First of all, I’ve seen all the hashtags #hearingprivilege people shared their experiences. So much pain to see what they were going through. OK, enough small talk. This post will talk about my experience growing up in hearing world—being robbed by hearing privileges. It is rented out for my stress management, allowing me to write on issues that no one cares to or has the courage to.
And trust me, for 41 years of my life is way too long for me to go without being able to vent my pent up frustration in print. This particular issue has been eating away at me for very long time. After pushing myself hard to do this to make room for this dandy, a new truth is ready to be seen for what it really is.
I am sure most people on Gallaudet campus have run into this situation at least once. If not, let me set up the scene to help you visualize what I am picturing. You are walking along, minding your own business when you see a hearing person with privileges coming directly toward you. The person with hearing privileges obviously indicates that they have power, and more specifically they are hearing. Just like anyone else, you move to the other side of the path or hallway to avoid a collision. As the two of you are ready to pass by each other, incident free, they must hear your footsteps, because they begin to swing their stick to feel out the landscape, making sure they are still on course. By doing so, you are forced to play jump rope or dive out of the way to escape a crisp whack on your head.
What is worse, is when you actually are hit with the power-struggling and deal with hearing privileges, or when they try to find a seat in a classroom after showing up late, and they disrupt everyone while trying to feel around for an empty desk. It is an inconvenience to everyone. I know, realize and understand that they have hearing privileges which they control—and I become disgusted each and every person with hearing privileges including within in power for continuing their oppression, and not letting Deaf people stand in the way of their dreams.
But, come on, why must they be an inconvenience to everyone else? According to hearing privileges, they can be provided with power and such. However, why are hearing privileges allow at Gallaudet University to make their routes and everyone else’s trip around campus easier and safer? Why must the mass majority of Deaf students feel obligated to make way for a wildly swinging hearing privileges?
And finally, why hasn’t anyone else had brave enough to speak up about this issue? For example, the chair for ASL/Deaf Studies, Chief for Department of Public Safety, Provost, Director for Mental Health, Vice President, Administration and Finance, Executive Director, Business and Support Services, University administrators, and plenty of assistant professors and professors even some of them that does not know ASL very well, get away with hearing privileges?
Oh well, at least this truth is no longer unspoken for. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to write more about hearing privileges in my next post—this is only beginning.
As there will be VRS grand opening next week in Canada, it is exciting time for everyone in Deaf community! It is a history in the making! Without Deaf community, VRS would not be happening—and Deaf people has been working very hard to get it happening. Why? They believe in social justice fighting for their equality rights—virtually all languages are affected by politics and government. Politics is the process of making collective decisions in a community, society, or group through the application of influence and power. Since the general population was not aware about it at all—the general population: Deaf community. Government is the persons or organizations that make, enforce, and implement political decisions for a society.
It takes a community, for one, VRS to make the first approach to study political life what Deaf people look for. They normally think about political life from a particular ideology, a more or less coherent system of political thinking. Yet, why did VRS did not inform Deaf community that it would launch next week? Since Deaf community was not informed or let Deaf Canadians show their support is hard to fathom, the question, did VRS understand fully what successful American Sign Language-English interpreters and executives, like successful cross-linguistic, cross-cultural interpreters, are competent users of both signed and spoken (and supposedly written, since English is reduced into a written form) languages?
As VRS interpreters are the students of ASL, they need to observe more and should not reject Deaf people’s involvement—that is a big red flag since it is all about observing cross-linguistic and cross behavior even activities, too which means—to INFORM all of Deaf Canadians—not to keep them in the dark.
Yes, it is a historic moment—and they use VRS to record what they observe, to explain what they record, and to defend what they explain. ASL interpreters—they write to take part in discussing step by step approximations of a linguistic solution to a single problem, that of understanding both signed and spoken (and written) languages at the level of such production as prose or narrative, whether literacy or sociological—keeping Deaf community out of the picture for the VRS launch—they should not deserve some kind of discipline that must be learned as early a stage as possible out to their “power-playing” in VRS industry.
“VIP” for VRS executives and whoever the people are do not have the privileges to let Deaf community know about it. They are morally wrong. Whoever the person in Ottawa who is responsible for withholding the information is wrong.
The making of VRS in Canada is designed to help Deaf community: Informing the interpreters about what linguistics of ASL are all about. Intended for both first-time and experienced ASL interpreters, the grand opening offers a basic historical orientation and a challenging account of current ASL issues and analytical linguistics. The manual focuses on linguistic research and describes the research process in detail, explaining how Deaf community can maintain self-confidence once they use VRS for the first time. It is a crucial responsibility of VRS to use inform Deaf community ethically.
After all, this historic moment, VRS in Canada is still in the making…….
The power of journalism is not the same like it used to be today in Deaf community. Exploring different frameworks of journalism analysis, and learning tools to recognize these frameworks, greatly enhanced my reading of journalism texts related to The Daily Moth. I was previously aware that The Daily Moth and its host Alex Abenchuchan made an inappropriate joke about Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump to use Marlee Matlin in his advertisement and mislead the public to make people think that Marlee supports Trump.
Flash news: Marlee had been a stanch supporter of Hillary Clinton before Nyle DiMarco even existed. There was a tweet that Marlee supports Hillary in the beginning of the year. It means….Marlee supports Hillary ever since.
I am also aware that The Daily Moth that the host, consciously, employed its bad journalism in the school of thought, in the public to educate Deaf community and in his journalistic skills. The Daily Moth allowed to make bad judgements in his own values and predispositions and created a self-deception of how The Daily Moth might have employed these things in his own agenda.
I am a daily viewer of The Daily Moth myself, became baffled not only by the vague, rambling journalism styles of how they treat Marlee but also by the exact mocking intended. As each story progressed, the flaws and bad character traits of American society—especially Deaf community became manifest. Almost everyone can remember a bed time story being read to them when they all are humans. Frequently these works of journalism happen to be myth or fairy tale what The Daily Moth did.
We would pick a bed time story because of its many moral lessons and the positive influence the tale can have on our lives. Sometimes the fable uses negative reinforcement and could help to condition Deaf community by what The Daily Moth scares us. The question, did The Daily Moth shows in a passive manner, how to handle issues ranging from love, respect and vanity to discipline, labor and tact?
Every experience impresses strongly upon a maturing intellect, and fairy tales are simple but powerful in the messages. Journalism provokes us to use these stories to teach Deaf community multiple positive lessons about culture and at the same time attempt to develop a humanity in a practical and positive way. These tales are a vital and important tool and are extremely useful in our upbringing. Fairy tales and myths were originally created to reinforce our current culture and highlight the habits and personality of a developing mind.
The Daily Moth lacked a certain continuity that would have allowed the journalism to flow in logical argument that Marlee was a Trump supporter. The mistake that they did was an overdependence upon the journalism honesty or qualities to convey symbolism. The Daily Moth needs to issue a public apology for Marlee Matlin. Will it even happen?
“Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual-and the soul of a people.”–Anwar Sadat
After reading an article called As More Deaf Students Use Cochlear Implants, Indiana Schools Work to Adapt the other day, [I will copy and paste the link below]–“Public schools in Indiana serve about 2,400 students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Of those students a growing number now use cochlear implants” is an act of bullying them into getting cochlear implant or else. There is a person by the name of Ellyn McCall, family liaison at hearing loss advocacy group Hear Indiana said, ““I like to think that it’s not malicious, it’s just that most of these smaller districts don’t have the training and the knowledge to really be able to understand what these kids need”
Ouch! Ouch! Ellyn McCall is forging American Sign Language (ASL) and have them act like HEARING and that is a malicious act. The quality and quantity of cochlear implants in Indiana is a changing world: Hate Crime. Hear Indiana serves under Alexander Graham Bell (AGBell) Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
They are attempting to do social changes as we enter the age of international terrorism, striving to destroy the beautiful meaning of DEAF and effect many generations to come on a global level. There are and will be environmental concerns as we run out of non-renewable resources such as ASL for our innumerable, and often encourage hate crime.
Deaf community are at an economic turning point where ASL is difficult to stabilize, due in part to Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s lies, outsourcing of labor and volatile stock market prices. Changes in this new century will also bring huge breakthroughs in scientific frauds, complete with its own deficit thinking and moral quandaries over Deaf identification and cure them for “tragic diseases” such as the state of being Deaf.
Another problem that is already apparent and will become more so in the near future is the growing population of cochlear implants in the United States and the world, with attempt to destroy Deaf community with sharing of hate crimes, are bound to reach scarcity as we enter this new era, unless we discard our ASL, and adopt a more effectual way of living by replenishing, reducing, and recycling what we use.
Deaf community are as a powerful and educated community need to conjure more ways to defeat hate crime by those Audists today and tomorrow. For the near future in Deaf community, we need to build an optimistic and innovative attitude of preserving ASL and Deaf culture, with reforms regarding the way we deal with those Audists, and the resources we insist on using ASL in abundance and love, when in fact, the democracy is ideally a good and fair system of representation based on facts, it is likely that ASL will always prevail.
That way ASL and Deaf culture will spend and live in harmony with a populous Earth, and it all other inhabitants. The idea is to wide representation of the demographic of ASL that would be required to include all of them and abilities in the interest of fair representation at every social level. A panel of elected Deaf citizens who use ASL for communication, information, and knowledge from all walks of life that were educated enough to understand that cochlear implant is a fraud that would be called upon to make positive statements that ASL would overcome the lies by cochlear implant industries.
It would also unify many of us who feel betrayed, excluded, confused by the current lies “democratic” system in AGBell, in which often they are often completely unsatisfactory to the fact that they will not accept that ASL is a successful language. While I personally have concerns about AGBell funding for cochlear implants, they are responsible for encouraging hate crime against ASL. Despite the article I read above, the threat of Deaf culture is an act of terrorism that would require moral treatment, and human race is truly one constructed of innovation.
Finally, we must look past our fears and realize that we are entering the age of an oppressive community, where we must all do our part in assuring there will be resources left for our future Deaf children, our children’s children and so forth. We must look to ASL and be willing to make the first brave step into uncharted territory, and be willing to pioneer it responsibly, learning from the way we have transformed our Mother Earth, in order to maintain a healthy environment. It is only when we make these realizations that we have a true chance of surviving and overcome hate, and making the most of what the miracles of earth and life-have to offer the beautiful meaning of Deaf culture and…..ASL.
Cochlear implant is the biggest fraud ever. If not, the most malicious ever.
‘We the Deaf People’ was founded by Matthew Moore, a brilliant move!
As today is Constitution Day (September 17, 2016), it is very important to be aware about this, I can think of no words to describe the great honor to have inherited the United States Constitution with flame that has been burning since 1787–the Founding Fathers signed the most important documents in American history—-the United States Constitution.
Today, Deaf community has been dealing with very difficult social and economic changes and I need to address an aura of optimism among ourselves who see the possibility of making American Sign Language (ASL) a more dynamic force in communication and instruction for all Deaf people.
In 1880, for example, educators of the Deaf from all over the world convened in Milano, Italy and drew up a resolution, hence the 1880 Milan Resolution, to ban the use of sign language in communication and instruction of the Deaf people. There have been numerous barriers to language access and development occur. It is important to know that being Deaf is a biological condition that calls for a different channel, that is, sight, through which information, knowledge, and communication are conveyed.
ASL is the lifeblood of Deaf community and culture, too. It can be easily agreed! The United States Constitution need to be aware that ASL is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. Of course, by denying or doubting ASL is anything but deficit to incite the mind to language bigotry and prejudice.
Or, whether it finds some people unaware, in idle and false security, it captures their mind with secret contrivances of Audism. Deficit thinking is, therefore, far from pure “tabula rasa”—we do not live in the vaccum. ASL should not be missed as a sense of language, as a living subject—as part of human life. ASL can lift us up and take us anywhere on Mother Earth. Nothing can hold us back from ASL.
Now, this message is as a tough read as the English statement by Jean-Paul Sartre in his book, Being and Nothingness:
“The being by which nothingness arrives in the world must nihilate nothingness in its being, and even so it still runs the risk of establishing nothingness as a transcendent in the very heart if immanence unless it nihilates nothingness in its being in connection with its own being. The being by which nothingness arrives in the world is a being such that in its being the nothingness of its being is in question.”
I know it is difficult to follow it because it can be confusing as nihilating our state of being Deaf—many of the issues in language of ASL are really issues in sociological of being Deaf.
But it is each person’s right to know what being Deaf means. We also need to know where it comes from as well as the activities and attitudes which it describes. If we do not know, with confidence, our part in the whole and our place in a history, we can become frustrated by what we have to do. If we know what being Deaf means, our self-esteem and self-determination would be much more sure. It is important to understand how much importance of United States Constitution means for us to preserve our language and culture. Really! It is a good way to celebrate Constitution Day!
In 1872, Percival Hall, Sr. was brought into the world today and became second president of Gallaudet College for 35 years starting in 1910; He was an alumnus for Harvard, Yale as well as Gallaudet College Normal School. If you see a building called Hall Memorial Building on campus, it is the reason it is named after Percival in his honor. He made a major contribution for Deaf community while he was president there. Happy birthday, Percival!
His father, Asaph Hall who discovered two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Please feel free to read one of my older posts:
I realized that there are not enough knowledge Deaf Awareness Month and it is evident that it has not come to a head. There is more work to be done in order to make it so the Deaf community are not exploited in literature but portrayed and seen as equals to individuals who are not exhibiting the meaning of Deaf. Being exposed to early literature makes one aware that even with vast improvements in rights and advantages that Deaf people enjoy, there are still negative mentalities that have not been eliminated.
Particularly the belief held that Deaf people are in some way broken and need to either assimilate or overcome what “ails” them in order to be accepted into society of viewed as “normal”. These viewpoints are not reached alone. I’ve become more and more conscious of the fact that with the visible nature of being Deaf, it becomes too easy for many to see merely one puzzle piece that is being presented to the world, and think that shows the entire picture of who a person is. So they try to hammer interlocking edges of the puzzle into the picture of other individuals without considering that the pieces do not fit for a reason.
Humans tend to view most groups in stereotype until they get to know some individual within the group. Literature serves as an introduction to these Deaf people. More often than not, these introductions end in exploitation. Yet, once we start seeing a Deaf leader, begin to widen and move beyond the limits of typical. What is simultaneously hard and easy to grasp is that there is more movement to be done. The human consciousness is ready for an expansion and literature is calling for it.
We will aim for a deepened understanding of the social, economic, and political aspects of Deaf people as perceived and embodied in literature.
I believe that Deaf Awareness Month serves to do more than just encourage a politically correct vocabulary. It helps one consider the foundation of human perception that even spans to the recognition of beauty in society. Focusing only on Deaf issues, it is evident that social and economic advances go hand in hand but that the economic element of Deaf often goes to benefit those with abilities. Those portraying or capitalizing on those people who are Deaf.
