DEAF IN THE CITY

2008-03-13T15:35:00.003-04:00

10: notes from the bilingual, bicultural classroom

...and what's amazing is that out of 17 kids the two who refuse to sign are the deaf ones!

You read that right. The deaf children refuse to sign! I understand why, but it's still marvellous to observe.

I'm proud to say I think I've achieved a fully multicultural classroom. I type this while watching my students act in an anger management and conflict resolution program run by ENACT. The program's goal is to act out common school problems and help students realize better ways to resolve those concerns. We have two interpreters in the room. The Deaf students are new to ASL. They still feel embarrassed about using an interpreter. Their background has been one of being picked on for being different. Here in our school, with deaf teachers and administrators visible, they have begun to have pride in themselves, but there are still barriers. They glance at the terps out of the corners of their eyes and sometimes absentmindedly imitate signs; the hearing students try to sign with them but get frustrated at their embarrassment and instead REFUSE TO SPEAK for the visiting team leaders! Yes, they sign and use interpreters; moreover, the fact that the interpreters cannot tell who is deaf and hearing is very heartening to me... An indication that maybe we're doing something right and can create a real signing community here. Ideally, any student would be able to speak or sign, and be functional on some level in either language, so yes, it would be appropriate for the hearing bilingual student to use ASL interpreters, just as the deaf/Deaf bilingual students do. I do wish I had some indications for ways to ease the distress I see the Deaf students feeling. Should I set up a special class for them? A special group? Do Deaf students need Deaf time? Do they need more structure in their environment to guide language and interaction? And how DO you get boys to be more comfortable with the more extroverted aspects of ASL?

All these questions. And so many answers to find...

2007-07-27T07:17:00.000-04:00

415: I Can't Watch the NY Times

Sigh. It's been a long month. I'm starting a new career and have no time for blogging. But to this I make an exception... this follows hard on the heels of Shane Feldman's recent blog about the lack of online captioning on CNN.

In the middle of an intense course of study this summer, I decide to purchase the TimesSelect. I love the New York Times and always have. While reading this newfound addition to my computer, I notice the Times has video. Unfortunately, none of the specific videos produced by the NY Times or posted on their website are subtitled.

I emailed their access dept., the TimesSelect people, and a couple others on their list. I'd love to be able to use this stuff or at least watch it myself.

Nope. They don't have captioning. Well, I shot back, do you have a schedule to include captioning? We'd like to do it one day, but we don't know when this will happen. Uh-huh. As Shane implies, this is getting tired. Subtitling comes included with most video editing programs, which means it's free. The only reason not to include subtitles is laziness.

I keep emailing one person a week. If you'd like to email people also, click on this link. What's really ironic? By using the TimesSelect Article Archive, I can go back to 1989 and read every single article of support the New York Times had for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I guess it's a case of monkey say, monkey not do. But when the entire country is concerned about reading skills of Deaf people, shouldn't we get a little more respect when we're fighting just to get to the point where we have words to read? And, I mean, what about the kids?

2007-06-14T11:22:00.000-04:00

414: The Not-So-Good-Now Cochlear Implant?

17 months. That's one year, five months. Are people implanting children too fast? That's the opinion of one researcher at the University of Haifa in Israel: that there are children who are currently being implanted too early, before the cilia in their ears have time to develop. These children might have been better served by hearing aids, or by being left alone:

He then found another five children who had been referred to him for pre-operative testing. At the end of his clinical research, he identified a "window of opportunity" of 17 months during which deaf children may begin to hear. "A child whose deafness is caused by a malfunctioning connection between hair cells and the auditory nerve should not have a cochlear implant in the first 17 months. Research shows that at least some of these children undergo the procedure for nothing," Atias explained. He added that some of these children only develop partial hearing, which can be augmented with external hearing aids. He is now researching "temporary deafness" among young children, looking for a way to identify those who will recover.

Cochlear implants are wonderful technology, but they are still new technology. I'm still cautious about them, and for just this reason: the unexpected always happens, especially when messing with that piece of marvellous technology, the human body. I remember when I studied in England and the numbers of Deaf children who became infected with meningitis as a result of the surgery started to trickle out.

I'm not against implants, but I think individuals should be given the opportunity to decide for themselves. I was given the choice by my supportive family at the age of 13. Likewise, we as the Deaf community have a responsibility to make sure we look at this info. What do you think of this article? It creeps me out. Even creepier is the fact that JUST as we find out these implants may not be such a boon after all, up crops the next generation, even better-and suddenly implants look even worse:

If the idea pans out in further animal and human studies, profoundly and severely deaf people would have another option that could allow them to hear low-pitched sounds common in speech, converse in a noisy room, identify high and low voices, and appreciate music - areas where cochlea implants, though a boon, have significant limitations.

"In nearly every measure, these work better than cochlear implants," says U-M researcher John C. Middlebrooks. He led a study requested by the National Institutes of Health to re-evaluate the potential of auditory nerve implants. Middlebrooks is a U-M Medical School professor of otolaryngology and biomedical engineering. He collaborated with Russell L. Snyder of the University of California, San Francisco and Utah State University. The two co-authored an article on the results in the June issue of Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.

The possible auditory nerve implants likely would be suitable for the same people who are candidates today for cochlear implants: the profoundly deaf, who can't hear at all, and the severely deaf, whose hearing ability is greatly reduced.

Or, if you want to read it the way my brain read it, the first time:

The possible auditory nerve implants likely would be suitable for the same people who are candidates today for cochlear implants: the people whose ability to stand up for themselves is greatly reduced.

Which is why language is so important. Without language, how can you stand up for yourself?

Wondering what the future holds - RAINMOUND

2007-05-10T06:55:00.000-04:00

413: No Deaf Child Left Behind?

How does No Child Left Behind affect the Deaf community? The No Child Left Behind program has been receiving heavy criticism over at DailyKos lately. Check out this article by teacherken:

The multiple choice questions on the AP are almost always of high quality. And, like the SAT, there is a correction for guessing: there are 5 answers, and it is the number correct minus 1/4 the number wrong. If you can eliminate one answer guessing has a marginal positive answer, and if you can eliminate two you really should answer. ON the state's HSAs there is no correction for guessing, so I have to encourage my students to answer every question, even if they have no idea of the answer. Further, there are often multiple answers or no answer that is technically correct - the answer the state might want is the Brown v Board overturned Plessy, even though it did not. The students have to look at all the answers and take the one that stinks the least.

Teacherken is highly concerned that regular students will be wasting their classroom time and focusing instead of on their education on passing tests. Passing tests is important, but how important - and how useful, especially if you have to learn a whole bizarre system just to take the test? And what happens with Deaf children? From the American Annals of the Deaf:

NCLB has 10 titles, none of which address the education of disabled children, of whom almost 7 million are identified as attending public school. Three components of NCLB have major implications for all children, including deaf and hard of hearing students: assessment; demonstrated annual yearly progress; and the mandate for highly qualified teachers. The implications for deaf and hard of hearing children, many of whom will not be identified in the present statewide assessment system, are mixed but, on balance, negative.

Oh yes, unbalanced. I would DEFINITELY say unbalanced. Especially when this happens:

But for Corona, the tests simply mean that his third-grade son, Albert, will come home from school tired and frustrated. Albert attends a program for hearing-impaired children at Loma Vista School in Ventura. Last year, he and his classmates sat through six days of tests, only to find out months later that their scores wouldn't be counted.
Their teachers used sign language to give them the test questions a modification that the school and parents said the children "rightfully and legally" deserved. Deaf children, who can't learn language skills by hearing, typically fall behind grade level in reading, they said.

State officials, however, decided that the use of sign language invalidates the scores on reading, language and spelling tests.

As James Tucker said in this conversation between heads of Deaf Schools on the NAD website:

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act’s logic-defying “Adequate Yearly Progress” provisions also put many public schools including schools for the Deaf students at risk.

With all the challenges on the table, the most frightening and daunting challenge is the proliferation of pediatric cochlear implant surgeries. While many children demonstrate improved hearing after receiving cochlear implants, most children with implants are visual learners and need sign language and visually-oriented classroom environments found in schools for Deaf students.

Sure. No child left behind - unless they use ASL to have the test rules explained to them. Thanks Bush! Create a WHOLE WEIRD Uuhif@&@&*!!'ed up system just to test people, then deny Deaf people access to the test-taking information... *shaking head* Worse, it seems to provide no oversight for Deaf schools. Check out this note from this essay on schools and NCLB:

A couple of depressing examples of why I trust teachers' ground-level input over their better-informed bosses' were in yesterday's and today's local newspapers -- and that's probably about as far as anybody else would have to look anywhere in the nation! The July 12 Rome [Ga.] Tribune gives this year's AYP results, and despite all the hype and PR of the past two years, the local schools are, to put it nicely, turning out cheap labor, and that's about it.Today's paper describes the sentencing of our state's previous superintendent to eight years for stealing $600,000 from the Georgia School for the Deaf. The School for the Deaf, for God's sake!

So with a huge government program not providing oversight, should we really be upset when Deaf people show heightened concern about Deaf schools? And what do YOU think about NCLB?....

In other news, it's the birthday of one of my favorite girls today... she knows who she is. Be good, Starlet!

2007-05-01T12:27:00.000-04:00

QUESTION: How do you contact NAD at their national office?

UPDATE: NAD has contacted me and I will be posting information about our conversation soon!

(gripe)I've been trying to send them questions about VRI on their online contact form but it keeps telling me there's a data error. Nobody picks up on the TTY line. The voice line has a message that people will respond to me via e-mail. Plus - their website is really S-L-O-O-O-W. Does anyone still work at NAD's national office or have they gone fishing? (/endgripe)

I'd really like to know NAD's official position on the use of VRI. I have not heard anything from NAD on this issue and don't see anything on their website (anyone who knows something feel free to respond.)

But honestly - you really need to have live people answering ttys/phones at a national organization serving Deaf people. Anyone else have trouble contacting NAD?

UPDATE: I have not been able to get in touch with anyone after 2 more phone calls but I was able to finally get something through the NAD website form after using Google's cache of the NAD "Contact Us!" website. (THANKS GOOGLE!) In a few minutes I recieved this:

5/1/2007 9:42:37 AM (Pacific Standard Time)
Thank you for contacting the National Association of the Deaf. We will respond to your question, comment, or request as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

xxxxxxxxx
Receptionist/Information Specialist

National Association of the Deaf
8630 Fenton Street, Suite 820
Silver Spring, MD 20910

So I guess I'll wait and see. I'm sure NAD is trying to limit pointless phone calls but...

Update: NAD has responded. Will let you guys know soon...

2007-05-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

412: tuesday morning news & coffee

The Pet Food Crisis: It's worse than you thought. UPDATE: Another diary posted over at Pam's House Blend. How long before this starts hitting human beings?

VRI: We're not the only ones dealing with the VRI issue in hospitals. This is becoming a national problem. To be honest, most Deaf people are not willing to speak out on this issue. Peggy Johnson is different. Reverend of a Deaf church:

Johnson watched a congregant suffer in the hospital with severe back pain, while staff members tried in vain to communicate through Deaf-Talk.
“She had to lay flat,” she said. “You can’t see a TV that way,” she said.

What's been the response so far from DeafTalk?

Deaf-Talk operates in 350 hospitals nationwide, including 13 in the Baltimore area. The company that produces Deaf-Talk has had three complaints from Baltimore Hospitals, said Dave Stauffer, company vice president and co-owner.
“There is one lawsuit in Maryland; everyone else loves our system,” he said.
He categorized Johnson’s church as troublemakers.
“I know which church [The Examiner is] talking about. It’s a deaf congregation and they’re talking about trouble that doesn’t exist.”

Unfortunately this has also been the problem here in New York. You know what the culprit is? DEAF NOD YES. Deaf people don't complain to the administration. Many Deaf people have gotten so used to accepting whatever services are provided that they don't think about or ask for their rights. People who fight back are rare. But Alma Andrews is an amazing fighter.

And here in New York our own fight continues...

And in Japan: Deaf Japanese are swindled in yet another business:

The majority of the invested money was reportedly used to pay off her company's debts, which had grown to 4.4 billion yen following a failed campaign to sell "memo phones" to deaf people.
Two of Kobayashi's employees -- Eiko Machida, 55, and her son, Norikyo, 28 -- were also indicted for their involvement in the alleged fraud. Eiko denied she defrauded the deaf people, but her son acknowledged doing so and admitted he tricked his clients into handing over their money.

With all of the pyramid schemes and business deals floating around the country lately... are Deaf people just gullible, or so greedy they have to try to make a buck - who knows! The Japanese scam was for spa memberships - maybe Deaf people just need to be pretty.

And how was the news in your week?

2007-04-28T10:16:00.000-04:00

411: Firm of Scratcher & Low Leaving RNID; DeafRead Too American?

I kept trying to find time to write about this, but life once again overwhelms me! But this is very important news and recent developments make me think it's important to provide some context. The RNID is the largest charity organization for Deaf people in the UK, claiming to represent 9 million Deaf and hard of hearing people - think the largest GOVERNMENT nonprofit. They provide tons of services for Deaf people in the UK. Scratcher, also known as James Strachan, was a source of a lot of controversy - and a much clearer-cut case of audism than our own Gallaudet protest. You can read Doug Alker's book about his own experiences, Really Not Interested In the Deaf? (also with video in BSL.) You can also catch up on the news at GrumpyOldDeafies where alison did an AWESOME job on the news roundup.

Doug Alker after his experiences working at RNID became Chair of the British Deaf Association. He was the chief executive of the RNID until he was replaced by Strachan. From The UK Guardian:

So fraught has been debate on this question that on the appointment of Strachan - who lip-reads and speaks, rather than uses sign language - the RNID was plunged into a bitter internal feud. Supporters of the displaced chief executive, Doug Alker, a signer, accused the organisation of pandering to the "oralist" school that encourages deaf people to lip-read and develop speech. Three years previously, after the departure of Stuart Etherington, deaf people had staged demonstrations to persuade the charity to appoint a deaf chief executive such as Alker, reflecting the growing sentiment among "users" that nothing should be done about them, without them.

Basically Strachan seems to have oppressed signing Deaf people in favor of oralism, technology, and has connections to corporations. He did not support the BSL recognition movement. He didn't like having to allow a diversity of opinion and didn't respect signing Deaf people. He doesn't sign himself. While I was in the UK, there was also a lot of controversy over the appointment of Dr. John Low, a man with ties to cochlear implant corporations, as chief executive of RNID, and there were in fact protests on the street, and the Deaf Liberation Front met with Dr. Low and drew up a list of 5 demands. The cartoon below was published in Federation of Deaf People Magazine and shows public sentiment:

Imagine Jane Fernandes had been appointed President of Gallaudet University and imagine after five years she left with Paul Kelly. Imagine the kind of atmosphere and potential for positive change. This is what the Brits are experiencing now.
The reason I finally forced myself to sit down and write about this is because of the concerns raised by Alison about how DeafRead's methods of filtering affect its audience. This is a HUGELY important post which everyone should read. People need to remember that there are people at DeafRead making choices of how to categorize the news. Their definitions don't necessarily have to be the same as yours. In this case DeafRead have apologized and promised to learn and improve, and you can see the up-front responses from DeafRead staff in the comments of Alison's blog. (It's cool seeing people respond directly, isn't it?)

I have personally had some experiences where my blogs don't appear on DeafRead. This is mostly when they feel my blogs are advertisements - reviews of performances are often problems. I'm divided on this, since I'd like to expose people to criticism of and material about Deaf art. (And besides, I'm not always complimentary!)

I think sometimes we have to be content with the fact that there are going to be situations as the Deaf blogosphere develops in which there is no clear "right" or "wrong." But it would be nice if the Deaf community was global enough to recognize international news more readily. On the other hand, how long have we had the internet?

Maybe we need a global DeafBloggerCon with a panel to develop directives on how to shape internet to improve relations in the global Deaf community so we can develop a truly international response to ...

*sigh* I so wish I was going to Spain this summer.
Note: Thanks to Rob Wilks for some feedback on this post!

2007-04-24T08:04:00.000-04:00

410: Late Night News and Coffee Roundup

I had way too much curry last night, so I had some extra time to check out the news...

OBI-WAN, PROTECT ME DEPT: OK-WARN is a new emergency service specifically designed to warn Deaf people in case of emergency:

"About 80 percent of the deaf and hard of hearing population feel uncomfortable because they feel they don't get the proper notification in an emergency event," said Comanche County Public Information Officer Chris Killmer.

That's where OK-WARN steps in. OK-WARN is sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service--Norman Forecast Office. OK-WARN will send out a page to pagers, cell phones, even email when an emergency or weather event occurs in your area.

I believe they're starting to do this in cities across America. Isn't technology wunnerful? Geo shares his perspective.

HOT GERMAN BOMBSHELL WILL BLOW YOUR MIND DEPT: In the San Francisco Gate, a cool article about a Deaf therapist...

A doctoral candidate in psychology, she's doing her internship at San Jose State University, where she sees 16 to 20 students per week. Some are vexed by relationship problems, others by the stress of exams and heavy course loads. For foreign students, loneliness and cultural isolation are big issues.

They confide in Ulrike, even though she is deaf and requires a sign-language interpreter to be present at each therapy session. Deaf since birth, Ulrike came to the United States from her native Germany 21 years ago. She's fluent in American Sign Language, or ASL, but says she can't lip-read English speakers the way she can German speakers.

STILL HAVING TO PROVE ASL IS A LANGUAGE DEPT: It's old news to most Deaf people that we spend a significant portion of our lives having to convince and re-convince others that ASL is, yes, a language. Banjo and Ben Vess take their turn stepping up to the plate. (I want to include some hearing people in the capital D crowd - my friend the Butterfly once, in medical school, contradicted an idiot who said that Deaf people couldn't think because they couldn't speak to think and therefore didn't have language to think with, or some such nonsensical bullshit. So you see, it's not just us.)

YOU CAN'T PUT THAT UP YOUR NOSE DEPT: DeafAdvocacy.Org discovers the government actually blocked something related to cochlear implants... what do you think it all means?

2007-04-24T06:05:00.000-04:00

409: Sprummer?

Too hot for spring, too cool for summer, check out this panoramic photo of thousands gathering for sun and fun in the city: The Sheep Meadow in Central Park, one of the undoubted benefits of being a Deaf New Yorker. My first attempt at using panoramic 'stitching' software - I tried Calico 1.3 on the Mac, and I think it did a pretty good job, although I notice some ghosting, and there's a pretty big chunk taken out of the lady walking by the tree in the center. For now enjoy! (Warning: Big image!) (And please post recommendations if you know better Mac stitching software...)

Each year on Earth Day, I make sure to go to Grand Central's Earth Day Festival, and get pizza from Two Boots, which has arguably some of the coolest pizza in NYC, although for me the best will always be from Brooklyn.

Happy Belated Birthday to Wally, who flew to England to care for and support a friend undergoing surgery and chemotherapy instead of have one of his epic birthday parties...

2007-04-22T09:07:00.001-04:00

408: RANT: We Can't See the Jailbirds Signing

So Daphne Wright's story has come to the next chapter. The Argus Leader reports:

Daphne Wright, spared a death sentence by a Minnehaha County jury, soon will join five other women serving life without parole in the South Dakota Women's Prison in Pierre.

Wright, 43, is deaf. While state Corrections Department officials say they'll make accommodations for that, in most respects the Sioux Falls woman will be treated the same as the other lifers and for the most part, the same as the other 320 or so inmates in the prison at the east edge of the capital city.

"The same?" Just once I'd like hearing people to understand that when you put a Deaf person in jail you condemn them to several years of enforced and almost total isolation. I'm just saying. I think jail is a bitch for Deaf people, much more than for hearing people. Does this mean Wright doesn't belong there? No, she does. But...

The Alternative Solutions Center talks about this same issue:

As deserving of their punishment that some Deaf criminals might be, none of them deserve the cruel and unusual punishment of inaccessible communication during their prison time. Even with the ADA and constitutional guarantees, too many Deaf prisoners have their rights violated every day. They are denied access to certified sign language interpreters for court hearings, disciplinary meetings, and educational classes. Deaf prisoners have been punished unfairly for not following guards� orders because the guards did not know they were Deaf or were unable to communicate with them. Many prisons lack flashing light systems, TTYs, videophones, and captioned televisions. Deaf prisoners also face dangers of physical abuse and isolation.

It's more than just that though: they lack regular and consistent access to any of the rehabilitation facilities afforded to normal prisoners. Unless jails suddenly start having ASL interpreters available - or require all their prison staff to learn ASL - Deaf prisoners probably won't get the same kind of rehabilitation and preparation-for-release training that prisoners who can hear can access. This demands a bit of pity for the prisoner, but also worry - is this person ready to be released to our community?

Oh, yes, legally the jail is required to provide such access. But debates about what access is necessary - debates about whether the cost places undue burden on the jail - and of course the never-ending obsession some hearing people have with saying "Those Deafies just want everything and never stop complaining!" - are sometimes insurmountable obstacles. But it's not just for the benefit of the prisoner - it's also for the benefit of the communities to which that prisoner is going to be released. Deaf Civilians have a responsibility to make sure that access happens in prisons, because the prisoners are eventually going to be released to the Deaf community.

This is not just an American problem. In the UK, the BID Services with Deaf People have a "Deaf Prison Project:"

The aim of the project is the reduce the sense of isolation and the Double Sentence experienced by Deaf people within the Criminal Justice System, primarily those who are in prison, by improving access to information and services.

Prison was also the subject of a Deaf TV Programme Soap Opera called VEE-TV in which one of the main characters, Nicky showed with agonizing clarity what a Deaf prisoner's experience could be like.

Because of bad behaviour, Nicky, who is in prison after a string of incidents culminating in the theft of a computer from the college, has been transferred from an open prison to one with a much harsher regime. The prison officer warns him to keep in line, but Nicky can’t lipread or understand what’s being said. His incomprehension is interpreted as insolence.

Wright will be in jail for life. While I feel her crimes were such that she needs to be there, it's hard for me to see how this system helps her rehabilitate and change. (And isn't that the point?) If anything, the enforced social isolation might make her more dangerous, and might be a danger to her mental health. Just wish I had an easy solution.

2007-04-12T06:43:00.000-04:00

407: Poll Results: Deaf Economy?

So the poll results look really interesting at this point! Of course this is totally unscientific, but still fun to do! I've left the polls up in case more people want to join in, but at last counts:

12% unemployed is almost three times the national average. And this isn't even taking into account some interesting points - that my blog is a blog and therefore you have to have a computer to see it, for example, limiting my population to those who can afford a computer or have access to one...

61% of respondents feel the effects of a difficult economy. Nobody was able to buy Benson Hall.

This question was inspired by some reading about the gender wage gap in the USA. Surprisingly, almost half of respondents felt they earned less than their hearing peers. You'll notice the numbers are lower for the last two questions: some of the respondents don't work, and some of them might not have felt comfortable answering this question.

12% find it impossible to find work... but a whopping 45% of DITC respondents feel their chances of finding/keeping a job are better than in the past. I spoke about this with one friend whose interpretation is that Deaf people are guaranteed token positions - but often have a hard time moving up or showing their abilities to the boss to get a raise.

What do you think it all means?

2007-04-10T08:40:00.000-04:00

406: POLL: DEAF MONEY JOBS WHAT?

Please take these 4 confidential informal polls! I'm curious to poll Deaf in the City's Deaf, deaf, and hard-of hearing readers to see the state of the Deaf economy in America. So check out the poll and please respond! (It is COMPLETELY anonymous.) People do not even check for Deaf on the US Census, so I am curious to find information about Deaf America...

Thank you for your responses!

2007-04-07T07:27:00.000-04:00

405: Murder Will Out

But Ridor has a good point about needing to have a Deaf juror.

There's been a lot of furor over the Daphne Wright case. A lot of Deaf bloggers are complaining that the trial is unfair, especially the always-great MishkaZena, who here asks for native ASL users to evaluate Daphne's ASL skills and voice their opinions on her need for a CDI (certified Deaf interpreter, a Deaf person skilled at communicating with Deaf people of all language levels and usage in American Signed Language who would ensure the defendant understands everything clearly.)

For the record, I agree with them. Yes, the evidence is strongly against Ms. Wright. I think she did it, for what it is worth, although I am not there and it is not my place to judge. But irregardless of her actions, she still has the right to a fair trial and there should be a right way to do it, and I think one of these ways should be to include a Deaf person on the jury, at least! It's not just about making sure that there is a jury of peers, but also giving the jury the benefit of the information from someone inside the culture.

I admit the evidence seems strongly against Ms. Wright, but the jury is asked to sort of be detectives and sift through lots of information to the truth.

Suppose there were a trial of a Deaf man and one of the points against him was he did not call 911 for help. If there is a Deaf person on the jury he might say, well, if there was no TTY around, how could he call for help? And that's a point the jury might overlook. Deaf people don't tend to think about running to the phone immediately.

Or vice-versa - a Deaf juror might be able to see a defendant signing in their native language and "catch" a lie where an interpreter would not. They could independently inform the group and the Judge if the interpreter is doing a good job. They would be able to explain certain slang phrases in ASL to other jurors better than an interpreter. For the same reason, a court SHOULD want a Deaf interpreter. The court turns this down because of 1) cost and 2) fear of giving too much support to the defendant. But it is silly because the Deaf Interpreter can be the ally of the court too and help get at the truth.

I suppose I think of having a Deaf person on the Jury as equivalent to giving the Jury its own Deaf interpreter... as well as provide the Jury with a more accurate view of the Deaf defendant, their facial and signing expressions... and any witnesses who may be Deaf... and any family members, whether Deaf or hearing...

On the other hand, you could also claim that the Deaf community is so small it's impossible for any Deaf community member to be impartial. Can you imagine?

Thoughts? Have a good weekend.

P.S. Someone asked about RSS feeds - I have no clue how to use those or post them on the website, if anyone wants to explain feel free!

2007-04-05T00:16:00.000-04:00

404: Deafhood and the Media

Have you been following the commentary about that Law & Order episode online? It's interesting seeing what people's reactions are... I notice a lot of aggressiveness in the Deaf community, with people clamoring "Everything must conform to MY idea of the Deaf identity" – or to some imagined ideal Deaf person. To me this is like someone saying the same thing about Black identity and woman identity: “Everyone must be like THIS to be Gay, like THIS to be Christian”, and to me people are saying this for much the same reason: fear. People are afraid, so they seek control. But this is counterproductive. Bernice Johnson Reagon* once said “There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up.”

She also said, “If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition.” The American Deaf community is nothing if it’s not a coalition, a melting pot of people of complex ethnicities and identities and diversities united by the common bonds of experience as Americans, a language, and a history. It makes sense we would deal with being Deaf in different ways. To really understand Deaf people and Deafhood, you have to let go of your personal illusions. These illusions are made by the baggage which forms our lives–the attitudes we encounter from doctors and priests and family members and each other which we react to, take in, accept or reject. We've moved, in human understanding, from the religious perspective to the medical perspective to the sociocultural perspective, and garnered our very own cultural and personal baggages from each. By understanding ourselves we get rid of this baggage. We discover our Deafhood. We find out what's been packed away. Like those exhibits at the Museum where you start with the Universe and end with enlarged microscope photographs of atoms and electrons. The outer to the inner.

But by focusing too hard on other people we are counter productive. So many of us have our own set beliefs delineating what it means to be a Deaf person–I've got my own, I'm honest about it. They're sometimes helpful, because they're part of our personal identity constructions. For example, I believe a Deaf person should stand up for Deaf people's rights, because by extension I stand up for my own. That's part of my identity construction of a Deaf person. And a lot of what I’m reading online is anger about the identity construction of specific Deaf ... television characters. What we saw on Law & Order was a well-researched and FICTIONAL story about a crime, one that broke some stereotypes by portraying a Deaf person as an active antagonist. Much criticism of the show was based on the fact that people couldn't see the situation happening in real life. The fear, apparently, is that hearing people will watch Law and Order and automatically think all Deaf people are hiding automatics. People fear this episode will create another stereotype for us to have problems with as Deaf people. I am not so sure. People know this is fictional. I watch the Sopranos, but I certainly don't think every Italian in a track suit is a mobster.

I think a lot of people were looking for this show to validate their identity construction of Deafness, and unfortunately that's impossible. Everyone has their own identity construction. The question should be, did you relax and enjoy the movie like you enjoyed the even-more-unrealistic Spiderman, or did you put the weight of validating your entire personal cultural identity on one episode of Law & Order (or History Through Deaf Eyes, which got similar criticism for including Deaf people who graduated from Clarke?)

One example of this is comments I’ve seen about how characters in this episode had varying levels of speaking ability. They were concerned people would walk away with the idea that all Deaf people could speak if they wanted to. Therefore, the logic goes, no Deaf people on television or in the movies should speak. Yet there are Deaf people who do speak! Today we call them hard-of-hearing; in Dr. Ladd’s book he describes the BSL term as DEAF-CAN-SPEAK, which might be considered more Deaf-friendly. So this identity construction IS possible. To the people who are complaining, it just isn’t their identity, and it might be threatening to their identity. Like Bernice Johnson Reagon said, they aren’t comfortable. They find themselves in a coalition, and it is difficult. Some things they see go outside of their boundaries of comfort. Some of them may go back to memories of pain. And one of the most important things to remember during all this is that their discomfort, their pain, and their perception that there is a threat must be respected! The thing is difficult!

Other cultural groups have exactly this same problem, which is cool because, you know, parallel experiences are yet another validating stamp on the passport of Deafhood. Black people were very frustrated by the portrayal of Black people on television, and in many ways still are, declaring stereotypes unfair just like we have been. So has the Gay community; so too did women in the past – and there was a day women weren’t even allowed on stage, and all women were portrayed as simpering, huge-breasted fools by men who knew little better and little else… (The first Juliet Capulet was a boy.)

Another major criticism of the show I saw while reading comments and essays was that the storyline focused on an issue polarizing to the Deaf community. I think that’s an unfair criticism–the show generally tackles tough issues. Should they change for the Deaf community? Do a Google search for Deaf and Cochlear Implants come up almost immediately. I think if people were able to suspend their disbelief a little instead of scrutinizing every minor detail they'd probably have enjoyed it just as they enjoyed every other episode. (And how much of Law and Order is realistic anyway?) The cool thing is that I bet quite a few hearing people did, and learned a lot about Deaf people as a result. But I do wonder, after all this: are we doomed to these battles on identity and politics? Is it possible that the personal and the political, in the Deaf community, are so closely tied they can't be separated? Time will tell....

*Ms. Reagon is part of Sweet Honey in the Rock, which includes an ASL interpreter in its roster for tours, and performed at Gallaudet University.

2007-04-03T08:03:00.000-04:00

interlude: are you deaf? take this survey!

UPDATE: I didn't mean to appear discriminatory in this post! Hearing graduate students should feel free to advertise too...

Take a ten-minute survey! From a grad student friend of mine, Mel:

Hello dear friends,

If you are DEAF, I am calling upon your kindness in hopes that you will take 10 minutes to copy/paste (or click) this link, http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=415242974027 into your URL and complete a very short multiple choice survey about the barriers that Deaf people experience in terms of accessing mental health treatment. It's for my thesis, so I need at least 30 responses in the next month, and anything you can do to help will be repaid by the karmic forces that govern the lives of graduate students. ANY Deaf person from any state, any educational level, any language usage, and so on would be welcomed as a respondent.

Please forward this to every Deaf person in your address book. When you follow the link, your responses will be entered completely anonymously.

Thank you in advance,
Mel Whalen

Deaf people doing research on Deaf people for the betterment of Deaf lives? Rocks! DEAF ROCKS! DEAF PET ROCKS! DEAF PETS ROCK!

Other Deaf graduate students doing projects? PLEASE! Feel free to advertise any surveys, links etc. in the comments!

2007-03-28T06:50:00.000-04:00

403: ASL Paradoxii

My own response to Allison Kaftan's "Silent Hands Sculpt Epitome of Beauty... Not," with a nod to the Deaf Pagan Crossroads.

ME (after being told how beautiful my sign language was): Do you know there's over 100 different signed languages?

HEARING PERSON: No, really! That's amazing!

ME: And few of them make any sense to each other, they are all completely different.

HEARING PARROT: That's so stupid! Deaf people should only have one language!

ME: You would destroy that much beauty? (Walk away)

But then there's:

DEAF PARROT, SIGNING VERY FAST TO SHOW HE CAN: Me use only ASL! No English! English hard!

ME: Well, yes, but they're both languages, and therefore English is as beautiful as ASL, just sorta... leaky. Dribbling.

DEFF PERRAULT: But ASL have own grammar, own structure, own vocabulary, etc., etc., same English! (smiles, as if he's proved a point)

ME (pause): So... why is English so much harder? Do you know any OTHER signed languages? What do you think of BSL? LSF? If we're a cultural group do we still have the right to demand interpreters under the Americans with *Disabilities* Act? But then don't we gain rights under language charters? My point is, if we're saying we're a culture and a language group, don't the boundaries change?

DEAF MAN: No! Because we're Deaf! We have to have rights!

ME: So we need a totally new group, because we're not disabled, but we're not just a culture, either? (And maybe we do.)

OR:

HEERING PEEPUL: ASL! (siiiiiiigh) So pretty!

RAINMOUND: Can I tell you a story about sign language?

HERRING PURPLE: Sure!

RAINMOUND: Do you know in the old days signed languages were the inspiration for what we know as magic? Witches knew signed languages. They were wise old women and healers who would go round the country and be nosy and check on people, and being nosy and intelligent they could talk to Deaf people. Witches would meet the poor Deafie in the woods and bring him food and dance with him and sign with him, and the jealous townspeople would say, See that witch, she goes to speak with the Devil, the duyvil, the Deaf-ill, the Deaf man, we must burn him, we must end her, we must drown her heart... They hated the nosy old ones who were smarter than they were and far more pitiless so they said, knowing perfectly well the truth, that the moving hands were witchy gestures, and they had their excuse and burned the scary gesturing witch but they never caught the Deaf man, who ran naked through the woods and through the high alcoves of roaring trees.

Deaf people never forgot the witches, and the witches never forgot the Deaf, and even today Deaf people are blessed always with the wonder of a witch's last dance, all because they could speak our language, all because these hands had meaning... and witches, even on television, still twitch their noses and wave their hands...

DID THEY EVEN UNDERSTAND?: But... sign language is SO beautiful!

And then there's:

DEAF WOMAN: I not trust VP (videophone) interpreter, no! But I want to communicate in my sign language!

ME: But you have to accept that not all hearing people have VP. Suppose you accept go ahead VP, must accept ASL interpreter will see your SSN number!

DEAF WOMAN: No, no, no, me not accept, no! Must direct VP to bank with my beautiful sign language!

ME (exasperated:) Fine. How you think the bank person will understand you, with your beautiful sign language?

DEAF WOMAN (pause): Can they get an interpreter?

And so, to quote Kurt Vonnegut: And so it goes.

2007-03-27T13:18:00.000-04:00

402: Guest Review: Garrett Zuercher's "Judgment Day"

Last night I had various personal committments and couldn't go see a reading of Garrett Zuercher's "Judgment Day," accordingly, I asked Erfo to give her take on the show!

Judgment Day passed without incident: chairs weren't shoved aside, an empty bottle of seltzer water was left undisturbed behind a chair, and the audience was captivated. If Garrett Zuercher has written worthier productions, luckily this was my first. In fact, donning blue metallic Lycra was the hardest decision I made last night.

Though it was hard to determine which parts were song (if watching a voice actor was my idea of fun, I would have tracked the chanting, which in itself was bizarre)—Judgment Day is after all a musical—I found my eyes riveted to what I would normally discard as another Deaf theatre experience that smacked of trying too hard and eludicating too little. Most of the voice actors were instructed to be more English in their signing; that unfortunately worked only when I lipread. The room was small so I was close enough for the luxury. Anne Tomasetti carried the reading. Unlike a story unfolding onstage, this was a very direct connection with the audience, but I can only imagine a heightened experience seeing the musical. Darren Fudenske also leapt into excellence once he settled into character (a terrific multitasker!). Seasoned actors clearly took the stage and charmed the audience.

To feel my shoulders jog with amusement? Surprise of the year. A slipshod lipreading career and thick lenses do not normally a happy Deaf theater-goer make, nor do I understand anything in between ASL and English for sustained periods of time. A well-told story is one of my favorite things and for two hours I didn't evaluate how well I could feel my seat. Just don't ever try mint soda; chewing gum and bubbles can very nearly ruin a beautiful man's Channing-channeling number.

Thanks, Erfo! Anyone else see the show? And now off to another day in the great big city....

2007-03-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

401: The Signing Family.

Cool video. Click on the link. It's from the association known as the BDA:

‘Signing Family' , produced by Deaf Association of Northern Ireland, is an information resource for parents of Deaf children, Deaf parents of hearing children and professionals. It is a multilingual information resource parented in British Sign Language (BSL) and Irish Sign Language (ISL) with English voice over and subtitles.
The DVD presents the most current research to demonstrate that a bilingual approach and introducing sign language to your child early on will give them the best opportunity in life.

This is so smart - create a resource based on modern research and maximise your audience to three groups instead of advertising it only to one.

2007-03-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

400: Freedom to Choose Deaf

When we met with the hospital administration they made a throwaway comment which bothered me tremendously - they compared the provison of on-site interpreters to giving everyone luxury cars. I was like, WHAT? To me, it didn't make sense. To me we were fighting for a car that works. 60% of the time, we don't have a car at all, according to statistics from Rockland County Mental Health; there just aren't enough interpreters. But Beth Israel thinks they're giving us luxury cars. Uh-huh. Interpreters are not a luxury - and we must stop people when they call then luxuries. Interpreters are, in many cases, survival equipment, and it is equipment we fought for.

It's always about money. The hospital needs to save cash. Why? Because they're losing some. Eliot Spitzer has been making budget cuts to the support the state gives to hospitals; Unions across New York as well as independent organizations have been contacting his office on this issue. Yet these cuts haven't taken effect yet. But whether they do or not, money is always going to be an issue.

Still - the hospital MUST respect the Deaf person's choice of communication. At the heart we're really asking for the freedom of choice. God, in some ways this is like the abortion argument: People arguing for morality, in this case the morality of fiscal responsibility rather than the morality of chastity. "We have to save money!" Because we Deaf people aren't worth the spending of it, is the unspoken second line. Our freedom of choice and comfort in an issue of such importance as our health isn't worth the cash.

Yes. Yes it is. Yes, we are. But the case must be clear: I have no issue with the use of VRI in the emergency room. There are not enough ASL interpreters. Some of the interpreters we do have, do crazy things like get sick or go on vacation. VRI is a reasonable pinch hitter. We are advocating against people thinking it's Derek Jeter. But the hospital can still save - by giving people choice, instead of taking it away. Here's three points:

My first point: the hospital is starting from a baseline of zero (0.) This means the hospital has zero (0) users of VRI. Were they to make use of VRI an option for all regularly scheduled appointments as well as emergency appointments, this number would increase, resulting necessarily in a savings for the hospital.

My second point: most of the problems hospitals have, have to do with their complete LACK of policy regarding the provision of ASL interpreters. We all know you need to request 1 week 2 weeks in advance? Most hospitals do it the same day - then get pissed when nobody shows up and blame the interpreting service and use this as an excuse to switch to the "always-available" VRI.

My third point: the hospital wastes money on interpreters unnecessarily for jobs that are not strictly interpreting. A hospital with a large Deaf population could, e.g., hire a few Deaf employees the way they hire other groups for diversity. And these employees would be responsible for orientation, support, and basic services for Deaf consumers.

Interpreters go over forms with clients - why pay someone $100 an hour to do THAT? Hire a Deaf person as a counselor or receptionist. Spend a quarter of the money and get twice as much done. Save the on-site interpreters for the crucial parts - doctor's appointments, surgical procedures, pre-operative and recovery. How many hours do your ASL interpreters spend explaining what aspirin is and how many times to take it? Hire a Deaf person instead for education and nutrition. Concerned about compliance in cases of Acts of God? Get a Deaf person to maintain a list of Deaf patients in the hospital and their locations in case of emergency or terrorist attack to organize and facilitate the communication with and evacuation of those patients. Get a Deaf person to ensure compliance. Do you see now? Rather than reduce the quality and quantity of communication at its most crucial points, save money by reducing in unnecessary areas- while at the same time increasing the number of available services - CHOICE - to Deaf consumers.

We're not asking for a free ride. But hearing people never include us in their Big Plans, and then they fail to see what, to us, are obvious ways of saving money. Other ideas?

2007-03-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

399: VRI: Finding the Way

Activism is a spiritual effort for me. You close your eyes and stand in a roomful of angry people and find the balancing point; then you make a world dance on it.

Work still continues as we struggle to get to grips with the situation at Beth Israel Medical Center, which I blogged about here, here and here. When people began to send BIMC letters addressing their concerns regarding VRI, a friend of mine was contacted to go meet with the administration of that agency. I was invited to go along with advocate and friends Zlotte.

This was a pre-emptive attempt at education for myself and my community, especially underserved and disadvantaged Deaf people.

The meeting went as you'd expect. We brought two interpreters and met with the COO and Patient Services Representative, and also the woman in charge of the interpreting department. I can sift through semantics better and more quickly than anyone I know. They promised nothing and said they'd decided nothing - what were we concerned about? (Hearing people don't get that Deaf people gossip faster than lightspeed, and any business working with Deaf people had better stay on the up and up, or the old deaf grannies will be reading about it on the blogs these days.)

Our technique was mostly to ignore their denials. Instead we simply brought out legal points and social points. Deaf interpreters, educators, social workers and counselors described what people experienced and the problems with the technology. New problems came to light as we explored ones we already knew.

Bottom line? They took our feedback and will create a policy and share it with us in a few weeks. We asked for a draft, to provide feedback, but got a very haughty "No, feedback, what do you mean, feedback? I've never heard of this feedback stuff. Can you get it out in a restaurant?" So, we wait.

Which is fine. Another important technique is to remember the role and position of these people. But I have my own ideas about how VRI could be positively incorporated in a hospital, under a more Deaf motivation. And speaking truth to power is never out, right?

NEXT POST: ENSURING OUR HEALTH IS SAFE

2007-03-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

398: Because Learning Rocks.

Sometimes I really miss academia.

The world’s first sign language dictionary available from a mobile phone is launched today by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Deaf Studies.
Mobilesign.org is a video dictionary with over 5,000 British Sign Language signs. Produced by staff at the Centre for Deaf Studies, it is a mobile accessory to people who work with Deaf people, have Deaf customers or just want to learn to sign.

There is also help for parents with signs included that are specific to children like “Father Christmas”, “potty” and “naughty”.

...although why the University chose to showcase those particular three child-related words on its website, I have no idea. Read entire article here.

...and also this whole thing demonstrates how behind in technology we are in the states thanks to "capitalism" which should really be signed MONEY-MILK (just ask me for a demonstration...) Basically, this great technology has been around for AGES, but it would "cost too much" for companies to upgrade (read: we have to get rid of our old inventory) so we're stuck with obsolete crap. Do you know they already have mobile video phones in Japan?

2007-02-27T07:14:00.000-05:00

397: Served With Hot Milk

I had jury duty yesterday and thought I'd document my experience, which may or may not show how good the NYC system is. I was contacted via mail on February 2nd for an appointment in the morning on Monday February 26th. Concerned about interpreters, but willing to serve cos I believe all the cheezy stuff about loving your country (go, country!) and the spirit of democracy (Weeha!) I immediately called the 1-800 line to discover that there was no easily available option for sign language interpreters - you had to call back during the week to get a live operator.

Does anyone else hate that? Maybe it's no problem for hearing people, but with the buffer time injected by relay, I hate having to make phone calls during the day. I work outside the office much of the time so VPs are not immediately available.

But on the website I found an e-mail address which got a prompt reply, even on a Sunday, and in a very short time I knew the name of my interpreter. So, okay. Good.

On the day I went to 100 Centre St., the location mentioned on my Juror Information Form, and easily found my juror room. One of the five televisions in the large room, which easily sat about 300 people, had closed captioning. I was able to find a seat in front of the TV, but since it was mounted on the ceiling, had to be lying almost flat on my back to read the words spoken by the Judge Judy look-alike advocating national responsibility. But as the terp said when I met up with her later, she was surprised even one had captioning on at all.

Yes, I said later, because she wasn't at 100 C. - apparently I was moved to 60 Centre St. and she believed I was late, when in fact I'd been trying to read closed captioning from 500 feet below. I'm SURE someone tried to contact me, saw it said no phone number, and let the matter drop. As Deaf people get older we realize how many of the problems in our lives have to do with the laziness of hearing people... but I digress.

Luckily 45 minutes after I arrived at 100, the juror facilitator came forth and with a short phone call I was directed to Julia in room 139 at 60 Centre St. Had I been there on time, I would have had to wait - the interpreter had just arrived. But I was lucky, I suppose - we found each other relatively quickly.

We went to the 4th floor to our jury room and ended up chatting, with much in common - one of those pleasant wonderful real live interpreter experiences you have sometimes when you meet up with a good conversationalist. We had seven hours to spend together, so again, lucky: people rarely consider personality in terms of interpreting, but it can make a huge difference.

I wasn't called today, and ended up dismissed. So that was my jury duty, relatively pleasant. I had some other appointments yesterday evening, so I took the time to walk in still-white city snow through the blatantly egotistic marble of the city hall complex and thought how nice it had been to sit and do nothing for an entire day but chat and relax.

My routine has been disrupted for a few weeks as I rearranged my personal life, learned to knit (one of my New Year's Resolutions. I guess I'm getting older: starting to keep them;) and became obsessed with the first and second seasons of M*A*S*H. (Now looking for a used copy of the third.)

Had a disappointment over the weekend - offered to film a bunch of testimonies about using VRI to share with the world the experiences of the people I saw at the DIRC meeting. Did manage to get one person on film, and promises of two more, but honestly, I want so much more... so I'm trying to figure out how to capture video from videophone and I want to offer to do interviews over VP about your personal experiences with VRI! If interested, e-mail me. I'm more interested in HONEST experiences than exaggerated terrible stories.*

Not mentioned on this website before, mostly because of blushing - I was nominated for Best Essayist in the Deafread awards. The award very deservedly went to Elisa of ElisaWrites, whose skill I have seen her develop and perfect over the past year. I had been hoping to show up at the banquet (at which, we were told firmly, we would get TWO free drinks, which in New York City is like half a month's rent at the prices in bars these days) but my ride got pinkeye.

I'll be sporadically blogging over the next few weeks till I get a routine settled again, then hopefully I'll get to try the vlog project. But - argh! - I have another filming project coming up also.

One final point - Breenie gives a good example of a cool Deafhood analysis, looking for her place, her relationship to others, where she came from as a person and a Deaf person and a woman... it's cool. She does this in context with the Gallaudet protest, which is cooler, and shows how one localized event can cause such pondering in individuals around the world

* Seriously - a honest experience is more than enough to show anyone why we have concerns about this. Really, just thinking about what would happen during a blackout or some other sort of emergency is enough to show anyone why we have concerns.

2007-01-30T21:54:00.000-05:00

396: Wednesday Morning News and Coffee Roundup

Some news from England:

COURAGEOUS Oliver Westbury is launching an expedition to become the first deaf person to reach the North Pole on foot. Oliver will trek 70 miles through one of the world's most hostile landscapes to raise money for deaf children.
But before he can start planning the challenge of a lifetime he needs to raise £27,000.

Want to help him reach his goal? Click here and donate!

And speaking of England, University of Bristol PhD student Mike Gulliver has started his own blog, about his Deaf Studies research. Already he's posted links to lots of interesting information about Deaf communities worldwide, providing a refreshing change from American Deaf Culture:

Hi also to Miles who has mailed me about a presentation I’m doing this Friday at CDS in Bristol on ‘Who owns Deaf history’. Miles is the author of a vast amount of research into the Deaf community in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. There is a great reference bibliography here , information on South and South-West Asia, on Africa, and the Ottoman Court. Along with Groce’s information on Martha’s Vineyard, this is amazing stuff on early Deaf communities…

I've been reading up, especially on the African Deaf link. Here's a taste of some of the fascinating material available from Miles through the links above:

Some Saharan folk tales from Mali, involving a deaf wife, seem to emphasise the need for patience and understanding (Calame-Griaule, 1987, pp. 452-54, 459, 468), rather than assuming stupidity. While African folklore often links disability or deafness with negative or pejorative beliefs (Odebiyi & Togonu-Bickersteth, 1987; Devlieger, 1994; Sarr, 1981), the physician and ethnographer Hugh Stannus (1910, pp. 299-300) noted a more neutral or positive belief in Nyasaland. The mzimu, which is "a good spirit and does no harm", leaves a dying person's body and goes upward (heavenward, to Mlungu). "The only people to visit Mlungu and come back are occasionally children who die, for a short time their mzimu goes to Mlungu and returns; they live again, but are deaf-mutes."

I've always been fascinated with the concept of a Deaf spirituality. For myself, spirituality has nothing to do with religion or gods, but rather how we try to understand each others' spirit. We each have personality, memories, a reality and perception of our own. How can we possibly understand another person's mind, without being that person? Stories, poetry, literature, art, vlogs are all attempts to do so - and so is research into history and anthropology, which by analyzing what people leave behind, tries to reconstruct the people themselves. Miles' research gives us an interesting glimpse into a not-often-seen literature:

The Kenyan author James Ngugi (Ngugi wa Thiong'o) wrote into A Grain of Wheat (1971, pp. 6-7) an admirable young deaf labourer, Gitogo, "handsome, strongly built", popular with other young men, who cared for his elderly mother, and "spoke with his hands". During a government raid on Gitogo's village, he ran to protect his mother. A soldier shouted "Stop!". Gitogo ran on and was shot. Apparently that character was based on Ngugi's own deaf step-brother Gitogo, shot by government troops in 1954 or 1955. [10] The lengthier battles of an intelligent Ghanaian woman, deafened in early adulthood, are depicted in a largely autobiographical novelette by Frances Serwaa Oteng (1997), set amidst the petty politics of a boarding school for deaf children.

Fascinating. Check out this research - and do give Mike and Miles a shout-out from America - after all, the Deaf nation has many tribes!

2007-01-29T18:59:00.000-05:00

395: A Television Has No Bedside Manner

You show up at your doctor’s office. In the past there was an interpreter there. The terp helped you through the intake process; if you had questions you could ask them whilst in the waiting room. If your doctor was late, the interpreter would tell you, and they would make sure that when the so-forgetful hearing people called your name, you would know. (You tell them you're Deaf every time you go. They always forget.)

Now they've decided to use VRI. This means no interpreter meets you at the office; the VRI system itself isn't very portable, requiring plugs and high-speed internet, so they wait till you're actually in the doctor's office to set it up. When you ask why they say it's a small clinic, they have no money, and VRI charges by the minute instead of the usual ASL-interpreter-two-hour-standard. Although you've mentioned accessibility is tax-deductible, they've convinced you to try this for a few months. But now any communication you attempt in the lobby is written; you can’t trust yourself to lipread whatever accent the receptionist has, and in any case they don’t have the patience or time to communicate. After a few short messages they ask you to sit down and be patient. You wait nervously on high alert in the waiting room, afraid to read your book, afraid to miss any movement in case it might be someone out of sight calling your name. You have questions about your insurance and how it works, but you have to wait until you see the doctor. You can speak and lipread pretty well, but you’re nervous about doing so in a medical situation – you do it now and then and they instantly expect you to do it all the time. You tell them you can't, not consistently, but they just nod, and you know they aren't really listening.

You get called in-they forget to come get you, again, but thank Goddess you were paying attention. A nurse writes (rolling her eyes with frustration; she repeatedly tried to speak to you until you fiercely pointed at the pad; she doesn’t want to take the time) that the equipment is on the way and will take another half hour. You have a book but are afraid to read in case someone calls you or something happens and you miss it. Doctor’s visits are important. This is your health at stake, and you’re very aware of how important health is. You wait nervously for an hour and when nothing happens you try to go outside in the hallway, look for someone to remind of your existence. A nurse walks by, sees you, says something like OH! and mouths ONE MINUTE – your insides grate at her patronizing expression, but at least someone’s doing something. Or that's what you tell yourself.

The doctor comes in and talks loudly and isn’t looking at you – you want to bang on the table and remind him that it says PT IS DEAF on the cover of your folder where you insisted on writing it several months ago in the vain hope it would remind people to be aware of your communication boundaries, but you know he would get pissed off and leave and write comments about PT INTRACTABLE in your folder again. So you smile and in a soft voice which he doesn’t hear at first you remind him to look at you when he speaks. He smiles and ignores you. You repeat your request. When he finally gets it he sighs, and you realize he’s frustrated again.

At this point you’re concentrating so hard on lipreading that you forget all your questions. Insurance? What's that? The equipment is on the way, or maybe not – you’re not sure. You’re trying so hard to catch all the words and make sense out of them – maybe a complete sentence will make more sense than just these few words? you think – that it’s hard to find the time to stop him. Finally you ask him to write down what he says and he just writes WAIT HERE on a piece of paper and goes off.

The equipment finally arrives and takes 15 minutes to set up, and another 20 to connect. The interpreter is tolerable, is totally new to you, since VRI interpreters are randomly selected. (You have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand they're not in town, so you have privacy of sorts; on the other hand, you have a new interpreter every doctor's appointment, so many more people know your medical situation. Also, the terp has to ask the doctor to spell out the names of every medically-related term he uses, sometimes several times. Since this has happened every time you've visited, you're kind of used to it - it's amazing the things you learn to get used to. But the doctor hasn't gotten used to it at all, and he stamps his foot impatiently; you're the one in the room, and you get the psychic brunt of his frustration. Deaf people see expressions the way hearing people see sirens.

The doctor informs you of your diagnosis rapidly, and, frustrated at the waste of time, rattles off a list of medications. By the time the VRI terp finishes spelling out everything, the doctor has taken off, and so has the nurse. You couldn’t stop them without taking your eyes off the VRI terp, you couldn’t ask any questions, and you didn’t have the chance to tell him about any new problems. You aren't sure you have the energy anyway: the terp doesn't seem to understand your fingerspelling unless you sign at a tiny fraction of your usual speed, and you have a sneaking suspicion the interpreter may not be interpreting what you say totally correctly. You're divided between paying attention and trying to judge the quality of communication through VRI. The doctor didn’t waste any more of his time making sure you understand what to do; in his opinion that’s the job of the interpreter. He’s fulfilled his responsibility and provided access. What more do you want?

What you want is to check the spelling of some of the meds, since the doctor’s handwriting on his prescription pad is about as legible as Egyptian heiroglyphs, but you can’t. The television is off; the technician has come to take it away. You’re angry, but also exhausted, and sick. You just want to go get the medications, hope they’re the right ones, and go to sleep. On the way out you have a bad scare: you left some document on the floor in the waiting room, and the receptionist, who unbeknownst to you had been screaming your name, came up behind you and jerked you roughly for attention, then pointed, annoyed, at the paper on the floor. Harried, you pick it up and leave, aware of all eyes on you.

On the way out you think fondly of the days when you had a live person and your entire trip was interpreted; when the same interpreter came to all your visits and knew your case and was able to help you far more effectively; when you didn't have to waste so much time on waiting for technology, and when your Deafness wasn't a point of embarrassment and frustration. Oh, people looked at you before, talking the small talk with the terp, but at least they were looking at something you could be proud of: ASL. You don't mind if they use the VRI when they have to, but to have to go through this again and again? Ugh. And the truth is, you know no more about your health than when you started.

NOTE: I think VRI is a powerful, wonderful tool which can and should be used when a live interpreter is not available. It has its place in our lives and rightly so, because there are far too few terps to suit the extant need. But I've heard and witnessed a lot of problems, and I compiled them into this fictional account. Can these problems be dealt with? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe this story is exaggeration. Maybe it's understating the case. But there are no unilateral studies of the use of VRI in a health care situation. The one study I found online compared VRI... to using tty-based relay systems. It's been used to show Deaf people prefer VRI. But it was not a comparison of VRI to a live interpreter at all! Anyone else have links to studies out there? I hope this fictional account helps us move forward in our understanding of the place and value of VRI, for both doctors and patients.

2007-01-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

394: VRI at Beth Israel: the plot thickens

When interpreters at Beth Israel Medical Center were told they would be replaced with televisions, their responses were incredulous. So too were the responses of Deaf community members at the New York City DIRC meeting on Friday, January 19th, 2007. They claim that Video Relay Interpreting (VRI) systems are meant for emergencies, situations where no live ASL interpreter is available to provide the best mutual access for doctors and patients in the medical care system. So why would Beth Israel suddenly start telling people to watch TV for information?

Follow the money. American Sign Language interpreters are highly skilled hearing and Deaf individuals who interpret between ASL, a manually-expressed language, and spoken English to allow the two groups to communicate. Furthering their value is the fact that they can often communicate with a variety of individuals, from the mentally ill to the genius. Combine this with their rarity - reports claim over 30 per cent of requests for interpreters go unfulfilled in New York State - and you have an expensive commodity. Beth Israel Medical Center has recently come under new leadership, and one of their first steps is... to cut costs, especially in light of State-sponsored budget cuts to hospitals around New York. The plan is to cut the live interpreting staff and replace these with video-conferencing equipment which allows a person at a remote location to video-conference and interpret for the patient. VRI is cheaper in that they charge by the minute, rather than by the hour, something billed as a great savings for the hospital. (In my view this is short-sighted; clients given inadequate information require more visits and more time and money from the hospital.)

The head that takes the blow - this particular part of the blow - is the Deaf community. Beth Israel is not only in close proximity to a residence dedicated to Deaf individuals, it's also possessor of a pioneering interpreting team which drew patients from all over the city. This may now be gone. Worse, the video-conferencing system known as VRI (video relay interpreting) is woefully unequal in terms of access (see my previous blog on the subject here.) And, too, a large percentage of New York's mentally ill Deaf population receive services at Beth Israel, due to their sterling interpreting staff (read about the importance of language to the mentally ill Deaf population here.) So it's no surprise that over 200 Deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind people gathered for an impromptu meeting to discuss the issues, led by Deaf community leaders who called for calm action. Their options were discussed. There was no community representative from BIMC available, although the meeting had been advertised for days.

But what we didn't know at the time of the meeting is that the actions of Beth Israel may be in violation of the law. What's ironic is that Beth Israel may not be aware of it either. Reader-and fellow blogger-MishkaZena reports that a landmark Department of Justice case previously thought to apply only in Maryland, the state in which it was decided, in reality is effective in all states; a link to the decision is here, and her blog about it is here. She comments:

Since the Dept. of Justice is federal, their content decree in [this] landmark case applies to all states, including New York. This case is viewed as a model where all hospitals must follow.

What were some of the specific issues of unequal access pointed out by the decision? MishkaZena continues:

in the landmark case, Dept. of Justice had deemed that the VRI may not be the best appropriate choice for the deaf, contrary to the hospital's insistence it is. Some deaf people are too sick or too incapicated to use VRI. VRI cannot be taken to other rooms, like prep rooms, surgery rooms, CAT Scan rooms, etc, so it has its own limitations, unlike a live interpreter who can accompany the deaf person to different rooms.

One interpreter spoke about a client who was woozy. She, being the one who could communicate to the person, had to keep them awake if they were to live. Doctors could not get them to talk. Could a television?

The goal of the Deaf community is to ensure that when we need health care, information is being relayed by qualified individuals. Televisions have no bedside manner - and the VRI system was never intended to be used except in other than an emergency situation where a live interpreter could not arrive in time; indeed the DOJ decision which MishkaZena describes specifically states that is the best use of VRI. Some of the stories of VRI experiences I witnessed at DIRC were highly disturbing. I want to close with a story one interpreter told which stunned me, but may help explain why Deaf people like real, live, heart-beating interpreters. Here's the story as best as I can remember it:

I worked with a client who had cancer. The client had been going to the doctor for several years and believed she was going to be well. The doctors knew she was going to die, but they had been keeping this information from her for several years out of fear of how she would react. One day she asked me to explain something when the doctor was out of the room, and... I ended up explaining that she was going to die. The client got very upset and started to interrogate the doctor, who attacked the interpreter. Now this client had a daughter in another country. She kept telling the daughter to wait till she was healthy again before visiting. But once she knew the truth she asked her daughter to come immediately, and they were able to say goodbye before she died.

This kind of intervention, which gave the client information she could not hear but should have had access too, is not possible with VRI. Doctors sometimes have low opinions of Deaf people, possibly reinforced by certain traditions in medicine; they see the problem, not the person. My friend Butterfly (name changed to protect the innocent!) told me once how as a medical student she witnessed another student stand up and ask their teacher if Deaf people could think. Interpreters have often been the cultural link which helps people get over their personal issues about deafness and connect with Deaf people. Should this link go.... what might not happen?

And televisions have no bedside manner. They may be cheaper, but you get what you pay for. To be continued...

ADDENDUM: Deaf blogger Ridor describes his own experience with VRI here.

ADDENDUM: What should you do if you're concerned about these issues? My primary concern is EDUCATION. Sick people aren't always good at advocating for themselves. Have you experienced VRI? Share your experience and your story. Help further the discussion.

2007-01-17T07:26:00.000-05:00

393: VRI... Sign Language! Access!

This Friday night in NYC my darling Zlotte will be leading a really important discussion at Morton St.:

Important DIRC meeting Friday, January 19th! Your support is needed!

Are you now or have you ever been a patient at Beth Israel Hospital? Did you know that Beth Israel is planning to fire their sign language interpreters and switch to Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) for all their Deaf patients?

How do you feel about using a VRI service during your medical appointments? Are you comfortable working with a TV screen when your doctor asks you how you're feeling? Will you trust the VRI interpreter to understand your sign language and your medical history? Do you want to work with a TV screen when you're getting serious information and instructions about your health?

When Jane Fernandes was hand-picked to be President of Gallaudet University her ASL skills came under discussion repeatedly. Hearing people didn't really understand what the problem with Jane was, and because it was a Deaf university, they pointed to what was different - her use of sign language and her Deafness. It was easier to accept what they already knew to be different as the problem, rather than seeking a true understanding of the issues. It was easier to find a reason to dismiss the concerns of the protest.

VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) uses videoconferencing equipment to present an interpreter on a TV screen. The interpreter is in a different city. When I went to a hospital in Brooklyn one day with a friend and found that they had been using VRI with him, I was curious. I had never seen it before. Another friend is doing a dissertation on the issues surrounding VRI, and I was excited to get my hands dirty, so to speak. My experience was abominable. The hospital staff took an hour to find the equipment, and another hour because "the guy who knows how to hook it up isn't here." The friend understood nothing on the screen, and I wound up having to "deaf interpret" everything. The friend was really frustrated. Why?

He didn't understand a three-dimensional language in two dimensions.
The technology was good, but this portable VRI technology was still not Sorensen - most VRI doesn't seem to be as high quality as what Deaf people use.
They were talking about VERY personal things. Because he'd never met the interpreter before, my friend had no comfort level. Because the interpreter was on TV, he had no way to develop that comfort level.
The terp itself sucked. He had no experience with the hospital staff or with this particular person and no connection to the person's history. In the past I've requested the same interpreter for my medical appointments because it makes things a lot easier when you don't have to take a half hour to teach the terp names for things. That's if the terp ASKS - they may just brave it out and fingerspell stuff, and because you (as a Deaf person) are LOOKING AT THE TV SCREEN you don't have an opportunity to try to lipread the doctor and suss out if the terp is correct.
The terp didn't understand the patient. He was apparently from Minnesota, and didn't understand the NYC dialect of ASL. (There's correlations to this in spoken language - interpreters do not always understand spoken variation.)
Erfo wants me to add that the Doctor was standing BEHIND the patient at this point and prattling on, then left the room. With no visual or audio connection to the patient, they had no reason to bring out their bedside manners.

"But he has sign language!" cried the hospital staff, three hours after we started, when the client's 15-minute appointment was completed. "That's access! You can't complain!" But we did complain, and legally: it's the hospital's responsibility to match the needs of the patient, not focus so hard on finding ways to save money that they reduce the quality of their own service. When I was a youngster in the NYC public school system, the school was frustrated with the cost, and to save money once gave me an interpreter - who sat down in my French class and began speaking Italian.

I imagine that's how many hearing people felt about the Gallaudet protest. And like the Gallaudet protest, the underlying problems are very similar. But like the advertisement for the meeting on Friday states, do you feel comfortable telling a TV screen about your health? The most effective health care for Deaf people comes about when Deaf people's self-expressed boundaries, in terms of communication, are established and respected. VRI was initially created as a means of providing access to people in remote areas where there are few or no terps - not to become standard in big cities where hospitals have STAFF who are interpreters. It's expensive, in terms of money but especially time (there were four hospital staff standing around for an hour trying to hook up the television - certainly their time cost more than the interpreter!)

God. One day you KNOW some nurse is going to show up saying "Sorry, we couldn't find the terp, the television, or anything else, but... we did find this!" And when she pulls the signing puppet bear from behind her back and we complain, they'll say, hey, it's sign language: it's access... (Yeah, and they speak English on subway car announcements. Sure.)

Let me close on a personal note. The other week in Florida I was walking with my father on the side of the road. I asked if we could switch sides; he was puzzled and frustrated, but agreed. I noticed his frustration and asked if he understood why I wanted to move - he said yes, because we were now walking on the left side of the road, into oncoming traffic! I explained that as a Deaf person I could see traffic in front of me, but not hear it behind me, so I'd rather walk on this side so I could protect myself. His eyes cleared and he understood. (Then we got into an argument about why I had to be so bloody independent. But that's another story.)

2006-12-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

392: The National Deaf Economy, what?

Today's Question, for Deaf Community Members:

How do you see things in the nation as a whole for Deaf people? Are Deaf people more likely or less likely to be employed today than ten years ago? Are Deaf people more or less likely to be moving up the income ladder today than ten years ago? Are more or less of your friends employed? Is this better or worse employment? Have any of your friends lost jobs this year? What are your feelings about the future: fear? Confidence?

I'll post my thoughts over the weekend. Maybe in a vlog, if I have time; I want to do more.

2006-12-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

391: For Your Hands Only: holiday possessiveness edition

What present did you earmark for yourself this holiday season? Come on, we all do it: we see something we've really wanted, we go "Oh no, I shouldn't!" and we do. For me it was a Koie slingbag, "the must for the urban warrior who needs a simple, uncomplicated backpack..."

2006-12-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

390: Working While Deaf; or, Existential Deafhood

Thursday at work my friend RD, whose daughter is at Gallaudet now, stopped me to tell about Sophie, Miss Limousin of France. This go-getting Deaf girl was fighting for the crown of Miss France when an interpreter got in her way. Not to be floored, she kept her smile and chose to try speaking for herself when she encountered a barrier. Shane Feldman has the goods, and a link to the video.

It's funny. I keep thinking about the word assimilation while watching the film. In my head I always sort of interpret words: assimilation always comes across as a sign that looks like fitting you into our puzzle. A few times in the last weeks I've seen the "Hearing World" abomination around, again. I'm starting to understand why people say that. It is only partially about doubts about ASL and Deaf culture. Mostly it's because, in this world, you often have to give something up, to get something else done. Miss Limousin had to make such a choice - when the interpreter failed her, she needed to find some way to get her message across. Some might say she should have asked for her rights and fought for a certified interpreter; others might say she should do what is right in the moment. To me it was always clear that she was Deaf and she was a Person. She was very much in control. And in some ways, it was a good opportunity for her to show she would try no matter what. That took courage, I think. Would YOU be willing to use your voice in front of millions? *eep*

The Hearing World Abomination is this: when people say you must do X because you live in a Hearing World! When you're working in TEH HEARING WORLD!!!!! and living in TEH HEARING WORLD!!!!! and fighting your ass off to keep up with and even be better than the huge assortment of jerks in TEH HEARING WORLD!!!! you just can't help but wonder what all the fuss is. We hear the words every day, without explanation. (They said it was a man's world at one point, too.) None of this, you think, is actually designed to make me happy or feel comfortable or anything like that. We should be able to tell people what we need in terms of communication and have that respected, or at least have that start a discussion on how to handle communication needs. We should also fight to find answers of our own. It is essentially a problem of "How do I make sure the mirror is reflecting me properly?" How do you make sure YOU are coming through the way YOU want to be seen, when you are no longer in control of your own words? I'm sure soon people are going to criticize Limousin, either for speaking or for signing: someone always does. But whether she was speaking or signing, Sophie Vouzelaud was trying - with passion - to create a clear picture of her self for judges - something we struggle with every day, we Deaf people fighting to work in environments with a majority - in most cases a huge majority - of hearing people.

New York has a reasonably-sized interpreting community and though I am sometimes thirsty for communication I am never parched. I can go to a hospital and know I'll have at least some visits interpreted. (I think the rate in NY State is something like 60% of medical appointments are interpreted, disappointingly low in terms of simple volume - should we only understand 60% of our health information? Isn't 60% a losing grade in high school?) And I can figure out how to get interpreters for events and venues more easily than those in states with less people to justify the cost. But I have no way of guaranteeing an interpreter will be able to take my words in ASL and make them very palatable words in English. That 60% of appointments are filled by quite a variety of interpreters... now I'm a writer. I care about my words. It hurts me when I go to gender studies classes and sign "The determination of gender roles is entirely arbitrary, but certain types of biologically-determined behaviors which have been classified as part of those roles are not," and have this terped to (and I had to lipread every word of it, and wince) "I want to decide what is the gender role, is it maybe, is it definite, biology decides, we behave in class to divide those roles, don't we?"

This is where existential deafhood comes in. How do we find our own answers for this problem? Deaf studies and deafhood give our lives and existences validity. All of our experiences should be recorded because they all feed into and are fed by Deaf culture in some form - from acceptance to resistance to celebration. ("It is what it is," my younger sister says, in the Deep Voice which means she's just uttered something from the Lifetime Channel.) We struggle for a perfect way to make the worlds fit together, but they don't. They did not come cut from one and the same puzzle; their edges do not meet. There is no deaf world and there is no hearing world. There is one world, with many inhabitants.

And it's okay. You don't have to force them to fit. (You don't have to accept what happens because they don't fit, either.) You don't have to jam the thing that looks like a thumb into the piece that looks like it has an eye socket. You can make your own collage, shapes of your own device, pieces lying on top of each other in three dimensions, layer on layer. I respect Miss Limousin for her choice. (What else should she have done?) I regret she has to make it. She had to make it because the OTHER clients - the judges - had no understanding of, or way to assess, the level of skill of the LSF interpreter, who might look perfectly competent in spoken French. Both sides in this instance need to realize the interpreter is there for both people. That LSF terp was there for the judges as well as the candidate... just as an interpreter in the Deaf person's working environment is there for the employer as well as the employee. Terps aren't at fault here. There's not enough of them-even today. But-accepting the least-common-denominator of access isn't a solution. And we don't have to let ourselves be pushed into impossible situations - like that of Miss Limousin. I admire her strength. Vive la France!

(P.S. Happy Holidays.)

2006-12-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

Interlude: Internet Scams and Deaf Culture

It seems we have finally achieved minority status: as erfo noted tonight, nigerians are now deafians:

UNITED KINGDOM ADOPTION AGENCY

British Deaf Association International
Headquarters: 60 Merriman Road
Blackheath London SE3 8RZ
England.
Good day to you,
I am a representative of the UK Government in London. I will really love to pass this information to you and I hope you are the honest one that is ready and willing to take good care of 5-year-old deaf girl. Her mother came from unknown area in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire and they live in UK their mother MARIE HARTLEY died in Bomb Blast in London Terrorist Attacks on July 7TH 2005, and she left the sum of 3 million pounds in her account , now that she is no more the money automatically belongs to her only daughter, anyone that adopts the girls would be a beneficiary to the money inherited by the girl Named Elizabeth and when you convert the 3 million pounds into USA dollars its about 6.5million dollars.

We Are looking for an honest deaf male or female who is willing to adopt the girl and take good care of her and every 4 months the UK government will always come to check on the girl and how your taking good care of her. And such person will be given the three million pounds to take good care of the kids. Please write me back if you are interested so that we can contact the bank that whole the money as soon as possible and also contact the UK government so that they can sign and give you all the legal documents and also an agreement of adoption and legally keep the girl under your care, and also entrust the 3 million pounds the girl inherited from her parents in your care. Endeavor to contact me as soon as possible at ukgovt_deafagency@myway.com, (email address left so the spambots can go nuts -ed.) so we can brief you on how to go about the adoption and also the requirements for the adoption. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards

It's kind of cool that people now use us in spam. Maybe next we can get the Brooklyn Bridge.

2006-12-11T08:12:00.000-05:00

388: Review of Brilliant Traces

Brilliant Traces, by Cindy Lou Johnson. An oil worker's self-enforced isolation in a house in the Middle of Nowhere, Alaska, is disrupted by the arrival of an unbalanced woman in a bridal gown. Having had his peaceful limbo disrupted, Henry Harry refuses to allow Rosannah Deluce to leave until she finds reconcilation within herself. This latest production by the actor/director Frank Dattolo surprisingly pleases: the ethereal advertisements for the show made it seem like a bizarre trip (the insane bride, a la Lucia di Lammermoor, didn't help), but it's actually a tour-de-force of human psychology.

This play is performed in both English and ASL by New York Deaf Theater, and both translations are well-fashioned. Anne Tomasetti and Aaron Kubey provide the necessary character for this character-driven play-and then some! I was absolutely delighted by Tomasetti, who has the expressive range of Audrey Tautou and all of the charm; Kubey's performance resembles that of a more psychologically sophisticated version of Stanley from Streetcar, as his character convincingly moves from timid to terrifying. Indeed, the connection between the two actors strongly called A Streetcar Named Desire to mind, as their give-and-take of sanity and insanity goes from madness to lust to the kindness of strangers-a Streetcar where the prison of marriage is replaced by that of a blizzard, and this 'Blanche' arrives drunk-but quickly runs out of alcohol.

This is one of those well-directed productions which, adapted for ASL, finds clever ways to include voice interpretation which add, not detract, from the production. Two grey-costumed interpreters fade into the desolate, minimalist stage, seeming to represent the former lives of the characters (Kathy Walley, who voices for Tomasetti, even wears a slightly ruffled dress, hinting at the wedding dress Tomasetti takes off earlier in the stage.) Frank Todaro, for example, looks at the recumbent Tomasetti early in the production in a way which echoes the later looks of Kubey. That the two voice actors are speaking different language from the actors only enhances the weird ghostly connections. It emphasizes the bond between the two lost ones, as they dance verbally and physically on stage. Ordonez' costuming is also well-chosen; Tomasetti's dress is replaced by a plaid-and-jeans uniform matching Kubey's, hinting again at the prison-like nature of their exile.

Traces is a long piece-as one audience member said, it's weird (especially in this age of meaningless reality tv!) to see two people just relating for an hour and a half. The ending, however, more than satisfies, though free of resolution; the lights go off with madness in Rosannah's face. Tomasetti and Kubey pull off what must be an exhausting performance, keeping the audience interested and involved in a way which previous productions seem to have had trouble doing-this reviewer, despite a winter cold and a corneal abrasion, nonetheless squinted to catch every word. You could feel it in the audience when Henry kissed Rosannah. Their passion quite literally rattled the set - and the audience, which sat talking about what they'd seen a solid ten minutes after the lights went up. It's no wonder this production is sold out.

Brilliant Traces. Performed at the Gene Frankel Theater. 24 Bond Street New York, NY; NY Deaf Theatre.

2006-12-11T07:04:00.000-05:00

387: Davila's Speech: with coffee

So it has turned out to be the famous Dr. Robert Davila, who I unexpectedly like. (And sir, if there's any jobs available in your administration, let a man know!) Seriously, you can see video of his speech here, straight from Gallaudet. My thoughts as the man speaks:

There's some introductory speech (UPDATE: by Pamela Holmes, chair of the BOT), then Davila takes the stage at 19:34 (is it just me, or is Gallaudet intent on using outmoded video players? This was clunky...) He gave a very interesting speech.

He states he has to deal with the lack of open communication on campus by establishing a non-affiliated person for students/faculty to talk to, an email hotline (no word on if this is anonymous!), etc. etc. "We need to open things up for you. We need to make people feel like when they speak on this campus, they will be heard." (Yes, I did find the last sentence funny.) He wants to find ways to put such paying-attention systems into place, to aid his successor; Davila will, he states be president for 1 year.

This sounds good, but at this point I was reminded of Fernandes and Jordan repeatedly stating: We hear you. We just don't agree with you. And I remember reading that Glickman book on Deaf Health and Mental Health where the author stated he found his employees and clients were most comfortable when they were allowed to set the parameters of their own communication.

What I mean is there has to be more than listening, at Gallaudet. When a Deaf person can go to a hearing college, get an interpreter provided for full communication (like I had,) why go to Gallaudet if they can't understand all the teachers? The benefit is supposed to be barrier-free education. That's Gallaudet's value-added - what makes their education special for Deaf individuals. Gallaudet needs to get back to making the campus barrier-free. They need to go through the whole campus like a Deaf person and find out all the spots - like DPS which can't sign - and make them accessible. For so many reasons.

24:03 - Davila mentions a rumor going around in the blogs - already retracted by Ridor, as I noticed in my last post - that he is not supportive of ASL as a language. Kind of shows the power of reporting, doesn' t it? But also, Mr. Davila, as you say later, we're our own worst critics, and Ridor honestly and immediately retracted his statements.

Davila goes on to clearly - and honestly - explain the problems now facing Gallaudet, including the MSA problems. I was impressed with his speaking ability. His signing has personality, and he definitely has the Old Deaf running through him - not in a bad way - he's a pleasure to watch! He reminds me a little of Malzkuhn, and Doug Alker who was President of the BDA in England. Finally, a real leader, who isn't just reading from a script - he knows his subject, he looks at his audience... Could it be someone who signs well might be recognized by the world as a real leader?

We need to be our own worst critics because if we're not, other people will take that role - and that's not a position we want to be in. (38:21)

Mr. Davila - this is exactly my philosophy. This is the blog philosophy - we have to work hard on our writing and positions. I wish you the best of luck at the University over the next couple of months. Remember you have young minds to guide and grow, not herd and control. This is not a madhouse with inmates; this is a school with young people. When people tell others about their boundaries and limitations, they need to be listened to - and if not agreed with, respected. When Jordan and Fernandes forgot that, they had already lost, though the protest hadn't begun.

Davila goes on to actually confront the PART report (something Fernandes and Jordan had yet to do) and state the first part of the plan to deal with it - is to collect information, which (if you read between the lines) is exactly what Fernandes and Jordan failed to do. Kudos to Davila for dealing with this!

Around 39:50 - talks about going back to Congress to get funding "restored?" Wants to take advantage of the Democratic Congress. I wonder if he could say a word about savedeaftheater?

40:30 - this seems like a big bombshell to me - there is information badly needed which Jordan doesn't have available or has not yet made available to Davila. This is starting to anger me, because I see a pattern. Ridor has been accusing the Jordan administration of corruption for a while. I have not gone that far. But the failure of the PART report is basically a failure of accountability, and if you see exactly what Gallaudet failed, it mostly has to do with honesty and providing accurate numbers and paperwork. Bascially, you get points for writing your name down if you show up, okay? That's what this is about. I feel terrible for Mr. Davila - it's a horrible thing to take over a job and be so far behind in the work your program needs to accomplish, and requires a lot of sleepless nights.

43:23 - has a deep respect for faculty governance systems. Was a member of many, and understands their importance. Will be setting up discussion panels. (I wonder, will he be sending letters to parents about the protest? Parents of Gallaudet Students, I mean, because I remember reading somewhere that Jordan never reached out to parents who wrote with their concerns about the protest. Davila may need to take over that part of continuing and resolving the Unity for Gallaudet protest.)

44:39 - nice comment from Davila - that both the other candidates for this position have skills that he wishes to tap in the pursuit of resolving the issues he faces on assuming leadership of the University. Seems they are already both involved. I think he's giving a message to people: We have 18 months. Let's get busy. (Update: Marshall has thrown his weight behind Davila.)

Can you tell I warmed up to Davila? I really did - he's obviously a mentor to a huge variety of minds, which is what a University is supposed to be about. He looked at his audience like an experienced professor and leader, and he spoke with emotion, even passion in some places. Could this be the man - this man who speaks before the Hill with such success, while still retaining an excellent ability to sign - be a model for students to achieve Deafhood? Will he remove the barriers which have risen on campus?

2006-12-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

386: Who's Who For the Gallaudet Interim Presidential Position

So who will it be, friends and neighbors? Here's some first impressions after my first reading of their biographies and letters.

William Marshall, a dedicated leader of the Gallaudet University faculty, who has led the University Faculty Senate (the one whose votes of no confidence so harmed the Jordan/Fernandes position) for the last several years? His publications focus on adademic discipline, how to make a University run efficiently, dealing with politics and power structures. He would seem to be the "healing" option - the man who by familiarity with the community and academic world might be able to lead the Gallaudet community to understanding and healing from the political and social uproar of the past year. His plan includes structure for whoever takes over the Presidential position to ease into their role. He interestingly seems to have stopped publishing in 99 and not again until 2006 - wasn't this the time period Jane Fernandes was Dean of the University? It's probably meaningless coincidence... all in all he seems capable, slightly conservative, highly efficient. His ASL skills have come under attack (see for yourself) but I think this is possibly unfair-Marshall is hardly claiming to be a beautiful signer, unlike Jane Fernandes who Jordan called "fluent." And as Erfo says:

"Marshall doesn't sign too badly. He's got personality... and he obviously has a lot of Old Deaf running through him. I covered his face for part of the presentation; I'd say 70% legible... when any fluent signer gets on the stage at Gally legibility drops to abt 40%-60%."

The worst people say of him that I've been able to see is that he is stiff and inflexible - but maybe Gallaudet needs the comfort of routine and a strong direction.

Robert Davila, a man who seems to play the center politically and has a fantastic fundraising track record, a respected academic leader of various institutions, a familiar face with Congress, a highly impressive resume... and extremely well known at Gallaudet (take this test!) He's the first Deaf and Hispanic man to receive a PhD in the United States, a feat which I applaud (and which my father would also; as an immigrant my father wasn't able to take advantage of education in America much.) Davila would seem to be the power option - the man who might be able to reconcile Gallaudet to the world and prepare for what, until a Democratic American majority took hold of the House and balanced the Senate, were hints and rumors of potential government cuts - such as those which rocked the world of Deaf Theatre. Perhaps his leadership qualities, diplomacy, political connections are the more important considerations.

Stephen Weiner was a guidance counselor at MSSD and a former New Yorker as well as a Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor in various other depts. Despite this, I don't know him very well - I was still revelling in being at a Deaf school for the first time in my life and annoying everyone with silly questions. At first glance, his resume doesn't appear as extensive as the other two candidates. Looking at it more closely helps you realize the structure is completely different. His research and publications are on Deaf clubs, Deaf people, Deaf society. I wonder if Weiner is meant to be the "community option" - the man who might reconcile Gallaudet to the extensive community (and its supporters) which turned out in the thousands to show support for their University during the protest. His having administrative experience is also as a member of Boards of various Deaf schools (including Lexington, which he himself attended), a doctorate in Education, and strong ties to the Deaf community. A review of his resume shows presentations nationally and internationally on a huge variety of subjects. His obvious commitment to his community might be what Gallaudet needs for the interim while the best Presidential candidate is sought.

Three very interesting people, who are also sort of refreshingly transparent. MishkaZena and Ridor also have their analysis (Ridor follows it up with a retraction.)

Why is this important? While the position will be short-lived, the Gallaudet community is hurting now - and needs treatment, counselling, the works. While the community is lying injured on the ground, people are hardening opinions about what happened. We need a voice to bring the community back together, prevent hemorrhaging of donations, maintain our political support, and keep the community on the path towards dealing with audism, both internal and external - and get the Gallaudet community ready for a new President and hopefully an upward climb. And as goes Gallaudet, so goes acceptance and opportunity for Deaf people around the nation. Sometimes we forget that without such a center of learning for Deaf people, we wouldn't have the exposure/visibility we do now. Regardless - they'll be announcing the leader soon.

2006-12-05T02:07:00.000-05:00

385: weds am poetry: the Lion in Cancer

Something unfinished I thought I'd share during busy times.

The reason I'm pacing the cage is:

it doesn't matter how good we are, how well we speak
there will always be some form of discrimination
there will always be the need for independence
there is never the confidence that one's projected oneself clearly

(am I looking docile and sheeplike when I read lips?)

there is never the freedom of being able to show emotion

(if I show my anger on that or this issue - could I lose my job -)

I see these walls
bowing but not breaking

I pace
like a lion: padded paws,
withdrawn claws,
chin to ground. No loud sound
makes me raise my lidded eyes;
and when they lead me to the ring
and make me sing (O mighty roar)

and chew my enemies to dust -
Still I am looking at the floor

2006-11-27T13:23:00.000-05:00

384.5: VLog Revisited! Clearer?

I tried out Blip.TV bec. my friend Brein over at Signcasts claims their formatting is better in terms of compression than YouTUBE. Pls share your opinion if you have a chance - thanks!

Click To Play

VLog'd my Sunday Morning Rant

11/27/2006

2006-11-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

384: Sunday News and VLog Rant

It seems Ridor isn't the only one experiencing job discrimination - this gentleman in India is another sufferer. It seems the job market for Deaf people is just dwindling these days. I wrote to Erfo this morning:

In a sense I do think it's okay to ask people questions about how they'd handle situations. But I do think this was discrimination because a) it's a deaf agency; they're supposed to educate, not pamper hearing people's illusions and b) once Ridor got to know people they'd know to call back with relay. Heck, they could program his voicemail to get people to call back with relay. You can get TTY's which automatically respond with PLEASE CALL BACK VIA TTY. A couple people on his blog suggested video relay, but that wasn't, to me, the point. The point is they raised a specious objection to block a perfectly good candidate for a job... and in the process revealed exactly how discriminatory people can be.

Sometimes I think I should just suck it up and be a good Deaf person and go collect my SSI check. But noooooooo, I really love my job, I really think it's possible to be a Deaf person and a professional, so I continue to go out there and fight the good fight... even tho sometimes I have to sit on my hands to keep from saying what's on my mind...

But that's what a blog is for. Here's today's rant, in an experimental vlog - would LOVE comments and suggestions for improvement!

More soon. Back to baby-gazing.

2006-11-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

382: gallaudet, thanksgiving and the future

Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving. I want to mention some things I'm grateful for, and talk a little about the future and some dreams I have.

I'm thankful for my newborn niece Isabella and for the health of my tired sister! I'm thankful I live in a time where technology and unity have given us a powerful sense of connection, creativity, and control. I'm thankful to have lived in a time where twice in a century Deaf people have risen up and blown the lid off their prison and removed gatekeepers who went from protecting us to keeping us trapped.

Have you heard the expression "opened a can of worms?" It means to blow the lid off a situation of true complexity. It comes from the story about Pandora's box. Pandora was the wife of Epimethius, the brother of Prometheus. They lived in a time when the world was without fear or worry. Prometheus stole fire from the gods; Zeus punished him, but he would not submit. In revenge Zeus created Pandora, and sent her to Epimethius with gifts, including a jar. Pandora was gifted with curiosity, opened the jar, and let loose all the evils of the world - but also let loose good things, like hope and love.

The story is similar to my mind to what happened at Gallaudet. We opened a can of worms and exposed a situation of high complexity. We refused to let other people take care of us, and decided we wanted free will. Like Prometheus, we stole the fire from the "god" of the Deaf community, I. King Jordan. Like Pandora, we are gifted with curiosity, and though certainly in our struggle some bad things happen, we are struggling because of hope - hope for our own future as a community.

For now the lid is off the can. What do we do with our freedom? Well, let's look back to some of the problems raised in the protest and I am just going to brainstorm on ideas for how to deal with them:

AUDISM: the DPS. The DPS has reportedly had severe communication and cultural relation problems with the community at Gallaudet. They've been declared responsible for the death of at least one student, Carl Dupree. When students die or get tasered at other institutions people go nuts, have you noticed? When someone dies at Gallaudet, they assume that our "gods" have been taking care of us, and it must have been our fault. How do we resolve this? Do we wait for hearing people to solve it for us? Or should one of the points of the next few months be trying to get Deaf people onto DPS? Should DPS be 50% Deaf people? Could Deaf people partner with hearing people on DPS to create a cultural relationship program? It is NOT going to be possible to hire skilled signers on DPS - for one thing, they could probably make more money terping!
MEDIA: During the Gallaudet protest, I saw again and again people asking Dr. Fernandes about the viewpoint of her opposition. Why are Deaf people mad at her? she was asked, again and again. It took a while for people to talk to the protestors themselves. How can we change this?
AUDISM: other depts. at Gallaudet. We have heard again and again about financial corruption at Gallaudet. I've also heard that the finance/accounting people are almost all hearing. Is this just a rumor? Is this true? How many other depts. are almost all hearing? Does this create an atmosphere of isolation?
EDUCATION: I know that sororities and fraternities at Gallaudet do a lot of amazing community work (as well as have their share of fun!) Can they do community projects spotlighting problem situations at the University?
EDUCATION: Also, many big organizations like the ACLU etc. are ignorant about the Deaf community - they support minority groups, but Deaf people are a big question mark. I have been working to educate Democrats on dailykos.com - I've had a good response as people easily make connections to issues faced by other minorities. Who else should we be working with? We need to create coalitions so we have stronger political lobbies?

What do you think of these ideas? I know some people have already been doing amazing things. These are just brainstorming ideas. If they inspire someone, please, share yours! Whatever comes out of this blog, one thing is clear: any answers we find, we will be creating. We have opened the can of worms. We explore new territory every time we do.

Oh - and happy tofurkey day. (I'm still a vegan at heart. Sigh.)

2006-11-20T16:06:00.000-05:00

381: ASL, LSF, and Native American sign languages

NOTE: still in Ft. Lauderdale. Sister is having so many contractions she doesn't know what to do. I wrote this post yesterday on my blackberry while in the car at night and therefore incommunicado (someone needs to invent a deaf AND hearing-friendly light for the inside of a car. I'll be the first to buy. Enjoy my ramblings, and big love to Moi whose essay inspired this post! -Uncle Rainmound)

I read with interest Moi's post on "So Where Is ASL From Anyway?" itself a response to Carl Schroeder's post "My Ongoing Scholarly Pursuit." I'm with Moi: the evidence is that ASL was derived from LSF, particularly a coded form of LSF developed - and later rejected as a failure - by the Abbe de l'Epee. A lot of relevant information is in Lane's "When the Mind Hears." Here's my own contribution to the discussion, although for me it goes back to Massieu and Clerc, the golden boys of France.

These two famous students of the Deaf institute where the Abbe de l'Epee - and later Sicard - and finally Gallaudet came to work with Deaf people. Jean Jacques Massieu was the rebel who used LSF, coming from a family with six deaf brothers and sisters. Laurent Clerc came later and was the good boy who used "signed French" - a system developed originally by l'Epee and then renounced in his final work on Deaf education. In this final book L'Epee admitted his fake system was a failure, and the best means of education was through LSF, and seemed to hint that all coded sign languages must, because of the necessities of the visual mode, tend towards a natural signed grammar. (A hundred years or so later, we discovered similar facts about ASL and the various "signed codes" - the codes work for communication, but not for education. There's a difference between getting your point across, and becoming a model for understanding a new idea.) Gallaudet, however, preferred the more docile Clerc to the wilder Massieu; Clerc, educated in L'Epee's code, was easier to understand than Massieu, who grew up in a family of Deaf people and used LSF like Pollack used paint. Gallaudet found the code easier to learn than the language. What did he bring back? Clerc. It was Clerc's code that he learned, and what lay behind the code eventually developed into ASL: as I said, all coded languages eventually tend towards ones with real syntax appropriate for the modality of the language itself. As Allison Fanara reports, in a lecture by Paddy Ladd:

"Massieu and Clerc felt that there were two groups of languages - natural and artificial. Natural languages belonged to the Deaf and the savages. Artificial languages belonged to the hearing people. They believed that language was linked to Deaf biology. This was why Deaf people were more of a global group; they were the Sign Language peoples. Therefore, they were among the First Nation people, those who believed that they belonged to Earth, not vice versa."

It is true that, from the perspective of Massieu and Clerc, artificial languages belonged to hearing people - they were continually coming up with "new" ones. (L'Epee used a two-handed manual alphabet, derived possibly from one used in England.)

Another interesting question is: how much influence did Native American signed languages have on the developing American Signed Language? I do not know the answer to this but I suspect it is an answer derived from class. Most of the people at Gallaudet's school needed money to attend, and came from wealthy families; chances are they'd never have had a chance to socialise with Native Americans of any tribe. And look at this: here's a website with some French signs. (note - having problems getting this to work - any help?) Compare and contrast for yourself.

One other point. Does the American sign for "with" use the letter "a", implying a derivation of the word "avec"? This is debatable, but I don't think so - if only because the LSF "code" for the letter A is different from the American manual alphabet's code; in LSF, the thumb is extended in the manual alphabet. We'd need pictures from the time to figure out how it started, an as Carl Schroeder notes, there are few if any visual records from Clerc's time, although there are some alphabets scattered around from the 16- and 1700's.

The question is: is the "a" in WITH the alphabetical A, the handshape "a" (and handshapes are an alphabet of their own only partially derived from written alphabets) - or a derivation of the LSF version of the French "a"? Or possibly even a derivation of a French handshape which has nothing to do with the letter at all? You see the possibilities are endless, and of course they could have changed over time - we could have started with a French handshape that evolved into a French letter that moved to America and became an English letter and eventually turned into an ASL handshape... Language is fluid, and grows, and changes, and we understand it only when we understand the whole.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. -Alexander Pope

2006-11-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

380: cleaning house

Cleaning is useful for many purposes. For a start, it keeps the hands busy, so I can't talk, and I have nothing to do but think for a while: think, while looking over the stains of the last week, remembering the little frustrations, the big goodbyes. And Deaf goodbyes can take forever. We're a holding-on sort of people, I think.

My eye is cleaned, for example. My cornea was abraded by a contact lens the other week, contributing to the blogging hiatus. It's healed now, but I could barely see across the street for a week. It's the second time this has happened to me: the first was years ago in college, when some stage makeup mixed with sweat to create a potent sticky mixture binding my contact lens to my eye. I stayed in a dark room for three days afterwards, but what I remember most is the ride to the hospital, looking desperately out of the window, muttering to myself, "that's the last color blue I will see; that's the last pink."

This scotomaphobia has always been within me. It extends to everything I do: not only am I afraid of not, physically, seeing, but I'm also afraid of being deluded, or deluding myself. I'm afraid others will be deluded, and not be able to make clear decisions for themselves, and I feel sorrow for those who hide behind a world of fantasy. Blindness became a metaphor for me, for ignorance, for the darkness of a world denied. I think it may become such a metaphor for many Deaf people, as they struggle with various issues - Usher's Syndrome, for example, or various vertigo- and blindness-inducing conditions. There's also the psychological and psychiatric disorders which induce hallucinations. At a whisk any of us could lose our sight, and by extension the language which we so love.

So when my cornea had its dignity so injured, and I was suspended in a hazy bubble of vision, I spent each day and night with rapidly growing fear. I lay awake all of the following night thinking about the 9 buddhist levels of consciousness, trying to will myself into a state of alaya, because theoretically in such a state all communication is possible: you recognize yourself, at the cellular level, as having no difference from any other being, and accept the dichotomy without struggle that, simultaneously, you can be entirely unique. It's a powerful philosophical state which gives the mind an incredible clarity of vision.

A clarity completely out of reach, at least for most of this week. I substituted Pepperidge Farms for enlightenment, then compensated with a day of herbal green teas out of guilt for the processed crap in the chocolate. (You have to apologize to your body for the stuff your drama makes you do.)

Fuller-fed, I managed to find enlightenment another way: working on a play. Just a random one I started for fun. It's funny, but I can see ASL (and yes, BSL) signs in my head now: I don't think I was always able to. I experiment constantly in my head now with alterations, variations in structure between ASL number and grammar... I'm still a baby at it, but I went through this process with English, and I recognize it for what it is: it's the process of learning to construct writing, only with ASL. I'm playing with the guitar and making occasional riffs to see how it sounds.

Cleaning is useful for many purposes. You clean out your mind, when you sift through your memories and pay attention to your life. (This is one reason I hate television: how much meaning can you get from sifting through many hours of watching television? And people do watch such a lot of it.) I struggled to build a picture in my mind, looking for analogues to what I'm doing now, because I really want to improve my script-writing ability, and I want the ASL to be just as good as the English can be - simultaneously. I tried to make my memory into the film reel some writers say it can be.

I discovered, to my amazement, that I could. It took a little while of drifting, yes, but there was the classroom in the English department, and there was Joseph Rainmound, twelve years younger, experimenting with a computer program to randomly make poetry, not aware that, twelve years later, his older self would wince at the naivete that poetry was simply words put into clever places and that there were people with poorer knowledge of the construction of English than his who could write poems which far outstripped any new structural concept he could come up with. Yep, a little playing with BASIC, and a couple of books I found in the library, and all I needed to do was put in a list of random words and I would be Shakespeare. The words just came out funnily-placed, really. And they didn't always make sense. I found myself having to actually write. (I was a lazy bum, and followed Heinlein's theory that the laziest man had to be the most efficient, since he would find the quickest, best way of doing things so they would be done right the first time, and so that first time would be the shortest possible time it could take.)

In some ways it's sad to look back and see myself making fake poems through random word placement generators. In another way there's positive vibes from seeing myself at such a silly project. Remembering the illusions of my early childhood made me feel better about my sight today. I can see, in one way, much more now than I used to, in another. I'm certainly no longer blinded by certain types of naivete, although I suspect I'll have to battle many more. ASL gave me the context and content which a lifetime of study of English alone could not.

The memory also made me regretful... because in many ways naivete, the self-delusion which is innocence and so prized by certain people in this country, is a very comfortable place. But truly: would I rather have the more perfect physical sight of my youth, or the more focused mental sight of today? I know my own answer (although it would be nice not to have to use bloody contacts again.) Awareness of the universe comes from mental attention, not simply the physical strength of the gaze. This is why people close their eyes when they meditate. Awareness, the sixth sense every discipline calls for (yes, even the Buddhist traditions, and the Wiccan), is a sense which transcends all others. It helps to access it when the noise from those other senses is muted. It helped me separate my metaphor from the reality.

The reality: blindness is simply a state, a quantum position, and nothing of which to be afraid. The awareness grew in me, and I began to see how this awareness could be useful for so many other things, how I could master my fear of medium heights, and possibly, one day, confront a cockroach without turning into an insane bloody-hatchet bearing madman...

Awareness is also very helpful, when you're cleaning. I must now go be aware of the floor. Time for scrubbing.

2006-10-31T20:13:00.000-05:00

thank you

to all the people who have put up with me over the last few weeks during my workaholic-ness: erfo, pacts, nicole, and bree who between them pretty much read everything i wrote before I put it up.

im taking a few days off of blogging to let the mysterious brain fluids refill my head. this will involve yoga, chanting, biking, drinking lemon-flavored fluids, and healthy food. after tonight.

happy samhain, everyone.

2006-10-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

379: Gallaudet Protest Succeeds: President-Select Terminated

This post was put up on DailyKos. I'd appreciate any comments to improve it. I wanted to try to explain what I saw as clearly as possible to people who don't know the Deaf community.

Sunday, October 29th will go down in history as the day the Gallaudet Board of Trustees terminated the President-Designate of Gallaudet University and accepted two demands of four of the many hundreds of protestors who joined the ranks of Gallaudet's faculty, staff, students and alumni and marched on the nation's capitol 4,000 strong. This has been a long protest, about civil rights, shared governance, and fiduciary duties. Not to mention Earth Juice. Join us as we review what just happened...

Jane Kelleher Fernandes is one of the most controversial people in the Deaf community. The people she's worked with at the University for the past ten years which include the employees at the High School, MSSD, whose students are quoted in this letter where she used to be in charge, the faculty at the school in Hawaii where she formerly worked, have all issued statements opposing the selection of this individual as President of Gallaudet University. A variety of reasons (and a great analysis here) have been stated. They boil down to a history of failure at her previous projects, an arrogant attitude, and a lack of ability to reach out to the students and the community. Shared governance in the university was circumvented twice to allow her promotion. Students, Faculty, Alumni of the University have been protesting since May 2006, unable to trust a search process for President that seemed fixed and had delivered such an inappropriate candidate.

Simultaneously the protest of the search process and Fernandes herself seemed to merge with another and equally powerful protest, a movement which had been building at the University for a few years: to bring full accessibility to the University. Not all the faculty, administration, and very few (one or two) of the Campus Security know American Sign Language. Students have been injured, traumatized, and in one publicized instance killed because of this. Also there has been much research demonstrating that students learn better in a barrier-free environment. Opponents claim Deaf people simply want to retreat into their own world; advocates say the time of higher education should be as free of negative pressure as possible if we want the individual to develop into the most productive citizen possible. Since the President-Select, Jane Fernandes, has stalled in responding to these concerns, labelled under the group heading "Audism," for the last three to four years as Provost, pressure was already at an all-time high. The conjunction of these two issues has led to a huge ballooning of support for the protest in the community in ALL its aspects, from those who use ASL to those who do not.

She originally had quite an amount of support but this eroded quickly as her responses to the protest, including votes of no confidence by the faculty, have grown colder and more authoritarian, to the point of threatening the University's Board of Trustees to obtain support. 135 protestors were arrested. 1,000 protested at the University gates. 4,000 marched on the Capitol. Bulldozers mowed down students although luckily injury was light. It has been a long, strange fight. And now Jane Fernandes has been fired by the Board of Trustees. (See video with responses here.) But it's not over yet. We have at this point simply identified the current face of the problem and removed it.

Were our demands the right demands, as Erfo asks? What went wrong with the appointments of Jordan and Fernandes? How do we avoid these problems in the future? Are reprisals occurring amongst the faculty, as reports of firings spread like wildfire? What criteria do we need in place to ascertain that the leadership of Gallaudet remains uncorrupted and true to the ideals of research and academia? And Deaf academia in particular? What lessons did we learn? Where can we improve? The Audism mandates are, I feel, going to be a big part of this.

Right now, Gallaudet is still a University without a President. And without real leadership I fear that the "healing" people call for cannot happen.

Why did this protest happen now? I argue blogs are a huge reason.

Media Control-and breakthrough

For the last ten years Deaf people have been conspicuously absent from the media. Few Deaf people on TV, in movies, except for Sesame Street (Linda Bove was the first person I saw using American Sign Language.) Deaf Mosaic ended quite a while ago. The Media department at Gallaudet has been closed, and I'm reliably informed Gallaudet has published none of its own books on Deaf research in many years. (At the time of this writing you don't seem to be able to order anything from the Gallaudet bookstore, although the University has its own publishing department.) What this means is that the Deaf community has been closed off, in America, from the mainstream. (Recently Deaf theatre programs and actors have been breaking through, but the government has cut much of those funds. This kind of "closing off" typical of a "gatekeeper" mentality, and indeed over the summer the University put out stringent new rules about the expression of free speech.

Yet in the last year thanks to blogging and to the proliferation of youtube, blip.tv and all their variants, Deaf people have begun to open the door again. Not only do people like Ridor, Elisa, and MishkaZena shine a light on the corrupt workings of "gatekeeper" administrations by reporting on the ground, we also have analysts like myself, Sandman, the folks at the ASL Community Journal, and writers at DeafDC have all turned into political pundits. There's dozens now, many of them great, too many now for even me to keep up! "Channels" such as DeafRead have brought all these disparate groups together. And hundreds of other voices have come up-I call them the "peanut gallery." An entire constellation of people have joined together into a living and breathing extension of a community. I'm not sure there's been anything like this in the world's history. It's not just blogging and signcasting. We speak to each other on our televisions without even thinking. Our blackberries and sidekicks get free maps to the world and medical dictionaries and anything else we like. Deaf people found a world of our own: the internet. And we've moved in.

At the time of Deaf Way II some, but not all, of this existed. Now it's commonplace. People check deafread.com continually for the latest news, and while lately the focus has been Gallaudet, the deaf blogosphere is tackling every issue under the sun.

Jane Fernandes said the Deaf community is undergoing revolution. She commented she thought it had to do with herself and whether she was "deaf enough." This is a simplistic and sad view. It is accepted because people push a pathology of Deaf people as ungrateful and talentless. It is true that our Media revolution-the Deaf Blogging Revolution-has a lot in common with the Gallaudet protests in '88. The point of both these revolutions is for us to throw off the "gatekeepers" keeping our community down: we are trying to grow, and they are keeping us from water. It is NOT to build some fantasy-Oz where Deaf people live forever... as if I would leave New York, anyway.

It also symbolizes the American Deaf community's journey to adulthood-into what Dr. Paddy Ladd calls "Deafhood." Remember all of us united thanks to this Media revolution. Deaf, hearing, hard of hearing, CI user, all tribes came together into one Deaf nation, our differences at least partially erased by the Internet. 135 arrested. 9 hunger strikers. 1000 protesting at the University gates. 4000 protesting on the lawn of the Capitol. And Deaf people's blogs were there leading and reporting on everything. No middlemen. No gatekeepers. Just us, dealing with the world on our own terms. Nobody speaking for us.

It's called democracy. And it's kind of sweet.

2006-10-29T21:02:00.000-05:00

378: Don't Relax Yet

Jane Fernandes has been fired by the Board of Trustees. But it's not over yet.

A big part of the fight is over. Jane Fernandes has been asked to resign and Gallaudet has been spared an incompetent President. However, we have not won the war YET. We have just identified the current face of the problem and removed it. Our next step is to use our brains. What went wrong with the appointments of Jordan and Fernandes? How do we avoid these problems in the future? What criteria do we need in place to ascertain that the leadership of Gallaudet remains uncorrupted and true to the ideals of research and academia? And Deaf academia in particular? What lessons did we learn? Where can we improve? The Audism mandates are, I feel, going to be a big part of this.

Right now, Gallaudet is still a University without a President. And without real leadership, the "healing" people call for, which is really "making sure Gallaudet gets back to the head of the class in Deaf education," we will have to fight this fight again one day. Without real and serious thought, now, to put in place a set of principles by which we can ensure at least that any corruption is human corruption, not the corruption of those filled with Audism.

Obviously, one issue is ASL. The President needs to be a better signer. This is not the only issue. We need a way for the University to be more accountable to the feedback of students and faculty when they express their needs (Some things are typical student things, probably, but I get the feeling there's real problems which could be easily fixed with competent leadership.)

There are other issues, such as a philosophy to lead the University in the coming age (we do NOT need a President determined to keep her plans secret.)

I admit to some regret, in hand with my friend Erfo. I would love to see a woman President of Gallaudet University. This is why, back in April and May, my posts were extremely neutral. I expressed the hope her aggressively patronizing attitude had changed and she had grown into the leadership of a University.

This proved a vain hope as month after month went by. My belief is that honest and open engagement with the students, as befits the abilities of a true educator, would have instantly ended any protest. Someone who could interact with students on that level, could not be someone they could object to.

We need to find a way to put this into words. The problem with audism is basically that it dehumanizes. When Jane Fernandes started her "not Deaf enough," business, she dehumanized us. How? Think about it. How many people became terrified of even saying they wanted a culturally Deaf person to be President? Whether or not this was a reason for the protest, shame is a nasty tool to use on a population. We need someone who respects Deaf people as people. This is more serious almost than ASL.

The only way to do all of that is to encode rights - a set of human rights for Deaf people. Rights that apply to everyone, so everyone has the freedom to find their own path to Deafhood. Clearly explained rights, so that lazy slackers can't take advantage of new freedoms. Rights such as the right to a barrier-free learning environment.

What things would you require of the new President of Gallaudet University?

2006-10-29T14:03:00.000-05:00

377: This Is What Gally's PR Is Doing?

A few days ago it was reported at the Washington Post that Gallaudet had retained a PR firm:

Gallaudet retained Dickstein Shapiro , a Washington-based law and lobbying firm, to "educate" lawmakers about the situation on campus and lobby on appropriations issues.

"We want to make sure that people on the Hill understand the reality of what's happening on campus," said Amy Weiss of Point Blank Public Affairs , who was hired by the university to help with public relations during the crisis.

The reality of what's happening on campus? So what are the PR people reporting on? MishkaZena points to another Post article and there we can see what Gallaudet's money is being poured into:

As a small girl in Massachusetts, she took piano lessons for the discipline and structure, even though she couldn’t hear the music. As an undergraduate at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., without interpreters or support services, she became fluent in French. In graduate school at the University of Iowa, she embraced her identity as a deaf person; after learning American Sign Language, she won the Miss Deaf Iowa title, promising to bridge the gulf between the deaf and hearing worlds. Working with deaf children in Hawaii, she built a glowing reputation as she fought state officials who tended to view the deaf as mentally disadvantaged.

The article states she is "inner-directed" (a quote from her husband) and paints her as a quiet, misunderstood genius. It's complete bullshit. It does nothing to educate anyone about the issues at Gallaudet University. It's a fluff piece designed to make Fernandes look good and "win" her status as Gallaudet President - from the hearing community. She does nothing to talk to Deaf people themselves. She's spending Gallaudet money to make herself look good - and in the process designate all Deaf people as unreasonable, unrealistic, out of touch with the modern world - and most of all, not worthy of respect.

This is a terrible thing to do to the Deaf community, whether they realize it or not. At the least they could have given a more accurate idea of the debate - but no. She also chooses to continue to emphasize her "they think I'm not Deaf enough and I don't know how to convince them otherwise!" theme:

“I was educated in how to behave like a hearing person, and I did it pretty well,” she said. “But psychologically and socially, it took a toll. Like denying a fundamental part of who I am.”

After meeting other deaf people and learning sign language, her deafness ceased to be a source of embarrassment. The word she uses to describe the person she became is “whole.”

“Rather than try everything to cover up being deaf or avoid being caught as deaf, I was proud to be deaf and wanted everyone to know it,” she said.

Notice how she avoids talking about her 11 years of working at Gallaudet University and why all those people she worked with - over 80% of them, I believe - don't want her as the leader of Gallaudet University. Notice how it avoids talking about any of the issues raised by protestors - campus accessibility, the danger of having campus police not be able to sign, the lack of high standards for language skills for academics, etc. etc. If she was so good in all respects, why did her support base shrink and shrink over this time?

And at the same time as this drain on the coffers happens, departments at the University close. It seems Gallaudet's funds are doomed to be wasted on miseducating America, instead of educating Deaf Americans.

UPDATE: Check out another take on this issue at Berke Outspoken.

2006-10-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

376: How to Oppress Deaf People, Part II

Please read Allison Kaftan's excellent diary today on DeafDc. I want to echo her sentiments, and add some of mine:

Five days ago 4,000 people marched on the Capitol in support of this protest. There has to be some kind of ending soon.

We all are experiencing intense pain at the length and breadth of this protest. I cannot get past one thing. The Administration used a bulldozer on their own students. They have no respect for themselves, the institution, the population they serve, or the job they perform. They have broken any oaths they have made to the University and to its community. I cannot repeat it enough:

You do not use a bulldozer on your own people.
You do NOT use a BULLDOZER on YOUR OWN PEOPLE.
YOU DO NOT USE A BULLDOZER ON YOUR OWN PEOPLE.

You use a bulldozer on lumber, wood, inanimate objects. Things you do not respect or care about. We are lucky the damage was minimal.

I understand they had to clear the gate. I spoke with MSSD people. I know the students had internships that day. They wanted to get out and go to their gigs, or whatever. They got to the gate when all this was happening. They saw people struggling with the campus police, the DPS. They saw the lack of communication protestors have been talking about. But also: young Deaf people see the world far more black and white than we do. They saw Deaf people getting beaten up by hearing people, and worse, without interpreters there to try to communicate with any students at the gate. I can only imagine what their reaction was. Can you? They wanted to join the fight. (I felt a moment of pride in MSSD students when I heard that: MSSD kids aren't cowards!) The school administration held them back. They went into the school and channeled their energy into letters of support for the protest and other projects. I am thankful. Our youth should not fight these battles, though I thank the good Goddess they're willing.

I am still working out how I feel about all this. But that horrifies me: what they had to see. Why they had to see it. When I try to justify the Administration's actions in my head in the name of peace, I have this story in my head. And I grieve because one of my dreams is for America to proudly hold up the Deaf community as part of its communities. I am proud my community is so strong: I am grieved that its youth now may see us always in conflict with an uncaring "hearing world."

This is not Israel. This is not a war between two ancient civilizations. But here too the American people have stood up for what they believe in. In Israel Rachel Cory stood for peace and died for it. In America one death led to the beginning of awareness that things still needed to change. Are we going to need to go that far for the right to determine, essentially, our own futures? To have Deaf people's education, at least, free of barriers and oppression?

Why do I offer you these words? They seem depressing. Because I think you are like me. You do not want to see this kind of fight: it's dirty, it's a barroom brawl, and it's getting nasty on both sides. We both want to see a peace. But this is getting down to the bone of principle now. This is getting down to the role and responsibility of a University's President to lead and protect the community. In Loco Parentis, no, but yes, the guidance of people who lead us through a more complicated education to the next stage of adulthood, and a career. Would you use a bulldozer on your child? Even on your neighborhood's children? I wouldn't. Not for the world. Do we need someone who would, as a President of Gallaudet University? And so I use these thoughts to give me fire. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by a strong University: a barrier-free education for everyone including barrier free "protection," and a barrier-free future. Wasn't it old "Bulldozer" Jordan himself who once said "Deaf people can do anything except hear?"

2006-10-26T08:16:00.000-04:00

375: When Bulldozers Attack: Mailbag Suggestions

Protestors Read This! I have been insanely busy. Right now fighting for accessibility on both sides in New York... it's not easy. So I'm doing 12 hour workdays, if not more. However, MANY people are e-mailing me and commenting on my diaries on Daily Kos showing support and suggestions. One reader e-mailed me today:

Is it possible to ask the protest lawyers to obtain emergency injuctions against the university to prevent any representative of the university from approaching protesters without either
qualifications in ASL or
an interpreter present with them?

This is a health and safely emergency, students have been injured, and there is a strong history of students being killed and injured by DPS/DPP in situations involving a lack of access to communication in ASL to transmit warnings / engage in discussions / negotiations.

Your lawyer can argue that this injunction is to enforce what Gallaudet Admin should already be doing as a matter of course, to make Gally enforce their own communications guidelines,and that there are serious concerns over future interaction between DPS / DPP without ASL skills and the students.

At the least, you could seek injunctions against the named individuals above.

Also - on dealing with IKJ's PR firm = From the Washington Post, an extract:
But while Gallaudet officials may not have been able to gettheir message across to the students that she's the best candidate for the job, they have made sure that at least one constituency is getting their side of the story: Congress.

Gallaudet retained Dickstein Shapiro, a Washington-based law and lobbying firm, to "educate" lawmakers about the situation on campus and lobby on appropriations issues.

A peaceful group with nothing better to do might like to get together and go down to their offices and do a peaceful sit-in protest. Take turns holding signs outside their offices every day. We've learned that outside companies hate it when the people they're slagging off suddenly turn up at their offices.

If Shapiro resign their brief, it will get around Washington fast, and isolate JKF and IKJ even more.

What do you think, Readers? I myself am SHOCKED. Don't kick the population you're supposed to serve in the ass then go to Congress and say "Look at the bad deaf people! We're the good deaf people, so protect us!" Since Day One I have been begging the administration to talk TO Deaf people and protestors. Instead they have manured protestors and now bulldozed them... and today they've hired lawyers to tell Congress their side of the story. What do they think is going to happen even if Congress supports them? Are 83% of teachers going to change their minds? Are the students? Are the 4,000 who walked onto the Capitol?

That being said, if protestors are serious, you need to get your shit together and start letter-writing campaigns to everyone's senators and congressmen. Gallaudet students come from all over the country: the stake of these holders is national.

Make some simple "Did you know?" flyers about the protest. Start passing these out to people on the streets.

Has anyone contacted local Unions? This is a civil rights issue. The ADA and freedom of communication is a civil right. Unions are big supporters of that. And if people give you shit, saying stuff like "Oh, stupid protesting Deaf people," remember that hearing protestors started this country. We're just following suit. I close with this comment from Nonnie9999 on DailyKos:

i read about the situation at gallaudet... (2+ / 0-)

just last week. i hadn't heard about it until i read a diary here. it just so happens that my best friend lives and works in the dc area. we email each other everyday and talk about everything. she mentioned that the students were on strike at gallaudet and she was distressed that they were doing so. she had only seen the newspaper and tv accounts. i told her about the diary i had read and about articles i read after googling. i sent her the links and told her not to believe everything she reads in the papers. she was totally unaware of the students' side of the story (as well as quite a few of the instructors and alumni). she now sees the story in a whole new light.

isn't it sickening when the truth can't be told and discussed? instead, they just pr eveything to death. all surface, no substance.
by nonnie9999 on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 08:36:10 PM PDT

See? Hearing people get it. This isn't just a "deaf people" thing. It's time for the protest to get some more allies. The ACLU?

2006-10-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

374: Out of Context: How To Oppress Deaf People Part 1

In my post about why the Gallaudet community is protesting, I talked about "gatekeepers" and how "gatekeepers" block the points of intersection between the Deaf community and other American communities. Today I want to talk about one method people use to talk about the larger Deaf community which helps to oppress them: Isolation.

Isolate the group. Instead of talking about the group as if it's a minority, talk about it as if it's special, with special needs and special help. This happens all the time with Deaf people. People talk about our community as if we exist in a vaccuum. Deaf Studies tries to place Deaf people in the constellation of other oppressed peoples. Paulo Freire's work showed you can only educate people in an empowering way by helping them understand their place in the world in the context of race, gender, class, and culture. People who speak about "Deaf people" as a special case oppress them. This is why I compare the community of Deaf people to Women, Gay people, Black people, Hispanic people, etc. In all these groups you have a core activist community, naysayers, really everything you have in the Deaf community. When someone like Fernandes isolates Deaf people, when they don't look at them in terms of other American communities, they open the door to "special needs" that only "Gatekeepers" can understand.

Example: Fernandes has repeatedly said she wants to "lead" Deaf people. (Note she doesn't say "teach" Deaf people. That might end up with them speaking for themselves. Can't have that.) She has also said she is the only one who can lead Gallaudet. What does this imply? This implies Deaf people are "special," need a special "leader," are unable to think for or speak for themselves, or even learn. To hearing people who listen to Fernandes, this kind of message reinforces the image of Deaf people as needing "help," "guidance," and "rehabilitation." To the Deaf community, it reinforces the image that we cannot lead ourselves, that the last 30 years or so of improvements in education and technology have groomed no leaders.

Would a Woman who wants to lead a Woman's college ever say anything like this? No. She would be shouted out by the many Women activists in America. Her comments would be called patronizing. She would be seen as an outmoded relic of the past. Her goal is obviously to keep herself on top and in control.

Example 2: Bobby Cox and others ask why it is culturally Deaf, ASL using people who seem to be most strongly against Fernandes. While there is a mix of groups in the protest, it is true that people from the Deaf community are in the lead. The focus of Cox's comment discussion was on the Deaf part of that phrase. Commentors ignored the "community" part. Yet this is important, and understanding how this works with other groups will help us understand how it works with ours. What is a community? A group of people who share information. Of course the Deaf community is most strongly against her selection as President: they have ten years of information to share. New students, who aren't in the loop yet, aren't going to know this for a while.

Think about Women at a Women's college. Of course people who've been there for a while will know the politics of that college and people's individual histories. A new student will not have this information, and will not understand why people are upset until they do research. And this is what's happened at Gallaudet, as people learn more and decide there's reason to become involved.

But we can't see this when Deaf people are isolated and part of a vaccuum. When we compare to other types of communities, it becomes obvious. Yet most people still talk about the Deaf community as if it's special. It is unique, yes. But so special that the same rules of human interaction and oppression, etc. etc etc don't apply? Of course not!

Part of the point of Deaf studies is to get beyond this. Instead of special people with special needs, we are trying to become a minority community demanding equality.

2006-10-23T12:09:00.001-04:00

373: Gallaudet In Trouble: whose fault?

In the latest twist at the Gallaudet protest - reportedly Jordan sent out the following memo which tries to blame the protest for problems with accreditation for the University:

October 22, 2006

MEMORANDUM
TO: Members of the Campus Community
FR: I. King Jordan
RE: Middle States Commission on Higher Education

As most of you know, we submitted our five-year Periodic Review Report (PRR) to the Middle States Association (MSA) on June first. This Report was developed by a 14-member committee of faculty, staff, students, and administrators. A draft of the report was reviewed by the Faculty Senate, which provided feedback that was incorporated into the report and a draft was made available to the campus community for review and feedback as well. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is scheduled to act on our PRR in November and make a decision about reaffirmation of the University’s accreditation.

Last week, the vice president of the Commission contacted me and informed me that the Commission is concerned about the protest that led to closure of the University for three days and that there is concern about how this affects compliance with accreditation standards.

I have been asked to submit a response to MSA’s concern in early November so that the Commission can incorporate it into their deliberations. I will share my response with the campus community.

I know you are aware of how important MSA accreditation is to the University and to our graduates as they seek employment and further education. I will keep you informed of any further communication and action by MSA.

In this memo he tries to blame the protest for causing problems with Gallaudet's accreditation. But Gallaudet's been having problems since Fernandes was illegally chosen as provost, without the usual involvement of the University Faculty! And a big part of the problem is that they are ignoring the needs of students, as Ridor points out in his recent post:

Some people said that they disagreed with the idea of civil disobedience and that we should open a dialogue with Fernandes, Jordan and all that silly putzes. I understand their views but they are wrong. Know why? We already did. I used to volunteer for the SBG’s Deaf Issues Department and I had been observing different departments within the SBG who made a lot of efforts to recommend many things that can enhance Gallaudet’s place in the society.

The recommendations has been consistently *ignored*. Sending the letters to them has been unanswered. Bringing up the issues in meetings with ehse administrators always resulted in things like, “Oh, that is good idea. I’ll bring it up with others.”

Look at this e-mail from Jordan as recently as February 2006, months before the protest began, where he tries to backpedal:

“The Provost and I knew that the OMB assessment was taking place over the past year. But when we inquired about Gallaudet’s participation in the process we were told it was primarily about the ED’s oversight responsibilities, and that we were not invited to participate in meetings, help interpret data, or even allowed to comment on preliminary findings. In other words, we had no direct involvement in the OMB assessment.

“Fortunately, the PART rating had no negative impact on Gallaudet’s appropriation request, but it could have a temporary effect on the University’s image. That is why it is important for every member of the campus community to understand the true purpose of the OMB report, which is to evaluate the ED’s oversight responsibilities relative to Gallaudet’s federally funded programs. Gallaudet has been serving people who are deaf and hard of hearing for nearly 150 years and our thousands of successful alumni are proof that, regardless of what this report says, ours is an extraordinarily effective University.

This is bullshit. The PART report is a new report, but they have a website with clear indicators of what they're looking for. Why are their requirements such a surprise? And as you can see here on the government's webpage although Jordan has promised to fix the problem, Gallaudet still has a rating of 16%:

NOT PERFORMING
Ineffective
Programs receiving this rating are not using your tax dollars effectively. Ineffective programs have been unable to achieve results due to a lack of clarity regarding the program's purpose or goals, poor management, or some other significant weakness.

* Gallaudet failed to meet its goals or showed declining performance in key areas, including the number of students who stay in school, graduate, and either pursue graduate degrees or find jobs upon graduation. For example, Gallaudet graduates who find employment commensurate with their education declined from 90% in 2001 to 69% in 2005.
* The Department of Education lacks a schedule and mechanism for monitoring federally funded programs at Gallaudet. The Department does not conduct site visits on a regular basis to Gallaudet, document its use of funds, assess program data quality, or the University's compliance with its governing legislation.
* The Department of Education has not evaluated the federally funded programs at Gallaudet to ensure that they are operating effectively, addressing the needs of their service population, addressing their statutory purpose, and achieving results.

It said that today - months after Jordan and Fernandes promised to repair the damage. And today Gallaudet Protestors are demanding a fully accessible campus-that the DPS, for example, who are supposed to protect them, be able to sign. Isn't this one of the needs of the service population? Maybe the REAL problem is that the Gallaudet Protest demonstrates that Gallaudet is NOT meeting the real needs of its service population- and people are noticing.

Moreover - Fernandes herself threatened the Board of Trustees with a violation of fiduciary duties. That tells me there are/were serious problems at Gallaudet which have nothing to do with the Protest which are not being addressed. But as Jordan's February letter shows, this program has a history of problems - which involve both President and Provost. Now they're trying to use the protest to get out of responsibility for their failures. Even the protest itself is a result of their failure to deal with student concerns.

2006-10-23T08:07:00.002-04:00

372: Monday Protest Tips

Usually I look through the news for info about Deaf people but the news is full of Gallaudet today. I want to ask you a question. When you see an article that doesn't interview the GuFSSA side - that only talks to Fernandes - do you email the newspaper? Do you email the magazine? Are you contacting authors to point out they do not give a fair and balanced view of the issues?

Even TIME magazine asks Jane Fernandes to explain her opposition, instead of the opposition itself! 4,000 Strong and they still listen to ONE WOMAN'S OPINION. And you know what her opinion boils down to? That we're sick. Living in fantasy. Want to go back to the old world. Or maybe we're just afraid of implants. (I notice Jane hasn't got one.) That's what she's implying. The creative reporters do the rest.

Protestors! You need a group of hearing allies and Deaf computer jockeys to work hard on responding to this message. Otherwise you are going to remain looking like selfish children, which is how they paint protestors and all Deaf people right now.

I am so sick of Fernandes making the Deaf community look like trash.

2006-10-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

371: new dailykos posting

Just posted my 370 diary on DailyKos, with the following change:

If a group of gay people protested that a gay leader was doing terribly, and the leader said, "They think I'm not gay enough," what would happen?

If a group of black people protested that a black leader was going terribly, and the leader said, "They think I'm not black enough," what would happen?

This is what happens when Deaf people protest that a Deaf leader is doing terribly, and the leader says, "They think I'm not Deaf enough."

Check it out. Be interesting to see how other communities react.

2006-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

370: Why Is The Gallaudet Community Protesting?

Why is the Gallaudet protest happening? Why has the entire University risen in arms? In Dr. Paddy Ladd's book, Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood, he explains that throughout the history of Deaf people, going back to, oh, the 1600's, there have always been institutions and places where a group of "gatekeepers" block the point between the Deaf community and everyone else. By negotiating what goes in and out, they have tremendous power over both communities. They inflate their egoes with this power: they are the people who know how to make the magic happen, who know how to "manage the Deaf." They also create an atmosphere of oppression.

Here in America we have our own "gatekeepers." Of course it works a little differently in America because our history is different, but the principle is the same. The appointment of Fernandes as Provost by circumventing shared governance approval by the Faculty was only a foreshadowing of what was to come later. And her comments to the Washington Post that she is the "only one" who can lead the Deaf community is similarly ominious.

"Gatekeepers" rise because of the communication differences of the Deaf community. They manipulate the politics of difference to create spaces for themselves. Often in Europe, "gatekeepers" were superintendents of schools, missioners in churches who helped run Deaf clubs. In the past these "gatekeepers" were always hearing people. During Deaf President Now we fought for a President who was physically deaf hoping he would at least understand our needs because they were his own. He has responded by distancing himself from our community and turning into the very type of person DPN protestors were trying to get rid of. So, too, has Dr. Jane Fernandes, with her comments of "not Deaf enough," their decision to block the use of interpreters by students, all of their strategies are "gatekeeper" strategies. We want someone to speak to us, not for us - and especially at Gallaudet University, we need someone who can teach Deaf youth to speak for themselves. All kinds of Deaf youth. This is what I mean by capital-D Deaf: it is something my supervisor at work, who is hearing, can do: the ability to see d/Deaf people as, well, people: something key to the concept Ladd calls Deafhood:

Deafhood is not, however, a 'static' medical condition like 'deafness.' Instead, it represents a process - the struggle by each Deaf child, Deaf family and Deaf adult to explain to themselves and each other their own existence in the world. In sharing their lives with each other as a community, and enacting those explanations rather than writing books about them, Deaf people are engaged in a daily praxis, a continuing internal and external dialogue. (p.3, "Understanding Deaf Culture" by Ladd)

This is why I wanted to see a Jane Fernandes walking into protest groups back in May, sitting down with them, and figuring out what the hell is going on. That kind of proof would probably have ended the protest. That would have turned her from a "gatekeeper" into someone who empowers, a person who lifts up people who still, yes, experience discrimination, and come to Gallaudet so they can experience barrier-free education and grow strong as they can before going back into a pretty tough world. When the protestors took the gates it was more than a metaphor.

Now, it is true Fernandes has a reputation for raising expectations. But these raised expectations are useless without also raised standards for communication, especially when it comes to Deaf people. When you have Professors who can only speak in pidgin sign language, it doesn't matter how well-published they are: you wouldn't let someone teach Foucault in baby talk. And truthfully, when you are a "gatekeeper" you are interested in maintaining class systems, groups within society. It enables you to manipulate the society more. When Fernandes said she was "not Deaf enough," she was exploiting the divisions within our own society to create a support base for herself.

That is why protestors want unity for Gallaudet. It is difficult to continue to be a "gatekeeper" when everyone on the other side works together: the gate gets crashed.

This is the bridge between the Deaf President Now protest and this one, though Jordan said they have nothing in common. They are about the same thing: it is only that our understanding has improved. Now we target the behavior, not the person. It really doesn't matter if someone is hearing or deaf (although it's probably better to have a deaf person in the position, for role model and inspiration purposes at least.) It matters if they create a barrier - or tear one down. When Fernandes decided to have a radio interview, without captions, wasn't she putting up a symbolic barrier? A hand in the face of the Gallaudet community? Does she have more commitment to the Washington Post than she does to the teachers and students she's been working with for almost ten years?

This is the heart of Deafhood: this willingness to be part of the community while still being yourself. To talk to each other. Look at Ridor, look at Elisa, look at MishkaZena, look at me, look at Erfo, the bloggers on DeafDC... some of us have implants. Some of us were raised Orally. Some of us are Deaf people from Deaf families. And we have built this amazing community online, despite our differences. And many, many of us have no confidence in Fernandes, because of these things I have outlined. Former Fernandes supporters have spoken to me, traumatized by her demeaning "not Deaf enough" comments, and I note that Feldman on DeafDc.com is also bothered by the fact her recent radio interview was not captioned. This is why the protest is happening: we want someone who will talk to us, despite our differences, and help our community continue its climb.

OUT WITH THE GATEKEEPERS
UNITY FOR GALLAUDET
(it's sorta buff and blue)

Next: How to Crash the Gates

Addendum: I wrote this essay two days ago. In the meantime, Fernandes has continued "gatekeeper" behavior. People ask why she's so desperate to hold on to her position. Erfo mentioned something to me today which makes sense: Where would she go? Zinser was hearing and could go to work anywhere she pleased. But where would Fernandes go? Especially now? I really doubt anyone with her style of management would get anywhere in a hearing organization. Besides, as Eric Ketchum does, a hearing employer would check her resume - and find it wanting.

2006-10-20T08:51:00.000-04:00

369: My Response to Dr. Jane Fernandes

Elisa reports today on a meeting Faculty had with Jane Fernandes:

When the faculty were informed Fernandes was ready, they all got together. MJ Bienvenu, a faculty member, told Fernandes that the purpose of the meeting was to let her know that 82% of the faculty wants her to resign and what she would do with this lack of support. Fernandes answered that she would not resign. The faculty asked her why. Fernandes said, “I’m the only one who can lead the university.”

Does she realize that at 18% her approval rating is lower than Nixon's? Nixon was a VERY popular President when he was elected; during the Watergate scandal, his approval rating fell to 25%. Fernandes is at 18%.

Bienvenu was blunt with her, telling her that she was arrogant for saying that. Fernandes said that she will stay, that she has support. The faculty asked, without 82% of the support of the faculty, what can Fernandes do as a leader? Fernandes told them that she had a plan and that she wouldn’t tell them what the plan was because she’s currently focused on current issues that are popping up and adjusting the plan as she goes. The faculty asked her, what if Gallaudet falls apart and closes before she can implement the plan? Fernandes said that she would bring Gallaudet back.

Two days ago Deaf in the City reported that Fernandes in an interview with the Washington Post stated:

" . . . I'm not really thinking of resigning, no. But I'm trying to think of how . . . to work from now until January to be in a position to be where I can be effective."

This seems connected. What will happen in January? How will Fernandes be more effective in January? Is this part of her SECRET PLAN? Why is it so important her plan remain secret? Why can't she talk about it to faculty, to her TEAM, in order to convince them they should support her? It must be something that would shock and anger the entire faculty-or galvanize the protest. It also contradicts much of what she says in her own job application:

I lead “from behind and within” while focusing intently on Gallaudet’s mission and the goals and actions we must take to fulfill it. I identify individuals who can successfully do the needed work and I put my energy into cultivating their talents. The fulfillment of the University’s mission and the achievement of equitable outcomes for all students are my ultimate objectives. Finding the right people to do the work is my talent. I would characterize my style of leadership as highly participatory and focused.

Highly participatory? When she won't tell anyone what's going on? Leading from behind? That doesn't sound like the leader of the only Deaf University in the world. Her application also talks about building bridges between communities. As I have said in other blogs, it is communication which builds bridges.

2006-10-19T10:59:00.000-04:00

368: My Response to Dr. Jane Norman

Dr. Norman posted an open letter on DeafDC.com today. This part of her letter made me think:

My colleagues, work with Dr. Jane Fernandes in a peaceful, positive, productive non-sabotaging manner. Think of Deaf children throughout the world. Turning against one of our own is not going to help us. She is one of us. Whether you deny it or not, the days of using the white deaf yardstick are long gone. It has been said that Gallaudet has serious issues with audism and racism. That is true. Few would deny it. To change this we must work together. And the truth is, there is no one more willing and ready to work with you on these crucial problems than Dr. Jane Fernandes and I.

We will benefit by working with all toward the common good of Gallaudet.

This is my response below:

Dr. Norman:

I would like to hear your perspective on why you believe the protestors are behaving as you claim. You state protestors have been heard. Protestors claim their requests are denied. Before the lockdown at Gallaudet, the Administration refused to listen to any of the SBG's requests. You seem to feel the perspective is without value, because you do not agree with it. Why, then, would they do this? I should like to hear your rationale. Do you really believe all these people are protesting out of stubborn childishness? Please back up your words with documentary proof.

I appreciate your comments, and would like to see an end to this stalemate, but to say that the protestors should accept you do not agree with them, is also to say you must accept that they do not agree with you. 82% of the faculty and the Clerc Center do not agree with you. They have had ten years of experience working with Ms. Fernandes, and she is not a stranger who should simply be given a chance, as you insinuate. Nobody has responded to concerns about her track record, when they are raised: they resort to the same message you did, a confused garble about Deaf community and culture which I feel does more to alienate us from the rest of the world than it does to bring us together. The fact is plenty of concerns and frustrations about Fernandes have been raised which have nothing to do with her status as a deaf or Deaf person. In fact there are people from every tribe in the Deaf nation among the protestors: hearing people, deaf people, Deaf people, people with implants, people without, people learning ASL, interpreters, etc. etc. This is not a protest from one tiny bit of the Deaf community, although certain specific actions might be.

And on the other hand - your comments seem to contradict Fernandes' own vision. She envisions a University with "communication diversity." This seems to me like Babel Tower. Your recommendation is that protestors focus on "promoting ASL for all Deaf children throughout this nation and sign language for all Deaf children throughout the world;" shouldn't they begin at home? Isn't Gallaudet to be the example for the nation?

I agree with you that the way forward must be together. As a team. There must be more listening and responding on both sides. As it is one criticism of the administration is its adherence to a party line instead of an honest discourse. Neither their message or meaning has changed. This is the source of much frustration in the community by the gates.

Also, I understand your list of things which you feel the Deaf community should focus on. We have united because of this particular issue. I believe our unity will continue after this issue is dealt with. I encourage you to reconsider. The events at Gallaudet are powerful. They will not be resolved by the divisive tactics of this administration.

Yours,
Joseph Santini, M.Sc., Deaf Studies

2006-10-19T02:57:00.000-04:00

BREAKING: Fernandes Threatens BOT with Fiduciary Duties?!

What are Fiduciary Duties? MishkaZena:notes that in the Washington Post they report Fernandes will threaten the Board with a violation of their Fiduciary Duty. What are Fiduciary Duties? From Wikipedia:

When a fiduciary duty is imposed, equity requires a stricter standard of behaviour than the comparable tortious duty of care at common law. It is said the fiduciary has a duty not to be in a situation where personal interests and fiduciary duty conflict, a duty not to be in a situation where their fiduciary duty conflicts with another fiduciary duty, and a duty not to profit from their fiduciary position without express knowledge and consent. A fiduciary cannot have a conflict of interest. It has been said that fiduciaries must conduct themselves "at a level higher than that trodden by the crowd."^[1]

^{So what Fernandes is threatening through the reported statements on MishkaZena's blog would not be a MONETARY obligation but a conflict of intereston the part of one, more, or all of the trustees, possibly related to Fernandes herself. It could simply be because the Board support the Gallaudet Community's demands, which is a conflict of interest to their responsibility to support the President-Select.... It could be anything. We should wait and see. But the implications of this comment seriously bothers me. It may be in going public Fernandes has overplayed her hand-won't people call for an investigation, now that it's known there's some violation? There is also this, from the same article:}

" . . . I'm not really thinking of resigning, no. But I'm trying to think of how . . . to work from now until January to be in a position to be where I can be effective."

Why January? What will make Jane Fernandes more effective in January? Can someone explain?

2006-10-17T07:20:00.000-04:00

367: Protest History Two

Monday, October 16th, 2006: Faculty and teachers at Gallaudet issued a vote of No Confidence in the Gallaudet administration. 138 (out of 168) voted they had no confidence in the administration. 76% of all eligible University faculty were present. This is a vote of 82%, compared with 64% back in May. Meanwhile, the protests continue, with more than 1,000 faculty, teachers, students and alumni at the gates, and emotions high after 135 of these people were arrested on Friday, October 13th. How did it get this far? I will try my best to explain, using links to blogs and news articles, the journey from April, 2006 to today – although you could say the journey really began in 1988. See the first part of this series!

When we left off, the Tent City of Gallaudet had closed, and emotions were confused around the country. But the Administration, despite being on vacation, had continued the work of trying to convince the world the protest was about nothing. Over the summer the National Association of the Deaf planned a conference: at this conference, faculty and staff from Gallaudet were forced to go through training in representing the administration, ordered to speak the opinions of their overseers, and even had to distribute a DVD listing Jane Fernandes' accomplishments. Deaf Bloggers went to NAD to counter the propoganda. It turned into a political, verbal war - the kind that happen between activists that feel strongly about issues. This war continued over the summer, as people all over the country began talking about audism and deafhood. Moreover, activism seemed to disappear over the summer, although the administration continued working; blogger RidorLive went so far as to say:

FSSA Is Dead: As of now, I regret to let you know that the FSSA is dead or in state of hibernation. They seemed unable to organize anything at this point. Even with the Board Retreat at Hyatt-Dulles in Herndon, Virginia — I was told that nobody showed up. It is typical of I. King Jordan to organize things like this during the summertimes to keep the Board from interacting with the staff, faculty and students at all.
It is my hope that the students will be able to instigate this in the fall semester and do something about the Axis of Evil. It is necessary to improve Gallaudet with a clean slate. With them on the board, Gallaudet is going down and down and down.

Returning to the campus, students discovered that new rules about freedom of speech and expression had been issued which seemed to specifically ban such types of protest as had been going on in May (see first part.) These rules were so strict that a teacher from Kent State wrote in to encourage I. King Jordan to relieve the pressure (to the person who commented on my last blog that "this is like Kent State" - I had no idea about this at the time!) These new rules were objected to by the Gallaudet University Faculty, Student, Staff and Alumni Association, with one group of teachers saying:

Faculty resistance to the “Guidelines” stemmed from the perception that the rules are so numerous, specific, and complicated as to make it virtually impossible to obtain permission to demonstrate or post signs. Furthermore, the rules are heavy-handed, rigid, and created without participation of the Faculty. Finally, the rules exacerbate the current climate of fear on campus.

Back at the University, students immediately demonstrated against Audism, amid what seemed like a heightened number of attacks on Deaf people nationwide. While these attacks had nothing to do with the Gallaudet situation, they exacerbated a feeling of fear and a need for coalition.

On the 29th of August the Gallaudet Student Body Government met again to discuss the situation at Elstad Auditiorium on campus. Simultaneously many faculty wrote letters to indicate their dissent and desire to reopen the search process for a new President; interviews began with those formerly in the running. Faculty seemed to want to join together, but were confused about their ability to even meet with each other under the new guidelines:

The declaration that we do not have effective administrative leadership on campus was met with applause. We have no control over what the Board hears about this meeting because we have no true, meaningful opportunity for dialogue.

Two professors pointed out that everyone attending the meeting could be fired for insubordination because Faculty Governance had not applied for a permit to meet and express opinions, as currently required by the President’s 28 June “Guidelines” memo.

They also mentioned in that letter their frustration that not all of the Board of Trustees knew sign language, and that interpreters had to be used every time they communicated with the University Administration. Later, a letter from the Clerc Center which Fernandes had previously administrated showed that she had employed similar Faculty-organization busting tactics and similarly chose not to listen to that faculty.

On the 20th of September, the Gallaudet Student Body Government issued a vote of No Confidence in Fernandes. Some student leaders emerged; most had been too afraid to come forward in the past. These student leaders were: Ryan Commerson, Tara Holcomb, LaToya Plummer, Chris Corrigan, Delia Lozano-Martinez and Leah Katz-Hernandez.

On the 25th of September, a small group of Administration supporters issued a letter indicating they felt this was a battle between "purebloods" and "mudbloods" on campus. This seemed to continue the divisive work of the University President, who was continually saying "They think I'm not Deaf enough," pounding a meme home until it hurt. What does this theme even mean? Is it true? Who knows - that particular group never put forth definitions of any of these terms, but allowed people's imaginations to work, and much like the effects similar divisive comments have in Women's and African-American and Gay and Lesbian movements, (You're not gay enough/black enough/feminist enough) imagination can divide. This comparison fractured the community further and as Allison Kaftan has stated on her blog:

So now on top of discrimination and ignorance, we’ve just had another huge battle handed to us, courtesy of Dr. Jordan, Mercy Coogan, Dr. Fernandes, NBC, ABC, FOX, NPR, the Washington Post, CNN, and a whole bunch of other entities that have done us the favor of disseminating that wonderful phrase.

That battle will last us for years: the perception that there is a standard against which people can measure to find out whether they’re deaf enough. Decades of cultural work will have to be done.

Later, it was revealed by Ridorlive.com that one member of the Administration, Mercy Coogan, had been posting supportive articles about the administration under the nom de plume Aunt Sophie. The propaganda barrage was immense, and the climate of fear heavy.

Rumors began to fly about the re-establishment of the Tent City that had draped the campus in May. On October 1st, early in the morning, the Tent City was reestablished on the lawn by a small number of faculty and students who defied the strict rules on "freedom of expression." A few hours later, staff at the University were ordered to put fertilizer on the grounds. Allegations were made but never proven that this was an attempt to nip the protest in the bud, so to speak. Protestors pointed out that it was unusual to spread fertilizer on Monday morning when the campus had just reopened. Administration supporters pointed out it was important to keep Kendal Green, green. It was equally possible that a third party or uninterested student who simply wanted to make trouble had made the call; at this point blood seemed hot on both sides, so the issue was used as a two-edged sword. The Tent City was re-convened the next day. Protest leaders were informed that their City was illegal:

After the rally, SBG leaders met with Carl Pramuk and the SBG advisor. SBG leaders were told that if tent city is still up after 11:00 pm this evening, the contract between SBG and the Business Office would be torn up and Tent City would be banned the rest of this week.

On October 4th, 300 students walked out of classes and went to I King Jordan's office to speak with him. This was unannounced and Jordan was having a private discussion with an unidentified individual, and he slammed the door on protestors. At the same time teachers and faculty issued a statement requesting that the University reopen the discussion on the issues as had been promised in May:

Members of the Board of Trustees are the stewards of our university. Your discussions during this first week of October will make history at Gallaudet University and do much to determine its future path and the well being of its community. The Gallaudet community is looking for your leadership in forging a path towards excellence we can be proud of.

We ask that you reconsider your position and re-engage the community as you promised during those days in May.

This diplomatic letter had no effect. On October 5th the Student Body Government met with the Board of Trustees, which told them nothing could be done and that they were in a stalemate. That Friday night was a deadline the SBG had announced for discussions. At the appointed time students lined up outside of the Gallaudet Conference Center where the President was having a celebration of his work at the University. At 10 PM protestors asked if there was a response. They were told that the Board and President had no time to speak to them that night. In response to these refusals to communicate, students decided to "lockdown" the main academic building at the University, known as HMB, short for Hall Memorial Building. This was a controversial move that caused furor all over the country.

The next day students awoke to find Campus Security, not talking to them, but simply making a raid:

At 8 a.m. this morning, as students were sleeping in the SBG office, on the first floor of the already locked down HMB, officers from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) stormed in. Students were terrified, people were running everywhere, screaming. DPS started pushing and hitting students and threatening to spray mace. Some people were assaulted. Students who had been peacefully asleep, and abruptly awoken, were not resisting. We did nothing. The attack from DPS came totally unprovoked.

Once DPS officers left and we were able to collect ourselves together and survey the damage, we found several students had been hurt. We had been physically assaulted by the Gallaudet University Department of Public Safety. I cannot explain the state of mind we are in at this moment. We are shocked, extremely upset, and hurt bodily and emotionally.

Indeed, these campus officers could NOT speak to the students: there's a very short list of people in that organization who know any sign language whatsoever. Supportive tent cities began to pop up all over the world. Bomb threats were called in and this was blamed on students by the Administration, although why students would want to evacuate the building they were occupying was never explained. The incident raised emotions all over the country - indeed the world, as parents, faculty, and alumni sent in letters to the Administration appealing for a solution. The Administration encouraged the University to restore trust. Faculty were offered five minutes to speak to the Board of Trustees.

Monday, October 9th, the SBG President, Noah Beckman, worked on and negotiated with University Administration to produce a list of several demands. Tensions and hope were high. The original demands for the reopening of the search process remained; there were also additional demands for the creation of protest-safe zones and the lifting of some restrictions outlined in the Freedom of Expression guidelines issued in June. The racism students alleged infiltrated the original search process was also brought up again, a serious issue for many students. Eventually the students reduced all their requirements to one single need:

The students’ single resolution is reasonable. The student leaders agree to cease lockdown of the Hall Memorial Building if the President agrees to provide 24/7 protest safe zones and to agree to continue the negotiation process to address other issues. While there seems to be a stated University goal towards action to open the classroom building, to place a high value on education, and to respect the educational needs of students both in the protest and those who are not, President Jordan’s actions make it clear this is not his intention. Punishing the students seems to take precedence.

The request was denied and none of the other concerns were dealt with; the SBG responded with a letter explaining their efforts and frustrations, and indicating the lockdown would continue. Why was this one resolution so important? Perhaps because the students demanded at least the right to express their concerns.

At this point the Gallaudet football team made a statement. This champion team led by the famous Coach Ed Hottle, had had an incomparable 2-year winning streak. While these negotiations were going on they had finally lost their first game. Realizing that the prohibition against joining the protest was pointless if they were so freaked out about it they couldn't play football ANYWAY, they decided to throw their massive weight in with the protestors.

At this point on Tuesday, October 10th, Noah Beckman was still in the office with Jordan. It is not clear if he had been able to convey that the SBG's requests were denied, but with the increase in number that came with the addition of the team (and the mental weight of knowing that the looked-up to members of this important team had made a commitment to the struggle) the decision was made to lock down the campus as well as the HMB. This lockdown included the Clerc Center, although students were able to leave and return to campus, a fact later denied by University administration (although supported by teachers at the institution themselves.) Students were angered that they were being represented as helpless children. When the campus lockdown happened this night, there were several problems communicating with the Media. The Media did not bring any sign language interpreters themselves; and according to this statement by one member of Gallaudet's Interpreting Services, the University administration stopped paying for interpreters. (Later there were reports of firings within GIS for the revelation of this information.) Students were asking for donations, but in the meantime, several days passed before they began getting part of their message across.

On Wednesday, October 11th the campus was locked down. News about the protest began to trickle through to the media. Faculty issued statements supporting the right to freedom of expression. Supportive protests continued in cities all over the world, including Los Angeles. University Faculty requested the resignation of Fernandes in light of her inability to resolve the crisis.

On Thursday, October 12th, the lockdown continued. Parents came together to write a letter supporting the protest, angered that the campus police could not communicate with the students.

On Friday, October 13th, 2006, what some are now calling "Black Friday," 135 teachers, students and faculty were arrested for refusing to move from the gates and allow the campus to open. During these arrests, the 7th of which was Tim Rarus, one of the leaders of Deaf President Now, huge spotlights were used to blind Deaf students:

There's a bright light so they can't see the interpreters.
They blinding the students sitting
It's a spotlight (mz) (from a liveblogger during the protest

Read the liveblog of the arrests here!

And on Saturday, October 14th, 1000 were protesting at the front gate. At this point, 45 Tent Cities of support are growing around America.

Sunday, October 15th saw this amazing letter from mental health professionals in the Deaf community who I personally greatly respect.

On Monday, October 16th, the faculty of Gallaudet issued the vote of 'no confidence' described in the first paragraph of this post. On Tuesday, October 17th Jordan issued a letter (note the date on his own letter is wrong, and it's only four days since Black Friday) with four statements: that the search process for the Gallaudet Presidency was indeed diverse, that Fernandes deserves the opportunity to try the University out (like a new car, as if they haven't seen her work for the past ten years!), that students will be punished because they have broken a code he basically rewrote over the summer in order to, well, punish them, and that this is nothing like the Gallaudet Protest. To this last he is entirely wrong. The Gallaudet Protest in 1988 was about oppression from hearing people who were acting as Gatekeepers to the Deaf Community. In 2006, we have the same problem: it is like there are two bubbles, touching each other, and Jordan and Fernandes stand blocking the flat surface where the bubbles touch. One bubble is the Deaf community. The other bubble? America.

:::

At this point all is stalemate. Europe sends its love, and there will be rallies today in support of the protest. The Board of Trustees has split on the issue. Protestors still lie outside the gates. Homecoming has been cancelled. Faculty appear disgusted with the inept handling and letters of the administration (more on that in the future.) The administration seem completely oblivious to the concerns of the Faculty, Staff, Student and Alumni Association. Kenneth Berrigan is on a hunger strike. And as yet nobody has been able to explain why to many hearing people's satisfaction - although I'll attempt to, in my next post. Jane Fernandes has used the racist comment that we're judging her based on whether she's Deaf enough. She just gave an interview to the Washington Post on the radio. It wasn't captioned. (Transcript here.) More today as events develop, and an analysis of what's happening in the community because of this protest.

2006-10-16T00:11:00.000-04:00

366: Monday Morning news & tea roundup

My History of the Gallaudet Protest, Part One seems to have gone over VERY well. It was crossposted at DailyKos a democratic site to raise awareness. As a result many Democrats are contibuting to and getting involved with GUFSSA. Do you know what? Not ONE person said it was wrong of students to protest. One of the more interesting discussions (remember Harvard University President Summers insulted women at the University?:)

I still feel there was a great chance Fernandes could have nipped this in the bud back in May. People were not so convinced then. Now several months later, with injuries on both sides, both sides are running on pride and spit.

I wonder. What would happen if this was Harvard and 135 faculty and students were arrested because of protesting concerns about the administration? What would be different?

by joseph rainmound on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 08:39:02 PM PDT
response:
You know, at Harvard they didn't have to get to that point. They offed Summers' head as fast as the faculty could undermine him. Even after he offered a mea culpa.

by Prime Number on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 08:56:45 PM PDT

That was clipped for space, but you can check out the whole discussion on DailyKos. We were on the TOP TEN diary list for several hours! I also want to post pictures and more pictures! Two great photographers. Also as of 8pm last night the latest news from protestors on the ground after letters from the administration last night. And more and more student governments and Deaf Studies depts. at colleges and universities around the country are showing support. However criticism still mounts that the University was shut down; opponents say that this has made Gallaudet students little more than thugs, despite the University's repeated refusal to consider or allow shared governance since 2000. Think of the American political problems: we have a system of checks and balances, which is currently out of order. As it is faculty and teachers at many - if not all - departments of Gallaudet have submitted votes of no confidence and other concerns.

Tea: Chamomile. (My friend mentioned going caffeine free. I felt guilty about being on my third cup of coffee, so I decided to cut down. 3rd day clean of 'ffeine!

2006-10-15T18:17:00.000-04:00

365: A History of the Gallaudet Protest, Part One

Crossposted at Daily Kos.

Friday, October 13th, 2006: 135 teachers, faculty students and alumni of Gallaudet University were arrested in a protest. Gallaudet University is the only University for Deaf people in the world. The protest continues - at the front gates of the University, and almost a thousand strong as concerned alumni fly in and teachers and faculty gain the courage to join the protest. The protest is about many things now, as injustice has piled upon injustice, but it began with the selection of a 9th President who many felt was not appropriate for the position due to a personal history of the College as Director of Pre-College National Mission Programs and then Provost. How did it get this far? I will try my best to explain, using links to blogs and news articles, the journey from April, 2006 to today – although you could say the journey really began in 1988.

The Beginning of the Protest: May 2006

In May I King Jordan announced his impending resignation as President of Gallaudet University. Soon after he accidentally introduced Provost Jane Fernandes as President Jane Fernandes. Soon after that the search process for selection of the President ended.

No, I didn’t get the order wrong. This was one of the problems. Freudian slip or not, it made people nervous during the search process for a new President. Fernandes, then the University Provost for six years, was not the popular choice. It was reported that:

...a recent Faculty poll showing that Dr. Fernandes has an acceptability rate among the Faculty of only 36%, while the other two finalists had much higher acceptability rates of 53% (Stern) and 64% (Weiner)

There were also accusations of racism in the search process:

Did you honestly believe that deaf people of color and any reasonable person would agree with your “assertion” that race was NOT an issue when we find a candidate who met the most important profile requirements, has been in possession of an earned doctorate from a respected university for over 20 years and happens to be a person of color and yet is deemed inferior or not a better candidate than a white man who we believe should have been screened out in the very first applicants screening process for the simple reason he did not possess a doctorate degree for a position that absolutely requires one?

But much controversy specifically followed Jane Kelleher Fernandes.

Fernandes' History

Jane Fernandes came to Gallaudet as Director of Pre-College National Mission Programs, now called Clerc Center, a high school and elementary school for Deaf children on the campus of Gallaudet University. At the time it was the most progressive Deaf school in the country. Deaf children were achieving impressive levels of education in the school, equalling if not surpassing hearing peers. Dancers and actors from the school appeared at Presidential inaugurations at at the Kennedy Center. The list of misfires and terrible examples of leadership written by the Clerc Center faculty recently is impressive. Teachers and students left the school in droves.

When she became Provost in 2000 amid controversy that the University decided to circumvent the usual shared-governance search process involving the faculty in her selection, Fernandes was soon faced with a situation on campus: a growing movement to understand Audism, a form of discrimination against deaf people based on biological or cultural difference. (some of my own thoughts here. The Student Body Government in developed a set of mandates, based on research completed in the 30 years since the Stokoe revolution, about the use of American Sign Language on Campus, and suggested the need for better evaluation systems for faculty and staff on campus to achieve the fully accessible environment promised on the University webpage. This was revolutionary; while Pre-College National Mission Programs had been famous for a fully-accessible ASL environment, where all teachers could sign all the time (none of that funny business about having conversations right over the heads of children, which is not conducive to positive feeling or learning) this is still uncommon in America, where support for the new concepts derived from Stokoe’s research was still slow in growing, though European countries were several years into their implementation.

Students report that Gallaudet campus police and even some Professors cannot sign ASL fluently. The Audism Mandates encouraged the administration to determine the ASL fluency of incoming students and provide education on the job so that their skills could be bettered. The same would be required of students. Notice the emphasis on raising standards for staff AND students – a minimum proficiency level in both languages, and a campus-wide ASL/English mentoring program. This was community-based effort at change at its finest. It came about despite, not because of, the environment at the college, which has never chosen to recognize ASL as the official language of instruction at the University. The benefits are obvious – a barrier-free environment where the student can learn without a support system such as a notetaker or interpreter, where the teacher can be a direct model for the student. Not to mention the increases in safety and health, with a Sign-Language using medical staff and campus police. Some have compared the psychological effects as being similar to the difference for women, going to a women’s college, or gay teenagers at a special school, or prodigies at a school designed to fit their needs. Without these barriers, the students learn more quickly and their education is of higher quality; they can then bring a higher level of skills to the work force – as well as their unique perspective. (I realize this is a lot to take in: this protest has become the nexus of many, many issues.)

An additional concern about Fernandes was Gallaudet's failure at program assessment during her tenure as Provost, raising concerns about Gallaudet's federal funding.

When the Gallaudet Board of Trustees’ selection of Fernandes was announced on May 1st, 2006, there was a public outcry. At first people were bewildered enough to seem in shock; but almost immediately an organized protest formed into a tent city on the campus.

The Tent City has become legendary in the Deaf Community now. You must understand the interest Deaf people around the world have in Gallaudet University. Right now, 1000 Protesters stand at the front gate of the University. Tent Cities have sprung up in Deaf communities and Deaf Studies depts. at Universities around America and the world. This article on Inside Higher Ed. explains the reasons for the intensity of the protest at that time:

There’s no doubt that with the departure of Jordan, Gallaudet will assume a new direction. In the 18 years since Deaf President Now, we’ve shown the world that deaf people are in fact capable of doing anything except hearing. That’s the Catch-22. DPN made it possible for deaf students to go to any college in the United States and be successful. Gallaudet has stayed symbolic, inspiring those who go to Princeton, but not always attracting those same students. We have always been the best deaf university in the world, because competition is so thin. But we’re not satisfied with that. We want the best and brightest students, the ones who now have educational opportunities that were never available before. And that’s why we need a president with all the right qualities, not just someone who shares our deafness.

The faculty issued a vote of no confidence on May 9th but this was rarely reported in the media:

The Gallaudet University Board of Trustees’ announcement on May 1st of the selection of Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as president-select shook Gallaudet University and the global deaf community. Immediate responses from diverse groups and individuals on and off campus indicated a profound sense of betrayal, disenfranchisement, and powerlessness.

The immediate response was: These are just culturally Deaf people with an agenda. The FSSA protestors were accused of vandalism and tensions were indeed very high. The FSSA responded with a statement that their group was diverse, but the meme took, and soon almost all the newspapers called it "a squabble about what it means to be a Deaf person." Fernandes was raised outside of Deaf culture and did not come to it later in life and does not use American Sign Language, but a code called SimCom which was popular late in the 20th Century before SimCom was generally considered to be a confusing failure in education:

Research has shown that Simultaneous Communication (often referred to as "TC" or "Simcom") compromises both English and American Sign Language. The user's native language generally dominates the other. This attempt to use two languages in two different modes simultaneously (like trying to write Chinese and speak English at the same time) presents a mixed and confusing model.

While ASL does have strong ties to the Deaf cultural identity, it is not the sole indicator, and here it obviously has greater importance than the administration is admitting. In the more recent protests in DC, for example, when being arrested, one man turned and shouted to the crowd: “I am doing this for my two children.” Students wanted to see progression in the leadership of the University also. For them, Fernandes, using an outmoded system, represented the past. This is also the reason for the identity-politics meme: one commonly-spread fear is that ASL-using Deaf people do not learn to read or write. (Note: I use ASL.) Also, Fernandes as provost had not responded to the Audism Mandates, which again was part of the fight for improved communication at the University. Many were sure the vote was rigged. Faculty resigned, particularly Celia May Baldwin over the controversy.

After the no-confidence vote by the University Faculty, Fernandes reiterated her commitment to not leaving; she planned to become President. The Gallaudet FSSA affirmed their commitment to the protest; although they negotiated throughout this period with the Board of Trustees, the general consensus is that the BOT did not address their concerns:

And, while we appreciate that the Board of Trustees recognizes the importance of a diversity plan to enhance our multi-cultural community, we are dismayed that they have entrusted the responsibility for facilitating this plan to Dr. Fernandes. Although Dr. Fernandes claims diversity as her strength in leadership, she has demonstrated that she lacks awareness of how her approach thus far has been controlling, non-inclusive, and lacking in transparency and equity. She has not only failed to unite the Gallaudet community, she has divided and severely hurt our community with her identity politics and inequitable diversity strategies.

Although there were calls for people to do something about the issue, the stalemate continued until May 31st, 2006 when the University closed. The Tent City closed also: protestors went home, promising to return in the fall, despite some who said they should stay on campus.

***

I lifeblogged the arrests in a diary here the other night.

For me this is about many issues. It has ties, for me, to science-deniers around the country, to oppression, to union-busting (Fernandes encouraged the Clerc Center faculty organization and programs to disband), to shared governance, to civil rights inasmuch as communication access under the ADA is a civil right. Tomorrow will be part 2, as I try to put together the events of the last month at the University.

2006-10-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

364: 135 Teachers, Students, Alumni Arrested at Gallaudet

I freaked out last night. I was sitting quietly with Wal and some friends chatting and went upstairs. Checked DeafRead.com on a whim and saw they'd arrested three students. Reload: 8 students. I was crying by this time, hot pissed off tears which turned into kind of electric energy. Wal didn't get why I was so upset ("So 8 people get arrested? They have to expect that") but when I pointed out TEACHERS, ALUMNI, even members of the former Deaf President Now protest (How many times will Tim Rarus have to get arrested for change?) were taken - he started bringing me tea.

I blogged until my contacts fell out. Literally. And I kept going. My Diary on DailyKos.com drew many, many readers, for which I am grateful, we need to get the word out. I passed out around 1 am, then went back to the computer, saw that Chris Corrigan had come back (did anyone else see him in their head running onto the campus?) and said "good, at least they're okay," and went back to sleep.

I'm going to try to work on two more important blogs today, then tonight 9/11 counselling.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PUBLISHER TO DONATE BOOK PROFITS TO GALLAUDET FSSA

ROCHESTER, NY (Oct. 13, 2006) – Canal Street Press (www.canalstreetpress.com) announced today that it will donate $3 from every book sold to the Gallaudet FSSA (Faculty Staff Student Alumni) Coalition in support of the protest at Gallaudet University.

Canal Street Press was established by deaf journalist Tom Willard to publish deaf-related and photography books. The first two books are now available: A SORRY STICK OF A MAN, INDEED, a collection of Willard’s essays on deafness; and DEAF HAIKU, a creative work that explores a wide range of deaf-related topics.

Three dollars from every book sold will be transferred via PayPal to the FSSA account on a daily basis until a resolution of the current crisis is reached.

For more information, please visit www.canalstreetpress.com.

2006-10-13T23:22:00.000-04:00

UPDATE & DONATE: www.scallionstallion.com for the latest live blogging from the protest
I'm directing people to donate at http://donate.gufssa.com/ GUFSSA please use donations to cover money for bail for the protestors!

seems over 75 arrested now. dailykos diary at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/215938/78

2006-10-13T21:55:00.000-04:00

how many will it take to convince them

i would like to point out they have arrested TEACHERS

TEACHERS at the school which supporters of the administration whined "they closed it! the poor children couldn't go to school!" When the teachers at the school which closed feel strongly enough about the issue to get arrested, how much more do you need to convince you that something is wrong enough here at Gallaudet University?

32 now

ive posted a diary at dailykos hoping to get the word out

2006-10-13T21:10:00.000-04:00

I King Jordan Uses Force

Today at 7 p.m. I King Jordan ordered the arrests of protestors blocking the gates of Gallaudet University. Eight now.

I am sorry he could not have done a better job. I feel this is a betrayal not only of his duty as a college president but of his own career. It is ironic: the protest at its core was about communication.

I pray for the future of Deaf people in this country.

UPDATE: don't bother with my website right now. Tayler Meyer is chronicling everything on deafread.com-just go there and keep clicking reload. Check google news every so often too - I found the examiner article there.

2006-10-13T16:58:00.000-04:00

363: the great deluge

I read with tears the amazing Letter from Clerc Center in which they detail the problems they have with Jane Fernandes. I wrote about many of these issues way back in May but it feels wonderful to see the faculty standing up for themselves. As a student who truly loved MSSD which was the MOST progressive Deaf school at the time (where they signed 100% of the time, by the way, and many faculty meetings were voice-off) it hurt to see the teachers suffering during that time. I think the only one which even came close was in California.

Why is this post called "the great deluge?" Because right now information is flying thick and fast. Fernandes snuck on campus last night- almost all the fuss with the police was really an effort to get her on campus without letting students near her. Now the amazing Elisa reports that Fernandes has come forth and offered to speak to a small group of students about the problem. She refuses to put this discussion on video or make it publicly available. This is typical of Fernandes' leadership style-she likes to lead from behind, not be open and available, as they have written on 9thprez.com. Unfortunately at this point I do not believe it is wise for her to continue to lead from the background. She needs to get into the street and show fair play all around. Broadcasting a discussion would be a great way to both protect her from jumpy students and allow everyone to see what's going on.

At the same time, other Universities and Colleges around the US have been writing in and coming in to support Gallaudet protestors and refute the silly idea that students shouldn't have a say in the running of a University. Me, I knew this all along - my college has a Honor Code and people can call the University administration to account. In this case, Gallaudet broke a promise: they promised a fully accessible University. Don't believe me? follow this link and click on Prospective Students and you see this:

The Gallaudet difference—what we call the "Gallaudet Advantage"—begins with a barrier-free communication environment. The communication environment at Gallaudet gives deaf and hard of hearing students freedom to focus on the joy and business of learning and to engage in a high degree of interaction with classmates and professors, both in and out of the classroom.

They tried to lure me in with this promise but when I went there and saw English Professors who couldn't sign well enough to explain Shakespeare, I was disgusted. (Thank Goddess I had Rae Johnson in MSSD!) They broke this promise as several teachers, administration, and especially DPS officers know no ASL. This enough is reason to protest, but there's many more.

One more thing. Juanita Garcia claims protestors prevented students from attending the Clerc Center. In fact this is not true. The truth is that the University administration ordered the Clerc Center closed, as the letter from faculty states:

We are representative of a larger Clerc Center community. We did not approve of Gallaudet University’s decision to close Clerc Center on October 11 and 12. The protesters were prepared to allow MSSD and Kendall staff on-campus so that education for pre-collegiate students could continue uninterrupted. University administrators shoulder the burden of responsibility for the two days of lost teaching time for those students.

Protestors were willing to allow students at those schools to continue their studies. Don't blame protestors for the actions of oppressors.

2006-10-12T13:39:00.000-04:00

362: the future

Let's look at the Deaf Community today, thirty years after the Stokoe Revolution.

We have a new generation of Deaf people who have been studying themselves, their history and their language. This is VERY recent - last 20 years or so, since the development of technology which makes recording visual language simple. It's also partially the result of the Gallaudet Revolution when Deaf people demanded a Deaf person lead the University. (It's interesting - I work in a mental health agency and we are required by law to have a certain number of the minorities we represent in our administration. By law.)

We also have a WHOLE range of in-between people, from abuse victims who were placed in mental hospitals by ignorant families, to angry radicals. Just like any other group.

The fight at Gallaudet has a lot to do with this group, Deaf people studying themselves. Armed with research from the last 30 years or so since ASL was determined to be a language, research which points the way to not only improved education but constructions never before thought possible, they want to establish ASL as the language of education at Gallaudet. For the first time all students would be able to understand all teachers. (Whatever else you say, the truth is ASL is the only language ALL Deaf people can understand. SimCom and other pastiches are not real languages and have never claimed to be so.)

Why is this important? Well, a real language is flexible. A real language is alive. A real language can become poetry, literature, performance. A real language is what you can use to teach - real language. But many people do NOT believe ASL is a real language. look at this forum where people talk about ASL as an "insult to Deaf education."

I did not always accept the scientific proof of this. Many remember me arriving at MSSD using some kind of PSE. I was a writer and believed English was superior to ASL. It took several linguistics classes, and learning two other Signed languages, to make me comprehend that ASL was really a complete language. At that point I feel I became a truly bilingual person. It changed my relationship with my family and we became much closer. My father, who came to America from Peurto Rico, understands what it is to be part of two worlds when I can frame it as language and culture.

At Gallaudet, there is a battle for the future. A line needs to be drawn. Deaf people don't want to keep playing with silly codes. We need a real language established so the Deaf community in this country can draw from that.

First, ASL as a real language can be more efficiently used for English instruction than any other method - as well as be used for instruction in all other subjects. I've been using it myself and found it's powerful to demonstrate something in ASL and then make the comparison to how English works. You can visually "pack" and "unpack" words to show where the articles of grammar are. I've explained English to HEARING people in ASL and it works. They have been writing about this for years - and it's well known that academically advanced European models mandate the teaching of not one, but at least two and sometimes more signed languages! It is not a "communication method" like a code - you can't teach in Morse, though I'm sure PZ Myers would try.

Secondly, it's of survival importance for young Deaf people. Implants, fine, I really don't care what technology people use. ASL needs to be taught to children from DAY ONE. Because the implant might fail. The electricity might stop. It's a limitation. And while it's not a guarantee the implant or hearing aid or speech therapy or SimCom will work (I think only 30% of implant users develop full language competency) it IS a guarantee that language deprivation causes a form of mental retardation if continued past the first three years-and it IS a guarantee that ASL is accessible to EVERYONE. Even Deaf-Blind people. That's scientific.

Thirdly, can you imagine a different language used to teach every class? A cacophony of interpreters dedicated to helping individual students? The cost of paying for those interpreters and services would beggar the University. ASL is far more practical.

We have all this research, and Gallaudet does nothing with it-that's one reason for the righteous anger of students. It's as if the work of the last thirty years had never happened - all the work of Stokoe and Lucas and Liddel and Erting and Glickman and Marshark and Ladd and all the other writers hearing and Deaf who have worked SCIENTIFICALLY to figure all of this out. Thirty years of research, and Gallaudet is still wavering. Audism Monologues and Mandates are ignored. No wonder students are protesting. Their focus is not on Deaf people's research and attempts to better themselves, but on other people's research to "integrate" us. We cannot find our own place. A place will be "found" for us.

Look, I love English. But I know it's because of ASL and Deaf Studies that I'm able to both function in a hearing office and still maintain my own identity. I can defend ASL as a language, explain people and culture, and discuss the ethics of interpreters. That's empowerment, just as women can go to Women's Studies and learn the language of independence. Deaf people are defined as a people both because of what we are and because of what other people do to us.

Women, as different bodies, are a great example. "Why do you want to work outside the home?" "Why do you need an education?" "Why don't you get married and have kids?" Women moved past their phase of oppression, but they still do battle and they still get paid less than men. I guess we all have many battles to fight.

P.S. I had many teachers at MSSD who used a kind of PSE to teach - they were wonderful teachers and I'm not knocking PSE. But at the same time, they matched their language to the child, which is a skill found in ASL... so I think they were just being resourceful! :)

2006-10-12T06:54:00.000-04:00

361: NPR likes Deaf people

This is the news from NPR:

Morning Edition, October 11, 2006 · Drivers for UPS won a round in court Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled that the shipping company could not bar the deaf and hearing-impaired from driving delivery trucks.

ALRIGHT! I'm sure Ridor's all excited about the hot Deaf truckers already.
And just a reminder: I King Jordan will be on NPR today in a captioned discussion of some kind (I wonder why he doesn't just use SimCom on TV?) And if you want to see how much of an impact has been made by Gallaudet protestors, check this list. But please note that one clear problem is there: the protestors have no message. You guys need a slogan or something. Fernandes is already using "Hell no! I won't go!" Not unless she collects $2 million, any way, as Nathan Kester reports.

I just heard Robert Loeffler was fired from Ridor. I do not know him but he is an interpreter who complained about the Administration opposing the GIS working with protesters. If this is really about money, I hope the people at the top think long and hard about what they're doing to the ties between the Deaf community and its allies. Jordan said yesterday that he cares about the students...

Of course it's about money. What am I saying? It's always about money. Lesson Number One, Deaf Readers, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FUNDS.

2006-10-11T20:08:00.000-04:00

360: gotta love this

Two press releases today on the Gallaudet Website. The first is a message from Jane Fernandes:

I remain committed to becoming the president of Gallaudet University. Although the current situation is serious, if I am abandoned my commitment at this point, which I have no intention of doing, it would only become worse for the University, in general, and future Boards of Trustees and presidents, in particular. We live in a country that is governed by the rule of law, not anarchy. All of us in the Gallaudet community must continue to be strong and adhere to the principles that have made Gallaudet University and our country great.

In response I post another quote, since she talks about the principles which make our country great:

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, but we have this comfort with us: that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

Thomas Paine said that: the man who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense. He was talking about the unfairness of British behavior to Americans. To the British their behavior seemed reasonable: they sent people over to America to get money and other valuables. To the Americans, the British rules were confining, binding, and rendered them little more than slaves.

This situation is not a shock or surprise for me. Gallaudet last year performed the Audism Monologues; the SBG passed the Audism Mandates. Clearly something was going on there. Was nobody paying attention? Then the University denied students the use of interpreters. Denied them contact with the press. Denied any response to their concerns FROM A YEAR AGO. This is an old, old brew, and the University Administration was blind. What would have happened if England had lifted the taxes, before they had their tea party in Boston? Then England would have been part of the change, and perhaps no revolution would have happened.

I King Jordan also commented today:

Civility, integrity, and truth are victims today, held hostage as much as our beloved campus. I have been asked why I haven’t used police to end the stand off. It is because I care about the safety of all of our students more than the protestors care about anything but getting their way. This illegal and unlawful behavior must stop. The faculty members who are instigating and manipulating the students have simply gone too far in pursuit of their own agendas.

They haven't used the police to end the stand-off because then they would get more publicity than they like. I have no doubt that were the behavior truly illegal and unlawful, the students would be arrested faster than you can sign hot dog: finish! Or maybe he's just being patronizing. Don't arrest the poor Deaf people. Hmmm?

But I would really like to know: what agendas is Jordan referring to? Who are these faculty members Jordan accuses as instigating and manipulating students? For someone who uses civility, integrity and truth as weapons in the war of words, Jordan has guts: he's making baseless accusations against nonspecific faculty who have - as far as I've been able to see - been more of a restraint on students than encouraging them, and who have been far more concerned about the integrity of his search process (Remember calling Jane President before anyone else did?) than about Jordan and Fernandes themselves.

What a day.

update: MishkaZena gets sexier every time I read her blog.

second update: The Gally Linguistics dept points out:

Far from promoting any kind of well-informed, thoughtful discussion of the issues, the actions of the current Gallaudet administration and Public Relations office continue to demonstrate an attitude of condescending repression towards its constituents. If the administration is truly in the right, as they claim, it would behoove them to let students, parents, staff, faculty, alumni, and the general public make up our minds for ourselves using all available information. Manipulation of access to information inhibits this possibility.

Uh-huh. It's called ~~tyranny~~ oppression. And like I've noted before, there's no leadership in the discussion. Only people who want to pretend the discussion doesn't need to happen. Is anyone paying attention?

2006-10-11T17:37:00.000-04:00

359: some important updates to put together

Today's a big day at Gallaudet. The campus lockdown, the revolt of interpreters who decided to support students' communication access, and the open support of the protest by several members of the faculty and staff at Gallaudet who call for the resignation of Fernandes. Also, GIS (Gallaudet Interpreting Services) talks about oppression at Gallaudet and the difficult ethics of being an interpreter in a political situation. Check out also this great post by Allison Kaftan. I agree wholeheartedly with this comment:

The fact that Dr. Fernandes grew up orally and learned ASL later has absolutely nothing to do with her ability to empathize and lead. In theory, she could be a deaf child of deaf adults (in fact, isn’t she?!), an extremely articulate signer (of which she IS capable of being, though she doesn’t show it), and still not be able to lead the University.

It's true. I've been saying from Day One that Jane Fernandes should get her hands dirty and sit down and talk to protestors. Instead she seems to be trying to speak FOR the Deaf Community. It's a little frustrating for me to see her skydive into failure. It would be so easy for an intelligent leader to fix this!

I have spoken to some students and faculty today. They are doing well. They seem confident this is the right action. One thing we talked about is Gallaudet's dirty secret - there is no required level of ASL fluency for faculty and staff. There is also no such thing required for DPS officers. This is part of the Audism issue that Gallaudet students keep talking about. My suggestion? Make incoming staff take the CDI test - the test to become a certified Deaf interpreter. If they can understand what students say and translate it, and vice versa, let them stay. If their receptive and signing skills are so poor they cannot pass a version of this test, it indicates serious problems.

I also think some Deaf people should become DPS officers and team with hearing officers to promote security on campus. How does security work when DPS cannot talk to the students it is required to protect? In my time at MSSD there was one signing officer, Dean, but have no idea if he is still there.

2006-10-09T13:30:00.000-04:00

358: common sense & bomb threats

Some things should be clear to everyone.

It think is NOT protesting students who are calling in bomb threats. Why would they perform an act forcing them to leave the very building in which they are protesting? Rumors abound, but nobody has proof. Whoever it is, please stop, because one day there could be a real situation, and the police will ignore it because there have been so many false warnings, and someone will get hurt.
As Karl Ewan notes on MishkaZena, Fernandes is portraying herself as THE leader who can speak for THE Deaf community. What would happen if ONE woman stood up and said she could lead ALL women? We do not need people speaking FOR the Deaf community. We need a leader who will work WITH Deaf people. ALL Deaf people, from all tribes of the Deaf Nation. As Karl says:
Before any of you jump on me on why I am saying my piece of mind, ask yourselves this: How would you feel if I, as a white person, went on record saying that I know what it is like to be a person of color because I have been living in it? Or if I, as a deaf person, went on record saying that I know what it was like to be hard-of-hearing because I have been living in it? I would be crucified for complete and utter ignorance as well with having many folks come like a swarm of locusts on my back ‘til kingdom come.
Which is exactly what is happening with Fernandes.
Thirdly, from Adam Stone's blog today:
David said it best: “People who do not learn sign language make deaf people disabled.”

I walked away from the intense discussion feeling a little dazed. On one hand, I had just attended a consciousness-raising session; Deaf power was surging through me.

On the other hand, I realized with sadness how I had taken communication access for granted in America. Sure, we have problems–audism/oppression at deaf universities, educating the ignorant about the ADA–but when all’s said and done, we have it pretty damned good back there.
He's right. We do. But today, with attacks on the ADA, Closed Captioning, and budget cuts to Deaf programs around the country, more than ever we need to fight to maintain this. We have a LOT to lose right now. A great rep to the world can do so much for us.
Fernandes claims again and a gain the fight is about what it means to be Deaf and that this is just "squabbling amongst Deaf people." Many hearing people and hard of hearing people have been involved with this protest. Even if this WERE "squabbling amongst Deaf people," isn't that important? Isn't what it means to be Deaf - an important issue? Are the issues that face the Deaf community not important to Fernandes?
On the other hand, the protestors have yet to make a coherent case against Fernandes in the media. But this is not entirely the point. When you start working for a new company, you have to earn your cred. and get respect. Fernandes has had several months since the announcement of her selection to get her hands dirty - haha - and talk to protestors. It would NOT have been that hard - they WANT a charismatic leader with lots of experience and commitment. I kept my blog neutral because I hoped Fernandes would come forward - I still hope she does - and go into HMB and say, I'm here, I really don't get what's going on, let's work this out. The fact that she dismisses these people and their concerns says a lot. The fact that she doesn't let the Press on campus says a lot.
Some have said, at no other University in the world would this happen. Well, yeah. There's only one Deaf University in the world.

I encourage protestors: USE COMMON SENSE. Stop the rumors and stick to fact, letter, discussion and investigation. Some of the rumors I'm hearing are pretty goshdarn... weird. Fernandes is NOT Gollum in disguise. She did NOT get a magic ring which made her Lord of Kendall Green. She is NOT being confronted by two small, hairy men. She's a human being and a respected academic... who seems to have no people skills whatsoever.

2006-10-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

357: audism mandates; what message to tell the world

AUDISM MANDATES: One criticism of Jane Fernandes is that she has no plan for compliance with the audism mandates. I challenged myself to come up with a conceptual structure for campus and community to deal with these mandates. It was clear to me that whereas the concept of audism is a new concept still under development and that change had to happen without and within, I came up with these two concepts made to deal with issues that arise based on the SBG Audism Mandates:

A team comprised of teachers, students, faculty, administration to be selected randomly from the population on an annual basis to meet regularly to discuss issues which arise in the community when audism is invoked and publish their conclusions for discussion in the community. At least five published discussions a year, with a great wall in the HMB dedicated to student comments on the report.

Two annual projects in the local community to be taken on by teams of students to educate or deal with an issue related to access or audism.

Leading to:

An administrative review board to be reconvened in one year to analyze the seven results of this initiative and provide suggestions to refine experimentation or implement any findings.

What do you think? Imagine this. An issue arises in the community where a Deaf person is discriminated against in a local store. As a result a group of Gallaudet students get together to find ways to make the local community more hospitable. A project results where Deaf teenagers agree to volunteer at local daycare centers, exposing families to Deaf people, doing a good deed, and having fun with kids at the same time. (I'm informed zLotte's sisters often do this, it sounds like a great sorority.) A good idea?

What message do we give to the world? We need to do this kind of knowledge collecting so we gain power through language. We need to be able to frame situations like this one. It has been framed against us. The Deaf community has been portrayed as a bunch of squabbling kids. Our very real feelings of wrongness, our very real recognition of benchmarks for concern, are being downplayed. Students, commit to the faculty and staff. Faculty, support the students. Remember you are all family.

Pepper Spray at Gallaudet: Does anyone else think it's cruel and unusual punishment to use a weapon which attacks the eyes, on Deaf people?

Just asking. And do you think Fernandes has done a good job of dealing with any of the Audism Mandates? Maybe the violation of these principles would be important?

2006-10-06T17:14:00.000-04:00

356: don't miss the rat

I wrote this post this morning on my blackberry before I knew about the criminal attacks on Gallaudet students this morning. All day I have been working fighting for Deaf rights around New York City in individual cases, wishing I could be in DC to help and protect those in Tent City. Protestors - you are more worthy of respect than those who patronize you. I think the following post still has meaning, and I hope people read this and understand... We must continue the dialogue at all costs. If we do not continue the dialogue nobody will do it for us...

And now for something NOT about the protest...

I read this beautiful, moving paragraph by Neil Glickman in his book "Mental Health Care of Deaf People: A Culturally Affirmative Approach" (which I encourage everyone with an interest in the subject to get, and devour:)

Clients can also communicate in metaphors, and a therapist attentive to clients' use of language can draw on their own metaphors to engage them in treatment. For instance, a client talking about his drug use signs, "I have a rat inside me." He is not psychotic and doesn't mean this literally. What he's just done is hand the clinician a way to engage him. "Tell me about the rat," is one possible reply. "How do we get the rat out of you? What's feeding the rat? Can we starve the rat?" When a client presented me with this metaphor, we had a great conversation about "the rat"-his drug usage. It engaged him because he provided a meaningful metaphoric expression of his experience. (161-162)

Hearing people have placed a lot of emphasis on metaphor in my life. When I was a baby they used to use those idiom books with me-"let the cat out of the bag." "A fish out of water." For a while when young I had a confused idea these were the animals from Aesop's Fables, teaching me another kind of lesson.

Later I was an English major, and metaphors were the key to meaning. Today I think it's the journey to understand the metaphor itself, and not the metaphor, which gives meaning.

But few people spend much time learning about Deaf people's metaphors, and the problem with that is twofold: Deaf people are a very visual and metaphorical people, and ASL is the language of metaphor, especially physically descriptive metaphor. There are some permanent ones: "swallow fish." "Hot dog finish!" But we also create many metaphors on the spot, beautiful and inventive descriptions and comparisons.

Or, as this example shows, useful. If the therapist had no concept of ASL or the more visual tendencies of deaf people, the rat would have been nothing more than babble. Instead it became a bridge.

Deafhood demands of us that we be able to and willing to communicate with each other. Why do people promote ASL? Because a real, full language is the only way we can each all understand each other in, besides writing, and God knows my fellow Deaf bloggers have become excellent writers over the last several months, so that's happening too. If we don't make the active effort to understand each other, we will miss the meaning of the rat. There will be nothing but babble.

At Gallaudet University, young students have been handing a supposedly-capable and adult administration a rat. There is something wrong. They need help fixing it. Do the administrators see the rat? Or do they only see babble? Ignoring cries for help and change won't make the problem go away.

2006-10-06T08:05:00.000-04:00

355: Battle for the Campus?

Last night was a fight for the campus as I King Jordan celebrated his final, sad, defeated days as "President" of Gallaudet, a President afraid and indeed unable to talk to his own constituency, the students of Gallaudet. How did he celebrate? He tried to shut down the campus at 10PM - the deadline given to the BOT by students for responding to their concerns.

As Elisa Abenchuchan reports:

The student leaders explained that they were waiting to hear from the BOT about FSSA's request to have an outside agency investigate Gallaudet's system. And they had given the BOT a deadline: 10 PM.

By 9:45, everyone swarmed to GUKCC once again and waited for the BOT to come out, but they wouldn't. There were too many of the protestors around the doors. SBG President Noah Beckman asked to see the chair of the BOT to hand her a letter (will be posted up as soon as possible) stating that the deadline has passed and that the protest WILL continue. It took a long while, but Brenda B. finally came up and took the letter. She said, "We didn't have time to discuss your request, we will give you an answer tomorrow morning."

We have also gotten a special tip in the City that the students took over a locked-down University building, the HMB, in protest. Whether this is true about the HMB we do not currently know. (h/t, Erfo.)

Earl Mikell is another student trying to stay on top of this. And here's a great article about the protest from CampusProgress. I encourage students to read this.

And just a reminder: this is where students were a few months ago:

And more importantly: the viper's own words, 19 years ago, when they suited his needs:

When a University administration would rather party than deal with the fact that their University is in crisis, we have a problem.

2006-10-05T09:58:00.000-04:00

354: Something Seen on Kendall Green

I did the cartoon below after reading Gallaudet SBG President Noah Beckman's comments today to the Gallaudet Board of Trustees:

So we ask for your advice, what should we do? Should we quit and go home and pretend that there is no crisis? Should we accept that Jane Fernandes doesn’t care about me? Should we accept that when a large people, not four or five students, but a large number of students, faculty, staff, and alumni have a problem, the board of trustees and the Administration are not willing to address it? You know the stories, you know the problems. We shared it with you last May. We have a problem. What are you going to do about it?

The question wasn't a taunt or insult. It was honestly meant. (See the speech here! h/t Elisa Abenchuchan.)

MishkaZena continues this thread: the BOT aren't listening. Jordan isn't listening.

Equally important, nobody is trying to figure out how to communicate with the students. Isn't that kind of weird? The students are holding rallies. Demonstrations. Giant cardboard ears walk the campus. Tents line Kendall Green. You'd think there would be an effort towards an open and frank dialogue.

This is just my opinion, but, their behavior towards the faculty, alumni and students participating in the protest is highly patronizing and reliant on muscle and rules.

If I were Irving and the BOT, I would be trying to figure out exactly why Fernandes is causing so much commotion. I would be sitting with the students saying, "I don't understand. She seems cool to me. We hung. What's wrong?" I don't see a lot of respect on their part for the students. I'm not talking about agreement - I'm talking about respect. Without respect there can be no true dialogue.

Also, Jordan, as a President of a Deaf University, should understand the Deaf experience enough to understand this is totally the wrong way to handle things. We get frustrated when communication gets difficult, or is ignored, thanks to often-oppressive school experiences, whether in mainstream or Deaf school, and the issues we develop during the process of Deafhood, as we decide our relationship to being a Deaf person, the Deaf community, our families, etc. - this state of being ignored, of frustrated communication, is calling up a lot of bad memories and connects to many similar experiences for many people. This kind of "gatekeeper" behavior, as author Paddy Ladd calls it, does nothing to benefit Deaf people or empower us. It's important to respect that and take the time to listen to people, instead of being one of the "thousand and one daily traumas" of the Deaf experience.

Isn't one of the three Pillars of Gallaudet "Open Communication?" Isn't that false advertising with all this oppression of freedom of speech? Decide on your goal - is it peace on campus and an environment of productive learning? - and go from there.
(all images copyright joseph santini 2006)

2006-10-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

353: More Oppression?

So Irving King Jordan has ordered the Gallaudet Student Body Government suspended for protesting, has he? Why would he do that, when he could sign and speak beautifully and convince everyone that he's right? Unless, of course, he can't.

You know what this means? It means they're scared.

They can't respond to any stated concerns without incriminating themselves.

Their big gun is a donation of $750,000 from a guy who's already been donating for several years. One which won't be there very long, given how much money gets drained.

Next week, recruiters from all over the country will be at Gallaudet. Unless this event gets suspended.

If Gallaudet students get their ducks in a row, this could be big.

MishkaZena is on top of this. Seems it was only a WARNING of Suspension. Again, they're still moving way too fast, and Jordan hasn't even bothered to be a diplomat.

I have been calling for the Gallaudet leadership to show true and creative leadership to end this divide. They have failed to do so.

2006-10-03T14:15:00.000-04:00

352: George Allen: Macaca, Deaf people!

There have been some blogs about the FCC sending exemptions to people so they don't have to close caption programming on television. Now from the Virginia Young Democrats:

Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing packed the most recent hearing of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on September 26, 2006 in protest of two major decisions that roll back the rights of the deaf and hearing impaired to closed captioning of emergency information and television programming, and the procedural irregularities surrounding those moves. Virginia advocacy groups such as the Northern Virginia Resource Center for the Deaf, are outraged by the series of steps taken by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Despite serving on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC, Senator George Allen has met the deaf community’s protests with a stony silence!

First, in August, the FCC distributed a “Clarification” to TV stations in the top 25 major markets in the country that essentially eviscerated requirements that emergency information be provided through closed captioning to the deaf and hard of hearing. According to this FCC decision, all that the TV stations needed to do in emergency situations was “try” to provide captions. If the TV stations said they couldn’t do it and presented critical information through some other form of visual presentation, the commission would not second guess their judgment – even if it put lives at risk by not providing adequate details about tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, floods or other threats. In light of the breach of public trust by the federal government to persons with disabilities during Katrina, it is a solemn responsibility of our elected leaders to ensure that everyone has the information that is publicly available, which will allow people to make decisions consistent with their well-being.

This is the problem with "deregulation": it puts lives at risks. TV programs are one thing, although God knows we are paying customers too and entertainment should make sure they can reach as many people as possible (you can BET they're not going to take off spanish-language options.) Now they're putting the safety of thousands of Deaf people at risk. Or maybe we should say MORE at risk. Go back to my post of one year ago, No Information: Deaf in the Hurricane:

The Louisiana School for the Deaf is reported to be providing a temporary place for deaf people who are homeless, serving meals and washing clothes. However, the school could not take people who had health problems or require medication. There are also reports that many deaf people in Louisiana lost their homes and all their possessions, and some are now in the Houston Astrodome, feeling lost without communication and unsure where to turn for help.

Local news in one area of Louisiana does not have captioning or other visual information, so people who are deaf and hard of hearing are having to get their information from national news programs, just like so many of those in New York on 9/11. Unfortunately, those national news programs do not provide specific information about what is going on in their local area as their local stations do.-this is a huge problem all over the country. local news agencies - NY1 is among them - do not provide closed captioning. it's not likely the money will appear for this with Bush in charge.

It's sick, sick, SICK that one year after Katrina, they're cutting corners and effectively making it more likely people will die. Luckily, you CAN do something. Go to the National Association for the Deaf website and TAKE ACTION against this SICK indecency!

Note: crossposted at Daily Kos.

2006-10-02T17:39:00.000-04:00

351: 3 skipped blogs; protest

I have tough feelings about the protest going on at Gallaudet. The protest itself is GREAT. I think there should be more, considering the attitude of the administration towards freedom of speech. I have seen over the last few months a wealth of stories, news, and information which tell me that the Fernandes administration is not going to be good for the University. I am not a student of Gallaudet or an alumni, although I went to MSSD for four years (yay class of 97) I decided not to go to Gallaudet for financial reasons (I got full scholarships elsewhere, Gallaudet didn't offer one. Sucks to be me.(/irony)) But I still respect Gallaudet as a center of learning, as an academic who one day will probably be teaching again. So I have some problems already with reports of department closing, the failure of the University to pass the PART report, comments by teachers about oppression and suppression, and most recently the decision of the University to issue new guidelines/restrictions around the freedom of speech. How many other potential students are avoiding the University because they see the potential of oppression?

Right now students are protesting these and many other issues on the front lawn, joined by faculty and alumni. A huge cross-section of the Deaf community is present. Fernandes' commented that "They think I'm not Deaf enough," referring to protestors. This community, which for very understandable reasons is highly touchy about identity, moreso internally, did indeed jump at the remark. Although Fernandes claimed she wanted to unite the Deaf community, she intended this remark to divide, blaming as she did one segment of the community for her problems. Indeed lines of communication, philosophy, and thought have risen and joined together, on the internet and beyond - AGAINST her leadership. Deaf people of Deaf parents, to hard-of-hearing people, to hearing people, to Deaf who do not yet know how to sign, have come together on the internet to demonstrate their concern. People of quiet, academic status in the Deaf community have written that they will cease donations to the University.

Now I want to talk about Audism. In a normal world, this last would be a big thing. When famous Black people stop donating to, e.g., Howard University, there's a big problem. When Women stop donating to Women's Universities, e.g. Bryn Mawr, there's a big problem. Now Deaf people have stopped donating to the one and only Deaf University in America. Indeed, in the world. Surely cameras must be converging.

But two days into this protest, the facts of the situation seem to still not have reached the media. How much have you seen on the news about this? Please, readers, contact the media and ask for attention on this situation. It's not just the protestors who have to do their part, but all people who support FREEDOM OF SPEECH at Gallaudet University, and not silly games with Earth Juice.

I wrote three posts I haven't blogged: one really pissed off that the protest is not making a bigger issue out of the loss of freedom of speech, one trying to figure out the threads of Deafhood and Audism in this protest. For people to speak out against Audism, there first needs to be freedom to speak. In our case, perhaps we should say freedom to communicate. Once that was taken away, or they attempted to take it away, I became highly alarmed. More so when I did not see a comparable response, or a pro-active movement. There are better ways to handle disagreement than oppression.

I wrote in my first "skipped" post that wilful ignorance is also audism. When people don't understand Deaf people, that's fine. When they don't do the work to cover the issues, that's audism, just like the news is in a sense racist. We cannot be angry at them. We have to draw their attention to these issues.

A big tool of Audism is the barrier between the so-called "deaf" and "hearing" worlds. In reality there is only one world - this world. Our world. By conceptually splitting people into Deaf and Hearing worlds, by talking about this to us our whole life, they give us a psychological barrier to movement between the two. Then the audist places himself at the point where the two communities divide. Imagine their tremendous power! They exploit the identity of difference, the fear and anger and emotion bottled up within that identity, and let it loose so they can control the people who bear these enormous emotions. The fear Deaf people have of hearing people - the fears Hearing people have of any difference, and the willingness with which any human being grasps for easy explanations and "fixes," medical, social, and psychological - And yes, these people can be Deaf or hearing.

Divide and conquer. Well, to defeat Audism, we must communicate with the world. Blogs are powerful precisely because there is no intermediary. There is no person to stand between the Deaf person and the world. The Deaf person can speak or sign directly to the world in a way people can understand. Thousands can access Ricky Taylor's words, and mine, and those of Jared Evans and Erfo and Adam Stone. For the first time in the history of the world our words, our thoughts, and our feelings have penetrated the logosphere of humanity. Our ideas are open to them: and vice versa. Youtube, funny as the name is, might be the first place to record the videos of Deaf people in a public place - accessible to millions - a library of sign languages to stun the world -

Let's not waste it. This is the answer to wilful ignorance. Instead of shutting out Deaf people from communication - read my last post about audism - Fernandes should be encouraging students to learn how to articulate their thoughts.

Of course if she could do that, there would not be a protest.

2006-09-28T08:20:00.000-04:00

350: Concrete Audism

What are Audistic behaviors? My new book of the week is Glickman's "Mental Health Care of Deaf People: A Culturally Affirmative Approach." This awesome book has a list of abusive responses to deaf/Deaf people by hearing people which I would like to examine. I want to help further the discourse on Audism currently happening at Gallaudet and elsewhere. I reproduce a short list here, with my comments:

Drawing erroneous and damning conclusions from inappropriate psychological testing. ("Do you hear voices?" "No, I'm Deaf.")
Diagnosing deaf people as mentally retarded, autistic, or schizophrenic, and allowing them to languish in institutions. (I remember one woman from MSSD, very sweet, who had been in an institution for several years because nobody realized she was deaf.)
Holding a medical conception of what it means to be deaf-deafness as a pathology, a handicap, and a tragedy-and therefore believing that deaf people need to be "fixed."
Believing that deaf people are disabled not just in being unable to hear, but intellectually, emotionally, and morally. (I see this all the time.)
Promoting the idea of the psychology of deafness, that deaf people are unintelligent, egocentric, concrete, irresponsible, impulsive, immature, paranoid, and so on. (Ironic! I often see the same people who complain about divisiveness in the Deaf community, go on to say that "All Deaf people are..." It's the same with women's studies: the men complain that they are being left out, then immediately go on to say "Well, all women do this and this," and don't see why the women are pissed off.)
Actively discriminating against Deaf people in hiring and promotions. (Mostly because of access. I will be talking about this book's take on access, and my own attendance at a speech Glickman gave, as soon as I have the time.)
Showing paternalism, pity and contempt toward Deaf people. (Sometimes, if you use an interpreter who is lousy and makes you sound like a petulant five-year-old... well, it's tough.)
Excluding of the Deaf community from decision making on key matters, such as educational policies and medical procedures that pertain to Deaf people.
Disempowering them around communication, resulting in communication isolation. (Happens all the time, especially in hospitals.)

Pick a number. Do you experience audism, based on these categories? How do you work against these ideas?

2006-09-26T07:08:00.000-04:00

349: Deaf Awareness Week roundup

What are you doing for Deaf Awareness Week? Are you holding an Audism Monologues? Are you doing a signed poetry reading? Some things I've found online:

Maya and Miguel are celebrating Deaf Awareness at the Idaho School for the Deaf.

Springfield is kicking off a week of events.

We already had DAW in NYC; I didn't go, because I had a sister's baby shower to attend (and god, is she huge!) but I'm always personally a little weirded out by Deaf Awareness Week, since it's basically lots of people making their annual I Really Want To Learn ASL One Day (TM) Pledge, a bunch of Deaf people get together at a festival and exchange money and/or watch a fight, and then people go home.

Instead I'd like to see events where people walk around passing out earplugs with "See How Much Better It Is Without The Noise" printed on them. Or maybe some Deaf film festivals.

Anyway - what are you up to? Oh, in some other news, Deaf actor Darren Fudenske is in the news again.

2006-09-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

348: The Heart of Audism

The worst kind of audism, to me, is when you explain to the other person your communication boundaries and they persistently ignore them. Perfect example? Ridor's story about his father:

The nurse saw me there and she asked me if I could interpret. I said “No! You can’t do that!” She asked me if I have a hearing sibling who can do that. I said, “Totally unethical. Get an interpreter!”

She went back to the desk and brought the Video Relay Interpreter (VRI). Mom and Dad was receptive to that but I was not satisfied. I explained to the nurse what if Dad needs to roll over and all that, the VRI is meaningless to use with!! Plus, the quality of speed on the VRI was eyesore.

Here, you can see Ridor and his family asserting they are Deaf and need an interpreter again and again. What is actually done? Instead of accepting people's statements and doing something about it, they continually try to provide cheap (for them) easy (for them) solutions. I like to use feminism as an example: women, for many years, verbally told men they didn't like being harrassed or molested. Like women, Deaf people consider inappropriate types of communication, harrassment. Like women, we are often disregarded - my mother, for example, knew I was Deaf at a young age, but doctors said she was just being a crazy mother. Listen to this account by a woman who'd just recently become Deaf, chronicled in Glickman and Gulati's "Mental Health Care of Deaf People:"

At 5 a.m., a young woman appeared, a Filipino psychiatry resident with a strong accent. Between my deafness, my mental state, and her accent, I couldn't understand her at all. I sobbed... When I said I could not understand her, she moved closer, until she was literally 'in my face.' I did not feel understood or cared for by her. Unbelievably, she said something about the possibility of 'fixing' my deafness with a cochlear implant, as if she were prepared to perform the surgery then and there. "Someone please help me," I thought. "I can't hear and I'm losing my mind!"

If Deafhood is a process, like any process, it must have steps. What are these steps? One step is learning to be comfortable with your communication boundaries. Many people who were categorized hard of hearing are trained to try to lipread and listen and figure out what the other person is saying. Nobody helps us figure out exactly what our needs are and how to articulate them without being embarrassed. We're taught to try to overcome these needs, just like many women are encouraged to get over it, swallow their pride, stay in our place. Not that teaching speech is necessarily bad: it's just rarely done in an empowering way.

Knowing your rights is an important part of knowing your communication boundaries, but you must know more than your rights, because sometimes the system won't be there to help you. You must know what you can do to protect yourself as a person and ensure your awareness no matter what. (It's true Deaf people are a little more paranoid than others. I remember reading the book War Boy, and hitting a scene where a friend of the main character comes into his home when the main character is in the shower. The MC of course is surprised and thinks: This is why I can never trust them.... or something to that effect.

Because it is communication at stake, and not sexuality or private places or skin color, this kind of oppression is difficult to understand for people not familiar with deaf peoples experiences. But suppose it had been a big burly man instead of the Filipino lady? Suppose a big man had approached a hearing woman and gotten into her face like that quote showed? There'd be a fight, no doubt about it. Yet the key element-behavior change based on difference, shown in the violation of personal space-is the same. Worse is when we, in that moment, try to explain what our boundaries really are-sometimes desperately so!-and They are so intent on finishing their job-or so convinced we Deaf idiots wouldn't understand anyway-and they steamroll on, bull in a china shop, breaking down our personal limits untill we frustratedly acquiesce to their direction. This is why so many Deaf people need to ensure there is clarity of communication in their relationships (and again why important to analyze yourself and find those boundaries so you can establish them!) Thus does Deafhood help prevent audism.

Looking at women's studies and disciplines from other cultural groups helps us understand how the dynamics of power play out; this is why I minored in Women's Studies all those years ago. Deafhood occupies the same place, in my head, as womanhood, and the process of growing into adulthood. (Like adulthood, there is no specific place to head - you don't become an adult and stop growing older! It's still a process of learning.)

My friend and roommate the Sparkly Spanker tells me about her friend, a Deaf woman who started off her relationship with her Hearing boyfriend by quickly setting up clear rules. He must learn ASL, must not do this and that, and also what is okay to do. As a result they've got a successful relationship. She knew her boundaries and needs, articulated them clearly to someone with no experience. He accepted her explanation of herself and did not try to impose his assumptions and expectations on her. I suspect at some point he may have done the same for her, to explain his own feelings.

Learning to assert your needs and, if applicable, your rights is another step. Some people are shy. Others don't wish to make a fuss. Still others have family they don't like to embarrass. We all throat-grip-swallow one way or another. Asserting needs in a positive way is really important, however. Deciding how you do that is up to you. Some people refuse to have meetings without an interpreter. Others explain their needs in a simple way the first time, but agree to go ahead and work. Some confront the other person every moment, engaging the other person totally until the light dawns-If you don't know your comfort levels you run the risk of being put, by ignorance or audism, into a difficult situation.

Interpreters ask when they begin jobs how you prefer your class, meeting, whatever, signed: ASL? PSE? SEE? We watch each other when we meet each other-consciously or not-and try to switch gears to meet the other person's Sign Language skills. What we often don't realize as Deaf people is that hearing people don't have the same habits as we do. Hearing people look for audio and bodylingual cues - how the head is tilted, etc. etc. When I went to England and I saw how British Deaf had different expressions for, for example, the sign for "surprise" it helped me realize that each cultural group has approved physical behaviors to communicate "yes I understand" and other such emotions. Hearing people have their own behaviors, also. When we look at someone's lips, we are trying to get information, to communicate - to a hearing person, this might look like a challenge or interruption. Being aware of these differences allows us to control them, to maintain our balance.

This is why this is the worst kind of "audism" (whether the term is liked or not, it's here; people have issues with the terms "feminism" and "racism" too.) Because it's part of the process of establishing your identity and place in the world, and when they ignore it, they ignore you. Hearing children are given every opportunity for self-expression; Deaf children, often, especially those born to hearing parents, are not. (More likely we are engaged in speaking drills.)

Teaching people about Deafhood as well as Deaf culture and Signed languages is another way to combat the effects of Audism. But this is the end of a long process, a process filled with steps, steps we often have to take together, as a community, before we realize how to go outside.

2006-09-22T10:41:00.000-04:00

347: Gallaudet; The Healthy Deaf Person

It's funny. I mentioned many times during the Gallaudet protest last Spring that it was Jane Fernandes who began to put out the word that the protest was about her not being Deaf enough. Even her aides are spreading the word. y3 has noticed the same thing, and Ridor points out that now the Student congress has rejected Jane Fernandes, the administration is objecting based on the fact that the faculty and students thought the interpreter wasn't good enough; that they are claiming AGAIN that people are trying to divide the Deaf community. It sounds very much like Republicans saying if people want to be bipartisan, they have to vote Republican... These statements do nothing but inflame people's feelings. They do not repair the damage to our community. And to me, the fact that the administration is upset because people claimed the interpreter wasn't good enough? Did anyone ask if the terp was certified? And why a terp was needed at Gallaudet University at ALL? What is Jane Fernandes' strategy for improving diversity and acceptance of diversity at Gallaudet? They actually used the phrase "purebloods" and "mudbloods" in a letter for Goddess' sake! They are fighting against the concept of Deafhood because Deafhood would remove these divisions by encouraging people to RESPECT each other's paths in life and supporting each other in examining those lives. This would help eliminate division and create community - isn't that what they want?

I don't know what will happen with the Presidency but for the sake of the students I hope they get the courage to protest the oppression of their freedom of speech. The fact that the administration isn't more concerned about interpreter quality feels like it has some connection with that. They don't want a dialogue. They want to give the appearance of dialogue, and let the community fight amongst themselves. It also shows disrespect to the interpreting community, which is based at Gallaudet.

And now for today's entry...

What does it mean to be a healthy Deaf person in America today?

For starters, stress reduction. Being Deaf automatically means we have higher stress due to daily communication difficulties. It's very important to identify ways to reduce stress. Do you need time alone? Do you need to improve your safety? Travelling is always stressful; alerts for changes of gate (as this blog by Taylor Mayer demonstrates) are often difficult to naviate, although this news that you can soon download software to your mobile phone so people in the station will alert you of changes sounds great.

Another way to reduce stress is to anticipate problems. Dr. Ladd in his book "Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood" describes a situation where a Deaf man who grew up in an Oral environment was astonished at the fact that all the older Deaf people he met had pad and pen ready for communication. These days I use my Blackberry to order drinks.

We also have to deal with the health issues in the hospital or with the doctor. Sadly, many doctors opt out of providing interpreters because they claim it places an undue burden on their small practices. Hospitals have better luck, but as Mishka Zena reports they don't always like to accomodate you, and sometimes their accomodations aren't satisfactory. Ridor was able to advocate for his father - but what do you do if you're a sick person on medication and alone? It really is important to have a card or something with your ID in your purse or wallet identifying you as Deaf. That way you might be able to get a terp, whether qualified or no, and having some access to communication means you can begin fighting for yourself (as well as your health.)

We also have to take care of our eyes. Deaf people must listen actively. We must use our eyes all the time. Our eyes work with muscles. They get exhausted. Interpreters get breaks every twenty minutes, but we do not. So many of my friends have declining eyesight - we must take basic measures of health to maintain our valuable eyesight! Taking multivitamins, eating your carrots, resting your eyes in the darkness, all of these are good skills to maintain eyesight. There are some tips to take care of your vision (and here's another good link for parents to share with kids.)

Why is this so important to me? Well, how else will you read this blog? Have a good weekend, may do another vlog then.

2006-09-20T17:31:00.000-04:00

346: news and tea roundup, with extra rant

News: Today the biggest thing in news is the protest against the Washington Redskins for not including closed captioning (the Washington Post says "hearing-impaired" instead of "Deaf.") Ridor makes the point that hearing people have complained for access, too - well, of course. No hearing person would go to a movie totally signed without voiceover (or a play, for that matter) although they'd cheerfully tell Deaf people they should see "This movie even though it has no subtitles because it's TEH REALLY AWESOM!##@!O@" Such is life.

Canada is full of incident today as a Deaf man gets into a standoff with police and thieves steal $60,000 worth of equipment from the Ontario Camp of the Deaf.

rant: I have two things to rant on today. First off, I'd like people to shut the hell up about "cyberbullying." Basically they just want to get pity from others because they cannot defend their own arguments. I personally have received a ton of negative e-mails. You know what I do? I ignore them. If you're really being bullied, that's what you do. You ignore the bully. You don't go whining to everyone on teh internets! And you know what? IF THERE REALLY IS A BULLY, ALL YOU'RE DOING IS GIVING THEM THE ATTENTION WHICH PSYCHOLOGISTS TELL US THEY CRAVE. In other words: you're not helping. And if there really is a bully - and you haven't done something to start the situation - post the entire exchange, and let the pee-pul decide.

Secondly, I'm sick and tired of terps. Really. I'm tired of how much they cost. I'm tired of people not wanting to pay for them. I'm tired of fighting for terps for my clients. I'm tired of fighting for terps for myself. You know what, some days, I really don't think it's worth it. I am going to be paid less for the rest of my life for doing more. Some days I just want to turn it all off, go home, and collect fucking SSI. What the hell is the fucking point? They're bitching about paying people who earn more than me so I can learn the information I need to do my job. I'm sick and tired of whining about rights. "It's my right! It's my right!" It's THEIR right to fucking get an interpreter so they can cover themselves in MY gooey wonderfulness, motherfuckers. Nobody ever talks about getting an interpreter so THEY can talk to ME. They should be frikking GRATEFUL I have any frikking interest in their tired, mindless, self-obsessed hearing-people OPINIONS. And the terps are so fucking BLASE about it. Oh, I love working freelance. Oh, I love my job. Oh, I love helping Deaf people. Yeah, you're REALLY helping us by charging our bosses twice our hard-earned salaries so you can come in and interpret a fifteen minute meeting.

God. Sorry for exploding, but sometimes it seems like the whole SYSTEM is designed to teach Deaf people how worthless we are. And the thing is, I love terps, I really do. Some of my best friends etc. And as Ridor notes several of them are really hot and sexy (Hi Nicole!) Some of them even go to great lengths to think about what it means to be a terp in todays world and Deafhood. It just gets so exhausting sometimes. And people wonder why people want to stay at Gallaudet...

2006-09-17T12:18:00.000-04:00

344: breaking down audism 2

VLOG WORKSHOP... sort of.... experimenting here! I wanted to examine audism more deeply, and composed some questions to cause debate with you all and your friends! It's a good time, a recent protest at Gallaudet was about audism; the students at the University feel the college has been paying lip service to the ideal but taking no action. What action they want hasn't been specified, although from much of the reading I have a fairly good idea. However - there's a lot of grey areas in audism. So GET SOME COFFEE and start thinking! (P.S. I'm testing out vlog formats, so I vlogged my introduction and explanations... maybe more later as I work with this new tool...)

A professor at a hearing University is approached by a student concerned about a movie used in class which is not subtitled. The student cannot use an interpreter, since the theater will be dark and the class is in the hundreds - not easy to move. Eventually the professor provides a script. Is this audism? Are there any colleges in the United States whose primary language is other than English? Note: this problem was reworded after the initial post to make it more sensible.

Two students are walking to Ely and see a total of twelve members of faculty and staff speaking, not signing. Is this audism? What if those members of faculty and staff had been using a sign language these two students did not know? What is the difference between fully accessible and fully comprehensible?

That 2nd question leads to a big question: if we fight for recognition in terms of culture and language, do we still have the right to ask for access, which is based on the disability model? Not every hearing person speaks every language! And thanks to DE for this next question which came from his class discussion:

Two hearing parents go to a doctor and ask the doctor about non-surgical procedures to deal with their child's Deafness. The doc doesn't mention ASL but terrifies the parents into getting a CI for their child which comes with a contract stating the child will not learn ASL for a specified number of years. Is this audism? What if the doctor talks about "maximizing your child's opportunities in life?" How do you respond to that? Is this a nature vs. nurture argument?

Await people's thoughts...
UPDATE: I realize lots of people not happy with the word "audism," but it's out there.

UPDATE II: How ironic I wrote this post, then went and read Ridor's post about his experiences with his family. I hate VRI. I really do.

2006-09-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

343: what is deafhood? the original definition

Yesterday I sat behind my office on a metal stair with the Demon Queen and talked a little about Deafhood. I explained what's been going on in the Deaf blogosphere, with a ton of extremists taking over the discussion. "But," she exclaimed, "hasn't anyone read the book?"

No. Nor is anyone quoting. So, since I have the book, and I need something to take my mind off of things, here's Dr. Ladd's definition of Deafhood. I cite the complete paragraph:

...I found myself coining a new label of 'Deafhood.' Deafhood is not, however, a 'static' medical condition like 'deafness.' Instead, it represents a process - the struggle by each Deaf child, Deaf family and Deaf adult to explain to themselves and each other their own existence in the world. In sharing their lives with each other as a community, and enacting those explanations rather than writing books about them, Deaf people are engaged in a daily praxis, a continuing internal and external dialogue. (p.3, "Understanding Deaf Culture" by Ladd)

Go back and reread that. It's a pretty complicated statement! First, let's look at the first three sentences. Summarize: Deafhood is a new word. Deafhood doesn't describe a specific medical state. Deafhood describes a process. You can call yourself hard of hearing, be a CI user, be a hearing person who is involved with the Deaf community. Your Deafhood comes from analyzing your relationship to the world, from a proactive analysis instead of passive reception. When you start figuring things out for yourself, in short.

What about the second half of that statement? What about "the struggle to explain our own existence?" What does that mean? When I was a Master's student at Bristol University, Professor Jim Kyle asked our introduction to Deaf Studies class: "What is Deaf culture?" He proceeded to ask us for Deaf clothes, Deaf music. We had to find items to validate our culture. Was there a Deaf food? Deaf water? There's Deaf theater and some Deaf actors, but Deaf culture is not always what hearing people think of as culture. My response was, people continually create and re-create culture. (Most of the things Kyle asked about were cultural artifacts anyway; only a tiny percentage of people still walk around wearing klompen.) Also, there are other cultures which surprise expectations, and cross boundaries between the physical and cultural.

We should not be forced to struggle to explain and justify our existence all the time. But Deaf people know this struggle. Anyone who has been asked "What is it like to be a Deaf person," anyone who's had to explain about interpreters or work out ways to take control of a communication situation before it takes control of you, we all know this. We have all had to summon the courage to speak up, to stand up for ourselves and for others. A lot of this courage comes from each other. I was a lot more passive before I had the massive dose of MSSD exposure!

Now, some people might argue that the reason many people are concerned about CI is that, like the children of oralism or even mainstreaming, many people who are isolated from the community do not reach the point where they can constructively analyze their own deafhood because they are continually "trying to be" instead of "being" - and because, like Ladd states, it is important to have dialogue to achieve praxis (praxis is the academic word for understanding/enlightenment, without the frills.)

I would like to state that this is because of an old saw: "Others see us better than we see ourselves." We need to be able to exchange our ideas with people who have gone through the same experiences. Deafhood can be internal, but this is limited. We need to be able to speak to others and have them understand, and speak back. Don't always have to say the same things. Just have to have a much better awareness of the why and how of our reactions - it means a lot.

It may also be why a high percentage of Deaf people marry other Deaf people. (Something like 80%.)

This dialogue is the key to finding Deafhood. Not rigidity. Not being stuck in your own idea of what it means to be a Deaf person, because you can never be sure whether that idea is 100% of the truth. Artists know this: that's why they push boundaries. It's the reason I have this blog: almost every post here, in some way or another, concerns my quest to retain my Deafhood while living my life. And that's one reason I really like working with shows that involve both Deaf/hearing people. Check out my YouTube Archive for some recent projects. Off to get coffee... feel like colombian roast this morning.

2006-09-11T21:52:00.000-04:00

342: go to BAWDVILLE!

I've been working with Honi Harlow and her crew in Manhattan on a bit of a documentary. Come to see Bawdville, a burlesque performance involving Deaf and hearing actors! Using a form of shadow interpreting, Deaf and Hearing actors move around on stage dancing and poking fun at the world and politics in both ASL and spoken English. Honi herself signs and performs. She works with both Deaf and hearing performers and creates amazing experiences. They have a show this Wednesday - if you're in town, give them some support! Commercial below, made by yours truly (and my first embedded YouTube video....)

Slipper Room 167Orchard St.
(corner of Orchard and Stanton)
every second Wednesday of the
month starting
September 13th
“The Artist formally known as…..
Sexy mother#@!*er”
Doors at 8pm show 9:15ish
$5

2006-09-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

341: remembering

is hard sometimes. I had a link to a list of names of Deaf people who died in the world trade center, just so someone would remember. Was going to post, but couldn't find it. Frustrating.

So I looked around on Google and I came up with link to this project by young Deaf students in the Clerc Center at Gallaudet. It's poignant that so many involve the attacks on the World Trade Center. Thanks to the magic of Google, I can also provide a link in HTML.

Still. Anyone have a list?

2006-09-10T14:56:00.000-04:00

340: sunday news & coffee, plus rant

Spending a Sunday afternoon editing video, this time footage of a friend's wedding. He had computer problems so logged off to deal; instead of going to work on the new script, I turn my attention to the news...

Fort Wayne, Indiana: Deaf Protest poor service:

The Fort Wayne Deaf Advocacy Coalition sent 20 of its members to local restaurants in July to place orders at drive-through lanes. Of those, 17 reported no signs telling deaf customers how to order, and three said they were treated poorly. One member drove away when an employee would not provide assistance.

"We have the same wants and needs and desires as a hearing person," said coalition board member Kim Drake. "Yet, we are often excluded from many things in life that the hearing world takes for granted."

The coalition said there are easy ways to improve service: training employees, posting signs, keeping pens and paper nearby or installing a buzzer system to let workers know when a deaf person is coming through the drive-through.

Louisville, Kentucky: Deaf Protest medical services: read down for the bit about D/HH services

Kentucky ranks No. 1 in the nation for people over 65 with mental disorders, said Mark Birdwhistell, secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Michelle Niehaus, coordinator of the deaf and hard of hearing services program at Seven Counties Services, said only three mental health therapists in Kentucky are trained in American Sign Language and deaf culture, which "puts people in really horrible situations" if they are deaf and mentally ill.

Sarah Acland, 66, of Louisville, has worked as a psychiatrist for more than three decades. "People tend to be scared of mental illness and that's not necessary," said Acland. "The mentally ill can be very lonely."

Article on Z-Net addresses Deaf people and disability: excerpted the part abt Deaf below

"The medical community has a pathologic view of deaf people," said a deaf woman who communicates using sign language. "They don't see us as a linguistic minority. I don't identify myself as disabled." When she visited the emergency room with an injured ankle, the physician's first question was about why she was deaf.

The ADA and other laws require clinicians to communicate effectively with patients, but physicians don't always do so. For instance, they often write notes to deaf patients, not recognizing that some sign-language users may have low proficiency in English. Hospital policies required a woman to relinquish her hearing aids before surgery. "Afterward, they told me, `You took a long time to come out of anesthesia. We kept talking to you.' But I couldn't hear them!"

which leads me to my...

Rant: Deaf people really have it BAD in the Medical system. I went to a conference last year which claimed something like 40% of mental health appointments in New York State go unfulfilled because of no ASL interpreters being available. From my experience, the actual number of Deaf people whose needs are underserved is MUCH bigger than that - because people are highly UNlikely to think of calling an ASL interpreter for a Deaf person. More likely they will try to find someone to take care of them, then just shunt them off. If the person is sick, cannot speak for themselves, they get screwed over. If what's happened to them is an accident or if they are a victim of an attack, it may never come to light without dedicated social workers.

Maybe never, unless the social worker is Deaf themselves - or uses a CDI to help. Why? Because a Deaf person is more likely to understand whether the communication is working-especially with those who have mental illness or just physical illness. An interpreter can only interpret what a doctor says. The deaf client may be saying yes to everything. They may or may not understand. A Deaf person - a CDI in many cases - can look at the client with Deaf eyes and often tell if the person understands or not. If not, we can rephrase until we see the look of understanding.

Who am I ranting against? Trained psychologists and therapists who understand people but, when confronted with Deaf-ness, forget all their people skills and depend totally on an interpreter or note-writing to convey their information as required (See, I did write them a note! I tried!) without using their hard-won skills to make sure knowledge is really shared. Oh, and doctors who just talk over their clients, who wind up huddling, defeated, on the chair, sort of swaying to the rhythm of the mouth.

2006-09-08T17:19:00.000-04:00

339: FSSA/Oppression? Gallaudet holds... conference

What do people think about this letter, posted today on MishkaZena's blog?

I was impressed by it. I was impressed by the complexity and depth of the author's statement of oppression. There are obviously problems at many levels - gender, racial, class - you name it. Two paragraphs which struck me I quote here:

...in joining FSSA, in standing behind the recent press release, I am apparently taking part in an "insubornation of the administration." I don’t comprehend this. In asking for freedom we are simply asking that people stop oppressing us. If this is insubornation, so be it. I refuse to subordinate to the oppressive majority and in doing so I am letting you know I am not willing to be a victim- nor am I willing to contribute to the problem.

I am tired of walking through halls of the signing community to find that people are not signing. I am tired of being second guessed because I am a woman. I am tired of wondering whether I got a job because I am qualified or because I am deaf. I am tired of patronizing looks and expectation that I'm not good enough because I choose not to use my voice. I am tired of seeing certain people move up in spite of their abuse of power. I am tired of unequal allocation of office space. I am tired of students of color coming to me and clearly not feeling completely understood but having no choice because there are no other staff of color they can go to. I am tired of the subtle insults about gay and lesbian people, the lack of sensitivity towards gender identity. I am tired of not being able to say with complete honesty that I feel cochlear implants send a subtle message that deafness is a disease when others are given free rein to promote such technology.

It also made me realize, a lot of these problems at Gallaudet have been festering for a long time. Well, I know there was a Principal kicked out of MSSD for his sexuality, but while I was there, it did seem like a very progressive school, with a lot of support. Black and white and asian - everyone was really mixed up. Towards my senior year, I remember seeing a little more divisiveness, but... I'm glad she got a chance to speak. This seems a lot like what happens when employees form unions to stand up to the oppression of an uncaring administration. Do Gallaudet employees have any union standing?

And I'm not sure how to deal with the author's view that CI send a message that there is dis-ease about deafness. Although I'm willing to accept it, for now, and think about how that can change.

I decided to go check out the news section at Gallaudet's website. It's about as complete as a channel without a television. Seems completely empty. What do Gallaudet people do for news these days?

Oh, right. They check blogs. There's no statements from the President about this protest. Instead there is a note about this conference:

Gallaudet hosts conference

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Hearing Enhancement (RERC-HE), in conjunction with Gallaudet University and New York University - School of Medicine, will hold the State of Science Conference on Hearing Enhancement on Sept. 18-20 at the Kellogg Conference Hotel.

...clip...

Researchers, clinicians, industry representatives and consumers from the fields of hearing aids, cochlear implants, assistive technologies, dual sensory loss (hearing-vision) and rehabilitation therapies will join together to assess the state of the science in adult aural rehabilitation and identify future research needs.

Posted: 8 Sep 2006

I guess Black Widow will continue to feel dis-ease. I wonder if any Deaf Studies specialists will be there. I think the key to the future is not refusing technology, but infusing ourselves in it. Let's take over tech and make it develop our way!

Thought experiment: if you could develop a device to help you perceive sound, but not necessarily HEAR it, what would you create? A watch that changed colors, like an iTunes visualiser?

I got my Deafhood book back today from the Demon Queen, THANK YOU! So more on Deafhood soon, probably.

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