Last weekend, I went to see “Fiddler on the Roof”, which has always been my favorite play, because it’s about Jewish culture and history, and that is a part of me. But, when I saw it last weekend, I saw it with a new perspective on what it really is about. In the vlog, I discuss what the play is about, which may surprise you to think about.
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In my last two vlogs, Miss Kat’s Mom commented, challenging my opposition to the cochlear implant with the question, “is it about you, or is it about what’s right for the children?”. I responded:
As Shel told you last time, (and she was correct), it is not about me — it is about those Deaf children and MY PEOPLE — We have already seen too many generations of Deaf children and adults suffering from the effects of audist decisions (and we place the CI into this category), and we want to see this stop. The American Indians mourn their “lost generation”, just as we Deaf mourn our “lost generationS”, and do not want to see the pattern continue indefinitely.
Kat’s Mom responded, as many Hearing parents might:
Oh, and first and foremost, my child is a member of our family. She is Deaf, but that is not the most important thing about her. She is herself first. She is a member of our family, and a child, all before she is Deaf.
What Kat’s Mom fails to understand (and the Hearing-dominated establishment continues to attempt to suppress) is that her child, and all Deaf children, are US. We, the Deaf, are those children, 20, 30, 40, 50 years later. We know what the children are experiencing, thinking and feeling. We have lived through it all. If not individually, we have collectively. We know the trials, traumas and tribulations of living in a Hearing world and among Hearing families. Hearing parents, no matter how understanding and empathetic they may try to be, can never fully understand what it is like, or is, to be Deaf.
When we see a Deaf child, especially one in a Hearing family, our hearts go out to these children. We were these children. They are, and will be part of us. This is why we argue, fight, rally, protest, and advocate — FOR THE DEAF CHILDREN. FOR OUR LANGUAGE. FOR OUR COMMUNITY. FOR THEIR FUTURE.
But perhaps I’m not explaining myself well enough here. So, I would like to present my translation of Ella Mae Lentz’s poem, “To a Hearing Mother”, which I think beautifully expresses what I’m trying to say. (And for those Ella haters out there, it might do you good to keep in mind that she expressed the ideas of bipartisanship and cooperation between Hearing parents and Deaf people in this poem long before these ideas were popular in the current fashion):
You and I,
Worlds apart,
Our languages so different,
Our experiences growing up so different.
You grew up knowing nothing about the Deaf except for an occasional passing mention,
while I grew up surrounded by the Hearing with their ignorance and oppression.
Then you conceived and delivered a Boy!
And Deaf, too!
You were shocked and disheartened,
while I was surprised and delighted.
You took courage and tried to create him in your image.
However, he will grow up to be like me.
His hair, eyes and body is like yours.
However, his soul, mind and heart will be like mine.
He is your Son, but he is of my People.
To whom does this boy belong? You or I?
He is like a tree which nobody knows.
Without us, the Deaf, the tree will be lonely and wither, having no soul.
However, without you, there would be no tree.
And our great people and language would rapidly dwindle.
With our conflicts and struggles, do we want to be the saw that cuts down the tree?
No! Better that we come and work together, and be the rich soil that will nurture the tree,
so that it grows and flourishes and THRIVES!
According to Dictionary.Com, Racism is defined as:
| 1. | a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others. |
| 2. | a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination. |
| 3. | hatred or intolerance of another race or other races. |
While the origins of the word Racism are unclear, the Merriam-Webster dictionary states it came into being at least by 1933. However, it probably did not come into the national American consciousness until the activism of the Black community to achieve integration in the schools and public facilities during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1961, President Kennedy introduced the term “Affirmative Action” as an idea and means toward helping racial minorities achieve equality in education and employment. This idea was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
In 1978, Allan Bakke, a White man, sued the University of California system for “reverse discrimination“, claiming that Affirmative Action policies instituted by the UC system discriminated against him as a White man by admitting minority students with lower GPAs than he had.
So, we can see from the above that “racism” is a policy or system which establishes one race to be “superior” over another, as well as taking active steps towards discriminating against the “inferior” racial group. ”Reverse Racism”, then, is the act of unintentionally discriminating against members of the majority group while trying to achieve equality for the minority group (although AllWords.com defines it as “Discrimination or aggression directed toward the political majority (either a member or group of that majority or the majority in general).”
Audism, coined by Tom Humphries in 1977, is defined as: “The notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears.” This definition is fairly similar in structure to Dictionary.Com’s definition of racism, and we can easily take it to be a related concept pertaining to the power relationships between Deaf and Hearing people, rather than between Whites and other racial Minorities. Therefore, it stands to reason then, that “Reverse Audism” would be defined as something like “Discrimination or aggression by Deaf people toward Hearing people as individuals or as a group”.
Eric Gjerdingen, also known as “Valhallian”, has opened up a big debate with his post, “Reverse Audism?”, in which he describes members of the Deaf community as “bashing” new signers or those who utilize other communication methodologies. Before I continue here, I must say that I am not claiming that this behavior does not exist. It does. I too was a recipient of this behavior when I first entered MSSD. For the first six months or so of my time there, students derided me for being “oral” because I didn’t know enough signs to express myself well. I did not like it, but I tolerated it because I knew somewhere inside that I was on “their” territory and I had to learn “their” (I had not yet been enculturated into the Deaf community, and at that time, Deaf people felt like “others” to me) language (and also, because I had already experienced ostracism at the hands of Hearing people, and I knew that if I could not get accepted by Deaf people, I had nowhere else to go). But after about 6 months, I did learn enough signs to express myself at at least a basic level, and the insults pretty much stopped after that.
But, I have to say that this “bashing” does not represent “Reverse Audism”. Why? Simple. Because “Reverse Audism” would be the act of “bashing” HEARING people, according to the definitions established above. Deaf people, whether new signers, cued speech users, signed English users, or oralists, are NOT Hearing.
So what is this behavior? To understand, one must understand that all cultures need to maintain a set of social norms and values which hold them to be distinct from all other groups. If these social norms and values are not maintained, then the group by definition will be assimilated or merged with another group. So, cultures must maintain “cultural boundaries”, and in order to do so, they employ a number of boundary maintenance devices, one of which is social control. By “bashing” non-signers, Deaf people are maintaining a core value of the Deaf culture; the use of ASL among its members. To allow members to not sign among themselves would be to risk the assimilation of the Deaf culture into Hearing society, by default.
Now back to audism. Audist thinking pervades our society. Deaf people are inundated with ideas emanating from Hearing people who project their Hearing ideals onto Deaf people through the educational, social and medical realms. When we grow up with these ideals, especially without the counterbalancing force of Deaf culture, it is only natural that we would internalize these thoughts. Thus, we look down on Deaf people who have not developed good English skills, instead of realizing that it is the educational system that failed them. We look up to Deaf people who have good speech, instead of realizing that this is only a particular skill that these particular people possess, but is not a necessity for anyone to get along in life. We look down on Deaf people who sign “strong ASL” as “not highly literate” instead of valuing their native grasp of this language. We look to acquiring hearing technologies instead of considering how our visual abilities serve us just fine. Genie Gertz defined this pattern of internalized audist thinking as “dysconscious audism“.
Now back to Valhallian’s point. He does make a good case for unity among Deaf people. This is definitely something that we need, if we are to get anywhere as a group. I agree that Deaf people need to be more tolerant and understanding of the difficulty new signers experience in learning to sign (I have to admit I’ve been guilty of this particular sin myself to some degree) and to be more encouraging of their efforts to learn. Deaf people need to understand that other Deaf may have a lot of dysconscious audism running around in their systems, and not to label them as “audists” (although it is ok to say that X is “audist thinking”). These are just a few examples.
But Deaf people (those who have not internalized the norms and values of Deaf culture) also need to understand that Deaf culture needs to maintain a level of social norms and values. Being totally accepting of any “communication choice” can ultimately lead to the dissolution of Deaf culture. These Deaf people need to understand that culturally Deaf people are seeing a number of threats to the culture and its values, and have reached a point where they feel the need to speak out and take more concrete action, rather than sit back or work quietly as they have been for over 100 years. Deaf people need to accept that ASL is a valid language for social and educational purposes, and that speech is not a requirement for a happy life. These are just a few examples on this side.
There is much that both “sides” need to work on. Much of it derives from Dysconscious Audism. But, where did Dysconscious Audism come from? The audism that Hearing people have towards us. Therefore, it is important that we focus on audism first (while addressing dysconscious audism within ourselves and each other). When there is no more audism, there will be no more dysconscious audism. And maybe then, we can finally see the Deaf community, in all its glory and diversity, truly come together.
Hi everybody–
I’m sure some of you noticed my site looked strange last week. After I posted my last vlog, “Parental Rights vs. Parental Responsibilities“, about 3 hours later I found I couldn’t get into my administrator account. The next day, someone informed me that it looked like the site had been hacked into. When I checked, sure enough it was.
Fortunately, it does not look like a deliberate attack — no files were deleted and nothing was changed. I did find some suspicious bit of code that I deleted. I suspect it was some kid out there doing it for bragging rights. (Personally, I’d like to see this kid tied up to a pole somewhere and let everyone he’s hacked have a few hacks at him in any way they’d like…). With the help of some friends, I was able to clean up the damage and get the site running normally again.
So, the moral is… make sure you have a good, strong password (letters [with capitals and lowercase] and numbers), close up any security holes you may have, and hope they don’t get through. In case you missed it, the link to last week’s post is: http://www.deafhooddiscourses.com/?p=88.
In relation to my recent post, “The DBC Hercules and the AGB Hydra“, “Candy” asked to see evidence of what AGB has done. In response to this, I am going to set up a “clearinghouse” center (as a category “Extra Reading” [for lack of a better title at this moment] on this website where I will make available copies (Word/PDF) of any articles or information relating to AGB’s actions against the well-being of the Deaf culture and community. These articles can be research, financial data, political/legal, etc. but MUST be verifiable. Any other information that you have to share (but might not be related to AGB itself) that you think might help towards enlightening the “doubting Thomases” out there will be welcome, as long as it meets the VERIFIABLE standard. Send the files to me at DrDonG@deafhooddiscourses.com and I will post them, subject to approval and verifiability.
In this introductory Vlog, I:
