This 3rd video clip is produced by my friend, Doonsky that he went to Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from June 27 to 30. Barb DiGi explained the types of questions she wanted to ask in a rejected interview with AG Bell.
(ASL VLOG and no transcript at this time)
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I just viewed the interview with AG Bell President, Jay at Softballjunke26@aol.com and was surprised to see that most if not all Barb’s hot air (questions) never made it to the interview. Barb demonstrated so much hyper on the stage but in reality the interview was moderately managed. An interesting point to make. Jay with AG Bell said that DBC has never prepared a formal letter or seek formal meeting to introduce itself and seek dialogue with the organization. In short, DBC jumped the gun and prepared a costly rally ($35,000 or more) without allowing for due process first. All that expensive rally have in Milwaukee been done in vain. Deaf people who paid their expenses to attend did it in vain because DBC misled them. A simple formal letter of introduction to AG Bell would have led us to healthy dialogue with AG Bell and seek solutions. Now, how did it not happen and why?
Simple answers. Deafhood. Deafhood is more interested in making hearing people and AG Bell look bad in order to validate itself and to empower its movement. Second reason. Ella, John and their DBC Core Group only understand intimidation tactics because that is what Deafhood promotes. Evidently it backfired. This is an embarrassment.
Ben,
I happened to have a life and could not possibly be on the computer 24/7 but I am back for now so letting you know I am not ignoring you. What questions do you want to ask though?
WG: Unfortuantely, you only saw what was taken out of a context in that powerpoint. Coalition means for DBC to form alliance among individuals or groups sharing the same mission and it consists the most active grassroots organization.
I understand that there are parents going through their stages of grief. Since it is our first conference, it seems like there are more Deaf participants than hearing parents so we use this opportunity for them to better understand about their process so that they can become a better advocates. I will explain more in my vlog. Actually, I don’t see anything wrong for hearing parents to understand Deafhood since there are many positive outlook (i.e. how Deaf babies should be labeled as a birth defect (by AG Bell) vs. Deaf). I am not sure if you had read the book on Deafhood but it will help you understand more about what it is all about and how it intertwines with Deaf culture and DBC. In fact, a hearing parent reported to us that she gained a better understanding what it means to be Deaf and how she can better advocate for her Deaf child after viewing Deafhood related materials.
DBC will consider about including CI/hearing ASL presenters in the future. Thanks for your thoughts.
DR: What I said on the stage and in my comments are not much of a difference. Again, I never said anything against speech and CI so please stop painting a fake picture about me. I am able to speak rather well and wear hearing aids so how can I possibly be against it?
Barb, most if not all of your questions touted on the stage never made it to the interview. So what was all the hot air you demonstrated about? And why did not you, out of all people involved with DBC seek due process first and seek formal meetings / introduction with AG Bell before you jumped guns and arranged for a costly rally? Remember ethics I spoke about? Exercise it.
Take a look at yourself in the video again. Observe your choice of words and body language. You certainly was giving out the impression that you were against Oralism. I appreciate the fact that you’ve clarified yourself since then. But you understand the First Impression you left in that video. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation but only few minutes to blow it.
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Jon,
Please make that last comment of yours into a separate vlog as it is an issue worthy of discussion all by itself.
Quite a portion of your thoughts echo mine. I’m still digesting the debate that is happening at this time and sorting out my own thoughts and feelings.
Shelley
One more thing, the objective of the conference was to educate the DBC participants including parents about bilingual history, practice, theory, etc. not to interview AG Bell only. For them to demand a formal letter is their way of controlling. If a AG Bell representative walks in the DBC conference and wants to interview DBC, we would be open just like that.
In closing, the conference was worth every penny for everyone so it was not a waste at all. Many people came out feeling empowered and energized be active in their community. Feel free to ask any of them.
Yes, I am against Oralism but not spoken English, got it? If you need to learn more about the difference between Oralism and spoken English, go to my website: http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-am-against-oralism-because.html
Oralism is a philosophy that focuses on a Deaf child to speak only, without including ASL. Spoken English is more of neutral. Looks like this is where you get it mixed up. I am always for all choices combined that a Deaf child should have ASL and English (written and spoken if applicable) period.
Everyone has their own interpretation when viewing a speech, a movie, etc. We always get mixed reviews to any media materials. Many people tell me differently from what you had viewed, oh well.
Jon,
I enjoyed your vlog. It is definitel worthy of its’ own discussion. I loved the fact that you used water as an analogy. I am a student of Kuuyi, meaning water in Hopi Nation. I learned their philosophy and teachings regarding Kuuyi, that of Water Nation. We have much to learn from this Water Nation philosophy. Water Nation teaches us everything we need to learn in order to operate as a nation or a community or as an individual. You can read some of my copyrighted quotes regarding Kuuyi, the Water Nation at my blog on the left side. I developed many more quotes based on the teachings and principles of Kuuyi. I think you would find them overwhelmingly interesting. Remember this…. Hopi Nation are not people of words. They are people of symbols and signs. We, deaf people are also people of symbols and signs. Therefore their philosophy will work for us and our people. Shall we meet and discuss this via VP? If interested, email me at berry@kuuyi.com and I will give you my VP number. Regards ~ Barry
These are the copyrighted Kuuyi quotes I developed based on what was taught to me by our sacred Hopi Brothers and Sisters.
Barb,
I respectfully disagree and I think we can agree to disagree.
AG Bell did not demand a formal letter or formal introduction. Watch the interview again. Jay only said that DBC has never contacted them to establish formal introduction or approach. It boiled down to ethics, something you obviously do not understand. I shall not exploit you further. It boiled down to ethics, that of due process. It is a way to show respect for others and seek a place and time to sit down together for good and healthy dialogue. To walk in and expect an interview on a last minute notice is not ethical in the business world. Remember I told you and entire DBC members about the code of conduct and code of language in the business world? This is one of them and for some reason you and the rest of the core group didn’t believe me. End result? Bad first impression of you in the video saying you was rejected. Learn from this experience and do better next time.
I do not doubt the thrill you all enjoyed being in Milwaukee and to rally but that was not my point. You and DBC raised funds from all imaginable sources because you led them to believe that AG Bell was not open to dialogue. This is where you and DBC misled everybody… Before you and DBC assemble a huge rally and point at the face of AG Bell you and DBC should have allowed for due process and submit a formal letter or request for a formal appointmet to introduce yourselves and seek dialogue with them. But it didn’t happen. Why? Deafood promotes linear thinking and is only interested in making hearing people look bad. Second reason. DBC and its core leaders only understand intimidation factors. These mindsets has to go. Adopt circular thoughts and approaches. Jay, in the interview promoted wholeness approach and made it clear to everybody that they are open to full and whole informations and did not shy away from the fact that AG Bell’s goal is to promote CI and Oral language. He is in the center because he did not shy away or lie about their position.
It was also good to see that you’ve acknowledged the fact that you are against Oralism. I respectfully disagree with you when you said that Oral is not the same as spoken English. Where else is the spoken English coming from? Your eye? Your ear? Your feet? Your knee? Your neck? No. It comes out of your mouth. The mouth is also known as oral. Sorry to disappoint you but can’t separate the two. I know some people will always try to separate these two in order to try and reinvent the same movement. Look at Deaf Power, which received negative views so they came up with Deafhood. Basically the same thing but it has a new name and new looks and new terms.
Oral is not a philosophy. It is a medical term for our mouth near where our voice box is situated. Oralism is not limited to deaf person only. It applies to anybody that develop vocal language. You want to target deaf children as deaf first in order to define them as oralists and that is Deafhood’s view. Deafhood is more interested in categorizing us and label us with names, forgetting the fact that we all are human beings first before we are anything else. I want us to look at a deaf child as a whole child first, that of human beings before they are anything else. Therefore Oralism applies to everybody who communicate verbally, as a second language next to our first and natural language, that of spiritual language. Read my blog again. Perhaps it’ll sink in the second time around. It is people like you who create and invent new theories in order to claim higher grounds so that you are able to say, this is where you get it mixed up. Fortunately none of you are able to take away the fact that we all are human beings first before we are anything else, including deaf. The spiritual language is our first natural language before the spoken language, before english language, before spanish language and before ASL. Sorry to disappoint you and Deafhood.
Thank you Jon for your wonderful analogy! You make so much sense when using the flowing river concept and that is why we have tributaries. People are entitled to set up their organization to advocate for what they believe in but to continually disrupt, bash or put down the other organization that share similar goals are not helping the signing Deaf community.
If I were to see another bilingual organization set up, I would never practice the negativity against them even though our approaches may be different. They will always have my full support. It is just sad not seeing that here but it will not stop DBC from working on their mission, goals and purposes because there are still hundreds and hundreds of people being inspired by it.
Nah, you did not disappoint me because I have my strong beliefs and do not necessarily agree with what you said.
There are many requested interviews happening in the conference on the spot. These interviewers did not even request it in advance and they were granted a slot of time (only for 5 minutes anyway). Why should it be different for DBC that they were denied? It is a fact that AG Bell rejected our request and there is no bad impression here except that AG Bell was not flexible to accept the interview. DBC’s main goal is not to do the interview during the conference anyway however in the future, we would like to arrange a summit.
I did not say oral is not the same as spoken English. I said ORALISM which again is completely a different meaning from oral. Go and read more about it and hopefully you will understand. There are many articles about Oralism and I am just sharing my thoughts about what it means. Oralism is practiced in a system of education which outlawed the use of sign language and Deaf educators. The practice of Oralism is not pretty. It removed children deemed capable of benefit from the system from contact with other Deaf people (McDonnell & Saunders, 1993). Widell (1993), in describing the Danish situation points out that an inevidtable consequence of Oralism is that Deaf children internalize and grow up with a feeling that “I cannot, I am not good, to be a hearing person is good, to be deaf is bad” (p. 145 from
“Understanding Deaf Culture, In Search of Deafhood?” Also it said that Oralism is thus best read as an especially totalitaran form of colonialsm, perhaps akin to schools for First Nation children wherein eradication of the native culture has often been an explicit goal (Beresford & Omaji, 1988) (pg. 417). You out of all people who embrace Native American culture should understand the concept how these natives were forced to assimilate to American culture and speak English. Didn’t you read the book yet? If not, I would strongly encourage you to do so before you jump to conclusions about the concept of Deafhood.
Nowhere in the book said that we are not humans first.
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