My Response to Karen Youdelman and Alexander T. Graham’s Pepsico Letter
By Chris Heuer on Sun 3 Feb 2008 |
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I’m a regular blogger here on Deaf DC.com, but I have been away from the blogsphere for the better part of a month now because my son was born just a few weeks ago. He’s a full-time job in and of himself–if you have children of your own I’m sure you can understand what I’m talking about.
I mention my son here only because his birth factors into something that I want to say to the both of you as two current leaders of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The first blog that I read on your recent letter to Pepsico was written by my fellow DeafDC.com blogger Shane Feldman. He didn’t print your entire letter, though he did provide a link to your website. To be honest with you, I didn’t click on the link in order to read the original letter—nor did I comment on Shane Feldman’s post—because I was just too exhausted. To be clear, my exhaustion does not stem from my new role or responsibilities as a father. My exhaustion comes from having to deal with attitudes such as yours.
It appears that not so long ago Catherine Murphy, your Director of Communications, issued a memo to the Indiana AG Bell Chapter Leadership outlining how to deal with those who have been protesting against your organization as of late. This memo contains several planned “media messages.” I would like to draw your attention to three:
1) AG Bell recognizes there are many choices available to parents when their child is diagnosed with a hearing loss, including spoken language, sign language and total communication.2) AG Bell supports informed choice and serves as a resource for those parents who specifically choose spoken language education for their deaf or hard of hearing children.
3) AG Bell does not “prohibit” or is not “against” the use of sign language if parents decide that is the best course of action for their child. AG Bell simply supports those who choose the use of spoken language for their child by serving as a resource for those families.
There are no doubt many people who believe that the above three statements are true. I do not.
In his blog, Shane Feldman did not post the parts of your letter to Pepsico that read:
“Your advertisement perpetuates a common myth that all people who are deaf can only communicate using sign language and are, therefore, isolated from the rest of society… We would also like to remind you that with the amount of money Pepsi will spend on just one 60 second spot to air during the Super Bowl, you could help an untold number of families obtain hearing aids and other professional services that are costly and in many cases not covered by medical insurance.”
These statements are analyzed elsewhere (by fellow blogger Mishka Zena). In fact it wasn’t until I read what she had to say that I finally clicked on Shane Feldman’s link and read your letter in its entirety. Upon reading it, even though I am still as exhausted as I was before I sat down at my computer, even though I’d much rather be spending this time with my son, and even though the Deaf blogsphere is by now replete with outraged postings regarding your recent letter to Pepsico, I have nonetheless decided to stay at my computer and write my own response to you. Would you like to know why?
I am not entirely sure yet whether my son is hearing, deaf, or hard-of-hearing.
He failed his first hearing test at the hospital, you see, and even though the doctors reassured me and told me not to worry—that many newborns’ ears are still filled with fluids shortly after birth and therefore many of these newborns fail their initial hearing test… they’d test him again in the morning—I didn’t sleep that night.
I wasn’t worried about him “being deaf.” I’m deaf, after all, and I have proudly made my deafness into a central part of my identity. I was worried about him growing up deaf in this world. I was scared for him to grow up deaf in our current educational landscape. I was scared of fourth grade reading levels. I was frightened for him to grow up facing the same rejection and outright hostility I faced at times—not only from the “Hearing World” but also from other Deaf, deaf, and hard-of-hearing people. I was frightened because I’ve spent my whole career hearing horror story after horror story from (or interacting with outright) parents who had to ceaselessly fight “the System” to get basic services, or parents who didn’t care enough to fight at all. I have always dreaded coming into contact with the latter group—but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m ready to join ranks with the former as a parent myself.
I have a friend with two kids. He told me that the moment you hold your child in your hands for the first time after he or she is born, the psychological remnants of your old life will drop away; the life that you lived largely for yourself. You will truly realize that your world is bigger than just you. I’ll be honest. When I first held my son in my hands, all I could think about was how beautiful he was. I didn’t have that “moment” my friend spoke of until my son failed his first hearing test. After that it wasn’t a moment. A “moment” ends. What I feel: this disturbance, this lingering sense of fear and unease, still hasn’t gone away. I don’t think it ever will. And I think that one source of of these feelings is you. By that I do not only mean you two as individuals—Karen Youdelman and Alexander T. Graham—nor even through your representation the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
I also mean you: people who recreate the world I grew up in, intentionally or not; a world that apparently neither understands Deaf people nor makes more than a superficial effort to embrace them (or American Sign Language). Now it’s one thing when you create that world around me. I have survived despite the unceasing interference of you in every step made, no matter how simple or positive, toward building a world where American Sign Language is truly considered by parents as a feasible communication option for their deaf children; a world in which they do not fear this language, or buy into the same “isolation” myths that you imply they (as members of “society”) believed from the very beginning, through no doing or undue influence of your own. I think you play a much bigger part in that myth’s perpetuation than you’re willing to accept or ever have been. I think this myth that ‘Hearing Society’ supposedly believes is actually your projection onto them. Without your influence they probably wouldn’t have otherwise known what to think about the impact of American Sign Language on the so-called “isolation” of deaf people.
I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, but I swear this to you: I will not let the world I grew up in, the world you helped create, become the world my son grows up in.
Perhaps I will start by comparing your letter to Pepsico with the three statements made in the Indiana AG Bell Chapter Leadership memo, and sharing my analysis with anyone who cares to read it: To me, you are not an organization that recognizes that there are indeed “many” choices available to parents… including sign language. Your organization is not a mere “resource” for those parents who specifically choose spoken language for their deaf or hard of hearing children. You don’t just “simply support” them. Those terms imply that you are far more neutral than you are. And while I personally never seriously entertained the notion that your organization was anything but neutral, in my book, your letter shows me that I was right not to. I see your letter to Pepsico as a criticism against ASL-users (as well as those who support them or otherwise assist them in advancing awareness and appreciation of the language and of American Deaf Culture) that you need not have made. Pepsico is not the problem. You are.
My son passed his second hearing test, though we will have a follow-up hearing test soon just to be sure. No matter what we find out, you can bet that American Sign Language and English will continue to be the two primary languages used in our household. In fact, we will be a family because of American Sign Language. If my son is hearing, through ASL I will not be isolated from him, and he will not be isolated from me. If he is deaf, or becomes deaf, the result will be the same. American Sign Language will bring us together, just as ASL brings together—and always has brought together—countless souls in our society.
The day you find within yourselves room for this truth will be the day I’ll be less afraid for any deaf child growing up in this world.
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Congratulations. Michele Ketchum recently had a baby (last week, I believe… a boy, as I heard from a friend.)
Ahhhh… welcome to the world of parenting… making decisions is a bit more complicated, especially with a cihld or more in the picture.
Savor these times… babies do quickly grow up.
Well-spoken as a parent! Well-written as a blogger! Well-thought out as a deaf person! Congratulations on the birth of your new baby boy!
Lois
Double cheers to Chris Heuer for an excellent article!! You nailed everything that I wanted to express from day one!
Oh, yeah, congratulations with your boy. Be sure to pamper him.
Cheers,
R-
Pah! Congratulations to you and your wife a new baby boy! :-D
Your former student- Sandi
P.S I have to tell you that you are the greastest English Professor.
It is 6 a.m. I do not look right for webcam but I still have to say something. You word everything as how we exactly mean and really mean.
I would love to hold your son and give you a break, I have a 1 year old I am holding on to his being such a cherub soon to be outgrown.
Anne Marie
Eloquently written! This ought be added on DBC website.
Congrats!
Your article is a very good response to AGBAD.
You know I encourage us, Deaf people
Wow! I sometimes get the sense that your personality truly outshines as a blogger than in person (whether this will project upon you as offensive or not). I do not mean to be offensive, rather, I’d like to say that your thoughts bode well on paper and I feel that’s how I get my messages across. :) Nicely stated and I’d like to insert a quote here upon your new identity…
“It doesn’t matter what car I drive, what kind of house I’ve made, or the amount of money that leads me anywhere. What matters most is in the eyes of children and what I’ve given to them” (Anonymous) I found this whiles back in some Education workshop and had to copy it…even though my brain’s a bit fuzzy this morning, it’s as close as I can replicate it now.
There is hope in this country. Read about a positive experience regarding a hearing test on a deaf baby at http://www.i711.com/my711.php?.....rticle=223
Hi Chris,
Gallons of Dom Perignons with Russian caviar for you and Michele Ketchum!
Now to #3 in the 6th passage of your blogpost, I did not know that AGBell has become less hardened in this millennium in that he wanted to sterilise all deaf people a century ago so as to end deaf people as a variety of human race!
Chris, you blew me away with this paragraph:
“I wasn’t worried about him “being deaf.” I’m deaf, after all, and I have proudly made my deafness into a central part of my identity. I was worried about him growing up deaf in this world. I was scared for him to grow up deaf in our current educational landscape. I was scared of fourth grade reading levels. I was frightened for him to grow up facing the same rejection and outright hostility I faced at times—not only from the “Hearing World” but also from other Deaf, deaf, and hard-of-hearing people. I was frightened because I’ve spent my whole career hearing horror story after horror story from (or interacting with outright) parents who had to ceaselessly fight “the System” to get basic services, or parents who didn’t care enough to fight at all. I have always dreaded coming into contact with the latter group—but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m ready to join ranks with the former as a parent myself.”
This is exactly how I felt when my first child became deaf.
Now that I’ve got a few parenting years under my belt, I’ve learned that there are a lot of great people in this world who feel the same way I do about communication modalities and toss the politics aside to get to the business of communicating with each other instead.
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beautiful, moving, heart-felt, and thought-provoking, Chris. Congrats all around, and I look forward to more blogs like this as you embark on your journey of parenthood.
Before you start reading my next few comments, I just want to remind everyone that I’m not a supporter nor a member of AGBell. I’m aware that a large majority of the hearing community, especially most doctors, practically all audiologists and speech therapists, school administrators, and lots of other folks in positions of power have for years oppressed deaf people, deaf culture, and ASL in overt and covert ways. I like to think that most of them do it out of simple ignorance — not because they’re evil people who wish to harm us. After all, culturally Deaf, ASL-using people are a very small minority group, and lots of people can go their whole lives without ever meeting one. We who view being deaf as something positive to cherished have an uphill battle to fight to persuade and demonstrate to the world at large that deaf people are NOT isolated from society, and NOT doomed to 4th grade reading levels, unemployment, SSI, and all the other negative outcomes that are forecast for us by groups like AGBell. That means we have to speak up and advocate our message in positive ways, such as in using the media to our advantage.
Which brings me to my next point. AGBell exists, and there’s not much we can do to make it go away. I agree with you that their message is not neutral, and they have been known to use subtle (or not so subtle) psychological tactics to rope anxious, vulnerable parents into their organization.
But can we just stop demonizing AGBell? Here’s the reason. AGBell has helped some deaf families and children. Yes, oralism has harmed some children and families, especially decades ago when hearing technology was not as effective as it is now. But oralism is not 100% good nor 100% harmful. Some have benefited, some have not. The ones who were harmed are still suffering, but the ones who benefited are thriving.
I think of AGBell as being like the Catholic Church. I personally disagree strongly with a lot of their policies, and am revolted by their history of colonialization and oppression of native peoples, their collaboration with Axis powers during WWII, the current and ongoing pedophile priests scandals, and a host of other proven, genuinely evil acts.
But I also recognize that the Catholic Church has helped some people, has millions of devout followers, and that some people actually do practice their faith in ways that I would consider a true reflection of the values of Christianity. In my local area, Catholic Charities supports a deaf program that has helped many deaf people and their families, and there are also a couple of signing priests. On the other hand, if I were Jewish, it would not matter how much good the Catholic Church did, because there is no way the Church could possibly compensate for the massive amount of evil it perpetuated on millions of innocent Jewish victims throughout its history.
Now let’s consider the impact of your letter to AGBell upon AGBell representatives. I absolutely am not criticizing anything you said or the fact that you said it. My question is: are you drawing a line in the sand and saying you will never have anything to do with AGBell? Is there absolutely no possibility of meeting halfway? Any bridge-building going on here? No recognition that oralism can help anybody? No chance of inviting them to sit at your table and exchange views, success stories? The future of deaf babies is at stake. We want parents to have information about all options. Why force parents to have to go to two polar oppositions who are constantly sniping at each other?
AGBell the organization is not the bad guy, but there are individuals (maybe a lot of them) in and out of the organization who do bad things. If Deaf, ASL-using people work with AGBell, can learning happen, can people’s minds change, can wounds be healed? Call me an idealist, but I think it could happen.
CE, excellent questions here. Will you allow me to respond with a few questions of my own? If you truly believe in halfway points and middle ground, have you sent a response to AG Bell that is similar to the one you just sent me (above)? Have you talked to THEM about halfway points?
If not, why not?
(I ask respectfully–I hope this does not cause you to feel defensive).
hi Chris: no, I have not written to AGBell. One reason is because I am not having an issue with them. Another reason is because I have no direct, ongoing contact with anyone from the AGBell association, or with anyone else who has contact with them. In short, AGBell plays no major role in my life. That’s why I’m questioning why so many deaf people are making AGBell a target of their resentment and fury, when in many cases, I bet no one associated with AGBell has done them any recent or direct harm. AGBell has become a scapegoat. They have a reason for being, just like NAD has a reason for being. Neither organization is entirely good, and there are bad apples and negative history in both.
What I try to do is use my influence where it does the most good — with the doctors, audiologists, speech therapists, teachers, parents, administrators, etc. that I have face-to-face interactions with. I strive to be the change I want to see in the world. I like to think that I present a positive model that parents and others admire and want for their children to emulate. But I will also join in a letter-writing campaign for causes that I feel strongly about.
Your thoughts?
CE:
If AG Bell recognizes ASL as a language option, and supports it when the parents want it, then they should leave well enough alone already, right? That’s at least partially what Shane said in his blog (they protest too much). And not long ago in another blog–I don’t remember who wrote it–about a recent protest against AG Bell, I remember people saying AG Bell’s membership was becoming more and more open to signing anyway, hence these protests weren’t *necessary.*
So what gives? Do I believe THAT, or do I take the Pepsico letter at face value and stick with my interpretation–that maybe AG Bell isn’t as open to ASL as at least some of its own members seem to think it is? Because if AG Bell isn’t, then maybe those who have been protesting have more of a point then some of us would like to give them credit for.
You know, CE, “direct harm” is a relative term. The opposing attitudes in our community have run the whole show since the 1800’s, roughly. And what we’re living in the middle of now has been the result. There’s enough direct harm to literally choke on. I want to see that end.
Then again, hey, it’s just a commercial. No big thing, right?
The way you use ASL as a gauntlet is what drives many people away from it. As long as you use it in this way, ASL will never be a language of unity — it will continue to divide. I pray that you new status as a father will soften your edges and allow good sense to prevail.
Being Oral has driven me away from my family! Chris is doing the right thing as a responsible, loving father by including ASL with raising his child(ren).
“Of the more than 30 million Americans who live with hearing loss, the majority use spoken language as their primary mode of communication.”
That is misleading.
It should say: “Of the more than 30 million Americans who live with hearing loss, the majority used spoken language as their primary mode of communication. However, 3/4 of the majority has been switched to sign language as their primary mode of communication.”
I am trying to say that we the Deaf did worked hard on helping to have the “Newborn Baby Hearing Test” law passed!! Then why on earth that AgBAD, AVT, and other kinds of hearing organization do NOT bother to help educating the parents if the Deaf children needs ASL to develop language concept to PREVENT language delayed.. Know what I mean??? Why the AgBAD took advantage of us supporting the Newborn Baby Hearing Testing Law to be passed in each state???
Welcome back!! What a nice post this was — just so you know, Shane actually broke the news regarding AGB’s letter (see the bottom of his blog), and other bloggers eventually picked up on it.
Jt, I actually received the copy of the letter two nights ago, before Shane posted it.
Otherwise, I would have given Shane credit
Chris, congratulations on being a dad! :)
The intolerance … it is ironic to see an organization promoting intolerance when America is embracing the diversity of people. I fear for the Deaf children, too. :/
My comment was meant for Heuer, who wrote his blog as if Shane never mentioned the letter - and I wanted to show that Shane did mention it in his “update”. That’s basically all I was trying to point out — nevermind the fact that many people, including Shane, also received a copy of that letter at the same time you did.
Hi JT:
No I just meant that when I read it the whole letter wasn’t there. But there was a link. No fault of his. I didn’t immediately read the whole letter because I just didn’t bother to click on the link until later.
Pepsi didn’t caption their “Pepsi Max” ad in the first quarter.
John S.
Good catch, I observed that as well and several other people mentioned it to me. Just wrote a blog on that irony.
Pepsi didn’t caption their Justin Timberlake ad in the second quarter.
Perhaps that was Pepsi’s concession to the AGB lobby, so as to let the AGB viewers rely on their hearing aids instead of any visual modes of communication.
*grin*
That was funny!
Chris,
First of all, congratulations on the birth of your son. Second, your letter is outstanding! You put the human element back into the quotation. Thank you.
Ooops, I meant “equation” not “quotation”. Pardon my exhaustation from the awesome DeafRead conf last weekend. :)
chris, this was an awesome article! i feel the same way even though i don’t have any babies…
i’d learned about agbell’s letter as of tonight and found it to be a sad, pathetic move.
“you could help an untold number of families obtain hearing aids and other professional services that are costly and in many cases not covered by medical insurance.”
now, my question is - how is this actually relevant to the superbowl?
i don’t know what kind of laxatives agbell was on though it’s obvious that the result wasn’t pretty.
[…] […]
I am certain that most hearing people in the AGB offices cannot lipread.
Snorts! (High five!)
Congrats! I had my first child, a son, on November 30th (which is why there’s no longer a squirrel hanging around the blogosphere…no time or energy…and I can’t take my eyes off this beautiful child long enough to read anything let alone comment on something!) He passed his hearing test, but the audiologist that came into the recovery room was worried because I am deaf, as is my mother, uncle and grandfather (on up the line). She gave me a dirty look and brushed off a comment I made that regardless of his hearing ability, he will be bilingual and I am not one bit worried if his ears decide to stop functioning. I felt like a criminal for being “ok” with the idea my son may lose his hearing.
Thus begins my own odyssey to discover why I am deaf, at my doctor’s and pediatrician’s urging (more like blackmailing, but I digress). They suspect, as do I, that it’s genetic. I’ve never given it a second thought up until now, content with my silent world and ability to function as a hearing person when needed due to my speaking ability (I’m postlingually deaf…no rhyme or reason to WHY I lost my hearing. Same applies to my mother etc.)
I think my family is on my side, though. My mother in law, long a closet audist due to ignorance, delights in seeing my son sign “milk” and is actually positive when she finds him engrossed in a signed conversation at the expense of those yapping verbally at him. She’s even learned a few signs of her own. Win ‘em with kindness, I say!
Again, congrats Chris!
Jennifer (Keener) Apple
CyanSquirrel (Jennifer Keener Apple) wrote:
[The audiologist in the recovery room] gave me
a dirty look and brushed off a comment I made.”
I hope you did report to the head of the
hospital about the audiologist who demonstrated
an unprofessional attitude. If not, still never
too late to do so.
Thanks for writing up a great article, Chris!! Congrats on the birth of your son! :)
Chris, you sound like me writing this and I agree with you 100%.
I have posted a few times in my blog about that I am seeing this kind of discrimination is happening. There are discriminations among hearing-loss people and other hearing-loss people. In this socieity, we all are blinded by our own agendas and interests that caused us to discriminate others.
So… where or what is the common ground? AGBell seems to forget that the Deaf Culture represent about 400,000 to 500,000 of millions of people with hearling-loss.
I can understand and see that AG Bell’s letter have caused the Deaf community actually feel they are in the minority and being discriminated.
I have mentioned in my today’s blog: “What should the Deaf Culture do about AG Bell’s 2008 convention that will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 27-30, 2008?”
I am curious about that.
Thanks for sharing. Jim
Chris, as a hearing parent I had the same feelings and thoughts as you did when my infant son was diagnosed as deaf. I did not want him to be cut off from his family or from the opportunities of the hearing world. And he hasn’t been: he speaks; he signs; and he is part of the deaf community, and of a number of other communities. We found membership in AGBell highly supportive of our choices. My wife, in fact, is immediate past president of AGBell. I hope, therefore, that you will not stereotype either us or the Association. We have more interests in common than disagreements.
Hi Allen:
I won’t stereotype you. I’ll meet with you or your wife at any time, and you will be treated with respect. Furthermore, I acknowledge that there are most likely X number of AG Bell members who are in fact supportive of ASL. I say “X number of” instead of “some” or “many” or “a few” because there’s no statistics on that at present, and I don’t want to make the problem seem greater or lesser than it actually is.
But your organization did what it just did, Allen (I assume you’re a current member?). And what it did will result in the long-term harm that it will result in. Aren’t you tired of it? What’s the real point of all of these blogs and comments and arguing back and forth if not the establishment of a TRUE “middle ground” where everyone feels safe and accepted? I read that letter and *I* don’t feel safe or accepted, and if my son in fact turns out to be deaf, I honestly don’t feel that he’ll be safe or accepted either. Rather I feel he’ll be hounded and shut out and mercilessly picked on and neglected for having done nothing more than be born into this world, and he didn’t even have a say in THAT.
I want this to stop. If I don’t do what I can to stop it, how much longer will this stupid war continue? And that’s exactly what it is, stupid, senseless, destructive, frightening, maddening, hopeless, confusing, oppressive, disgusting. I hate it although I will fight it. I’ll fight it though I want peace… because I want REAL peace. But that’s not going to happen until people such as Karen Youdelman and Alexander T. Graham sit down at the table and do their fair share of *listening.*
Peace and blessings to you and your family.
I couldn’t agree more about both sides doing more listening, as well as giving the other side perhaps the benefit of the doubt. My reading of the Pepsico letter is different from yours and, evidently, from many of your correspondents. Apart from the unfortunate “perpetuation of the myth” phrase, I read the letter as an appeal for a wider public recognition of the many different kinds of deaf and hearing impaired people that make up the deaf experience.
If you are frustrated to the point of rage by the frequent insensitivities of us hearing folk, we are also frustrated by the insensitivities of the deaf (as borne out by the responses to your blog).
We both experience pain over “perpetuated myths” and perceived disrespect, when we should be celebrating our successes (even ones as small as the Pepsico ad) and working to advance our common goals.
Be well.
Allen Janger writes:
Hello Allen,
Would you be so good as to tell us what AGB’s disagreements are? We can educate one another.
Merci beaucoup.
I cannot speak for AGBell, but for myself, I disagree with those who regard their deafness as the sole definer of their identity. Chris Heuer’s protestations to the contrary, his excellent blog clearly demonstrates his ability to participate fully in the wider society. That he doesn’t get the respect he clearly deserves is a problem shared with many of us, hearing as well as deaf. My view, and it is one I believe I shares with most of the AGBell members I know, is that the deaf and hearing impaired should have as much opportunity to enjoy and contribute to the world as their talents and determination allow. If they wish to live in the deaf community alone, that is their choice. If they wish to live as well in other communities, that should be their choice as well. And we should help.
Allen, it may be that I am reading too much into your post, and you will be perfectly justified in criticizing me for that.
Your message seems to imply that living “in other communities,” rather than only in the deaf community, is contingent upon a vision defined by AGBell.
From what we saw in that letter to Pepsi, AGBell seems to think that the deaf who can “only communicate using sign language…are…isolated from the rest of society.”
For a couple of years in college, I had an ASL teacher who had phenomenally beautiful and crystal-clear ASL, but she couldn’t really speak. That said, she did not perceive herself as living only in the deaf world. I recall her indicating on multiple occasions that she saw herself as living in both the hearing and deaf worlds. (By the way, my alma mater had perhaps 13,000 students, of whom less than a dozen had medically deficient hearing to the point where some type of accommodation was needed. So that ASL teacher was not safely ensconced within a deaf world where everyone would understand her all the time. And the ASL teacher’s spouse was hearing.)
This same ASL teacher also participated in training workshops at hospitals, and probably participated in many other activities, where she put herself on the front line in educating hearing people about the deaf.
Allen, do you deem ASL users to be restricted to the deaf community? In some respects, I can see how using only ASL can limit one’s opportunities to a degree, but not to the point where it necessarily limits one to the deaf world.
In an analogy, I guess that one could point to several lines of work in which knowing only English is going to bust a big hole in one’s qualifications and career prospects. Yet that does not mean that monolingual English-speakers are confined to their community — there are plenty of ways to have experiences beyond the Anglophone world.
Yes indeed, you are reading a bit too much into my post. I speak for myself alone, not AGBell. I would like to think, though, that its mission of encouraging opportunities for the deaf to listen and speak is a positive goal, which does not preclude knowledge and use of ASL. Most of the deaf AGBell members I know use sign and are certainly not limited to the deaf community.
As for being isolated, that is a relative term. ASL is the fourth most used language in the U.S. (Spanish is the second.) To the degree that the deaf are limited in English (clearly not something that can be said of anyone participating on this blog site), I feel they are restricted in their ability to participate in the wider society.
Going with your analogy, I also believe that in the 21st century, hearing aand deaf Americans necessarily need to know more than English if we are to have a vibrant culture of our own.
Allen, above you made the comment “frustrated to the point of rage.” And in another comment you said “Chris Heuer’s protestations to the contrary, his excellent blog clearly demonstrates his ability to participate fully in the wider society.” I’d like to respond to both statements.
When did I ever say that this blog prevented me from participating in the wider society? You’re going to have to explain that. Pretty much all I’ve ever said in DeafDC.com is that it’s not DEAFNESS that prevents me from participating in “wider” society. Ignorance and arrogance and discrimination are what prevent me from participating in “wider” society. And I still believe that. Writing a blog is different from trying to get a job where you need accomodations or even just tolerance. Being able to do one doesn’t necessarily mean you can do the other without hassle.
Which leads me to your other statement about rage. You see, this isn’t rage. And it certainly isn’t rage against “hearing people” in general. I think that’s a reaction formation, and I think such reaction formations are being created all of the time in this dialogue. Which is why nobody can communicate. You see, so long as people can take feelings they’re uncomfortable with and stuff them instead into blanket labels such as “rage,” (or “hatred” or “anger” or “ASL/Deaf Militancy” or “radicalism”) then they don’t really have to hear the message. It’s a vicious cycle of oppression and denial that has been going on in this community for centuries. And it is that very denial that is triggering these protests and these blogs calling for boycotts and the like.
Furthermore Allen, the people who respond here are not “my” correspondents, as if I’m their leader or something. They either recognize something of their own feelings in my words (as you did) or they don’t, and it’s that simple. But if they do, then this one particular time you have to look elsewhere for the source of what’s happening here, because I did not write that letter to Pepsico. And plenty of blogs criticizing the letter appeared before mine ever did. So.
It’s entirely likely that you never meant to imply what I just said above, but I hope you won’t mind that I said these things anyway. If we all want to solve problems then we have to get past this, in my opinion.
Once more, I agree with most of what you write, especially as to your goal of getting to real communication. Your hassles with hostility and accommodation are situations we share. Your evident desire to get beyond the arguments to taking the same or at least complementary advocacy positions is also something I wish we could share with you.
CyanSquirrel, I think you should carry forth the experience you had with the professional. Please look for Trudy Sugg’s experience which was posted on Deafread the other day; the title is something like, “Kudos to District One” (a hospital in Faribault, MN).