An Apology to Oral Deaf School Necessary?
I read with amusement about how Jay Leno commited a faux pas when he mocked the headline of an article titled Barbershop Singers Bring Joy to Deaf School (by lip-synching the words of the songs). Apparently his joke outraged some people, demanding an apology from Leno to the oral deaf educational program, which he wisely did. However, the apology also caused a controversy among some Deaf people who feel Leno owes the oral school no apology. The principal of the St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf asserts that most kids use cochlear implants, which enable them to enjoy listening to music. At the end of the article, there are many comments supporting the oral school and also those bashing against oralism and cochlear implants.
This reminds me of my days at an oral school. The top performing oral students were rewarded with tickets to musical symphonies. These students were honored to be given the tickets. For days, they eagerly anticipated going to the concerts. I believe there were four or five of us who went. We dressed up in our finest clothes and rode the van excitedly. Upon arrival at the center, we were awed by the musical instruments. Restlessly, we waited while the lights dimmed and we watched the musicians getting ready to begin their show. After five minutes of watching, it became a torture for us as none of us could hear the music well. I remember thinking to myself… that’s it? Since we were told to be on our best behavior, we sat in agony, hardly moving, while watching the musical instruments in use. Time crept by in an eternity. Finally after what seemed to be weeks, the opera was completed. Comparing notes afterwards, we all agreed that it was a horrible ordeal and none of us ever wanted to go back. When we returned to the oral school, we were peppered with questions by our dormmates. None of us would admit that we hated the show, so we made a big deal out of it, much to the envy of our peers. We thought one outing was all to it. One month later we were summoned to go to the symphony again and we were trapped. We couldn’t admit to our proud sponsors and teachers that we hated it, so we ended up once again going through the endless torture. Unfortunately we went there few times, with nobody having a clue how much we dreaded these outings. Mine ended only because I transferred to a hearing parochial school full time the following year. *rueful laughing*
I would love to know what these deaf kids wearing cochlear implants really thought of the barbershop songs. Were they able to enjoy the songs or did several fake it like we all did several decades ago?
About the apology, my personal opinion is that Jay’s gaffe does call for an apology. Not only is it insensitive, there are indeed some children who do hear well with cochlear implants.
Jay Leno Apologizing to St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO
Trivia:
This is a neat site. Be sure to finish it. http://stuff.pyzam.com/toys/tictacscare.swf. Oh, by the way, if you have heart problems or PTSD, it’s recommended that you don’t check it out.
An extremely weird behavior of raccoons is exhibited here. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I suspect I know the reason for their bizarre behavior as I’ve seen similar behavior from several bears, but I want to know if you can guess the reason or not. MySpaceTV Videos: ????? by yankiss
I read with amusement about how Jay Leno commited a faux pas when he mocked the headline of an article titled Barbershop Singers Bring Joy to Deaf School (by lip-synching the words of the songs). Apparently his joke outraged some people, demanding an apology from Leno to the oral deaf educational program, which he wisely did. However, the apology also caused a controversy among some Deaf people who feel Leno owes the oral school no apology. The principal of the St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf asserts that most kids use cochlear implants, which enable them to enjoy listening to music. At the end of the article, there are many comments supporting the oral school and also those bashing against oralism and cochlear implants.
This reminds me of my days at an oral school. The top performing oral students were rewarded with tickets to musical symphonies. These students were honored to be given the tickets. For days, they eagerly anticipated going to the concerts. I believe there were four or five of us who went. We dressed up in our finest clothes and rode the van excitedly. Upon arrival at the center, we were awed by the musical instruments. Restlessly, we waited while the lights dimmed and we watched the musicians getting ready to begin their show. After five minutes of watching, it became a torture for us as none of us could hear the music well. I remember thinking to myself… that’s it? Since we were told to be on our best behavior, we sat in agony, hardly moving, while watching the musical instruments in use. Time crept by in an eternity. Finally after what seemed to be weeks, the opera was completed. Comparing notes afterwards, we all agreed that it was a horrible ordeal and none of us ever wanted to go back. When we returned to the oral school, we were peppered with questions by our dormmates. None of us would admit that we hated the show, so we made a big deal out of it, much to the envy of our peers. We thought one outing was all to it. One month later we were summoned to go to the symphony again and we were trapped. We couldn’t admit to our proud sponsors and teachers that we hated it, so we ended up once again going through the endless torture. Unfortunately we went there few times, with nobody having a clue how much we dreaded these outings. Mine ended only because I transferred to a hearing parochial school full time the following year. *rueful laughing*
I would love to know what these deaf kids wearing cochlear implants really thought of the barbershop songs. Were they able to enjoy the songs or did several fake it like we all did several decades ago?
About the apology, my personal opinion is that Jay’s gaffe does call for an apology. Not only is it insensitive, there are indeed some children who do hear well with cochlear implants.
Jay Leno Apologizing to St. Joseph Institute of the Deaf | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO
Trivia:
This is a neat site. Be sure to finish it. http://stuff.pyzam.com/toys/tictacscare.swf. Oh, by the way, if you have heart problems or PTSD, it’s recommended that you don’t check it out.
An extremely weird behavior of raccoons is exhibited here. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I suspect I know the reason for their bizarre behavior as I’ve seen similar behavior from several bears, but I want to know if you can guess the reason or not. MySpaceTV Videos: ????? by yankiss
October 6th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I agree with you completely. You are one of the few people I tend to agree with. Yes, Leno owed Oral people NO apology. We tend to make fun of oral method (not people). We have to do that to let go of our negative experience with oral method. I grew up… wasted wasted wasted my education.. and wasted my time for years and years at oral schools. Many dumb oralists passed the courses or privileged. I was suffered because I was not good oralist… I was smarter than most of the oralists.. they got better scores than me. The teachers of Deaf focused on them… not me….That s really oppressed me. We do make fun of them to laugh ourselves off from being so angry. Thanks for being telling the truth.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
As a Deaf person, I don’t get the joke. Oh, it is with exaggerated lip movements, maybe? Huh. No joke here. Leno, bring it on! We are already getting too much of a reputation for hypersensitivity.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
:::Deleted:::
Richard, as the cyberbully of the Deaf Community who have harmed a lot of Deaf and HoH people and used their works against their wishes, you are not welcome here. I also don’t need you to show up and stir the pot.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Albert, I am sorry you had such an unpleasant experience. I do think the alumni of the oral schools should get together and contact their schools to express how they felt about their poor treatment and failure to get good educations. There has to be some accountability as these feelings are prominent in the majority of Deaf people with oral education.
Dianrez, actually Leno sang the words without using his speech. That was how he thought about deaf kids… their inability to hear the word.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
MZ, Could you ask NBC for a segment of the video for your blog? I watch Leno every night, but I must have missed seeing the certain segment whilst typing or reading at the computer.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I thought so, too.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I think Leno’s joke was certainly tasteless, but did it warrant an apology? I don’t really think so, because imho, it wasn’t derogatory.
Humor is supposed to be provocative, and the best laughs comes from jokes that have a piece of truth in ‘em, and sometimes it can be extremely offensive, but at the same time, not derogatory. It’s a fine line to walk, and Leno is usually pretty good at walking that line, if he even toes that line. So I don’t think he really owes anyone an apology.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Jay Leno should NOT apologize to SJI {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/DSWBWS9jIU_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”Jay Leno should NOT apologize to SJI ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/5FNcmIv6sp”}}}