Chris Soland – …And the Truth Shall Set You Free.

“The Alexander Graham Bell Association publishes a book detailing Tucker-Maxon’s conversational development program, Blueprint for Developing Conversational Competence.”

Whether you are thinking about how much importance to the efforts of the ASL story to intertwine the history of sign language being deprived away from language and human rights, no mountain is too high to climb when it comes to create the shows and exhibits that touch and stir our passions to suggest the imitation, of say, ASL as the best factual source for the human communication.

Recently this weekend, I was shocked—completely shocked to find that my name was not printed in Tucker-Maxon Oral School (TMOS), 60 years anniversary yearbook. My mother and my father took me there everyday from Monday to Friday in 1976 for two years in a muscle car, Chevy Chevelle 454 V-8—my father’s dream car. First, I will share my YouTube video and then make sure to read my second link, “Oralism Stole My Father’s Baby” below. Never mind, I will add all the links I wrote about TMOS below after all.

They both realized that the gas was very expensive—driving more than 30 miles driving to another state one way and they both decided that it would be best thing for my father to sell his dream car for VW Bug. My father had no choice and he was so heart-broken to let it go because TMOS told my parents that Oralism would be a gold-star philosophy and make me an All-Star student to please Alexander Graham Bell ideology.

He is about to become Richard….

One day, my mother decided to come by and surprise me, then my mother saw Alice Davis and Chris Solan in the same room and found me “cuffed” with six-pack rings while Dr. “Bruce” Wallace was leading my mother where I was with a smile. That was the last time my body was suckered away from TMOS ever since and drove home and told my father what happened. They were clearly hurt—they were both 22 and 24 years old that time. Poor parents. My father was beyond pissed!

No wonder why he created the Liar Ball!

I wondered why my name was not in archives at TMOS, none of pictures were ever shown that I existed in the oppressive halls—even though I was featured in the Oregonian newspaper, December 9^th, 1976 with my parents and the audiologist that was responsible for the lies—her name was Star Leonard. It was taken at Tucker-Maxon Oral School. I became a student that day.

With my own name that have been attacked over emotional response to abuse and language deprivation like TMOS did for incommensurate amount of time because of political tail wind that blows in favor of Oralism—an emotional but not a rational reaction for AGBell lies. I can understand why a current NAD president, a star pupil at TMOS for 12 years, told me at Georgia Association of the Deaf conference last June 2015, asked his TMOS friend if he remembered me. He said, “no”—why? I was not featured in that yearbook wiping off the truth. Now I understand why.

After I was taken out of TMOS, I get slapped with a label on my forehead and tell me that I was a human failure when “Oralism” success stories, but the labels kills my chance with my own human right and stop language deprivation. What a deal!

So, this is my story to shake things up a bit and challenges the current wisdom on this topic and will continue to do so for the benefit of preserving ASL debate. After all, I was overlooked and dismissed as “never heard of” or nonexistent. This is the message that I had been waiting for a strong, clear voice of anti-hate authority. Not that TMOS is simply an act of hiding language deprivation and abuse, they must account for all the available evidence. The feeling of futility and sense of invisibility go beyond AGBell lies dismissing my civil experience as an AGBell survivor.

I told my mother what happened last night and she was heartbroken and understood the futility and invisibility as well because my mother protected me. Thank you, Mom—I love you!

Again, no mountain is too high to climb when it comes to TRUTH—it is sad day for AGBell survivors and a powerful reminder that TMOS still practices a lot of hatred today and tomorrow.

Isn’t life a bitch?

Links:

https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2013/06/13/oralism-stole-my-fathers-baby/

https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2014/01/11/tucker-maxon-oral-school-pitfall-a-cult-of-ignorance/

https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2014/02/03/tucker-maxon-oral-school-teachers-are-blameless/

https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2014/12/14/with-no-thanks-to-my-alma-mater/

https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2015/01/24/a-not-so-noble-cause-to-support/

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

That’s me. 1978. Tucker-Maxon School Playground.

My mother was only 18 years old and my father was 20 years old when I was born in the same year President Nixon had resigned. The majority of my relatives are hearing. Almost all except one person who could communicate with me in sign language with me was my younger brother. At age two, I was placed into my very first school, Tucker-Maxon Oral School in Portland, Oregon. The school was not cheap! I was a product of an oral school where their school philosophy that does not promote sign language on the ground which makes my education accessibility harder.

They were trying to make me to act like a prize horse with having my own audiologists, teachers, and speech therapists policing me around and learn how to use my voice and not to use sign language and lose my dignity. That is where I became myself as “another” and loses my sense as an individual. I was only two years old that time!

I can remember my first teacher, Chris (Wolf) Soland who told my parents that everything will be all right. What a big lie! Chris Soland and Alice Davis lied through their yellow teeth and tried very hard to make me successful. Their plan did not work at all. I was glad that I was a rebel kid. A friend of mine told me a story last year that a student also went to Tucker-Maxon, for the take-home final, he wrote “I do have good hearing friends but somehow, I try to make myself act normal and that I wasn’t deaf”–it broke my heart! He was taught about “hearing” people but they were not taught how to be “hearing”. Can you see the difference? It is so unfair!

I was thankful that I was asked to read a book called Cratylus where Plato had Socrates question whether signs by the Deaf are equated with spoken and written names or words. The answer is aye. About 2,500 years ago, in and around the area we now call Greece, a philosopher who may have called himself Plato began an experiment in writing that would shape the world of human intelligence. Embarrassed and heartbroken by the death of his mentor Socrates, Plato left Athens and went to live in Alexandria in Egypt for 20 years. Upon his return to Greece, Plato founded The Academy–the prototype of today’s colleges and universities.

Plato had inherited writing from the Egyptians who were always mindful of the fate of Thoth, the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god of writing and knowledge–of intelligence, reason, and logical–associated with learning, language, and literature. After Thoth presented his invention in the court of Pharaoh, he was removed from the chamber so his masterpiece could be examined and deliberated. It was decided that Thoth should be punished to die because written words cannot be questioned for the answers to Pharaoh’s quest for truth. Although the written words are keys to doors leading to truth, the doors are not opened and the truth beyond the doors are not perceptible to Pharaoh’s eye, which means no prior knowledge.

The whole point is that Tucker-Maxon Oral School knows that Oralism is not even part of intelligence, reason, and logical–again, associated with learning, language, and literature. Tucker-Maxon teachers are too stupid to know that sign language is very much part of intellectual discourse, while Oralism has NO knowledge and is not perceptible in our eyes! Also, cochlear implant companies as well as late Mr. William House, the father of Cochlear Implant, heavily appropriated Tucker-Maxon. In fact, Tucker-Maxon was the first oral school in America to offer cochlear implant program. Oregon is the home of the cochlear implanted. I will not name William House as Dr. William House, I will call him Mr. William House instead because he does not deserve the title of Doctor. He said, “Deafness is a such a horrible thing”, he told an audience at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1997. “If a person can hear in their last years of life, I think it is worth it. I recently put an implant in a 95 years old man. He got married after that” What a gelding! His wife was exploiting his life insurance. That was the bottom line. By the way, Karl White was his huge supporter.

Even my Individual Education Plan (IEP) reports said that I couldn’t be successful student if I did not learn Oralism right. Ha ha ha! Tucker-Maxon needs to be shut down for good because there are thousands of violations with no sanctions for the teachers with weapons in their hands. The fact is for the oligarchy and their servants, there is no law against teachers who cannot be blameless as well as their money donors and media trolls to suggest that the society should lynch Deaf children’s hands and be judged by a jury of Audists. Póg Mo Éireannach Thóin! (Kiss My Irish Ass!)

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

References:

Plato, by Reeve, C.D.C. 1998. Cratylus. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-william-house-20121212,0,271457.story

http://www.hei.org/stories/articles/william_house.html

Tag: Chris Soland

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