Below is a translation of this vlog.

Hello Everyone. I am splitting this vlog into two parts. This vlog, Part I, will define racism and audism, after I share this story. In the second vlog (Part II), the differences between righteous and selfish anger, and how they relate to audism and racism, will be discussed.

This story took place in the evening last Sunday, August 2. My 11-year old son, Troy, loves playing hockey. In the summer, he plays road hockey and ice hockey in the winter time. Last Sunday, he was playing road hockey near my house with a group of friends whose ages ranged from 8 to 12. Troy scored lots of goals against the other team, so that his team was really trouncing the other team soundly.

One 8 year old boy “Jack”, who was on the other team, did not take kindly to losing, so he lost his temper. He took his hockey stick and attacked my son with it. Troy managed to miss being hit. He told Jack to stop it, and called him an idiot. Jack took umbrage and said nastily, “No, I’m not an idiot! You’re the idiot! You got it from your DEAF parents!”

At first, my son was stunned that Jack actually said that. He then promptly lost his temper and struck Jack’s stick away with his own stick. Troy later explained that he did this rather than harm Jack himself. (Violence isn’t appropriate. I had a discussion with him about that.) The point must be emphasized here that Troy was quite furious about the insult against his parents.

The other players who witnessed this altercation were appalled. One boy exclaimed, “That’s racism!” The others concurred. Disgusted, they all left the game on their bikes. Three boys remained: Troy, Jack, and his embarrassed older brother. The older brother proceeded to chew Jack out on his inappropriate racist behaviour and told Jack in no uncertain terms that his behaviour was unacceptable.

Troy was quite upset that this situation occurred. He knew that audism existed, but I don’t think he quite expected to encounter it himself at this time, or any time at all. He came to me and asked me quite insistently to email Jack’s mother and inform her about what happened. I suggested that he approach her himself and discuss the situation with her. He was quite reluctant about this. My husband ended up going with him to Jack’s house for moral support. It was Jack’s father who answered the door, so Troy told him the story.

Upon returning home, Troy and I discussed the incident. We were amazed at his friends. They did not know the term audism, or even what it meant. Yet, they knew enough recognize the behavior and identify it as racist. Interesting. A group of 8-12 years old boys knew! WOW!

Now, let’s talk about the terms: Racism and audism.

Racism is based on the concept that one group is better than another based on a physical feature: skin colour, OR ethnic background. One obvious example could be given: Whites are deemed superior to Blacks. There are other examples that could be given, but for the sake of simplicity, we will leave it at that.

Audism, on the other hand, is based on the concept that it is better to hear than to not hear. Audists are those (often Hearing) people who believe that it is better to hear, and that if Deaf people cannot speak, they are to be pitied.

Audism and racism are similar concepts. Interestingly enough, the behaviours related to audism and racism are recognizable, and similar. In the story I described, Troy’s friends knew enough about racism to recognize the behaviours that included verbally attacking someone based on his parents’ physical feature, deaf(ness), which automatically reduced that individual to a lesser status. That behaviour strongly indicates audism.

That audist behaviour is tantamount to the racist behaviour of calling a Black person the “n” word. The intent behind such behaviour is to pull someone down below one’s level. Now, do you see the parallels between audism and racism, and understand it? Please view the definitions that I typed into my vlog at the end. The links are there. Check them out.

Audism: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/audism

Racism:wordnetweb.princeton.edu/erl/webwn

This is a loose translation of my ASL vlog contents.

Greetings everyone!

This is a fun vlog about my KODA twins who are now 5 1/2 years old.  This event occurred when they were approximately 1 1/2 to 2 yrs old while my mother-in-law was babysitting them at her home so I could get some errands done.

My MIL put the boys down for their afternoon nap together in one bed.  A few minutes later, she heard them chatting.  She went into the bedroom and admonished them to not talk as they were supposed to be sleeping.  She left the room.  A few moments later, things were quiet.  She was impressed that the little ones actually complied with her.  She decided to check in on them and found them signing to each other in ASL!

Well… the boys WERE complying with the letter of her command: Don’t TALK! Talk about loopholes!

Mom Funk,

Thank you for raising me the way you did, in two worlds, two languages, Mom… in the Deaf World and the Hearing World.  You allowed me to be me.  I will never forget the words you used when I once asked 20 years ago why you made the decision to expose me to ASL from the time you found out I was Deaf at 6 months old. You said: 

“I decided to raise you as a normal child and sign.”  

You did not wrap me up in a bubble while I was growing up.  You allowed me to experience life as it was. You surrounded me with Deaf adult role models.  You taught me determination, and to fight for what is right and necessary.  You modeled a love of reading.  You taught me to love and laugh.   Above all, you taught me to love me just as I am.  

Grandma Schantz,

You inspired me as a teacher.  When my Deaf School was closed for holidays and your school was still open, you took me as a small child to your classroom.  I remember discovering to my delight at the age of 4 or 5 the rich selection of children books in your classroom shelves.  I remember sitting for hours devouring your books.  I also watched you teach the elementary-aged Hearing children throughout those days.  Those were wonderful days. 

I remember vividly your sitting with me at the age of 3 or 4 on your living room couch facing the large bay window and reading Nursery Rhymes. You gestured to help me understand the word “tumbling down”.  Throughout my childhood, you took the time to talk with me for hours and share pearls of wisdom via paper and pen.  You never once corrected my grammar…NOT ONCE. You taught me to make crafts.  Between you and Mom, you both taught me to be a whiz at Scrabble from an early age!

Today, I am a teacher, because of you, Grandma and Mom. 

Mom Potma, 

Thank you for your son and lovingly raising him to be a strong and good husband.  Thank you for instilling in him strong family values and work ethics.  Thank you for the support you gave with my children, especially during the first year of my twins’ lives (even to the point of moving from 2 hours away to a town only 10 minutes away!).  Thank you for exposing our children to Dutch culture, language and food (especially boterkoek!) Also, thank you for being there for us whenever needed.  

Grandma Funk, Great-Grandma Schantz and Oma,

Our sons love you very much and that is why they all joined me in making this picture for you three.  

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! 

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.