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.

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.

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.

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.

My wife, in fact, is immediate past president of AGBell….We have more interests in common than disagreements.

Hello Allen,
Would you be so good as to tell us what AGB’s disagreements are? We can educate one another.

Merci beaucoup.

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.