When haters gonna still hate....and the clueless ones continue to be clueless...

Amazing and touching video of a young woman turning on her implantable Esteem hearing aid for the first time. This YouTube video has gone viral with 4.8 million views and counting with over 20,000 comments along with over 49,000 likes and over 700 dislikes. Good thing the majority knows better and knows what a good thing looks like. Kudos to Sarah Churman for a successful implant but then the sad thing is that you'll get your usual haters in the comment section as always by a bunch of idiots who don't know any better. And then you have a bunch of ignorant people who can't even understand that deaf/hh people can speak just fine. And if you look further you might find a few gems.You'll have to spend some time to find and read those comments including the Today show. And, of course, you gotta go to this forum with the discussion on whether the video is a fake or not. 

Being ignorant is not an excuse.

Next, I bet with this viral video it will push a 2nd wave of interest from people wanting to know more about the Esteem implantable hearing aid and perhaps get even more investors for the makers of Esteem. Last year Rush Limbaugh helped advertise the Esteem hearing aid and saw a huge wave of interest in this new albeit very expensive hearing technology.

Thanks in large part to Limbaugh's plug on his radio show, White Bear Lake, Minn.-based Envoy recently raised another $16.4 million, including $10 million from hearing aid powerhouse Starkey Laboratories Inc., for its Esteem implantable hearing device.

Nice of Starkey Laboratories to donate $10 million dollars to Envoy as a worthy cause.

And lastly, as I mull this thought, I wonder what are the odds that Limbaugh will read about this YouTube viral on his radio show? I'd say it'd be pretty good odds over the next few days or so for that to happen.

UPDATE: For the naysayers, haters and doubters:

The Texan woman had been wearing hearing aids from the age of two, but had mainly relied on lip-reading, because 'hearing aids only help so much'.

Supportive messages have poured in from viewers, including one who wrote: 'This is one of the most beautiful and moving things I've witnessed. We're all so happy for you.'

Mrs Churman replied on YouTube: 'Thank you for all the positive comments... thanks for all the people who are kind.'

In response to viewers who were amazed at her ability to speak clearly, the formerly deaf woman said: 'My whole life I've been complimented on how well I speak.

'I don't really have an answer for you other than I have always had a passion for reading, grammar, and English.

'My hearing loss was/is considered severe to profound. I've worked very hard to be able to interact and blend in... only thing I can say is 'God is good'.'

When hearing people complain of their communication rights

You think only deaf people do this? Here's a case of hearing people complain about not having communication access with deaf people. In this particular case you had a deaf federal employee who preferred only an interpreter but the interpreter was only available once a week for one hour leaving the rest of the 39 hours without an interpreter during the work week.  This deaf employee has access to a typing communication device that would allow him/her to communicate to a hearing person face to face but refused to use it. Hearing federal employees were all too willing to use the typing device to communicate fully with their deaf employee. The refusal by this deaf employee to use the easy to use face to face communication device puts the work of everyone else in the office on hold for 39 hours. By doing that, the deaf employee also takes away the hearing employees’rights to communicate, ironically so. So, who is hurting who here? A case of a selfish deaf employee?

Comments are now open...again.

Looking at the survey I did last month I realized that there are more people wanting to see my comment form stay open and be available rather than have it closed to the public. And, so, I decided to turn my comments back on.

One word for ya'll.

Behave! And with less mewling, too.

Husband and wife - deaf farmers

In an old Deaf Mosaic video that was produced in 1994 I came across an old married deaf couple who were Oklahoma farmers for over 50 years known as Ruby and Harold Moeller. You can watch the video of the Moellers starting at the 21:19 mark. The Deaf Mosaic video of the Moellers was taken some 17 years ago when they were almost 70 years old. I'm sure they are probably not around anymore. And so the question becomes, where are the next generation of deaf farmers? And exactly how many deaf farmers are there in the United States? To have a deaf farmer, much less a married deaf couple who are both farmers, is a rare thing to come across. Much is appreciated to any and all farmers who help grow our food and other products for the United States. It ain't easy.

Midwest Living magazine

Here's something I found interesting. Dan Kaercher who helped start Midwest Living magazine grew up with deaf parents.

Kaercher compiled his travel notes into a chatty book, "Best of the Midwest: Rediscovering America's Heartland" released this May. His observations and experiences also formed the basis for "Dan On the Road," a one-hour special airing on Iowa Public TV and other Midwest PBS stations this spring and summer. A series of half-hour programs based on the trip will debut this winter.

It was Kaercher's ability to read other signs, though, that fostered such storytelling abilities. Kaercher's parents, Edward and Lillian, both were deaf and mute.

"Some of my verbal skills came from the fact that I was their interpreter many times from an early age," Kaercher says during a phone conversation from his office in Des Moines. "They would call on me to talk to the guy at the furniture store, to call my grandmother in Omaha. I had to develop my verbal skills very early."

It was a unique parent-child bond that came to an end only last summer when Kaercher's mother died at 95 years old—days before he was to begin the second leg of his journey. Lillian Kaercher caught a cold, then developed pneumonia. She spent one day in the hospital before dying. "Somebody who's 95 dying that mercifully and swiftly, if you will, was a blessing to us," Kaercher says.

Still, "it was a shock. It was tough. We buried her in Council Bluffs on Monday and then Tuesday afternoon I had to be in Chicago to start the next leg of the trip. I thought, ‘How can I get through this?' But . . . sometimes parents are helping you along when they're not physically along."

Roots

Married later in life, Edward and Lillian Kaercher were "totally not expecting a child" when their son came along in 1949. "Life was hard for my parents because life was hard for disabled people then," Kaercher says. "It's not easy now. Employment and things like that were very difficult."

Kaercher's father, a Philadelphia native, graduated from Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Gallaudet College and Lutheran Theological Seminary. He is cited in the book, "Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America," as being the first deaf Lutheran pastor to be ordained, in 1929. Edward later established "preaching points" in various East Coast cities before illness forced him out of the pulpit in 1942.

Sometime after that he came to Nebraska, ostensibly to visit his sister, Hilda, who in 1943 formed Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bellevue. His real motivation was to meet a woman spoken of by a friend from Gallaudet College—Lillian, a Nebraska School for the Deaf graduate and recent widow. "There aren't all that many people to pick from, sometimes, if you have this disability of deafness," Kaercher says. "At that time, a deaf person almost always married a deaf person."

Edward and Lillian did just that, then moved to the Finger Lakes region of New York. Kaercher was born there, in Elmira, N.Y. "Despite that blemish," he jokes, "I can claim safely that I've been a Midwesterner for 52 out of my 56 years. I couldn't have asked for two better parents. Both very loving. My father . . . really opened up the world to me. He loved to travel."

When he was 4, the family "got a fresh start," moving to Omaha. They lived in Logan Fontenelle Homes, segregated public housing in North Omaha. Edward began a new career, teaching at Iowa School for the Deaf. Their son attended Kellom Grade School at 24th and Paul streets. "The project we lived in was segregated until the mid-'50s," Kaercher says. "The school was integrated. The majority of students in my grade school through fourth grade were black, which opened my horizons, too. At the time, I thought it was just normal."

The family moved to Council Bluffs in 1959, Kaercher attending Hoover Grade School and Abraham Lincoln High School (which has inducted him into its hall of fame). At Hoover in the fifth grade he met his wife-to-be, Julie. The two didn't begin dating until their senior at A.L., however. They graduated in 1967, Dan heading for the University of Omaha, Julie for Iowa State University.

Just to let you know that Julie and Dan Kaercher donated money to the Iowa School for the Deaf and was mentioned in the 2009/2010 newsletter. But upon researching the video magazine of Midwest Living as seen in YouTube isn't captioned which is strange considering Dan Kaercher's background on having deaf parents. I wonder if he realizes that there are over 30 million people in the United States with hearing loss that could benefit a lot from captioned videos? 

The mummified remains of Deaf Bill and hauntings

Here's an interesting story about Deaf Bill who died in 1915 at age 52 and was essentially "forgotten" when left in a closet and over the years the body essentially "dried up" and was mummified. Many believe Deaf Bill haunts Mineral Springs Hotel where he once worked and lived there in Alton, Illinois.

Comments are now closed

Comments are now closed. It was open for three days over the Labor Day weekend. You had your chance.

Comments are now open.

You can put your comments in now.  Comment box will remain open until Tuesday, Sept 6, after the Labor Day weekend. Say your piece while you still have time.

Bullying and mocking only because they look different?

A recent news of a deaf boy who was bullied and mocked on a school bus only because he was different and wore hearing aids. It got so bad when kids grabbed his two expensive hearing aids and threw them out of the bus window. The deaf boy explained using his clear and articulate voice  on what happened and you can tell he was upset by it all. This reminded me of an incident when I was a sophmore in high school during lunch in the school cafeteria. One hearing guy at the cafeteria table mocked me by putting up an empty paper cup (for ketchup) on his ear as if it were a hearing aid. A fake hearing aid. I wrote that one off as purely a case of immaturity and lack of education. What he did would be construed as a sort of bullying when done in such a mocking manner.

That incident also reminded me of the coda brothers, who are hearing, when they mocked cochlear implant wearers on camera by wearing fake cochlear implants.  There was also another video example with one of the coda brothers who mocked by pretending to be an oral deaf person by making exaggerated lips and mouth movements, and talking loudly thus painting a false stereotype of deaf people who prefer to talk or can speak.  There are deaf and hard of hearing people who talk just fine (for example, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).  They may look different, they may speak differently, but so what? Why the need to mock and bully deaf people for who they are?

Watch the video below and turn on the CC button to get the captioning on the main YouTube page by clicking on the YouTube icon first.



Now, you wouldn't like it if hearing people go around on videos and mock deaf people by doing a bunch of fake signing, would you?

I hope that deaf boy's mother will get her money back for buying those expensive hearing aids and there'd be some justice in all this.

Meeting halfway....

I don't really get it when you have people who make the claim on how easy it is to set up an electronic face to face communication method such as using one or two laptops or tablets to communicate with a hearing person but do deaf people really take advantage of that technology? Instead I think many deaf people would rather opt out for a paper and pen situation in a family, social setting and make excuses for using such a method. From Deaf Echo one commenter gave an example of that of the pen and paper limitation.

I brought a bunch of notepads and pens to a family Thanksgiving dinner once and at the start of the evening, politely informed everyone that I didn't want to miss anything, so would they please write to me? I got two messages the entire night (both from the same distant cousin). One was "How is school?" and the other was some other statement I don't remember anymore. Very superficial. I responded in voice... was perfectly willing to meet everyone halfway... didn't happen. That was the last big family gathering like that that I ever attended. No bitterness or anger... I just stopped going. The burden of communication shouldn't be only on the deaf person. It should be shared by everyone, especially by those who profess to love that deaf person the most (his or her family). If that's not going to happen, especially if the deaf person in question directly ASKS for that, then there's no point in keeping up with pretenses. Just my view on it.

Using the paper and pen route isn't exactly an ideal way to communicate effectively, especially in this day and age of communication technology, with your family members and not have real conversations using one liners which makes the whole conversation a tedious and boring process.  Not a very engaging and interactive way of communicating.  For example, read what Richard Hurst, Clois James, and Ashleigh Smith had to say when they took advantage of an existing communication technology in social settings with their family members using a face to face communication device.

If a technology exist that makes face to face communication possible, regardless what that device is,  then why not take advantage of that technology instead of using the boring pen and paper method? Using such a technology can certainly help make conversations that much more engaging. Hearing people or non-sign language users would be much more apt to converse using a face to face communication technology than the old pen and paper method.

Just getting started

It's been 32 days since I turned off the news spigot save any weather-related news which I need to stay on top of as it's related to my work.  The news generated nowadays are the same old, same old news with some variants in between. Also turned off is the participation or reading any discussion forums which can become an easy way of trapping yourself into a vicious cycle that never ends when it comes to commenting that go nowhere but steal valuable time. It can become an insidious addiction problem if one isn't careful. But that spigot was decidedly turned off months ago for the better.

Looking back, posting on average 5 to 7 comments a day might seem innocuous enough but it's the amount of time on reading that can take up a lot of your time prior to posting comments. Let's take an average 6 posting a day and multiply that by 365 days which will equal to 2,198 posts in a year or almost 11,000 posted comments over a 5 year period. Posting a comment can be anywhere from one line long to 5 paragraphs long. Writing 35 lines of comments is enough to fill one page in a book. Assuming all comments are on average one line long for each posted comment, then over a 5 year period a person would've produced the equivalent of a 300+ page book!

I began in July 2006 in Alldeaf and ended my discussion forum days (so far) in July 2011 after seeing I had over 11,000 posts in 5 years did I realize how much postings I've done. And that comes out to an average of 6 postings per day since July 2006 leaving me with almost 12,000 posted comments. I call that an addictive behavior. Just when I thought 12,000 posts over a 5 year period was too much did I find other members such as Jiro (joined in 2007) and Jillio (joined in 2006) with over 45,000+ and 50,000+ posts, respectively, the last time I remembered before I left in July.   But with 50,000+ postings, that comes out to an average 30 postings per day if you do the math. If I thought posting 6 posts a day on average was too much, imagine posting 30 comments a day on average for 365 days a year. Heck, that's like writing one 300 page book a year!

It's an addiction problem whether one wants to admit it or not. You don't have to be a psychiatrist to figure that one out. Denying it will only make your problems worse.

It's like the realization on the amount of time you sleep on average when added up can become a humble awakening moment that you might be sleeping your life away even though I get my usual 6 to 6 1/2 hours of sleep over the last few decades. I just find the numbers intriguing as the reason for my blog posting. The same goes for realizing the amount of postings I did in a discussion forum but only this time I have the numbers to show for where I believe I exhibited an addictive behavior over at Alldeaf by posting too much over a period of time. But seeing somebody post over 50,000+ posted comments over a 5 year period makes mine look like nothing. Not to say I won't go back but like in life everything in moderation.

Some might become reticent and stubborn, and call their reason for such participation in a discussion forum as part of their socialization needs. The problem is that not everything posted is about socializing but about the psychological and emotional needs to post comments, regardless, and the deep seated need to respond to posted comments at every turn. That's when it becomes a problem. Though I'm not saying that participating in a discussion forum is bad. There's always a balance when it comes to those things, and which area you prefer to make use of your time with. Just be aware of the amount of time spent and realize that.

Long story short. I figure I make better use of my time for other projects and goals in my life.

The "Art of Solitude"

Exactly what is it? What's the difference for a deaf, hard of hearing and hearing person if one wants to practice the "Art of Solitude"? How can it be an "art"? The "Art of Solitude" sure sounds like a book title but it's certainly not something that you have to be a monk to enjoy it.  This is about being in a place without distraction with none of the clatter and noise (the noxious visual, auditory and smell). It's an opportunity to delve into yourself with greater introspection about the world around you. Solitude isn't dependent on having no sound at all such as having a hearing loss. Solitude could mean lying on a grassy bank, under a warm sun while next to a creek listening to the soothing, babbling noise of water flowing downstream. Or it could mean only the sound of nature be the soothing medium. Or it could mean complete and still silence. Solitude means different things to different people. Your solitude is not necessarily my kind of solitude.

First, let's get the definition of the word "solitude." It's defined as 1)The state or quality of being alone or remote from others; or 2) A secluded place.

So, having that solitude doesn't mean going out into the wilderness or forest alone. It can be anyplace where you can be able to shut yourself off and away from the outside world. But if you can get yourself some solitude outdoors then that's probably the best way to do it. I've many moments of solitude such as walking a sandy beach on an island for almost two hours with nary a soul basking under the summer sun. I've hiked the forested mountains alone and not meet anybody for miles but let nature be my companion that soothed my soul. I sat on a grassy knoll at 10,600 feet high after a few hours of hiking just to get that coveted spot and experience the vast openness with the world below me. Hiked the desert full of Chihuahuan shrubs such as creosote bush, mesquite, agave, ocotillo and the lechugilla while I enjoyed the full view of desert life. And swam in a swimming hole 200 feet below into the basalt canyon with no one around save some rattlesnakes, badgers and birds. There are times when solitude meant being by yourself to experience nature around you when you get the chance and opportunity.

Several months ago I watched a show "Flying Wild Alaska" where one guy and his wife lived in a cabin 25 miles inside the Arctic Circle in Alaska for over 25 years. The place is so remote the nearest road is 250 miles away and the only way to get there is by airplane. That couple is the only couple that live year round as a resident of his own home.  If anything, those couple mastered the art of solitude as they call it "home." If you can live there for over 25 years basically alone and not suffer cabin fever, heck, bow to that master of the Alaskan wilderness and solitude.


“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” ~Albert Einstein

Why no swear words in captioning?

I wrote an email to the National Captioning Institute asking the question on why swear words are bleeped out on captioned television shows when in the audio portion of the same show you can hear them clearly? The response I got may surprise you as well as raise questions about the not-so-logical reasoning for allowing bleeped out captions.

The policy for captioning swear words is set by each network, not by the various captioning companies. Our standard policy is to make all captions verbatim, so if a swear word is bleeped out, then it is also left out of the captioning. Some networks tell us to never caption a swear word and let them know if one gets left in the audio of prerecorded programs. For live programs, we just have to leave out swear words for these networks. Some networks tell us to caption all swear words. Other networks only allow us to caption certain swear words. I cannot explain why some networks feel that it is O.K. to have swear words in the audio but not in the captioning.

So, in other words, the shows you watch on a network that have a habit of bleeping out swear words when the audio is clearly heard, you'll have to write to that network asking them not to request from their captioning company to bleep out swear words if they allow audio version of it in a a television show. Write to your network and not to the captioning companies that permits the bleeping of captioned swear words.

Noelle's blog

Noelle produced a blog recently on calling out NAD for its association with a seemingly questionable organization who defaced a sign (although not permanently) by covering up the words on an AGBell plaque on the side of AGBell's building in D.C. last month.  Noelle is re-iterating or pointing out that the image of an organization would be perceived negatively or even militant for its approach even though she supports the use of sign language.

Instead of attacking and protesting a rival organization, they should be promoting ASL and the benefits of bilingualism at the local, state, and national level, and asking for it to be included in ALL communication modes in legislation.

Putting it into picture on what Noelle and many others are trying to say is this:

Whether it's SEE, ASL, PSE, or even cued speech, anything that helps with the visual aspect of communicating with a language is a pretty good start for kids with hearing loss. Of course, that probably depend on the amount of hearing loss if we're talking about those with mild versus severe/profound hearing loss.

Sleeping your life away....

Some interesting math for you all on how much of your life you sleep away.

Assume a human's average life span of 75 years. Let's start at age 20, a time when we are working or going to school, so that leaves us with 55 years to mess around with.

For every extra hour of sleep you get you will have slept away 2.3 years worth over 55 years.

1 hr x 365 days = 365 hours divided by 24 hr/day = 15.2 days lost in one year. 15.2 days/yr x 55 years = 836.5 days or 2.3 years.

Let's say people get 7 hours of sleep on average, if you slept 8 hours on average that would be 2.3 years lost through sleeping over the span of 55 years.

If you slept 9 hours on average that would be 4.6 years lost through sleeping over 55 years.

If you slept 10 hours on average that would be 7.9 years lost through sleeping over 55 years.

Little things add up over time and before you know it, you wondered where all that time went. Enjoy that early morning sunshine folks and make the best use of your time, including me for typing this little nonsense out.

Economic Power

Economic power is what gives you that freedom to do what you want to do. But with economic powers come with greater responsibilities not to yourself but to other people as well who helped. Not too long ago Ryan Commerson produced a video that was published on August 4, 2011 on asking salient questions on the lack of deaf-owned businesses, why economic power continues to be beyond their grasp, how some companies in the telecommunication industry continue to cater to and take advantage of the deaf and hard of people their money with little or no real representation or support on their behalf and noting the fact that there is only one deaf-owned VRS company out of many VRS companies (but certainly there are some deaf-run companies). At one minute and 40 seconds into the video Former executive director of TDI, Alfred Sonnenstrahl, was at a loss for words when asked a question by Ryan Commerson if there are any deaf-owned VRS companies.



Perhaps Mr. Sonnenstrahl wasn't thinking about ConvoRelay which is a deaf-owned and operated VRS company that was founded in March 2009. On the FCC website it lists telecommunication companies that offer VRS (although ConvoRelay isn't on the list).

The FCC over the last few years had to address the high cost of re-reimbursing VRS companies due to in many parts fraud and abuse by recommending a new per-minute rate compensation plan and reform the VRS industry in a July 28, 2011 notice to the public on the potential ruling. Some in the deaf community feared that such a newly proposed compensation rate plan will further diminish the VRS competition field (although Claude Stout, Executive Director of TDI doubt it would cause that as seen in the video). After Ryan Commerson asked Alfred Sonnenstrahl (formerly of TDI), Claude Stout (Executive Director of TDI), Shane Feldman (CEO of NAD), and Gregory Hlibok (Chief, Disability Rights Office) in his video on what they are going to do about the proposed FCC compensation rate and new rules did they all of sudden help write a letter on August 9, 2011 to the FCC which was electronically filed on August 11, 2011:

On August 9, 2011, Claude Stout, Executive Director, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. ("TDI"); Shane Feldman, Chief Operating Officer, National Association of the Deaf ("NAD"); Andrew S. Phillips, Policy Attorney, NAD; Sheri A. Farinha, Vice Chair, California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. ("CCASDHH"); and the undersigned met with Karen Peltz Strauss, Deputy Bureau Chief, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau; Gregory Hlibok, Chief, Disability Rights Office; and Diane Mason, Disability Rights Office to discuss a likely
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") about the per-minute rate of compensation mechanism for Video Relay Service ("VRS") and potential alternative compensation mechanisms.


TDI, NAD, and CCASDHH urged the Commission to undertake a Notice of Inquiry ("NO!"), rather than a NPRM, if the Commission wishes to consider possible alternatives to the per-minute compensation mechanism, including a per-user compensation mechanism. They also discussed the Commission's intent to reform VRS services.

TDI, NAD, and CCASDHH emphasized the importance of a compensation mechanism that fulfills the original Congressional intent of functional equivalency as more fully described in the Consumer Groups' TRS Policy Statement - Functional Equivalency of Telecommunications Relay Services: Meeting the Mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act dated April 12,2011 (the "Policy Statement").' They expressed concerns that any reform should first take into consideration feedback from consumer representatives as well as providers to develop solutions to improve VRS. They also
expressed strong concerns regarding the idea of changing compensation from a per minute rate to a per-user rate. A per-user system would create incentives for providers to cut costs and avoid high volume customers and diminish the quality of VRS services and training, thus decreasing consumers' functionally equivalent use of the telephone system.

Further, providers may tweak the system to reduce number/length of calls from customers (i.e., longer answer times). The consumer representatives explained that the business model for the provision of services does not need to be identical to hearing consumers. In VRS, interpreter costs are generally paid by the hour and not a flat fee, whereas hearing consumers generally pay a flat fee for telephone services. The consumer representatives also raised questions about the per-user compensation approach, including what data would be used to calculate a per-user rate. They recommend that new ideas not be introduced in a NPRM, but rather urge the Commission to explore ideas with
consumers and providers through a NOI and workshops.

I can't help but wonder their action to pen a letter to the FCC was on their part and effort to save face after being confronted by Ryan Commerson and after releasing the video to the public last week for non-action.

It is great to voice concerns on how best to explore ideas with consumers and providers but the bottom line is that VRS companies are mostly hearing owned. Despite that I'm sure there are still room for competition to see more deaf-owned and operated VRS companies which will help shift more of the economic power and opportunity over to the deaf and hard of hearing communities. In fact, there are plenty of room to see more deaf-owned businesses that can cater to deaf, hard of hearing and hearing customers and clients. It all comes down to global microbranding your product and services. It's all about the hard work, the long hours, pounding the pavement and slowly build a network of clients and customers. Nobody said it'd be an easy thing.

Global microbrand.

Think about it. What does it mean to have a deaf-owned and operated business? What can a global microbranded product do for potential deaf, hard of hearing and hearing customers or clients? For a business it's not merely about having a product to sell but about believing in a product and what it can do for that potential customer. Believing in the power of transformation and what a product can do for people who can use it are powerful motivations that draw them to that product or service once they see the bigger picture of what success means. It's about making the customers and clients think that they are brilliant in choosing your product and services that keeps them coming back and recommending your product and company to other people, hence the whole global microbranding business.

But is it better to cater to a deaf-owned and operated business that know who their customers and clients really are or would it better to cater to a hearing company that pay lip service? That depends on which companies you feel the most comfortable with and the type of quality and services you get from that company. Just because it is deaf-owned doesn't mean it is the best one to go to.

Back in February 2007 at Gallaudet University's first ever blog/vlog conference I made the point to the internet audience and the people sitting in front of me that for deaf and hard of hearing people to move ahead and achieve success they would require to essentially bootstrap themselves and believe in their work and philosophy by relying more on themselves to get the job done rather than rely on hearing people for their particular products and services. Economic power is the key.

There's certainly a difference on the responsibilities of having that economic power when it comes to helping people attain greater freedom and independence versus wielding an economic power to push an ideology that reeks of office politics.  And grey areas do exist. Running a company for the sake of ideological AND political purposes will only limit your market and the customers you deal with. Keeping your nose clean of politics in a business can become a crucial business strategy in surviving and expanding your business.  The difference can be between having your company look like a feeding ground for militant zealots or not.

Economic power. Your choice, your motivation, your responsibility.

South Korea

Congrats to the Deaf Nation winners for a free trip to South Korea. One of the winners is a good friend of my wife and I was surprised when my wife told me who. I met her a few times when we visited her and her husband. I won't mention her name but I'm sure all of the winners deserved that trip to South Korea. Let's hope those who didn't make the pick were gracious enough to congratulate the winners instead of being bitter about it and target DN. If you ain't gracious about it, then you're bitter. Again, congrats to the winners.

Capitalizing on what works

There's this fixation over the word "fix" when it comes to certain people with hearing loss, especially of those with greater hearing loss.  The word "fix" doesn't necessarily mean a permanent solution but rather a way to utilize a solution that best improve a condition. It's more of a correction and supplement to an existing condition rather than a "fix" per se but I understand exactly where people are coming from when they say that. Just as glasses helps fix poor eyesight or people with a variety of vision loss. You take off your glasses, you still can't see well. You take off your hearing aid or cochlear implant you cannot hear very well or none at all. It's utilizing what senses you have left by capitalizing the power of technology. Each of us has a hearing loss that is different ranging from mild to profound, bilateral or unilateral hearing loss. It's a fix, it's a correction but there is nothing permanent about it when comes to those adjustments being made. The question becomes whether people with hearing loss will capitalize on that or not. Some do. Some don't. Some won't. What works for me, works for me and has nothing to do with you. All we can do is respect the diversity out there. Not everybody signs. Not everybody can hear like the next person. We're all different. It doesn't matter if a person prefers to speak and listen, and don't know sign language, what matters is that we understand that diversity exists and we must respect that and the communication and language options for all those deaf and hard of hearing people out there. What works for me doesn't mean it will work for other people with hearing loss, deaf or hard of hearing with bilateral or unilateral hearing loss. What works for you doesn't mean it'll work for other people as well. I simply capitalize on what works for me.

Fixed

Fixed...a captioned video on disability and super-ability.

Point of View

Let's get this straight. No one is saying that having different point of views is censorship. As in the case for Deafread, people have been and are trying to force the owner of Deafread through intimidation, protests, slandering, harassing, and conjuring up myths about the owner of Deafread, Tayler Mayer, in order to get him to acquiesce and run an aggregator site that accept only Deaf POV videos and institute a so-called better "R-List." Thus pushing the practice of censoring to the extreme.

What is "censor"?

cen·sor
noun
1. an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.

In fact, Tayler and his moderators do censor what's allowed in Deafread since there are certain requirements to be met in order for a blog or a link to be posted in Deafread. But the big irony is that because of Deafread there are loads of POVs from all kinds of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, culturally deaf, CODAs, cochlear implant wearers, signers and non-signers alike, those who prefer to speak and listen, and hearing parents of deaf/hh kids.

Tayler Mayer made it clear that he does not want to censor Deafread by restricting it even further and have it accept Deaf POVs only but rather have Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing POVs instead.

One central reason for developing DeafRead is that Jared and I wanted to empower the deaf community; we wanted to allow everyone a voice, a place where people could speak out.

What is censorship?

the actions or practices of censors; especially : censorial control exercised repressively

So what Don and others are advocating? More censorship and control through force and intimidation against the owner of Deafread, and get him to capitulate at all cost.

If Don and others want to create their own aggregator site that accepts only Deaf POVs they are more than welcomed to create an alternative aggregator site that reflect their own policies, rules and ideals. Deaf Village did the same thing by breaking away from Deafread to create its own blog aggregator site. A place to provide aggregated and filtered online content that reflects a spirit of inclusion, collaboration and partnership among the diverse members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community.  They didn't whine and moan for 3 or 4 years when they disagreed with Deafread's actions or policies. They up and left and created their own blog aggregator site in a matter of months which is now in its 4th year.

There's a similar situation for vlogs as well. You have DVTV for signers which is an aggregator site for vlogs via YouTube. At one time people got upset with Tayler Mayer's (DVTV) policy regarding the ground rules on accepting vlogs and decided to create their own vlog aggregator site and the first one was ASLrocks. That attempt failed spectacularly and ASLrocks didn't even last for one year probably due to the rampant cyberbullying that went on.  Next came along Deafcube and it is still going.

Instead of complaining, go out create your own if you're not happy with Deafread. Using the strategy to try and bully Tayler Mayer into changing will not work. That tactic has obviously failed. It's better to hear from all sides than to be fed with only one viewpoint all the time.