Gallaudet Declining Enrollment

Interesting bit of information from the Gallaudet University's Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request about the long term enrollment trend and reason why enrollment remain small today and why it continues to drop.

Enrollment trends. Undergraduate enrollment at Gallaudet has generally declined over the past 17 years from a high of 1,825 in 1990. In the fall of 2007 (fiscal year 2008), the enrollment of degree-seeking undergraduates was 1,080, graduate enrollment was 414, and enrollment of non-degree seeking students was 139, the lowest levels in well over 20 years. The total enrollment of 1,633 includes 1,236 full time students and 397 part-time students. Maintaining or increasing undergraduate enrollment is difficult for Gallaudet because of the literacy and communications challenges facing many of its prospective students and the need to achieve an appropriate balance between providing access to as many students as possible and maintaining high standards. In addition, students who are deaf and hard of hearing have increasing access to programs at regular postsecondary institutions and the majority of students who are deaf and hard of hearing are attending these programs.

Enrollment data for fiscal year 2009 will not become available until October of 2008. However, enrollment is likely to continue to decline in fiscal year 2009. This is partly due to lingering effects of the negative publicity resulting from student protests in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, negative reviews from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), increasing mainstream options for students who are deaf, and the new, more stringent admission standards being implemented at Gallaudet in fiscal year 2008.

Note the bold highlighted letters in red.

From Gallaudet University's Program Report:

Measure 1.1 of 11: The number of full-time and part-time,
degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at Gallaudet
University. (Desired direction: increase) 1365

Year....Target...Actual.........................Status
1998......1,339......Measure not in place
1999......1,250.......1,300.........................Target Exceeded
2000.....1,250......1,318..........................Target Exceeded
2001.....1,250.......1,321.........................Target Exceeded
2002.....1,250......1,243.........................Did Not Meet Target
2003.....1,250......1,243.........................Did Not Meet Target
2004.....1,250......1,236.........................Did Not Meet Target
2005.....1,250......1,207..........................Did Not Meet Target
2006.....1,250......1,274..........................Target Exceeded
2007.....1,250......1,206..........................Did Not Meet Target
2008.....1,250......1,018..........................Did Not Meet Target
2009.....1,250....(October 2008)......... Pending

The declininng enrollment was due to a lot of factors and that was mostly because of increasing communication accessibility at many universities and colleges for a deaf and hard of hearing person to choose from. But it is interesting that the report blame the Gallaudet Protest in helping stifle enrollment, of course. The falling enrollment didn't occur over the last 5 years like some Deaf bloggers insist but rather over the last 19 years because of improving communication technology and services offered in many universities and colleges for deaf and hard of hearing students.

But note the precipitous drop for 2008 enrollment figure from 2006. A drop of almost 260 undergrad students. Ironically, 2006 year showed an uptick of undergrad enrollment from 1207 to 1274 students that exceeded target expectation for that year in 2006. That was also the year when the Gallaudet University protest occurred. Prospective students along with their parents saw the whole protest situation from the news media that left a bad taste in their mouths about Gallaudet University and decided to send their kids to a different university or college that have excellent communication services. We won't know what the enrollment figure for the 2008-2009 school year until sometime this year. But the G.U. Fiscal Year 2009 report warned that they expect more enrollment decline for the 2008-2009 school year.

Also, from 2000 to 2008 the amount of money appropriated to Gallaudet University from Congress went from $85 million dollars to $133 million dollars. And for 2009 budget Gallaudet University is asking an additional $600,000 from Congress on top of the $133 million dollars (see page 8). And they justify the additional money while enrollement declines? I wonder what will the budget request be like for 2010 when a Democrat majority led Congess in an Obama adminstration will do to help with the budget cuts? Will Gallaudet University be one of those soon-to-be budget cut victims and see abudget cut of, oh say, $50 million dollars for 2010? Maybe Obama will use a scalpel approach, a term he used extensively throughout his campaigning, and slice some numbers off for universities and colleges that get their fundings from Congress?

For the first time budget request for 2008 and 2009 remain the same at $59.2 billion dollars (which represents almost 2% of the entire Federal budget). Perhaps the additional $600,000 request by Gallaudet University for 2009 will not be met?

I'd say that Gallaudet University have about 2 years before their future increase budget requests will not be met but see a slash instead from a Democrat-controlled Congress. Will we see the start of a real decline of Gallaudet University and go below the devastating 1000 undergrads enrollment mark? After all, for 2007 - 2008 school year, enrollment figure was at 1018 students. Will Gallaudet University slowly be transformed into a university of mostly hearing students as a way to survive? The Department of Education already approved, starting in 2006, that Gallaudet University can admit up to 5% of the newly enrolled undergraduate students be hearing undergraduate students (see page 13).

Will Gallaudet University thrive or wither under an Obama administration? I'm thinking the latter. But congrats to those who "successful" participated in the Gallaudet protest which helped manage to scare away 260 prospective students from enrolling at Gallaudet University. We'll see how 2008-2009 enrollment year will pan out, and especially the 2009-2010 year when MSCHE reaffirmed Gallaudet’s Accreditation in June, 2008 which could mean an increased enrollment for undergraduate students. But we'll see.

Atlanta Braves Baseball Donates Money to AVT

This is a great contribtuion by the Atlanta Braves baseball who donated $2500.00 for future scholarships toward Auditory-Verbal therapy (AVT) in teaching kids to hear and speak without the use of sign language.

ATLANTA—October 10, 2008— At a recent Atlanta Braves game, the Auditory-Verbal Center Inc. was awarded $2,500 to be used for scholarships toward Auditory-Verbal therapy. Each year the Atlanta Braves Foundation grants funds to youth-serving organizations that focus on health, education, and recreation; and the Auditory-Verbal Center (AVC) was proud to be a first-time recipient.

“AVC offers an opportunity for mildly to profoundly deaf children to learn how to hear and speak without the use of sign-language or lip reading; it is a great honor for this unique work to be recognized by an organization such as the Atlanta Braves Foundation.” says Debbie Brilling, executive director of the Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc.

I remember back then living near Atlanta, Georgia during the mid 1970s and early 1980s my family would attend the Braves baseball game soaking in all that experience up in the bleachers. And watch Dale Murphy go at bat and hit a home run.

Cure for Hearing Loss One Step Closer....

Scientists were able to narrow down a key gene called Atoh1 (also known as Math1 - ) which cause cells to develop into hair cells but that these cells function like normal hair cells. So far, hearing loss may be repaired by cell transplantation using human umbilical cord Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) since they show that a small number migrated to the damaged area inside the cochlea and repaired sensory hair cells and neurons.

Researchers used sensitive tracing methods to determine if the transplanted cells were capable of migrating to the cochlea and evaluated whether the cells could contribute to regenerating neurons and sensory tissue in the cochlea.

"Our findings show dramatic repair of damage with surprisingly few human-derived cells having migrated to the cochlea," said Roberto P. Revoltella, MD, PhD, lead author of the study. "A fraction of circulating HSC fused with resident cells, generating hybrids, yet the administration of HSC appeared to be correlated with tissue regeneration and repair as the cochlea in non-transplanted mice remained seriously damaged."

Results also showed that cochlear regeneration was less in the transplanted group deafened by noise rather than chemicals, implying that damage was more severe when induced by noise. Regenerative effects were greater in mice injected with a higher number of HSC. They also found that regeneration of cochlear tissues improved as time passed.

According to Revoltella, their results suggest the possibility of an "emerging strategy for inner ear rehabilitation….providing conditions for the resumption of deafened cochlea."

This can only mean one thing and that this particular study will surely speed up the date to the day when hearing loss in humans can ultimately be cured by those with sensorineural hearing loss (i.e. nerve deafness). For the 30 million people in the United States with hearing loss, this is great news. Except, perhaps, not for some of the 900,000 cultural deaf people who sees this news as a "threat" to their cultural ideals.

Governor Palin signs "Thank You" at end of RNC Speech

At approximately 39:14 into the video you can see her sign exactly the same signing motion as in the Gratitude Campaign by signing "Thank you" which matched with what she was saying to the crowd (or perhaps to troops or deaf people?). But at 39:19 she signs "Thank you" as one would sign in ASL and you can briefly see her mouth the words "Thank you" right before the camera pulled away from her. It sure does look like she signed "Thank you."


Governor Sarah Palin's RNC Speech.



Short clip version of the "Gratitude Campaign." Of course, some in the Deaf community raised a needless big stink over this style of gesture saying it was "wrong" when it wasn't really at all.

Its....Governor Palin for Veep!

McCain chooses Governor Palin for his vice president pick!


P A L I N!

What does she bring for the Republican party?


Palin is open to ANWR drilling.

She visits our wounded troops in Germany while Obama does not.

Palin is against earmark spending.

She's has 5 years of executive experience which is way more than "O"bama which he has 0 (zero) experience and plus many more years in political office than "O"bama.

Sarah Palin began serving in political office in 1992. Barack Obama began serving in 1997. (For the benefit of our resident hippie trolls, I'll do the math for you: Palin's been in public office FIVE years longer than the Messiah.) Joe Biden has been in the U.S. Senate forever. So, in terms of total years of public service, the three stack up as follows:

1. Biden
2. Palin
3. Obama

In terms of executive experience, there's not even a contest. Sarah Palin first served in an executive capacity in 1997, and took over her first state-level executive branch position in 2003. From what I can determine, Barack Obama has never served in an executive capacity at any level, and Joe Biden has never served in an executive capacity at any level. So, in terms of executive experience, the three stack up as follows:

1. Palin
2. Biden and Obama (tied, with zero each.)

She voted NO to the bridge to no where.

Several staunch Hillary supporters who refuse to vote Obama do like her

She had done so much to cut wasteful spending in Alaska. Her approval rating in the 90s and is the most popular governor in Alaska (probably in any state), when she took office in 2006.

She is a conservative.

She is a lifetime NRA member.

She is a mother.

She gave birth to a son last year with Down Syndrome and while she was pregnant she took a genetic screening test of her fetus and found out her unborn son has D.S. The doctor suggested to her three times on aborting her son. She refused! A staunch pro-life supporter, obviously.

She fiscally conservative and has proven it over the last two years since 2006 as governor of Alaska by curtailing wasteful government spending. Even reducing her own salary and getting rid of a corporate jet that cost tax-payers too much money.

She is certainly NOT a protectionist.

Palin's son is about to go to Iraq. He's in the Army.

She's an athlete.

Snow mobiler champion, I believe.

Loves hockey.

A solid, fiscally responsible, conservative Republican. A reformer on spending. And just an all around smart and classy lady. Even James Dobson today said that he'd pull that lever and vote

Her nick name given to her while in high school? "Baracuda." Her nickname is apt now if you read this story about her. And more stuff on her here.

Now, I feel much better on voting for McCain than I did before. No nose plug for me on this one. I will now throw my full support behind McCain and Palin for 2008.

McCain/Palin for 2008!

Imagine...no deaf babies.

To celebrate the recent news of the advancing biotechnology that will one day, very soon, offer those with hearing loss the opportunity to have their hearing loss cured, I have a new product at my Kokonut Pundit's store. I am introducing a new design on a t-shirt for those who share the same hope that someday biotechnology will offer a medical solution to help restore or cure hearing loss that affect 30 million people in the United States. And help spread the awareness of these amazing biomedical advances.

Deafness Cure One Step Closer.....

And, no, this isn't a fake news but a real one where scientists have gotten one step closer, very close I might add, to help solve an age old problem on how to restore hearing loss in deaf and hard of hearing people.

Deaf people could one day have their hearing restored through a ground-breaking gene therapy technique, scientists reported yesterday.

They showed that they can trigger the growth of new hair cells in the inner ear that are crucial to hearing as they pick up sound vibrations.

In tests on mice they showed that stimulating these usually irreplaceable cells to grow resulted in new cells that helped detect noise.

Researchers believe the approach could eventually be used to improve or restore hearing to the 9 million people in Britain classified as deaf or hard of hearing.

Dr. Mark Downs, of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, said: "This is an exciting development which completes another important piece of the jigsaw in understanding how we might use gene therapy to eventually restore hearing loss.

"It is no longer a pipedream to talk about cell and drug-based solutions. There is a long way to go, but the journey towards new treatments is certainly under way."

Read more here. And even more details here.

Once scientists began to unravel certain key but crucial elements on how to unlock the mysteries of deafness by restoring hearing will only mean that the dominos will fall faster as more scientists join in on the search to finally help restore hearing loss. This news discovery today will only mean that research will step up even more quicker and the time til the first deaf person to have his/her hearing restored will be even more closer and not some distant pipe dream.

Amazing science!

And here's to for the restoration of hearing loss!

News! First Deaf Baby Naturally Cured of Hearing Loss

Breaking – First Deaf Baby Cured of Hearing Loss with Stem Cell Therapy

Jonathan Wiley, of England, at age 10 months became the first deaf baby in the world to be cured of his bi-lateral hearing loss through a scientific breakthrough method using a patented and specialized technique of stem cells implantation targeting the nerve cells and ear hair cells of the cochlea. Dr. Joyce Wyner, world renowned physiobiologist, describes this scientific first,

“I’m absolutely thrilled that this procedure I developed over the past several years has worked remarkably well for Jonathan. Over the course of 13 weeks the implanted stem cells have enabled Jonathan to regain all of his hearing, 100 percent. He can now lead a normal and healthy life.”

News of this spectacular success sent biotech stock named, ironically, BULL, soaring today the company that patented the process on restoring sensorineural hearing loss. CEO, Erik Venekman, of the biotech company based out of Copahagen, Denmark, talks about the next step for this amazing medical cure,

“This trial with Jonathan Wiley has obviously been a tremendous success and this is the first step of the many, many steps to help treat and cure sensorineural or nerve deafness for all babies born with a hearing loss to adults who have lived with sensorineural hearing loss. It is my expectation that in a few years this process will be available in many medical establishments around the world. Just like polio it took a world wide effort to eradicate that horrible disease, hearing loss will soon be eradicated as well. ”

Now, for those who have read this far this story is a hoax but with the advancement of stem cells or other biotechnological developments how would you react to a sudden news development that sensorineural hearing loss of a sudden can now be restored? And that babies born deaf (with nerve deafness) can now be treated and restored their hearing loss?

When a Picture Says a Thousand Words

Lucy the Deaf girl takes off her mask

Matt Hamill vs Rich Franklin

This would be Matt Hamill's (4 - 1) biggest UFC challenge to fight the very well known and popular favorite Rich Franklin (23 - 3) in the upcoming September 6th UFC 88 "Breakthrough" fight that will take place in Atlanta, Georgia. As you know I have done many interviews with Matt and he's one of the best and most humbling UFC fighter around who happens to be deaf.

400,000 Hits! A New Milestone

My blog is still going strong though I took a brief break lasting a few months but I'm quite proud of the fact that my blogsite managed to hit the 400,000th mark today! Scroll at the bottom of my blogpage to see my current number of hits.

My blog went live on October 22, 2004, nearly 4 years ago. But it was a year ago when I hit my 200,000th mark around August 28, 2007 and so I am happy that the number of hits went up since last year. When it comes to politics and blogging, people just eat 'em up. How long will my blogging continue? I cannot say. Only time will tell.

Thank you all readers (deaf, Deaf, hh, and hearing) for taking the time to stop by and read my blog posts and for some of you to leave your comments behind.

In Praise of the CODA Brothers

I’ve watched some of the CODA Brothers videos (Olsen twins they're not) on YouTube and noticed some of their sight gags while I listened to the video's voice over background while they signed cracking jokes and pretty much ad lib-ing over each other. Though a bit ironic watching a video that came with voice over ASL interpretation to a hopefully receptive hearing crowd to their favor. I wonder why? A disinformation campaign?

Now, using sight gags in order to take advantage of the current sentiments with the Deaf crowd is one way of trying to be funny just to be on their “side” which comes with the territory I suppose. But it is another thing knowing how such sight gags can affect others who don’t exactly see eye to eye such as using gags like an overly used and much abused hyperbole. For example, one sight gag in this video doing a cochlear implant impression by using what looks like sawed off portion of a small aluminum can seeing how it protrudes quite noticeably from the side of their heads and with great effects I should say. Nice visual gag by making fun of those who wear CI like this screen capture of the video gag below.



I know. I know. CODA brothers meaning no harm. Just “joking,” right? Kind of like when a bunch of hearing students at a regular high school making fun of those that wear a hearing aid by using a ketchup cup over their ear to imitate a hearing aid at a school’s cafeteria. Yeah, that happened to me one time when I was in high school. Did I think it was funny? No, but I had to tactfully inform my friends on what they did showed ignorance and disrespect. And I pretty much took care of that problem right away, and they apologized afterwards, too, realizing their mistake and ignorance. Doesn't hurt to quickly inform people of their mistakes. Right, CODA brothers?

Next sight gag on the CODA brothers video? Remember the hyperbole remark I mentioned earlier? Well, let’s take “oral” Dan in this video who went to great lengths to imitate a deaf oralist but with exaggerated lip movements, the thick “nerd” glasses, the deep “duh” voice while signing haltingly so reminisce of what a beginner signer may behave while wearing, no less, an AGBell t-shirt (though not everybody is a product of AGBell anyway, at least I wasn't).



It’s one thing when there are some deaf people who may have the tendency to talk in an exaggerated fashion although no fault of their own. Others do not even come remotely close to "oral" Dan. Even more bizarre is that these guys are hearing who do not have these “impediments” in the first place. Oh, I know. I know. It‘s just a “joke” and people shouldn’t take “offense” at this but I am sure the CODA brothers know better. And I’m just rolling with the punches here. I'm sure the CODA brothers will find this video here breath-takingly funny as well with comedians in the "Absent Minded Comedy" show signing and mimicking like an expert ASL interpreter.

Keep it up, CODA brothers. Hope you roll in tons of money off of this venture of yours. And you have a DVD, too! Congrats.

Here's a video message for the CODA brothers.

Professional Motocross Deaf Gal Shreds Dirt

Here's a video introduction of Ashley Fiolek, age 17, one of the top amateur motocrossers from around the country seen racing in one of the many hand selected Red Bull Jam motocross races. She's a tough gal who doesn't mind mixing it up by racing in the men's division. But in the women division she won the Women's Supercross Title and placed second overall in the Women's Motocross Division. Indeed, a worldclass motocrosser that's up and coming. Check out her bio page by Red Bull and see a video of her racing (no subtitles/captions or transcript).

Check out this video of her signing about her racing experiences. Video comes with subtitles. And last but not least be sure to check out her official Ashley Fiolek website.

Wonder if she ever met Greg Gunderson?

A Video Interview with Greg Gunderson

Check out this video (ASL, SEE and subtitle) of Greg Gunderson being interviewed by Jason Curry (CEO and President of sComm, Inc, maker of the widely popular UbiDuo communication device) about the advantages of having UbiDuo to communicate with hearing people. Greg Gunderson is the nationally known and popular professional sprint car driver who happen to be....Deaf!

Woman Victim Uses UbiDuo

Jason Curry, CEO of sComm, Inc (a deaf owned and deaf run company) where the UbuiDuo is built, donated the face-to-face communication device to a hearing woman so she could communicate with her friends, families, nurses and doctors while she recuperates from a violent store robbery.

Nearly a month after a man slashed the throat of a clerk at a convenience
store, the 19-year-old woman struggles to recover and regain her speech.

Police said Sean Cave, 38, allegedly robbed the Stop-N-Go on Highway 59
in Winthrop, Mo., and nearly killed Kim DeJonge. He is accused of slitting
DeJonge's throat twice and stabbing her seven times.

Kudos to Jason Curry for helping out a victim in need of support and help.

Informed Decision....would you accept and support a parents' decision?

There are concerns among many Deaf people that hearing parents of deaf/hh babies and children that they may not have access to all of the necessary information to make an *informed decision* about mode of communicaton to be used. If you watch Barb Digi recent video on YouTube she points out that very same but legitimate concern. However, the biggest test is after the fact when parents do make an *informed decision*. Supposing hearing parents do get all the necessary and relevant materials regarding ASL, SEE, AVT, cued speech, oral/aural trainings, educational aspects and so on. Let's say hearing parents spend considerable time with materials given to them by various hearing loss organizations (AGBell, pro-ASL organizations, pro-bilingual organizatoins, cued speech organizations, etc), met with numerous deaf/hh people, met with various profesional educators and so on over a short but intense period of time. With all the due diligence already undertaken the hearing parents finally make an *informed decision*. They decide to go for the cochlear implant and cochlear implant route for their deaf/hh baby or child. Will you, as a Deaf person unequivocally accept and support the hearing parents' decision for their deaf/hh baby or child? Remember, hearing parents took every effort and did their due diligence effort, including an in-depth comprehensive look at ASL, to make an *informed decision* about their deaf/hh baby or child.

Barb Digi, would you unequivocally accept and support hearing parents' *informed decision* after they have accessed all relevant information decide to go for the AVT and cochlear implant route? I make this challenge to you Barb (and to any Deaf people out there) to answer this question of mine. It is indeed a relevant question to ask.

Watch Barb Digi's video which comes with a built-in scrolling transcript for those who do not know ASL

Paranoia, Emotional Baggage, Zealotry, Cult Followers…in no particular order

I want to talk about something a little bit different and slightly off tangent but falls well within the paranoia discussion that will follow shortly. Lately I know that some Deaf people out there have seen my devilish remark, “My plan is working flawlessly *rubs hands* heh heh…,” in a few places such as Paotie’s, my blog and elsewhere. I made up this devilish looking remark first in Chronicles of a Bionic Woman and then proceeded to use that same remark based off of a funny movie in a few other places. Strategically timed I supposed when I placed it. But the result was that several Deaf people began to take note and commented by making up wild conspiracy claims believing my remark had to do with AGBell, the DBC, or thinking it had to do about a devilish plan against the Deaf community at large and so on. Though let me make myself clear that I do have a certain propensity to delve in a bit of quirky humor. I know that some people already know this or don’t take it seriously but when I made that devilish remark about my plan that is “working flawlessly” I said it to hopefully prove a point. And that people will run off with that remark of mine thinking it’s proof that I’m out to destroy the Deaf culture and what not or whatever so- called agenda you want to conspire and bring up. But the thing is….there is no plan! I have no plan that is “working flawlessly.” So, relax. Have a beer and laugh over this one. You’ve been punked big time.

Ok. Feel better now? Now that I’ve officially placed a disclaimer about my devilish remark as a non-issue or of no concern for the Deaf community I go to my topic of discussion.

It becomes an odd if almost comical event to witness bloggers or vloggers resort to using Godwin’s Law (Reducto ad Hitlerum) in their own arguments thinking they’re well grounded in logical, scholarly thoughts. Hardly. The mere act of bringing up Nazism or “playing the Nazi card” to try and make parallels or associations in an argument simply gets nullified on that merit alone. Playing the Nazi card in the hope that appeal to emotions will win out rather than on logic and common sense will simply lose all credibility and everything they say after that won’t mean much. This is especially so when you have group of Deaf people playing the Nazi card to try and create supposed parallels on what’s happening today to deaf and hard of hearing people when it comes to AGBell’s philosophy as an organization. Doing so would be pretty much proof that those people who resort to that tactic are carrying way too much emotional baggage. I’m sure they have legitimate issues based on past experiences but to play the Nazi card will simply nullify their own arguments!

Yet with my odd but uneasy fascination on witnessing cult followers who are hell bent on destroying AGBell at all costs even at the cost of losing all credibility to the eyes of basically everybody which means Deaf, deaf, hh, hearing people and especially hearing parents. Yet the AGBell organization believes that hearing parents have the right to make informed decisions when it comes to their deaf/hh child, even if it means choosing ASL or not. Although AGBell’s philosophy as an organization does emphasize on the listening and speaking aspect for deaf and hard of hearing children. However, AGBell is not the one shooting themselves in the foot but the Deaf adherents or zealots who are basically doing that by continuing to demonize AGBell at every possible turn at a great cost to the credibility of the whole Deaf community. It is simply becomes an unproductive endeavor all in the name to “save” deaf/hh babies from those mean and heartless hearing parents from the hypnotic control of AGBell professionals. There are better ways on getting positive messages across.

Again, all this is rather comical but sad to watch these things transpire in front of our eyes. Zealotry has a way of blinding people and not see the bigger picture. You have advocates with the right frame of mind and then you have those who are simply out of control who use their own emotional baggage to drag the rest of the people down the drain. These are simply an opinion and observation of mine so take it with a grain of salt.

So in review of I what have written today and the things that have been happening lately in the hearing loss community when it comes to paranoia, emotional baggage, zealotry and cult followers, I’d like to make a concluding remark:

My plan is working flawlessly! *rubs hands* Heh heh….muwahhhahahaha!

A Champion of Oralists?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deaf Nirvana

Over the years ever since the days of Gallaudet University I am continually not surprised on seeing how a few select group of Deaf people who have the ability to run the gamut from political correctness campaigns in Deaf culture to the constant playing as victims of oppression to the pulpit grandstanding “book thumping” sermons on how to achieve this so-called “Deaf Nirvana.” I swear. It’s like watching one slow train wreck after another with a few cabooses managing to survive intact. But then again who would report about surviving cabooses but the whole train wreck instead? Though rarely have I seen anything positive in the Deaf community with enough traction to move forward that can be *shared by all* whether Deaf, deaf, hh or hearing. But to teach “Deaf Nirvana” with a plastic smile like some Cheshire cat bent on selling a particular concept/product can only raise red flags and suspicions. Naturally more so for those who have never heard of or experienced Deaf culture. And when they see an organization get attacked or witnessed a rally that, to them, looks more like a protest than not or the pimping of “Deafhood” concept that comes with a smile by those who are trying to invite hearing parents to come over to their “Deaf” side will not win much hearts. Simply put, there are too many mixed messages and not enough credibility.

Let’s review Ben Vess’ recent vlog on calling out Ella Mae Lentz which was recently pulled. According to Ben the scathing video supposedly helped increase the internal ruckus among some of those in the Deaf community. Or so they say. But I am seeing two messages from all this.

One message is that Deaf leaders are not allowed to be attacked with negative critiques, no matter how shallow it may seem. I suppose it would depend on how critical the message is to meet their definition of something that’s more “acceptable” than not. Some people have tolerances so thin that they’ll gasp and say, “How dare YOU attack our leaders like that!” even if it’s a constructive one. And then we see the circling of the wagons to protect those leaders, yet hear nothing from the leaders. And because of that we hear from other bloggers regarding a litmus test on whether you, as a blogger or vlogger, would attack your own mother in the same way as you have done to others is a bit off kilter (silly in some ways) but perhaps valid in certain circumstances. Still, we’re not dealing with mothers anyway. Or even close friends or associates. It’s the clearing of the air is what I see it as. I see this ongoing “ethics” finger wagging as more navel gazing in the attempt to define what’s “appropriate” when it comes to vlogging or blogging. I understand there is a time a place to have a bit of decorum but it’s not always possible when sensitive issues abound. The internet is a place to air out and sort out our feelings whether it’s done appropriately or not. Let’s not fall into the political correctness trap.

Ben’s message that day, before he removed it, had some critical points that needed to be raised at the time but few/many took it personally thinking he had gone too far. I don’t see it that way but a natural progression that it was time to call out certain leaders. Ben was seeing Ella for what it was at the time. Insight or grain of truth, whatever it was, he saw something that needed to get out even to the point that the truth may hurt. Sometimes there comes a time when you simply have to be blunt to get your message across in full force. Was Ben’s vlog to Ella inappropriate? That probably depends on you and the thickness of your skin. These things will happen again and again when it comes to directing emotions toward leaders or anybody else. Calling a person a coward isn’t necessarily name-calling but it’s certainly mild compared to those who wished a deaf person’s baby certain death.

A second message I am seeing lately is that censuring must be done in order to “help aid the community” by ensuring that things do not get “out of line” or that inappropriate comments and actions be somehow curtailed or prevented. The question I have is, which community are we talking about helping? Does that mean we should censure those who attack AGBell, too? Or gang up on those who get out of line frequently by attacking certain deaf/hh organizations? Is this about attacking certain leader(s) of an organization? Or is this about how, as a group, can help control through peer pressure on what vloggers or bloggers should or should not say or do and get them “blacklisted” somehow? Is there such a thing as having an open mind and simply agree to disagree?

I see vlogging and blogging as creative outlets rather than something that must come encumbered as "politically correct" vlogs or blogs just to make sure people feelings do not get hurt. Whatever. So, does the act of censuring (not censorship) help promote an atmosphere where people come to the point of being unsure on which posts will be seen as appropriate or not? Why create these doubts in the first place? But when bloggers/vloggers do post in the strongest terms they get accused of causing division when the fault are really those who do most of the hand wringing that caused their own internal strife. Maybe it’s time to bring out that caliper once again and measure just how thick that person’s skin really is?

Next I want to discuss the words “Deaf babies” being used rather than “deaf babies” or “deaf/hh babies.” By saying “Deaf babies” it creates a perception of ownership of babies born with hearing loss as if they belong to the Deaf community and not to hearing parents. To hearing parents, babies are either born as deaf, hard of hearing or simply a baby with a hearing loss and not “Deaf babies.” Babies are not born culturally deaf to these hearing parents. Otherwise saying “Deaf babies” does help create suspicions among hearing parents towards the Deaf community. There is a difference on helping hearing parents be made aware of the benefits of signing with deaf/hh children versus telling them what to think in the efforts to make them feel guilty for not using ASL. Instead, efforts should be undertaken to help ensure that these parents get the proper information in the most neutral manner so that they can make an informed decision on their own without using guilt to try and pimp ASL. Whatever hearing parents decide people should throw in their support for them even if they decide not to use ASL. Hearing loss grass roots organizations should not be in the business to constantly try and make parents feel guilty by bringing up the past or use Godwin’s Law by invoking a Hitler comparison just to try and create guilt among hearing parents. This is true going after deaf/hh parents of deaf/hh babies on creating guilt for not using a certain technology or a particular communication method. But anyone who invokes Godwin’s Law loses instant credibility in a thread or argument (i.e. meaning…don’t do that unless you want to look really stupid). A good way to lose hearing parents’ attention is to drive them away with protests disguised as “rallies” on the same day when a hearing loss convention was taking place, go after organizations who are trying to offer support to parents of deaf/hh babies, call deaf/hh babies as “Deaf babies” or put the English language on the bottom totem pole and ASL on the top and so on. The best way to win is to provide support to parents of deaf/hh babies and children even if it means parents may end up not choosing ASL. Some parents may eventually come around. Some won’t because they have already decided based on the circumstances they are in. Some will never come around because of what they have heard about Deaf culture and ASL. That’s a fact of life.

Now, myths stick around a lot longer than the actual facts which is why hearing parents or anybody in the hearing society (we’re talking about 90 to 95% of the population in the U.S) will see Deaf people in some negative light in a lot of cases. It’s a lose-lose proposition if Deaf people continue to attack AGBell; pretend that rallies are “neutral” and are not protests; feign ignorance that setting up a counter-convention next door to a hearing loss convention on the same day doesn’t hurt anyone and is only meant to “inform” and help get in touch with hearing parents of deaf/hh children when in fact hearing parents are likely to see it as a confrontation instead; promote “Deaf Nirvana” through “Deafhood” or other cultural awareness methods; get NAD involved by becoming more “Deaf Centric” rather than to help serve the 30 million people with hearing loss and so on; or have Deaf leaders present conflicting messages or their lack of transparency. It just gets deeper and deeper. So, what else is new?

Currently rumor has it that a third “deaf/Deaf/hh” content aggregator may go up and people are already moaning and groaning at the idea of another content aggregator site. But I say, bully! This is about competing philosophies which means more places for people to go and see which philosophies fit them. There is no one-size shoe fits all here. Even DeafRead cannot fulfill that roll. Neither can Deaf Village. Or another content aggregator site for that matter. People will pick and choose for a reason. Even if Deaf Village offered free video/vlog ASL interpretations as part of their captioning or transcripting services in order to help vloggers comply with DV’s guidelines on video accessibility, most/many won’t take up the offer simply because they are either biased against cochlear implants, AVT, oral and/or aural trainings in the first place or some other far-fetched reasons. That was already apparent anyway when Ben Vess tried to do the same thing by offering a free ASL translation service. I cannot fathom the idea that a single content aggregator having a monopoly over deafness-related topics via blogs and vlogs. Competition was bound to happen as it did with Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing forums when it began in the late 1990s based on a particular philosophy in what an owner wanted to see in a forum. It may either constrain or promote developments and provide some unity among a particular group of people.

Unity aside, I have already for the longest time accepted the fact that it’s the parents who are in control of their deaf/hh babies and not that of the Deaf community or any other deaf/hh communities out there. They decide. Not me. Not a particular community or organization. Yet, I still see masks being worn by some people pretending to be one thing when really they are not. I am sure hearing parents of deaf/hh children are becoming a lot more wary nowadays of those who put on a plastic smile only because the internet makes it possible to see what’s going on in vlogs, blogs and the media. Showcasing “Deaf Nirvana” may be counter-productive when everything else supporting it would probably scare most hearing parents away anyway. Try and look from hearing parents’ perspective for a change. I sympathize with hearing parents of deaf/hh babies on their leeriness towards Deaf people who try and promote ASL or Deaf culture simply because of the confusing and mixed messages. If anything this pushing of “Deaf Nirvana” will simply have hearing parents of deaf/hh children see them more like a cult-like phenomenon than anything else. They aren't exactly flocking to this particular group's ideology or concept. They have their reasons.

We understand and agree that each of us express things differently when it comes to our blogs or vlogs. The so-called “division” within the Deaf community isn’t caused by my blogging or vlogging efforts or other people v/blogging efforts. Rather I see this as paranoia run amok. I see less confidence in what people have to show for. No matter how hard some people try they try and make this whole thing into a gloom and doom scenario. Accusing bloggers or vloggers for the supposed “downfall” or “division” within a Deaf community simply doesn’t cut it. Instead I see fear for change as their shared template and "justification" for lashing out. Change is always the only constant thing we have. Change is inevitable. Change happens. Technology is becoming a big part of our change. This isn’t simply about the Deaf community anymore but the whole hearing loss community of all stripes who have different needs and philosophies. So, don’t let paranoia get the best of you.

Disclaimer - This blog is of my own personal opinion and nobody else.

Deafhoodism Voodoo

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

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

6) Commerical Sites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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