The English transcript will be coming at a later date. Thank you for your patience.
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Category: Audism, Bilingualism, Deaf
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26
Jul
ENGLISH VERSION (loosely translated from ASL):
Once upon a time, in an Italian city far, far away, the Milan 1880 Resolution was passed that removed the use of sign languages from educational programs for the Deaf around the world. Just last Monday, thanks to the hard work of the BC Deaf committee, supported by the Deaf community, Canadian and international, paid off in the rejection of the Milan 1880 Resolution by Vancouver ICED 2010 committee.
Now what??? FORGIVENESS!
I must add this vlog as a postscript to my previous vlog: ICED 2010, the New Era: What do We do? Markku Jokinen, the president of World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), gave a speech. One statement he made that made an impression on me is as follows:
“We must forgive ourselves.” He gave the Finnish sign for forgiveness. (view vlog at 1:09) ”We must forgive ourselves first. Then, we can forgive the Hearing for all those 130 years of terrible oppression.”
He is correct.
Look at us, the Deaf community, both online and offline, in the real word. We have been engaged in much infighting and horizontal oppression. Much pulling down of individuals (Crab theory is one explanation) and antagonism has divided us all. This fragmentation is getting us nowhere.
United, we will succeed in obtaining what we want…and need. Look at the ICED 2010 Rejection (repudiation) of the Milan 1880 Resolution. Wow. That was quite powerful. The BC Deaf committee could not have been successful in its negotiations with the ICED 2010 committee if they did not have the backing of the BC Deaf community or the international Deaf community at large. We, the united Deaf community sent them a deluge of email letters of encouragement. This accomplished much.
True, the New Era document is not perfect, but WE GOT SOMEWHERE!
Interestingly enough, I received an email letter from a friend who is Deaf. He made a point related to the clause containing the terms “all forms of communication” in the New Era document. In full, the clause reads:
“Call upon all Nations of the world to remember history and ensure that educational programs accept and respect all languages and all forms of communication.”
My friend suggested that this clause was included to show that we are not rejecting those non-signing Deaf people who use the following modes of communication i.e. oral, Cued speech, etc., and/or use cochlear implants. He also suggested that if this clause was not included, it would look like we are rejecting those very people, when nothing could be further from the truth. These non-signing Deaf are most definitely part of the Deaf community!
All those 130 years of systemic oppression! WHOA!
This same friend said that at one time he knew nothing of ASL because he was raised Oral. Now he is a fluent user of ASL. If we had rejected him due to his being oral, he would have absolutely resisted becoming involved in the Deaf community. This would have resulted in him becoming a solitary figure.
Hence, we MUST forgive ourselves, and unite! Markku, who thinks in global terms, is correct when he implores us to forgive. Forgiveness (Finnish sign 4:09). It’s a key word. Forgive!
Forgiveness. It unites rather than divides. United, we shall educate others so that they may finally see…
Proud, confident, productive, creative and enabling Deaf citizens in respective countries*.
(*BLOGGER’S NOTE: The last line was excerpted from the New Era Document, second page.)
Category: Audism, Bilingualism, Deaf
10 Comments
26
Jul
ENGLISH VERSION (loosely translated from ASL):
The New Era Presentation Monday Night, July 19, 2010
The Deaf community was invited to the Douglas College for the New Era Presentation and Global Panel ( Mon and Tues nights) offered by the BC Deaf committee. (See the open invitation flyer in the video)
This vlog will only focus on the Monday night component of the two-night presentation and panel meetings. There was a good number of folks, not only from the BC Deaf community, but also from the international Deaf Community. These International Deaf people came from countries such as:
Sweden
Finland
Norway
Saudi Arabia
Belgium
Germany
France
England
Portugal
What took place that Monday night? There were voice interpreters as well as LSQ, ASL and Gestuno. The people running the meeting were Monte Hardy, Wayne Sinclair, Nigel Howard, Vincent Chauvet, and Joe McLaughlin, WFD President Markku Jokinen (Finland) and one of the WFD board members, Tomas Hedberg (Sweden) were present as well.
The speakers, including Monte, Wayne and Joe, described how the BC Deaf committee began negotiating with the ICED organizing committee 9 months ago, and how it culminated in the announcement that Monday morning. I got goosebumps. The WFD President, one of those… OK. I will list the parties that signed the New Era document. (View the blank lines on 2nd pages where names are to be signed in the vlog)
Vancouver ICED 2010 organizing committee
BC Deaf Community
Canadian Association of the Deaf
World Federation of the Deaf
The last signature, by President Markku Jokinen was finally done at 11 p.m. Sunday night… LAST SUNDAY NIGHT…before the Monday morning repudiation of the Milan 1880 Resolution! (Talk about the 11th hour timing!) The WFD President would never have signed the document if the CAD President had not signed it beforehand. If that last signature had not been in place, that Monday morning announcement would have NEVER been made.
Now what will be done with the New Era document?
There are 4 original New Era documents signed by all four parties. One original is given to the WFD organization to keep. The second one belongs to C.A.D.. The third original was handed to the ICED 2010 committee, according to Wayne Sinclair, to pass on to the Greece ICED 2015 committee to hold and follow. Hereafter, that document would be passed on to future ICED organizing committees of host nations every 5 years. The final original goes to the BC Deaf community to be temporarily kept at the Western Institute of the Deaf until Wayne Sinclair succeeds in negotiating with the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for permanent placement and display.
As for the Book of Legacy, the Vancouver ICED 2010 committee, BC Deaf community committee, CAD and WFD all signed it . Folks in the BC Deaf community , Canadian and international Deaf communities signed it as well on both Monday and Tuesday nights. There were a good number of signatures in that book. (UPDATE: Approximately 600 signatures) This legacy book is then given to Markku Jokinen (WFD President) along with the New Era document to take to each WFD meeting in various nations (beginning in Johannesburg, South Africa). This book will also be lent to future host ICED organizing committees as reminder of our agreement to include, and to collaborate with the Deaf community.
I wish to share what Gary Malkowski, who was the first Deaf politician in Canada, and the first Deaf MPP in Ontario, said in his fiery speech to the audience (I’m paraphrasing here):
The flag of Milan 1880 is no longer up and waving. It’s down now, and thrown away! Up with the banner of… VANCOUVER 2010! THE NEW ERA BEGINS HENCEFORTH!
The audience applauds. *HANDS WAVE*
Category: Audism, Deaf
4 Comments
01
Jun
Vanilla Deaf. “What the…? Is racism at play here?” was my first reaction, and that of some Hearing friends, as well. At first, my thoughts were that it probably meant White Deaf. Is there such a term as “Chocolate Deaf”? Turns out it isn’t racism, but something else entirely.
I googled it, and came across the blog of a Hearing mother of a young Deaf child who explained that the term was used by Hearing Loss professionals to define Deaf children without developmental issues that prelude language acquisition. In other words, Vanilla Deaf means “clean” or “normal” Deaf. This term isn’t widely used, not even in the Deaf Education field. It is my understanding that this label is a fairly new one.
I had NEVER come across this label until recently. Why didn’t most Deaf professionals, and the Deaf Community know about this? Read on, and we might glean the answer to this question.
Check this link out: http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/9/3/346.pdf Scroll down to the bottom of that page. A professor recommended that teacher-educators require their student-teachers to read this book in their courses. What I found interesting is the rationale this professor used for this recommendation, as well as the department with which this professor is affiliated.
Deaf children are being categorized from an early age as either “Vanilla Deaf” or Deaf-Plus (this term will be discussed separately at a later date) by “hearing loss professionals”, who then encourage the placement of vanilla deaf children in non-signing educational settings. Who are those “hearing loss professionals”? Examples can be found in this link:
http://www.insightcinema.org/hearinglossprofessionals.html
Type “vanilla deaf” in the search box of any of the organization websites, and you’d be surprised at the number of documents that come up. For instance, at Better Hearing Institute, you’d find 47 documents that contain this term!
Out of curiosity, I decided to google “Vanilla Natives”, “Vanilla Aboriginals”, “Vanilla Hispanics”, “Vanilla French”, and “Vanilla Francophone”. Guess what? None of them exists. What I came up with had to do with food or scents. Therefore, NO ethnic minority children had the dubious honour of having the vanilla label attached to them.
What conclusions can we draw from these facts?
Obviously, racism isn’t even on the radar here. The label of “vanilla deaf” is apparently part of the jargon used by “hearing loss” professionals when they discuss young Deaf children without developmental issues that hinder language development. It seems that some Hearing parents of newly diagnosed Deaf children have been exposed to this label while most Deaf educators and the Deaf community remain in the dark.
If this label is used by “hearing loss” professionals and others who adhere to the Listen and Speak ideology to encourage Hearing parents to place their Deaf children in non-signing educational settings, then one could most certainly conclude that audism is very much at play here.
One more thing: the very act of labelling of Deaf children as vanilla deaf (or otherwise) can also be deemed audistic in practice. So, the label of vanilla deaf can be considered an audist label.
What’s your conclusion?
Category: Audism, Deaf
53 Comments
14
Jun
Readers, this is my rebuttal to a comment made by the author of A Weeping ASL Deaf User on the Cochlear Implant Online blog.
Dear OpenMinded Deaf Observer,
This is in response to your comment (#59)
I’m sorry for your pain of feeling “subhuman” in your family of hearing people.
I am a Child Of Hearing Parents like you. However, you and I differ in our perspectives of the world. My parents decided to not go the oral route with me, but raise me normally (my mother’s words, not mine) with sign language from 6 months old, and “bathe” me in language through the visible, accessible ASL surrounded by Deaf adults, and the strong supportive Deaf community where I hail from.
I have never grown up feeling like a black sheep in my Hearing family. True, not many people in my extended family signed, but that did not mean I did not grow up bilingual. I was surrounded by BOOKS, and by relatives including my grandparents and many uncles, aunts, and cousins who were more than happy to chat with me through writing, or fingerspelling or signing. Throughout my childhood, I got to see a variety of written English, from primary levels up to Ph.D level, so my English skills flourished.
Never once did I feel subhuman. In fact, I grew up feeling loved, and involved in family games and activities. True, I wasn’t able to participate in conversations fully, but that didn’t really bother me as I preferred to READ. I never felt that I HAD to fit into my family or that I HAD to use my speech. I was ACCEPTED for the unique Deaf individual I am by my family. True, I was occasionally curious about how things sounded, but I never had the burning desire to HEAR. How could I miss something that I never had in the first place? Silence is golden especially when you have 40+ cousins in your grandparents’ house! 
As a Deaf Canadian, I support the bilingual approach for Deaf Children. True, more children are implanted these days, but that does not mean they shouldn’t have the advantage of ASL as well as spoken English.
As for technology:
TTY or Videophone? I’ll take both!! I use TTY for conversing with Hearing people through relay service. I don’t mind that. Videophone are great for connecting me with other Deaf people across Canada, and yes, USA. It sure is easy on the gas budget and the phone bill!
DVD vs VHS? I’ll take both! VHS is good especially since you don’t have to search for that tiny subtitle button on your remote. DVD is great since you press MENU button and skip the previews, and find that favourite scene.
Small gas-saving cars vs horse? Neither. Small cars don’t fit my large brood of children… 5 kids. Horses? Sorry. I always lose arguments with gravity.
“Disliking non-walking people to use wheelchair who want to see the real world as you prefer them to look at pictures of the real world and disallow them to explore the real world.” HUH?? That doesn’t make sense to me. I HAVE used a wheelchair 24 hours just to see what it was like for my best friend who is wheel-chair-bound. It didn’t stop me from seeing the real world, nor did it stop her from seeing the real world. It helped me better see the world from her perspective. Those of you who have Deaf relatives or friends, try those white out noise earplugs… you’d be surprised at what it’s like to walk in your kids or Deaf friends’ shoes.
If you are trying to tell me I’m not seeing the real world because I don’t use CI, I most definitely object. A person’s perspective of the real world differs from that of another. You cannot tell me that the world I live in, which is full of ASL and Deaf culture is any less real than that of the hearing world. That is definitely hogwash, and doesn’t wash with me. *
To borrow and change YOUR words: “What do you see in these analogies? POSITIVE RESPONSES!
Moi, selfish for wanting to give the GIFT of ASL to CI babies? PUHLEEZ! It is a gift for a child to be bilingual. I’m not opposed to Deaf babies being exposed to both English AND ASL. My problem is that when Deaf children DON’T benefit from the CI or AVT therapy, and I know of quite a few, they end up getting ASL AFTER their window of opportunity for language acquisition has long closed. THEN, it’s too late for them to become fully fluent in ANY one language, be it spoken or signed.
“The REAL WORLD is run by people with spoken language.” Hmmmm. Define “REAL WORLD”. It’s all in the perspective, dear. My REAL WORLD is my family, the communities in which I live, both Deaf and Hearing, my country, which is officially bilingual, by the way, and obviously the Internet
Just because Deaf children have CI doesn’t always mean they have better choices than we do. It’s all values. We all make value judgements as to what constitutes better choices. I KNOW I have excellent choices in my life. I exercise my choices as a Deaf ASL individual. THAT is a gift I will ALWAYS thank my parents for!
Shelley
* I have since re-read my post and revised. This revision is in a different colour since I have given this more thought after trying to figure out OMDO’s logic.
Category: Audism, Bilingualism, Deaf, Family
Tags: ASL, attitude barriers, Audism, bias, Bilingualism, Cochlear Implant, deaf education, phonocentrism 15 Comments