TESTIMONIALS
Adam Lovelace's Comments about DBC Rally March 28, 2008
While the conference gave me the opportunity to be around other like-minded people who have gone through the AG Bell system, all of us with varying degrees of hearing loss, thus varying degrees of speech control. Remember, how can you know what it sounds like if you cannot hear? The Keynote speaker, Josh Swiller was quite remarkable and passionate as he shared his story, of his deafness, of his experience as deaf, as hearing, as an outsider in both communities. He was funny and candid, honest and humble. His first remarks were those of thanks to the protestors outside for standing up for the rights of ASL to be recognized as a language just as powerful as spoken English. He encouraged the dialogue to happen citing the importance of both sides to be heard. I found myself nodding in agreement often as he shared his story, knowing that yes, there were others out there who had lived similar experiences. I also noted that many of us were similarly ostracized from others with similar experiences.
During our lunch hour, I joined outside, a richly diverse group of people who support the language of ASL for the deaf, their families, to assist the deaf in finding peace in their deafness. They encourage love and support, language and culture to prevent the constant threat of isolation that often occurs when the deaf are not accepted for whom they are. With their signs, their drums, kids of all ages and parents, friends, teachers and supporters, I spoke to the group (with the assistance of my interpreter) telling them how grateful I was to be invited, how honored I was to support the cause. I told them that there were more people outside protesting than were inside at the conference...which they responded with instant applause. Applause is shown with both hands in the air shaking them vigorously above ones head. I told them of the challenging dialogue happening inside."If you had a child who was deaf, would you teach that child ASL or would you encourage cochlear implants?"
PAH........FINDING ASL
February 2008
Hello, my name is Bobby and I am Deaf. I was born on 28 October 1990 to frenzied and rushed parents, primarily because I was 16 weeks early. I was born hard-of-hearing, with a 75 dB loss of high frequency and a 30 dB loss of low -- however, my hearing has gotten worse. As a result of this, I spent countless hours in speech training and auditory-verbal therapy learning to speak, lipread, and listen with hearing aids and FM Systems. I am considered an "oral success," however, I am going back to therapy to remove the nasality of my voice that is common to people with hearing loss. This has been my decision, rather than being forced upon me.
At 15, I started learning ASL. Wow, I thought, what a cool and accessible language! As I am entering my third year of formal ASL classes, I am much happier signing than speaking and wish that my parents would have exposed me to ASL from birth. To be honest, my house was simultaneous communication for a while - a few months, when I was 8 - but ASL was thrown out, due in combination from my speech therapist informing them, incorrectly I might add, that ASL would deter speech and language development and my success in speech training.
I plan on going to Gallaudet, and majoring in Deaf education and English. I love reading and theatre. When I teach, I will use a bilingual approach - using ASL to teach core concepts and English would be used primarily for reading and writing.
Regardless of hearing level, I strongly believe that ASL should be exposed to all children - Deaf and hearing - from birth. Bilingualism in America is somewhat shunned, as many have the imperialist attitude of "English only." Being bilingual is something to be proud of, and ASL has been shown to be a bona-fide language which can help English development. I've started tutoring Deaf students at my local school for the Deaf - and I keep the languages strictly separated. Because of this, I've been called "mean" and "hard" by both students whose first language is English and ASL, but their proficiency in BOTH languages is really worth it; they feel more confident with themselves.
Many people ask why ASL should be taught if there is success with English. For me, this is a simple answer: a community where you can truly belong. As Deaf individuals, we are constantly interacting with hearing people everyday - some of whom we love and hold close to our hearts - but that language, English, cannot truly bring us together like ASL can. And, bilingualism is a skill to be proud of. Please, support bilingualism for ALL Americans - hearing and Deaf - the benefits have manifested themselves time and time again, and language is the very foundation on which stories are told, joys exchanged, tears shed - language is beautiful.
I have no problems with a student who pursues speaking and listening skills, as long as it is their decision. You never know, if something is not forced on someone they are more likely to try it! I can sort of sympathize with parents who want their children to succeed in the hearing world - but many Deaf people today use ASL and English to communicate in both cultures successfully. Don't wait to provide language, and remember that you are not alone - there are lots of schools for the Deaf out there and parents like yourselves who understand your struggles completely - and it is perfectly acceptable to reach out for help. People need people, because as poet John Donne says, "no man is an island."
A HEARING FAMILY'S STORY
November 2007
In 1995 a miracle took place in Lafayette, IN. A young couple in their very early 20’s had a given birth to a deaf baby. The medical professional’s gave the “hearing impaired” diagnosis with much grief. We were sent out into the world to raise a “handicapped” child without any referrals but a pat on the back for good luck.
Ahhh…so much research on a mother’s behalf…the loss of self and employment to figure out how to best raise a deaf baby.
Despite the extreme emphasis on speech and hearing and getting the cochlear implant…my husband and I couldn’t just dump off our baby at a local daycare with hopes that “everything would be fine” while the only stimulation offered by staff would only be auditory. The First Steps Early Intervention Program for Special Needs offered talking directly into my baby’s face and loud toys and music with hopes for a miracle of hearing something…anything! I couldn’t rest at night knowing my baby would be bored all day without visual stimulation. I set out to learn sign language! I contacted the library for video’s, local schools, childhood deaf peers and public school interpreters. I made long distant phone calls to every state to find out the current belief system and medical outlook on “how to raise a deaf child” and was referred to the John Tracy Clinic, Hear Indiana, Shhhh, and AGB. I did the John Tracy Clinic parent coo respondent “courses” and copied signs from the “Joys of Sign Language Book” while scotch taping the signs to my walls in our apartment. Our daughter went to speech therapy and I learned signs on my own. Something was missing though…the signs weren’t grammatical and speech was not working. I hadn’t met any deaf adults! Where were they? Riley Hospital offered nothing to us. No support for meeting the Deaf Community. We discontinued our daughter’s hearing tests there after it was determined our services were no longer welcomed nor needed because we didn’t want a hole drilled into our child’s head with hopes for hearing.
In the meantime, our baby was growing and increasingly bored and just looked into space for anything stimulating to catch her eye.
When my husband, (Purdue Graduate), and I were denied ANY sign language resources and support from Purdue’s Speech and Hearing Clinic….our persistence paid off!!! Despite the “professional” advice from the clinic…we found the Deaf Community and learned ASL. I drove from Lafayette to the deaf school in Indianapolis four days a week. My daughter was 12 months. I drove home at the end of the school day with my eyes burning and dry. This was a LONG day often followed by migraine headaches but well worth every cent and every minute. My mind racing with excitement to teach the ASL signs to my husband after he would return home from work or Purdue classes. Each new sign was documented on the refrigerator as we were finally able to communicate with our baby girl! A connection was made and we started feeling closer as a family! My sadness towards having given birth to a deaf baby was no longer a daily struggle. She would be just fine as long as we kept her within the Deaf Community.
Our daughter is now 12 yrs old and functioning on a “normal” level academically, socially, emotionally and intellectually! She is a bright little lady with much to offer the world! She is happy and doing well in life despite what we were told from THE CLINIC at Purdue. (Chasing down a deaf employee in the halls of the clinic and having a meeting WITHOUT an interpreter paid off! I still have the notes from that meeting and the deaf man advocating ASL and not the implant.)
Ironically, this meeting took place in a waiting room in Purdue’s Speech & Hearing Clinic while the snooty secretary informed me of no sign language resources and passed judgment and “abuse” issues onto me for wanting to learn ASL as a way to raise our daughter.
I wonder how many other parents went through such discrimination before giving in to the “professionals” who seem to have it all figured out when it comes to hearing parents giving birth to deaf babies!
I hope that Purdue’s clinic will change their philosophy and mission…PLEASE listen to the Deaf Community and parents having walked the halls of the clinic seeking to learn sign language with OR without the use of the implant and speech. I was encouraged to purchase musical toys and put the volume on high with hopes that my daughter would some day hear any level on the auditory scale. Instead my husband and I raised our hands and learned ASL!
The “professionals” seem to be the ones that are handicapped!! A speech referral is easy to make! Driving to the clinic is easy! Being a deaf child and having to focus on hours upon hours of speech and then constantly expected to improve is not easy and is abuse! Expecting parents to shut up and follow the medical advice of speech therapy is unethical! If a mother of four raises each of her children to be disciplined the same way…resentment and ineffective results occur. Why? Because each person is different and has different ways of learning. Each person has ethical rights to be offered accommodations, respect, and love through acceptance. The same goes for the Deaf. Deaf people have the same emotions as hearing.
The Deaf Community is beautiful and no medical “professionals” will ever understand by remaining one sided. I hope something good will come out of this weekend at Purdue!
May the force be at Purdue this weekend and touch a “professional” to change his/her way of belief.
My Story
Hello, My name is Shirley Egbert. I have been sitting, watching and reading about languages. I am the person who is quiet. I agreed and disagreed with some comments out there without saying anything out loud. My husband, John started Deaf Bilingual Coalition, I stand by him with FULL SUPPORT. I totally agree with this philosophy. With my past experience growing up, I came from a large Deaf family of eight deaf brothers and sisters. My parents are deaf; I have used American Sign Language all my life. It was what we have always used to converse among each other. I have many hearing cousins who do not know or are eager enough to learn signs and a few relatives using signs. I remember very well with my family reunions, my brothers and sisters ended up gathering together, signing away our conversation alone. My parents used to be in the photography business, taking pictures of weddings, graduations, and families, etc. My father developed and printed many pictures for people in town. My mother did all the oil coloring on pictures. They taught me well about communicating with hearing people via note writing. They told me to do that when they stopped by our house for all kinds of business communication. I attended to a residential Deaf School in North Dakota. As I entered for the first time, I was shocked that they forbade signing. I asked my parents why. They said, “Just do what they ask us to do. It is the rule.” I spent practicing my speech too much in intermediate classes, sitting down with earphones on my ears, hearing the hearing teachers and DEAF students in classes speaking from books, learning NOTHING!! Luckily I could read words in books. If one used signs, s/he would be punished putting inside coat closet, use black mittens on his/her hands, or teachers would throw erasers or chalks. I remember well how I hated using my speech. I could not speak “school” right and had to practice this a thousand times and still could not get right, but a teacher loved to hear my speech over again and again “ Pretty Please”. For what! That teacher did not know ASL…. If she had this signing skill, she could have explained how I placed my tongue right for “K” for sKool. Every week on Mondays, after weekends, we needed to write our weekend activities on the boards in English class. Teachers would correct our grammar without explaining why, because they did not know signs to help us. I remember I had quite good English grammar skills comparing with other students in class. I did not understand why. I used to feel bad about myself, feeling that being hearing or least hearing people were better. Eventually I learned English on my own and realized that being hearing is no better than being Deaf. I began to feel disgusted at my former school for not having to “ teach, learn and lead” the deaf children to do likewise. As I looked at 1950’s class picture with me in the front left, I noticed that they tricked us with “No Signing Contest” and marked out those who signed so in words they forbade signing in school! They forbade communication among students and teachers. This not only happened to me but to my parents. So did with our children where there was too much emphasis on hearing. And today, it still does. Enough is enough. I support ASL for deaf babies and children—the Human Right to communicate and learn freely. So they can teach the others to learn and lead.
Hello Shirley,
I used to be a student at NDSD, and yes, I remember teachers really, really, really emphasized us to use voices all day. I still have the school reports from them explaining about my speech skills a lot and very little on my reading and writing areas. Disgusting!
Comment by jrb — August 28, 2007 @ 8:33 pm
jrb,
What year you attended NDSD?
Shirley
Comment by agbellinfo — August 28, 2007 @ 8:53 pm
Shirley, thanks for sharing your story which is quite similar to mine. It can be hard for many other people–hearing or even Deaf–to realize that even Deaf people from Deaf families did experience Oralism and was also hurt education-wise from it. Yes, Oralism was everywhere, in practically all Deaf schools, even if the Deaf school allowed signing on the playground or in high school (usually Sim-Com). And now, we realize, in spite of increasing recognition of ASL nowadays, Oralism still reigns, which is called neo-Oralism: CI/AVT, mainstreaming, and genetic engineering. Oralism affected and is affecting ALL of Deaf people and our families–Deaf or hearing.
Comment by Ella Lentz — August 29, 2007 @ 12:03 am
Hola Shirley,
What a heartache story about your personal experience of being suppressed from using your native language at the school. I definitely understand what you have been going thru your education. Is that the NDSD engaged in the “Combined System” like signing and oral speaking? Or just several classroom teachers impose their personal ideology of what the deaf students ought to communciate?
Which class subject you were forbidden from using ASL? Language Arts? English?
Where are you in the class picture? Is that you in the dark shirt (black) or the little one with full smile standing next to the teacher? I am kinda curious what do you look like in your younger days. Smile!
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
Comment by RLM — August 29, 2007 @ 4:41 am
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading as it is important for people to share their experiences.
I did an oral history for one of my classes by interviewing this 2nd generation Deaf professional, who attended this formerly oral deaf school where my late grandma and great uncle were a product of. She suggested me to set up a videotape while I interviewed her and I thought great, it’ll be easy. It turns out that a 20 minutes interview on videotape took me hours to translate from ASL to English — a 10 page paper. Even though ASL is my first language and I am richly immersed into it, I saw how beautiful ASL as a language is and I was proud of this language.
What touched me the most about the interview is how this person, like many other deaf children, was forced to wear a speech power button if they are caught signing. It was a culture shock for her because she signs at home.
Comment by Katherine — August 29, 2007 @ 6:57 am
Shirley,
MY GOSH!!! I have goosebumps looking at these pictures– “No Signing Contest”… MY GOSH MY GOSH… Pictures are very important to social change. Societal sympathy crested when pictures of the African-American girl attending a de-segregated school was attacked, and the Vietnam War picture with the naked and burned girl running. Perhaps this is it…
This is staggering for me. Wow…
Shirley- it was great working with you last summer at the protest. I have so much respect for you and your family.
Comment by DE — August 29, 2007 @ 7:01 am
Hi Shirley,
Its me Jodi, Your son, Clyde’s classmate from MSAD, I was looking around for a deaf’s right in placing my son to go to austine ( deaf school) in Vermont within this state law sucks big time. we’re still fighting our rights. I guess every state’s law has different methods. anyways, I see this old picture wow in your times, we sure are spoiled nowdays
Comment by Jodi Walshvelo (Hoffman) — August 29, 2007 @ 7:55 am
I love old photos, especially those that show a historical time, attitude and event. Those close-ups of the blackboard SAYS IT ALL.
It reminded me of the Indian schools that were established by state governments on reservations. White teachers came to these schools to teach the native American children. Immediately they discouraged native talk: “talk like a white man!” was often heard. Native children were made to feel that their family language, their own culture and even their appearance was undesirable.
The list of names and marks how many times they were caught using sign language really got to me.
Comment by Dianrez — August 29, 2007 @ 11:05 am
Wow Shirley!! First thing I want to thank you for standing up strong support your wonderful husband, John NO MATTER WAHT!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your story about your life! WOW very interesting!
Hugs, Shawn
Comment by ASL Risen — August 30, 2007 @ 11:18 am
Your story caught my eye along with this powerful photo. Thank you for sharing your sentimental story.
I am amused about the contest! We will never see no speech contest in all schools for the deaf. My father who also grew up oral said that schools for the deaf back then were for teaching speech after Clerc’s time.
Now, there is a growing number of schools for the deaf that are gearing toward bilingual approach but there are more mainstreaming programs where one deaf individual (a solitaire) is becoming too common. What can this be done? My dream is to revist the PL-94 law to make it mandatory that every deaf child in the mainstream has the opportunity to experience ASL environment and peer interaction. IMO, this is worse than oral schools whereas they are able to be acquainted with each other.
This photo is definitely unforgettable!
Barb
Comment by Barb DiGi — August 31, 2007 @ 5:46 pm