Stealing ASL?

No no.. maybe not literally ’stealing’ our language.. but just a short time ago I was watching a program on animal planet (channel 54) and a advertisement came on…

I guess I was still keenly aware of this in the aftermath of Amy’s recent Vlog but …

guess what the ad was showing?

Babies.   Several babies sitting in a circle and surrounded by happy, smiling mothers.   The mothers were sitting on there knees, gesturing and encouraging their little darlings to sign.

Yes.. sign!  Hearing babies and mothers using baby signs to communicate their needs.

What really gets me is when the spokeswoman (assuming this is the ‘owner’ of the program -  for lack of a better way to put it) was talking about the program and its success.  She actually used the word ‘enpowering’ when applied to the babies getting their needs met.

*shaking head here*

Maybe I am touchy on this.. but I can see how easy it would be for someone to learn the basis signs and turn it into a profit and help others at the same time.  I’d bet my bottom dollar that if such a person was to encounter a Deafie, she’d be completely lost.

When I see the hearing mothers sitting in a circle around their children, their faces happy and smiling,  my thoughts ran over this:  If they only knew the history of speech therapy victims’ histories…  being denied access to other options of communication, be it ASL or other forms of sign.

Where was enpowerment back when we needed it?

RAWNESS and shattered nerves…

If you haven’t seen Amy Cohen Efron’s recent vlog by now…

GO

Her presentation hit it right on the nail (or should I say nerve?). What is it about us that drives hearing parents to grope about for an answer? WHY is is that they don’t/won’t take the consideration of the child’s self-esteem and confidence into the factor when deciding what to do?

Here’s the truth here. By and large, the whole process of speech therapy and/or CI surgery is to make it more convenient for the hearing parents/family in terms of communication. We became an inconvenience the moment we were born. We’re the ‘problem child’.

This upsets the expectations of the parents upon finding out their new child is deaf - especially if they’d never had any encounter with a deaf person before. Many of them reach out for answers, often from professionals who’d been indoctrined with the concept of what’s acceptable.

How many audiologists do you know who can sign? I’d encountered only ONE who’d learned the basic signs and some fingerspelling - which I thought was ironic, considering their profession. To further point out the insensitiveness of the audiology staff, they rarely wave or come and get you when your turn comes. Instead the dumbasses call out your name and you keep on reading the outdated magazine. When you go up to the receptionist desk, do they offer you a pad and pencil? Or do they start talking to you?

Think about it the next time you have an appointment.

What I don’t get here is this.. how can two programs designed to help babies communicate be so full of ………. AAAGGHHHHHH!!!!! Deaf babies and hearing babies…. ? Ok.. fine.. I can handle that aspect. It’s great - a hearing baby learning baby signs to reduce frustration and to increase self esteem, blah blah blah.. and based on heavy research by professionals… (there’s that word again)

There they are.. the two professionals.. (whose field is psychology! Yes!

psychology!)

(no no! NOT her! Not Amy.. ok?)

All’s that’s good and well. I’m all for happy babies, ok?

Now what’s this about AVT? (Auditory Verbal Therapy)

Their approach and concept of teaching deaf babies/ kids is to listen.. and listen …….. and more listening.. Thanks to the FDR’s approval in 2002 on implanting deaf babies with CI at SIX MONTHS.

This program was founded by two well known speech and language specialists, one of who is shown here…

Remember that name, folks.

The idea behind the AVT is to listen.. without lipreading.. without looking at the speaker’s face…. (they even cover their fish-mouths with their hands).

and…… *drumroll*.. learn to speak well?

excuse me while I go and emit another silent scream.

Mind you.. I’m not against speech at all.. No siree… but listen here. The whole process of speech therapy was to teach us a language that did NOT come naturally to us.. and to ignore ASL or other forms of sign language.

How many of you had a good time at your speech therapist when you were a kid? How many times were you told you talked funny or had an ‘accent’? How many times did you see a hearing person you’d never met before, struggle to understand what you said while trying to be polite about it?

And a lot of speech therapy was done with looking at lips, feeling vibrations on the throat, etc etc.. and AVT enshews all of that?

God help them

Not only that, this program is very popular in the United States and abroad - and well funded too.. you can guess where the funds come from.

WHAT THE HELL is it going to take to make them realize what they’ve done to us and are still trying to do?

Educate - yes.. but it’s not the only answer out there. We have to contend with the mindset out there.

This is how I feel …

Til next time……… and watch out for the evil-doers…

RFW

Clarification on the term ‘Deaf Ghetto’

Seems I’d stepped on a toe or two with my last entry.  I just wanted to clear up a couple of points here because I know it’s a strong word to use.  I chose it because I felt it was justified in getting a point across.  It’s human nature for a lot of us to live within an ’safety net’. By this, I mean working in an environment that is familiar to us  and one that we’d gained a sense of comfort in.  For those who’d chosen to venture outside of their comfort zone, it can be tough at times and twice as hard to acheive the level you’d want.  Even with today’s advancing technology on communication options,  there is still the attitude found within the hearing society that we have to contend with.

That’s all!  

Confidence among Deafies.. or the lack of…

I have been thinking on this for awhile, and talked with a few high placed deafies online on this subject - to get their feedback and advice. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

How are we supposed to deal with ourselves if we want to stay out of the ‘deaf ghetto’? This means making a choice to enter a profession that does not involve the deaf community. This includes being a deaf teacher of deaf students, couselor for the deaf, coaching, etc.. you get the picture.

However.. I talked to a professional who deals with both the deaf and hearing professional worlds and to quote her (deaf herself) ‘A deaf professional in a deaf setting has to work twice as hard to prove themselves that they are capable of their jobs.’ There’s a lot of truth in that. But I expect the same would likely be appliable to the hearing as well.

There is a strong link between having confidence in oneself as a deaf person and the work place or in a professional setting. That confidence can be shattered or severely displaced when the deaf professional decides to leave his ’safety net’ and move into a hearing workplace. This means that the deaf person has to work twice as hard to prove themselves capable not only to themselves, but to their hearing co-workers too. And there is still the work to overcome the attitudes of SHP (to quote Amy Cohen Efron; ’stupid hearing people’) who view them as ‘deaf’ first before anything else.

In another instance, I talked with a deaf woman who is trained as a social worker and works as an advocate for her deaf community where she lives. She stated that there is a geniune lack of confidence among many of the older deafies (40’s and on up) in the work place because of ‘old fears’ that had been planted early in our lifes.

I can see where this can happen - even with a well - educated deafie. How many job ads do you see in the papers and online that required skills in communication within a company AND with the public? How many of them require the use of a telephone?

While it’s true that we have the ADA law and the technology which surpasses the use of a TTY machine, we still do have to use them to make a contact with a company - only to run into a wall that makes it clear they’re still in the dark ages (hanging up on relay calls, etc)

But guess what? She said that a part of the problem came from Gallaudet University. True Biz! She had a couple of clients who’d had a bad time in their work place (hearing) because of their English level. Because of this, it has completely destroyed their confidence to make it in the hearing world - and yet, Gallaudet allowed them to graduate on the foundation of ‘false hope’ without looking into their English skills.

Something’s wrong there.

It’s also wrong for us to feel deep down questioning ourselves if we really can do it in spite of communication issues and deafness. We shouldn’t have to deal with those feelings when we’re have enough on our plates not only try to convince them to hire us, but to prove it to them as well.

She also said - and I agree - that a large part of the confidence problem stems from long standing oppression. Many of us had been ‘conditioned’ to think in those terms “I can’t” via social conditioning, parental opinion, etc. Those are the internal struggles many deafies deal with. Sure.. it’s easy to utter the brave words that we can do anything (but hear) - however deep down inside of ourselves, we wonder. And there’s the issue of external struggles that causes a deaf professional to feel this way too, due to the hearing ‘watching out for them’, ‘helping’ and being patronizing.

We all need a sense of belonging in any work place we find ourselves in, a place where we can be safe and be confident.

Drive Through or Drive on? (fast food ordering by Deafies)

A recent peek into Joey Baer’s vlog sparked off some memories from my own experiences.. with drive- throughs. (Joey.. I hope you don’t mind this - even though the topics are somewhat different, the end results are very alike.)

Joey remarked on his experience with a fast food chain at an airport and this prompted me to bring up another issue.. that of drive- throughs.

yeah … drive- throughs.. as in fast food chains..

like these:

Usually I know what I want and most of the time I will already have my order written down by the time I skip the evil- speaker (grins) and head straight to the window. As with another blog that touched on this briefly, some responders have comment on the order- taker’s literacy with English. There have been a time or two when I had this problem but they usually hand it over to someone else without a fuss.

However… There have been a few times when I’d driven up to the window, handed in my order only to be told to go back to the speaker and use it.

What do I do?

I looked directly at them with a glint in my eye that tells them not to mess with me and write politely asking to see their manager. That usually gets the job done. I’d had one unpleasant encounter with an total idiot who flatly refused to take my order and just kept pointing back to the speaker and it turned out HE was the manager. There was a line of cars piling up behind me and I went into a ‘bitch’ mode and refused to move. Using a final tactile, I told them they will be hearing from my lawyer immediately and was about to drive off when they waved at me, all smiles and even gave me an extra order of fries on the house. *chuckles*

How do YOU deal with it if you ran into this problem? What is your most embarassing situation in that?

Tell all…

til next time…

RFW

Do we really learn from our history?

Recently I’d come across some references to Agent Orange, a chemical (which was produced in America) heavily used to defoliate the rain-forests of Vietnam during the war 30 years ago.  I also encountered accounts on the long - term results that has affected even the third generation of the Vietnamese whose grandparents had been exposed to the chemical.

Horrifying.

And yet, a repeat occurred during the Gulf War back in 1990 - 91 -  this time instead of Agent Orange, veterans and residents were threatened with biological and chemical warfare. (resulting in what is now know as Gulf War Syndrome).  Yup.. you got it.  This was sent by Americans -  that’s us.

Of course..  the Pengaton and the government denies any responsibility. They might cough up a bit of money and toss it over to Vietnam as ‘relief funds’

What?  You think I’m making this up?

Read this:

http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/20001105agentorange1.asp

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11638

Gulf War and its results links:

http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james29.htm

http://mediafilter.org/caq/Caq53.gws.html

Now we have a ’situation’ over in Iraq in which many of our troops are trying to get a handle on.  This is being pushed by Bush, who is grasping at any straws to make a mark on history before evacuating the Oval office.   At least Tony Blair has the sense to say ‘enough’ and pull ‘em out.

I can’t help but wonder what the Vietnamese victims must think of us -  off fighting a war that is not ours in the name of ‘protecting our country and its interests in terms of security’ .  It’s funny that the government is willing to spend billions on this and yet, deny what is owed to the victims stemming from 30 years and 16 years ago.

Think I’ll go back to bed.

Till Next Time…

RFW

Where’s the Make-Up Artist when you need one?

Seemed like a good time to take a break from blogging my mind out, but but but…..

Here I am.. sitting here at 6:30 am, staring into the great white space where I type. Why? YOU ask why? For one thing…. blog everyday? Not a good idea! It would get boring for me fast and bring you sleep. (if not already) *snorts*…. anyway…. here I am. Phhfftt.

Some of you know about the vlog/blog conference that took place at Gallyland this weekend - with several well known bloggers/vloggers flocking there for a panel discussion. It was even taped live via website http://www.ccigally.info/ and I hope some of you checked it out yesterday (Saturday) I didn’t (forgot about it.. ok? so sue me). It’s also the place where the votes for the best blogs/vlogs are counted and tallied, with announcements going to the winners for 2006.

The funny thing is… though this took place at an deaf university among deaf panelists who discussed the deaf blogs, etc… well you get the picture. I was surprised to learn from a conversation in AIM that there was one who required an interp.. because ‘he was more at ease using voice than sign’

Eh? I guess this is a good time as any to see how well the cause of Unity for Gallaudet and the Deaf community comes into play and be inclusive. Bound to be interesting.

While on this… I have thought about trying vlogging sometime in the future - once I have the equipement (like a movie camera) and the technology (huh?) and give it a shot. BUT on the other hand, I keep hearing how much time it takes to do a vlog, having to do so much editing, and how it eats up space in the computer.. not to mention having to ‘practice’ the speech BEFORE going on camera… you get the idea.. mind you, I still would like to try it sometime but I really dont see myself doing it on a regular basis like some of other seem to be doing. Maybe I am just techinically inept for this.

If you had a choice between blogging and vlogging (meaning you already have a camera and all the know how), would you prefer to do just plain old blogging where you can just sit and relax, let your mind wander as you type.. or be precise and plan everything to a Z for a vlog? You gotta be fashion-minded too! (Look at Amy Cohen Effron, looking sharp and great and Teri, simple and elegant.. and of course, Joey) **Where’s the make-up artist when you need one?**

Well? Which would it be?

I think (and hope) that vlog is here to stay. . . it has really made a difference in the deaf community and from what I hear, a lot of ASL students are now required to look at ASL Vlogs to improve their grasping skills. (meaning we’re NOT ’switching’ for the benefit of the hearing). I have to e mail a friend in MD and ask her if she is asking her students to look at the links in their studies… Laura? (you know who you are)

Something just came to my mind… we already know something of the best deaf bloggers and vloggers are out there… but what about the worse? *grins* We see this in newspapers and magazines all the time.. the list of the best dressed of the year AND the worse dressed etc.. (yeah.. I know .. sounds negative but at the same time, we ARE humans and DO have a tendency to compare). Have you come across anyone who has a lot of room to improve? Let’s see ‘em! Think about constructive criticism while you’re at it.

Til next time…

RFW

To turn on.. or off?

Here’s something that occured to me the other day -  hearing aids.  I know that some deafies never bother with a hearing aid while others only wear them when they know they will be in direct contact with a hearing person (such as families, etc)..

But…  I also know that some wore them for years and then stopped using them..  while others may have stopped for a time, then started using again.

What about you? 

I rarely use mine.  The only time I put it on is when I go over to my mother’s house  or  if I have to meet with my sister.  (they are VERY hearing) and even then I have a hard time ‘catching it’.

And lastly (is that a word?).. when some of  you stopped using it.. what did you do with your old/last hearing aid?

Curious here

till next time…

RFW

Smart Deafies VS Dumbass Hearing :)

ok.. so it goes like this.. I was reading another blog..  actually it was a vlog by Banjo who was touching on trying to ask for a pen and paper.  After reading some of the responses related to that, I knew I had to write about it here *chuckles*

God only knows how many of us have had ‘retarded’ experiences with a hearing staff in places like Wal- Mart, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and even resturants where you’re seated and waited on.

Like others, I learned the hard way to be specific when writing my orders down at Wendy’s.  If I use the drive-thru,  I already know what I wanted and will have it written down like this:  (1)#3 with mayo, tomatoe, lettuce only.  Large fries and a MEDUIM Dr. Pepper.   Now.. how clear is that, I ask you?  A lot of the time, I’d get exactly what I want BUT  BUT…  some dweeb would give me an order of small fries and a BIGGIE Dr. Pepper (dumbass -  it was clearly written out)

I could use my voice if I wanted to - but I don’t understand the noise coming out of the speaker and found out the hard way if I used my voice, things were apt to screw up.  Also, in using the pen and paper method, I figured they would benefit from gaining experinece in dealing with us in the manner we’re most comfortable with.  In short, educate ‘em.

Also this practice has made me wonder at times about the literacy of the hearing - god, some of them read my order so damned slow and I watch their lips move. Fascinating.  :)  I can remember one time when this guy read it twice, then gave up and ran to his superior who’d immediately skimmed it and gave me my order perfectly.

You’d be surprised at how well some hearing can lip read.  I do this sometimes, especially in a resturant atmosphere when I want a glass of iced tea.. or a Dr. Pepper.  That’s pretty easy.  For the rest, I just point in the menu and be done with it.  I do this even when there’s an CODA around or a interp.   I never saw the need to become that dependent on those people, especially the latter since it IS their profession.

What about you guys out there?  I’d love to hear some of your experiences with those places and how you deal with them.

Til next time..

RFW (challymack)

Sorenson Interpretating VS Personal Needs

All those years of schooling… for what?

For sometime now, I have been noticing the increase of certified interps flocking to the Sorenson Centers around the country because of the ever increasing demand for their services by the deaf community.

It’s an iffy situation if you ask me. While it’s good that Sorenson has come up with the alternative to ‘traditional’ means of communication with the hearing via the phone, I have to wonder how it will affect us in the private sector.

I know for a fact that our local university is already experiencing a problem with meeting the needs of the deaf due to a shortage of qualified interps for their classes. Some of them have been ‘forced’ to rely on the services who have only reached level 4. As we know all too well, the results of a hearing teacher/instructor with limited signing skills only serves to hurt the deaf students in mainstreamed and deaf schools.

I don’t know if other universities are going through the same problem. But I’d be willing to bet they are. Not only that, I have seen the independent interp services suffer from this, losing their best to Sorenson when the demand became greater (and often when the pay is much better there with regular working hours).

For instant, I know of at least three interps who not only work at the local station here but also travel frequently to other states on a regular basis. I have heard of one interp who takes the plane to work in another state four days a week and the rest of time, locally. That person used to be available for traditional services (such as funerals, weddings, doctors, etc). Not only that, a recent visit to the Sorenson station in my town, I met with a interp I’d never seen before and learned that he was in from a neighboring state and worked here regularly.

Where does that leave us? A part of me appreciates the advances this new technology has made on the behalf of the deaf community - and yet - a part of me cannot help but question the motives behind the interpreters’ intention. Half of them have said they wanted to work with deaf people - which is all good and this and that.. I can understand the need for security which S provides (like insurance, regular hours, pay scale, and so forth). Admittingly, a small part of me growls at the thought of them making money off us *smile*

Because of the increasing demand for certified interps at all Sorenson stations across the country, this has resulted into an off balance system for us. There simply are not enough qualifed signers out there to fill the need for each and every state that provides this kind of service. On the average, it takes at least 5 to 10 years for a interpreter to reach the level of signing that qualifies for certification. This means once a person becomes certified, he/she will be left with the option of working for Sorenson - or to become independent and work with the deaf community directly.

Which is it going to be? What are we supposed to do? Wait until new interps grows up?

Til next time…

RFW