All The Young Dudes

Personal Development Protocol: What’s Holding You Back? P2

In the previous post I mentioned an article/ blog that Alison emailed me. I left a comment this morning, and when I went back to see if any more comments were posted, mine was removed. Why I don’t know, but here it is in its full glory. The site owner has written back to me [see comments in last post] and explained it wasn’t the case. So, I jumped the gun on that one [biting lip]. I do encourage you all to visit the blog and read for yourselves. Stuff applies to Deafies too you know, not just Hearing people. But it’s a theme I also wanna develop in this blog. Anyway:

I am a friend of Alison [who posted the first comment], and I am Deaf.

While I am a believer in karma, and yes, to a certain degree, the person ultimately responsible for my destiny, the fact remains we live in a world with other human beings.

We live with people who have different desires, needs and wants. We also live in a world, as Alison said prejudice is rife, and oppression is very real, and a world where there are human beings who actively seek to oppress other human beings - for whatever reason.

And it is not always ones won fault, let alone exercise of power, that stops one from advancing and self improvement . There is no such thing as alleged in cases like this: homophobia, sexism, racism, audism, et al. They are real, and they are obstacles.

Sure, we can choose how we react to them, but we can’t always overcome them, let alone re-route ourselves to a different path. Life is ying and yang, and a contestant struggle - because you are dealing with other human beings too - to make the best choices you can with what you are presented with.

True, life doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it, and we do create extra problems of ourselves, but still….

I don’t create the obstacle of DVDs with no subtitles
I don’t create the obstacle of no sign interpreters for classes
I don’t create the obstacles of anti-gay prejudice
I don’t create the obstacles sexism
I don’t create the feelings of low self esteem engendered by the dominant society
I don’t create my hearing impairment
I don’t create the ignorance and assumptions put out by the Hearing culture

And so on…

I can choose to fight or overcome these obstacles, but I did not create them!

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Personal Development Protocol: What’s Holding You Back?

Just got an email this morning from Alison, who pointed me to this blog post,
Personal Development Protocol: What’s Holding You Back? She commented, to me,

wonder if being too idealistic? try telling gay ppl they are resp for
not getting married? ppl who’ve been subjected to racism and locked
up? etc.

Go and have a look. What do you think?

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Through Deaf Eyes: A Review

Finally, I sit down and watch Through Deaf Eyes. If you so desire, you can buy it from Amazon, as PBS, won’t sell it outside America. Damn!

As a historical document, Through Deaf Eyes, doesn’t break any new ground. It is essentially more of the same, but is quite appropriate for a Hearing audience. As an educational tool, it is better than most I have seen, and there were some moments of revelation. Such as the inventor of the TTY was Deaf and the size of them, and a racist episode!

Nevertheless, it’s a document that shows just how far Deaf people have progressed, and is worth watching for that affirmation alone!

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Unity? What’s That? Culture? No Way!? Part 2

In the debate he started with Unity In Deaf Culture, Dennis continues the discussion in Deaf And Gay: A Divisional Comparison, with the aim of inciting solutions to the deep divisions that exits between the Deaf and the deaf!

I agree, there has to be a solution as this continuing bickering between the two camps. The question is how?

The kinds of solutions that are proposed, depends very much your position on Deafness itself. There is is not to say that we won’t come to any agreement, but that one’s perspective is an important part of the kinds of solutions that one seeks. Further, whatever possible solution is offered, there is gonna be someone who doesn’t agree with it.

So, where do we go from here?

Well, first of all, we are going to have to accept that deafness exists. Period. That would mean coming to terms with the idea that maybe dealing with deafness doesn’t mean we have to fix it via medical or technological means. It would mean, accepting the idea that deaf people should be that, deaf. It would mean that Hearing people, yes, Hearing people, learn to deal with deafness, and actually work at accommodating deaf people. The Hearing way of doing things would need to change. Hearing would need to get used to the idea, that maybe, just maybe hearing isn’t all that it is cracked up to be! That would be a radical idea.

The follow on effect from that would be a more positive identity for deaf people. They wouldn’t feel so driven to align themselves as hearing people with an impairment. They would have a more image of signing and sign language. Then they could wholeheartedly acknowledge that Deaf culture exists and that sign is a language. Then, the deafies who grow up with signing, wouldn’t feel so put down because they don’t speak, or because they sign.

The most important thing would be that education for deafies would centre around acquiring knowledge as opposed to wasting time deciding what’s the best fricking communication method for a deafie.

But we know that’s not gonna happen any time soon. It’s a pipe dream. Albeit one that is worthy working towards.

So, in the meantime? It’s gonna boil down to simply accepting that the other exists. Simply accepting that Deaf culture exists. Simply accepting that Sign language is a language. Simply accepting that some deafies are oral. Simply accepting that some oral deaf may never learn to sign. Simply accept that the two camps do not have to socialise with one another.

We can work in coalition towards common aims, but we cannot have one organisation that represents both sides. It comes back to the different stances people have on deafness. Deaf signers should have  a role model who signs, as much as a deaf oral person should have an oral deaf person.

You see, part of the problem is the fact that we are carrying around an awful lot of negative baggage, and that one way we attempt to resolve this, is through the “fights” that Deaf and deaf have. It’s not hard to notice that some deafies are bitter about becoming losing their hearing [that's natural, it's summat that has to be worked through] and spend their time tearing down any positive images of deafness.

As for the second article Dennis posted, Deaf And Gay: A Divisional, that’s another story for another time!

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Audism: Part Three

A friend has been keeping me in the loop regarding audism, that is continuing on e-list he belongs to. I would love to quote these posts, but there is just too much information. Rob Wilks has summarised the main talking points, so you can bone up on the discussion.

Many of the posts that were forwarded to me, were by Erick Ketcham, an American Deafie, a former ASL Professor at University with a background in ASL linguistics, American Deaf Culture, and associated areas of study. I don;t know if he has a blog of his own, and I’m hoping he does. Meanwhile, you can watch his video, finger spelling in BSL by clicking on his name in this paragraph.

Anyway, the debate has thrown up yet more words, some new, and some long forgotten: surdophobia, deafist, deafism,surdism,deaf fundamentalism, and aduiocentric. These words, if my memory serves me right, come from a time when I was a member of Deaf UK, and a similar topic to the audist debate reared its head. I have those emails archived somewhere, and may dredge them out one day, time permitting.

It is a fascinating topic, but there is the very real danger that people will get carried away, defining and using these terms without any real understanding or context. Not only that, there is the danger of pretentiousness when attempting to explain these terms, and how they apply to various situations.

However, justice cannot be served, without addressing our collective [and yes, that includes the Oralies] history and understanding the factors that come into play at various points, to create the Deaf and deaf people, we become.

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