How can we expect our deaf youngsters to maximize and fluent their written and reading skills in English if the educational facilities of the deaf do not embrace the native language of their students?

We often develop the visual spatial skills for the necessity of visual communication within our extraordinary brain development no matter how we become late deafened or at birth.

I repeatedly mention about Gandhi once told the South African police officer why he ought not to listen to the police’s commands. If the police or government official or someone in the authority do not respect someone’s language usage. Theofore, Gandhi and other linguistic minorities feel vindicated by not speaking the language of dominant society.

Same thing happened with deaf students at many educational facilities of the deaf and other higher education institutions. Too many teachers and professors of the deaf really lack such fluency in the native language of deaf youngsters and compromise the quality of education offered to those students.

I NEVER say that we ought to replace the written English with ASL in our deaf curriculum. We just educate the deaf youngsters in both ASL and English to be real bi-lingual in both languages.

The deaf author and respectable ASL instructor, William Madsen once said “Why the hearing students have to learn and polish the English language all their academic studies while they and the family do speak the same language (English) at home or outside the world? Because the hearing students have to develop and finesse their native language to prepare themselves for the work/outside world.

NOT all the deaf students have such an opporunity to master and finesse their ASL language to accompany the understanding of written language (English) beside their primary language usage.

When the deaf students spend considerable time in the ASL language classes and will do very WELL in the dominant language (written English) of their society at large. So the deaf students could be very fluent in written English and know their native language how they could effectively translate the ASL language (visual spatial language) to the written English (reading) .

Many people of other countries outside the United States of America to be fluent in multi-lingual usages. Why not the Americans embrace and explore other language usage beside their primary language?

That’s what I am talking about! Too many deaf students do poorly in written English including reading and writing skills, because the educators of deaf often NOT embrace the primary language of their deaf students regardless of residential or mainstream or oral schools. The majority of deaf people end up using the visual spatial language as their primary language anyway because they find ASL to be most reasonable and logical aspect of visual communication.

We need to accompany the needs of deaf students’ educational interests and help them accomplish successfully in the dominant society at large beside their own world.

I do not embrace the concept of social isolation within the deaf community and educational facilities of the deaf from the society at large. We must co-exist with the population of the dominant society at large as they do respect and embrace our linguistic usage.

More deaf students will feel worthwhile about themselves being equally in the linguistic usage. Respect and embrace the linguisitic usage among the human diversity which really make our humankind more interesting and conceptual.

If the Chinese language will become the dominant language usage within our lives. We have to learn and master the Chinese language as matter of survival.

Same thing apply to the deaf education about the necessity of embracing and mastering both ASL and English language. If we keep denying the importance of ASL in deaf education. The deaf students will be less desired to learn the language of the dominant society at large to survive and climb the socioeconomic ladder for leading more productive life.

The English language is largely composed of “sounds” needs, not really with the concept of written language itself. It often have seen as one of most illogicial and unrational within linguistic structure. Other languages do make more sense than the English language.

In the end, the English language become the dominant language around the entire globe right now. The Chinese language probably will be the next dominant language in next thirty years. Who knows?

That is all about whom wield the economic power within the financial market. Not about how logical and compitatable the dominant language itself is.

The written English is not compitable with the visual-spatial communication. We would not embrace too many texts or written messages on every movies and will strain our eyes every time. ASL is a visual spatial language in the non-replacement of the English language for the necessity of written communication along with the reading skills.

Signing Exact English, Pidigin Sign Language (PSE), Language Contact (correct term for PSE at the present time), Cued Speech and Sign Writings are incomptitable on the visual-spatial concept of visual communication.

The service providers for cochlear implant and hearing aids are largely available in the private sector. That’s what the free market are all about. (I rather see the Gallaudet University use the emergency money to respond to the real urgency of arising situation like the unlikely virus epidemic among the Gallaudet students, faculty members and staffers> The Norvo virus unexpectedly occur at the Cathlolic University of America (CUA) in DC. The CUA adminstration effectively respond to the unexpected crisis like double-staffing the student health center. The Gallaudet University under the IKJ and JK leadership hardly bother to counteract the arising situation like the severe mold presence in many Gallaudet existing buildings which really endanger the health of students, faculty members and staffers within the long-term consquence(s).

We ought to spend wisely on the real necessity of educational materials for deaf students like textbooks at the Clerc Center or pre-college education of the deaf or updated educational materials than spending illogical on auditory needs of the small segement of student population.

Speech training of deaf youngsters are equally compared to seals in training how to spin balls on their noses for such an entertainment (ex. audience). Seals will not really benefit from the unnatural training with balls on noses in the wild. How would they could survive in the wild if seals are not trained to hunt and feed themselves? Same thing apply to deaf youngsters spend sensless hours in speech training.

Speech training on deaf youngsters which often cost their basic educational time to learn how to read and write very effectively in both native and dominant language.

From my personal experience, many fellow students of mine at the WV School for the Deaf (WVSD) often told me how FORUNATE I was. I never left the classroom for the unnecessary 20-minutes speech training per class. Those students missed real valuable classroom time with their education.

The lingusitic minority like the American deaf community at large really need the one “unifed: language than splitting us all over the country in various communication modes. Incorporating the ASL language into the deaf classroom and non-classroom environment will be the real solution to the third to fourth grade writing and reading skills among too many deaf individvuals.

The self-identify of every individual is real “must” for feeling part of the society at large. If someone do not know and trust hirself very well. He or she or the transgender person will doubt hirself all their life and limit their own potentials.

Enjoy the seasonal holidays with your loved ones and friends.

Robert L. Mason (RLM)

**sitting down**

**pushing up daisies**

I read your response to RLM with great interest. I agree with some points you made, and I support you in challenging the weaknesses in RLM’s reasoning, but I also disagree very violently with other things you’ve written. For example:

“My point is that Gallaudet has to be open to ALL deaf people. I really do think it should start becoming more of an oral institution than a sign institution.”

First, it IS open to all deaf people, regardless of signing ability. Secondly, why should it become an oral institution when just about every other university in the country is just that? Gallaudet’s raison d’etre would disappear. And don’t give me the social isolation spiel. I don’t subscribe to it.

“Why not make Gallaudet change their cirriculae [sic] a little bit and accept hearing students as undergraduates, who are interested in working with the deaf and becoming qualified as CSTs, ASLIs, and Court reporters?”

Um… they do. We call them HUGs - Hearing Undergraduates.

“You cannot have a president who cannot speak vocally. Davila has to communicate with the hearing Congress, oral deaf students, and the like.”

Well, congratulations. Everybody who can’t speak perfectly, sit down and die. You’re worthless and not human.

Davila can communicate. Just not the way you think is superior, I suppose.

And the funny thing is, I get the feeling if he used a cued language transliterator you’d be just fine with that. If so, it’s a certain way of being deaf you’re criticizing here.

I have hearing friends. I have hard of hearing friends. I have D/deaf friends. What I resent is to be told what is the best way to live my life.

I agree with Julie. The options should be there, so each individual can decide for themselves what is best for them. I also think that if a person makes a choice that we would not make, we should not look down at them for making that choice. That’s my main issue here.

~ Deaf Pundit

Your comments here: “I didn’t go to Gallaudet because I think their cirriculae is quite questionable. I didn’t think anyone would offer me a job (besides a deaf-friendly organisation) because I had “Gallaudet University” on my CV. I know people who sign quite fluently but didn’t go to Gallaudet because, among other things, it didn’t offer much for their education. A lot of us mainstreamed deaf students feel that Gallaudet is like a last-gasp effort (if you fail a mainstream university, you go to Gallaudet instead because it’s easy).”

This is EXACTLY the reason why I refused to go to Gallaudet as a student!!!! I know of too many Gallaudet graduates frustrated with their employment search because of the name “Gallaudet” as opposed to those who graduated from RIT. RIT’s degree has a MUCH better value than Gallaudet’s does.

In short, I agree 100% with your comments here.