great institution rich with history and culture, and have spawned world class graduates in more ways than one although it does have its own shortcomings.

This is the danger that Gallaudet University faces everyday when dealing with people who can only see so much in the value of maintaining Gallaudet University.  It's simply not a university for college students but an institution that provides elementary and secondary education to deaf and hard of hearing kids on the campus of Gallaudet University. So, it's not just the 1575 college students attending but the other 280 kids for a total of about 1850 students who go to Gallaudet University and get their specialized attention and education through sign language.

Please, bare with me and keep your temper at bay, and maybe hold your jaw while you're at it.  Read on.

At what cost is it worth keeping Gallaudet University going with a campus population of mostly deaf and hard of hearing students numbering about 1850 students in total? Has the university become unwieldy for its size while the cost born mostly borne by the federal government? Perhaps the appropriated amount given to Gallaudet each year by Congress to the tune of about $123 million dollars a year (2009 - 2012) would be seen as too much? Or too little? An appropriated amount which covers only 70% of Gallaudet's operating budget, a percentage amount that's been fairly consistent over the few decades. $123 million dollars each year not may not sound much but it does add up over the course of 11 years and you get a total of almost $1.2 billion (not million but billion) dollars (see page 7)!  Already, a billion dollars spent in 10 years time. And in ten years time we've witness the murders, saw the marginalization of other communication preferences,  the 2006 protest and now the McCaskill/Gallaudet snafu that continues to build that threaten to capture the nation's attention.

Or has the university become the epitome of excellence seeing a return investment in students who have become successful alumni who come back and donated money or give back to the university? Like to the tune of about $3 million dollars each year or about 1.8% of the annual budget (see page 10). Or is it the avant guard communication access whether you're fluent in sign language or not? Or the raising of the bar on educational standards and expectations from students? Or an example of an institution that brings deaf and hard of hearing students from around the world?

Now, like I said before, this whole McCaskill/Gallaudet snafu is becoming a public relation nightmare threatens to swallow Gallaudet University and raises the specter of more people asking on the "outside" why has Congress spent over $1billion dollars over the last 10 years for this institution?  Yet students would appear, to those on the "outside" looking in, to be a bunch of ungrateful whelps who think they are owed something who sometimes put their ideology over education.

As you can see, you have the danger of how certain image is being projected about Gallaudet University to those who are watching the whole thing on the "outside" and those who don't or wouldn't know any better. Or maybe they do know better and see for what it is?  But warning is in the writing and people are beginning to ask. There may come a time when the question gets asked on whether Gallaudet University worth keeping the gates open. Only time will tell.

Josh Swiller on the McCaskill/Gallaudet Snafu

Josh Swiller wrote a good piece in the Huffington Post about the McCaskill/Gallaudet snafu. Not that I would necessarily agree on everything he wrote there are some points I do not quite agree on. If you don't know who Josh Swiller, he wrote a book called "The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa."  The guy who like many others before him who attended Gallaudet University while as a student faced discrimination by his own class peers just because he could speak.

In the Huffington Post piece he wrote:

President Hurwitz and the university administration should be commended for respecting their students' feelings and processes. Keep in mind as well that at no point has Gallaudet said it did not want Dr. McCaskill back; it just wants to respect the community's process.

By making a very public announcement to the community and essentially to the nation about putting Dr. McCaskill on paid leave was tantamount to firing her. Though she wasn't fired and still on paid leave yet this is the essential equivalent of putting a scarlet letter on her forehead branded as a person who could no longer be trusted. This was a process that immediately destroyed her character and reputation in a negative way for signing a ballot initiative petition (referendum). She made no anti-gay remarks whatsoever. Signing the referendum is not the equivalent that she's "anti-gay" but rather she supports the right of people to vote on a ballot rather than leave it to a handful of people in the legislature. Yet people continue to look the other way. Her name dredged up and sought for a public flogging if she didn't comply by issuing an apology for participating in a democracy. Diversity isn't about meeting and attaining some ideological purity test. And that is exactly what Gallaudet is trying to do. Diversity is also about including support for those with minority, religious, or political sentiments. There is no wanting her back. How would they want her back? Her reputation, relationship, and character already distinctly tarnished or irreparably ruined.  Gallaudet's action does not indicate that they want her back but would only do so if it turns out to be a cost effective exercise because it's cheaper to compensate her financially and allow her to keep her position and title than to go through an expensive, public relation nightmare lawsuit.

That was Gallaudet's mistake.