(no subject)
I just have one thing to say to the scholarly “Doctors” who lament the protest because of it’s inconvenient interruption of your lives:
You scholarly “Doctors” have been interrupting the lives of Deaf people for over a century. You have corrupted American Sign Language, trampled residential schools for the Deaf (a key component in the transmission of Deaf culture and American Sign Language), and convinced parents that there is something wrong with their deaf children.
Across the nation, residential schools for the Deaf are facing
serious budget cuts and even closure. Deaf students are instead being sent to hearing schools, their only link to their hearing counterparts a minimally qualified interpreter. Physicians are implanting BABIES and leading parents to believe their child is hearing, with no regard for the fact that, at the end of the day, the child is still deaf. American Sign Language, while gaining popularity with high schools and colleges as a second language, is an ideal first language for Deaf children yet it is denied them in favor of an artificial and complicated and contrived signing system.
So I’d suggest that if the Gallaudet administration is growing weary of the voice of the Deaf, perhaps they should get out of the business of Deafness. If your main concern isn’t preserving the history and future of Deaf America, get out and let a Deaf person who is equally passionate about education as s/he is the Deaf World lead Gallaudet back to it’s position as The Well from which all things Deaf spring.
The pride that comes from being a Deaf American is being eroded from all sides: politicians fighting to reduce the power of the ADA; medical offices denying new patients because of interpreter costs; pervasive implanting of children with the promise of ‘normalcy’; television stations deciding to no longer caption the news; state governments closing residential Deaf schools…I could go on and on, but the message is clear. The world doesn’t value Deaf Americans.
Gallaudet should be the LAST place a Deaf student, educator, or staff member would feel threatened. Gallaudet should be a place where a young Deaf adult can get a quality education, taught by instructors who can FULLY communicate with them-both linguistically and culturally. Gallaudet should be a place where Deaf educators can impart wisdom and knowledge, while having the support and encouragement of an administration that understands that Deafness does indeed matter. And the Gallaudet Administration should be supported by a Board of Trustees that looks out for the best interests of the Deaf students and staff.
So yes, I agree. Let DEAF people move on with their education and their lives, unencumbered by false limitations imposed on them by people who decide for the Deaf, but don’t hear the Deaf.”
-Chris Owens of Ohio