3417 Volta Place: Spin City
3417 Volta Place…. where’s that? It’s the Headquarters of the AG Bell Association. The AGB Association has the money to hire very professional people to do publicity. Last Monday, the ICED made this announcement:
We:
- Reject all resolutions passed at the ICED Milan Congress in 1880 that denied the inclusion of sign languages in educational programs for Deaf students;
- Acknowledge and sincerely regret the detrimental effects of the Milan conference; and
- 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.
On July 23, the AGBell Association distributed their newsletter (an electronic newsletter) to their members informing them of different news relating to their mission. It did include information about the ICED conference. In the newsletter, it said:
On July 19 at its meeting in Vancouver, Canada, the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) issued a statement to address events that occurred at the 1880 Milan ICED conference which determined that the pure oral approach was the preferred method of instruction for children who are deaf. According to ICED, “This statement ‘A New Era: Participation and Collaboration’ was introduced to Congress participants as the beginning of a dialogue to promote healing and set the path for future collaboration.” In part, the statement “calls upon all nations to ensure that educational programs for the Deaf accept and respect all languages and all forms of communication.”
Now look closely at this, especially this sentence:
“…determined that the pure oral approach was the preferred method of instruction for children who are deaf.”
“Preferred”? Interesting turn of phrase. I went to the original ICED Milan conference and was astounded. It’s very interesting. The Milan conference NEVER said “ban” sign language. I’m serious. It never said it! The Milan conference did say “the oral method should be preferred than sign language”. BUT, what AGBell did not mention was that the following resolutions made at the Milan conference outlined a series of steps on how to remove sign language from the education of the Deaf, and how to promote Oralism for all Deaf people.
AGBell did make mention of ONE sentence from the ICED 2010 resolution overturning the Milan conference. In it, AGBell did not mention ANYTHING about ICED’s rejection of the Milan resolutions. Another thing, the ICED said that they “regret and acknowledge the detrimental effects of the Milan resolutions on Deaf people worldwide”. But did AGBell mention anything about those detrimental effects? Of course not! If they were to mention it, it would mean their method is wrong and invalidated!
The one sentence that AGBell did quote, they quoted only part of it. The other part said to “remember history”. AGBell doesn’t want to remember history. Why? Well, if we are to remember history, we will know all the things that happened to Deaf people as a result of their influence; all the suffering that Deaf people have endured for over 130 years, because of AGBell’s association.
Finally, the 2010 ICED offered a long list of suggestions for the future, including recognizing signed languages, including Deaf people in our own self-governance and education, and referring identified Deaf children and babies to the schools for the Deaf so the schools know about these children, and can be involved in the Early Intervention process. Did AGBell, in their statement, say anything about this? ZIP. Why? It would totally disrupt their goal to achieve total oralism for all Deaf people.
Truly, AGBell are experts at twisting and spinning, spinning, spinning!
(Note: I forgot also to mention that their inclusion of the “all forms of communication” also will be used by them to establish Oralism as “legitimate” — this has already been discussed by me here:
For YouTube Version: CLICK HERE
