I AM NOT GOOD LANGUAGE THEN I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAY

I just viewed the e-mail regarding the implants and am truly saddened by the outcome.

For hearing parents unfamiliar with what is available to the deaf community, when someone comes in and offers them an alternative regarding the future of a deaf child vs. hearing child, they will be easily swayed to jump at the implant. These are people that have never been exposed to the wonderful, tight-knit community of the deaf culture. As a child of deaf parents, the deaf “family/friends” we grew up with was something few groups experience, I would imagine.

The video brought out many emotions but the most prominent one is that so much may be lost because the “awareness” is not out there being passed onto the hearing community. And, I strongly agree with the tunnel-vision theory of the video; it is just easier to follow the medical lead. After all, doctors are all knowing and “God-like” (snicker).

There are many people in this country who are frightened of ANY foreign language, ASL included. As a long-time student of ASL and of French I’ve seen the prejudice that many Americans have about anything they regard as out of the ordinary. ASL doesn’t just benefit deaf children and adults. It’s also a fantastic language for pre-verbal children to use. These children are shown to have a much lower level of frustration because they have a way to communicate their needs when they cannot do so vocally.

There are also situations (like scuba-diving, skydiving, rock-concerts, noisy job sites, silent military maneuvers, or driving in separate cars) when vocal communication will not work. ASL is ideal in these situations.

What’s interesting to me as a hearing person is that both sides of the debate suffer from the same inability to understand the other side of the fence. Very few hearing parents will ever know the beauty of ASL, the thrill of a truly fluid non-verbal converstation, or the warm embrace of deaf culture. On the other hand, there is simply no way most people in the deaf community will ever understand what it means to a hearing person to hear a symphony, the rustling of autmn leaves, or the laughter of their children. This is nothing against the deaf community (whom I love), but it’s just a fact of life.

Both sides are unable to understand truly each other, so I don’t see this debate going away. If there were a way that each side could spend a day in the other side’s shoes, we might have some way to find a compromise.

Thought you would be very interesting watch this tape about CI……

Click the link above

Thank you,
David

As for the mentalities that 1) Deaf activists are forcing ASL down people’s throat and that 2) ASL is “on par” with “communication options”…
Hogwash.

1) AGB is shoving Oralism down all our throats– and most especially hearing parents’ throats. AGB is running around telling families to not use sign language. So the assertion that Deaf activists are “forcing ASL” is misplaced blame/anger at best, and an excuse to avoid facing the truth- that the AGBAD exists to suppress Deaf babies’ good education, life, and happiness- and while doing these, get rich through the Volta Bureau’s investments.

As for 2) ASL “on par” with “options”. Sigh. Really? Are these equal? Do hearing students in the U.S. have a “choice” between the English language, morse code, mathematical equations, or musical lyrics as the “language of instruction” during the academic day? No. They are expected to use English, period. Sure, there are ESL classes- but they ultimately are dropped for English immersion.

If people really understood that ASL is THE language, and incidentally, ASL INCREASES English development, everybody would support ASL without reservations.

Anyway, keep vloggin’ Jack- every time I see your vlog, I get more and more hopeful that Deaf babies will have a better future.

DE