Archive for the 'Oralism' Category

Segregation Between Deaf Kids at Deaf and Public Schools

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Several months ago while I was researching the deaf schools facing budget cuts and planned school closings, an alumnus alerted me of a Deaf school where the deaf kids in an oral program are segregated from the Deaf students using ASL in the same building. These groups reportedly are not allowed to socialize or even speak to each other. 
Two weeks [...]

Deaf Oral AGBell Representatives Using CART During AFA/AGBADHH Meeting?

Monday, April 13th, 2009

While reading AFA’s letter requesting for a copy of the CART transcription from the AFA/AGBADHH meeting two weeks ago, apparently on the behalf of two deaf oral AGBADHH representatives, a thought came to my mind.  Why was the CART services needed in the first place?
Wasn’t there an interpreter in the room, voicing for Deaf AFA leaders. [...]

Oral Deaf Writer Attacks Luke of Amazing Race and Deaf People

Monday, March 16th, 2009

An oral Deaf writer attacked Luke of Amazing Race and Deaf people in her op-ed article First Person: I can so talk!  Many deaf people can, despite what you might hear elsewhere
Apparently the fact that Luke was interpreted during an interview as saying that he wanted to disprove people’s perceptions and show that, “Deaf can [...]

Double Standards Between C.I. Children and Deaf Children?

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

A while ago, the mother of a cute and adorable Deaf girl, Miss Kat,  was told by an anonymous commenter that Miss Kat is not a member of Deaf Community because she wears a cochlear implant. Never mind that the child is Deaf and uses ASL.  Naturally the mother felt hurt by the hostile rejection of her Deaf child.  [...]

Why Bother Saving Deaf Schools?

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Some of the Deaf children don’t do well in mainstreamed programs.  Often the regular teachers  don’t have any formal training to educate the Deaf students. An increasing shortage of qualified interpreters impedes with the public education system’s ability to provide accessible education to these students.  For mainstreamed Deaf solitaire, a lack of social opportunities due to communication barriers adds to their sense of [...]

Naysayers Wrong About Gallaudet

Monday, December 8th, 2008

After the victory of Unity For Gallaudet, naysayers claimed that Gallaudet would become more exclusive, insisting that Fernandes was ousted for ‘Not Deaf Enough’ based on the stakeholders’ ’intolerance to deaf diversity’. They predicted with culturally Deaf people overtaking Gallaudet,  it’ll be a place where deaf people using other communication methods won’t be welcome.
 
Yet Gallaudet continues to promote more diversity among its stakeholders than ever before. The [...]

Disagreements Are Allowed

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Disagreements are permitted. This community is way too diverse to maintain an uniform thinking with the same beliefs, ideas, and philosophies. Unlike the other cultures, with the exception of gay culture, this culture isn’t hereditary for the majority of its stakeholders. Most join this exclusive group when one masters its language after finding out that [...]

ASL: Parents’ Rights vs Deaf Babies/Children’s Rights

Friday, November 7th, 2008

For some time, discussions about parental rights vs Deaf children’s right were held on the Deaf Cyberspace. Most of the discourses were illuminating and meaningful. We are actually starting to understand each other out better with less cyberbullying. 
Some people insist that all Deaf babies and children have a right to ASL.  Actually, no.  According to [...]

An Apology to Oral Deaf School Necessary?

Monday, October 6th, 2008

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 Oral Survivors Are Not Alone

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

After covering the abuses in oral deaf schools in my last post, the suffering of the countless children who experienced abuses in the state residential schools for the deaf needs to be recognized, too. Unfortunately there were many similar incidents in these settings, not just at the oral schools. Mostly the lack of awareness of abuses occurring had [...]