I saw The Deaf Jeff’s vlog about “gurus” and wanted to comment, but I cannot remember what my username or password was for DVTV. So here is my comment, and although it was half serious, it is more relevant to all of us in the Deaf community than I realized at the time!
P.S. — For a bonus, see the additional cartoon I was trying to choose from. I couldn’t decide which of these two cartoons to use for the cover image, so I decided to use both!
Some of you expressed concerns about my mentioning the name of the school and a situation involving the school. Although I did not give any names of the students involved, the school has expressed a concern about confidentiality issues. At their request, I have deleted my vlog, “What’s wrong with Oralism and the Oralist Agenda”.
However, the issue still stands…. oralism causes huge delays in language and cognitive development in too many students, and often leaves them unable to communicate even their most basic needs and interests with their families.
In my last few v/blogs, I have been discussing the CI in terms of how the SYSTEM promotes and encourages the implantation of Deaf people, not attacking implantees or their parents. Yet, parents are writing back with something of a defensive attitude of “this is my child, not yours! You have no say in this!” Even after I tried to reach out in my last post explaining why we view their Deaf children as part of us, and that we Deaf do want to work WITH parents, I still got some attitude back. After looking at some of the words they used, I came to an understanding: it is all about guilt. I explain how in the vlog.
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!
Tools are useful things. But it is important to look at the motivation behind a tool — not only how it is used, but why it was developed. A gun is a tool whose only purpose is to hurt or kill living things. Nuclear energy is a tool that can be used for producing electrical power or as a weapon of mass destruction. In this vlog, I take a look at some other tools and examine how they can be or have been used. This raises the question of what the motivation behind the development of a “tool” being used within the Deaf community really is.
