Jane K. Fernandes wrote about DBC and Deafhood
There is a journal article published in Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education available online on July 28, 2009. Jane K. Fernandes and Shirley Shultz Myers wrote an article titled, “Inclusive Deaf Studies: Barriers and Pathways”.
Myers and Fernandes also wrote an companion journal article, “Deaf Studies: A Critique of the Predominant U.S. Theoretical Direction” along with the article mentioned above.
Here is the abstract from Inclusive Deaf Studies: Barriers and Pathways.
Joining scholars signaling the need for new directions in Deaf Studies, the authors recommend a more expansive, nuanced, and interdisciplinary approach that encompasses the many ways deaf people live today. Rather than destroy Deaf culture, this approach is the only realistic way to allow it and Deaf Studies to survive. Deaf Studies today continues the focus of founding scholarship on native White American Sign Language users, now head of a powerful hierarchy through which they receive privileged status at the expense of deaf people with different language backgrounds and races or ethnicities. This marginalization is unsustainable and impedes knowledge. A companion article (this issue), “Deaf Studies: A Critique of the Predominant U.S. Theoretical Direction,” analyzes this reactive stance that is oriented by a focus on audism built on the concepts of phonocentrism and colonialism.
This article was submitted first on November 14, 2008, and was revised on April 27, 2009. The article was accepted on June 11, 2009.
If you are interested to read the full journal article, you may go to the website and purchase the full article for $22.00 dollars (one day access only), and you can download the PDF file. Click this link here.
I am going to share some of the excerpts from the article.
“the two articles reveal the predominant direction in Deaf Studies and in the core White Deaf community as reactive toward changing historical conditions and the variety of deaf lives today.”
“What remains in the shadows is the fact that the pride of ASL users has evolved into a powerful hierarchy through which native White ASL users and those born into Deaf culture receive privileged status at the expense of other deaf people.”
“Audism and a U.S. version of Deafhood are particular strategies to maintain a core Deaf culture.”
“The core White Deaf community might expect conformity to its standard and place themselves at the head of a hierarchy of a language and cultural group they claim is for all deaf people.”
“Whether Deafhood is an open process resulting in a variety of ways to be deaf or in a single outcome has confused many. However, two examples make apparent this confusion in the U.S. version of Deafhood. The first one makes clear issues of race and exclusion intertwining with Deafhood in the 2006 positions of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) board on Deafhood and diversity. The second one reveals division and confusion that came to the fore in 2008 concerning a U.S. organization called Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC).”
“One organization with a number of members also presenting on Deafhood (Sewell, 2008) in the United States is DBC (2008). Mostly over the summer of 2008, reports in blogs and vlogs of communications from and within DBC indicate tense cultural processes at work that explain the fracturing of the coalition and eventual collapse. (Recently, some members of this group have created another organization, Audism Free America.) “
“in the Milwaukee article, a DBC spokeperson [sic] indicates there is more to DBC than the promotion of ASL alone: “The two groups will bring their competing agendas to Milwaukee in separate national conferences this week: one that views cochlear implants and auditory-based therapies as a way to give children access to the wider world; and the other that sees them as unnecessary and an affront to who deaf people are as individuals… . We’re concerned about the audism behind the implants—this belief that hearing is more advantageous than being deaf. It’s the same as racism,” she said… . “You’re only learning how to speak, to regurgitate the words, and only a small percentage of deaf people are successful at that..”
(The link to Milwaukee article is: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel : AG Bell and deaf coalition conferences differ on cochlear implants )
Amy Cohen Efron summarizes:
It is important that we keep abreast of all of the journal articles written about our Deaf history, and sometimes they only can present one perspective. We do need several articles to bring in different perspectives because most scholars do rely on journal articles than blogs or vlogs available online.
Best,
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 10:20 am
I want to know why she wrote: ‘white Americans’
White? Just white? Not black, Native Americans, Hispanic, or Asians?
August 5th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Good question, Deb Ann. That’s Jane Fernandes’ definition of White Deaf Americans. Please purchase the article and you will read why she describes this group.
Here’s the excerpt:
“The language and culture of White Deaf Americans have been the standard against which deaf Americans of color and all other deaf people are measured. Deaf people of color and other deaf people who become accepted as members of Deaf culture have to demonstrate ability to use the standard or universal White Deaf ASL. Only rarely do we read of ASL linguists documenting ASL as used by Deaf communities of color or scholars looking into other language and expressions of culture of other deaf people. Carolyn McCaskill and Ceil Lucas have undertaken with several other researchers—graduate research assistants Roxanne Dummett, Joseph Hill, and Randall Hogue; Robert Bayley, University of California, Davis; and community representative Pamela Baldwin—”The Black ASL Project.” They are interviewing over 75 people in six states (North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Virginia), either older than 55 years or younger than 35 years, about their school experience and sign language use. This is a move in the right direction.”
August 5th, 2009 at 10:41 am
And what are YOUR thoughts on the articles and allegations contained therein, Amy?
August 5th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I wrote a summary at the bottom of my entry that there is a need for more scholarly journal articles to be published to bring in different perspectives. My thoughts are that Fernandes is bit out of touch with current events and what Fernandes wrote can make several people upset, including me. Is it because of semantics, her choice of words, or is it her own perspective that does not ‘jive’ with the Deaf community or especially me? I encourage you to download the full article, or try to obtain a copy, then we all can discuss this further. I cannot republish the whole article because of copyright restrictions. I only can pick excerpts from the article. What are YOUR thoughts, Observer?
August 5th, 2009 at 10:57 am
The criticism is off the point. Segregation was an unfortunate occurrence in America’s history, but the blame for segregation in America cannot be put at the feet of White Deaf Americans qua White Deaf Americans. Segregation in America was caused by larger social processes. A more impartial study would, I am confident, show that White Deaf Americans moved faster than mainstream society in getting beyond the social factor of race, and deserve to be congratulated (instead of criticized) on being more open-minded and moving faster than others in making social progress and moving toward greater racial integration and racial harmony.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Amy: so, you, as a *white* Deaf woman, are upset with her descriptions of the Deaf community of which you are a part of?
Can you point out anything that is not true? I read your excerpts, and I’m nodding my head in agreement. It is hard for us as white Deaf members of the community to admit that the social hierarchy of the Deaf community really favors white people.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Thanks for leaving the comment here Brian. It makes sense that the Deaf community as whole are more tolerant and accepting our own differences, especially the younger generation who born after 1960’s are striving for positive changes.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I copy and paste something from an article.
“One organization with a number of members also presenting on Deafhood (Sewell, 2008) in the United States is DBC (2008). Mostly over the summer of 2008, reports in blogs and vlogs of communications from and within DBC indicate tense cultural processes at work that explain the fracturing of the coalition and eventual collapse. (Recently, some members of this group have created another organization, Audism Free America.)“
Where did you get your information from?
August 5th, 2009 at 11:09 am
CNW,
Thanks for asking me this question and I am not upset with Fernandes’ description of the Deaf community and its social hierarchy. I agree that there is social hierarchy based on the color of person’s skin. I have seen it in Atlanta, Georgia and just attended Georgia Association of the Deaf. It bothers me that there is no racial diversity at the conference and I made a motion that GAD to do something for racial diversity at this time. The motion was passed unanimously. I am wondering if it is not about ‘white Deaf Americans’, and I truly think it has to do with educational opportunities, family support and language support. Indeed, there is a wide gap, and that needs to be further examined within our community.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am
FloridaGirl,
This excerpt was from Fernandes and Myers’ journal article and I wanted to share that with you all. It is not my information, and it is from the article that was published recently. You may download this article for $22 dollars as I did this morning.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Im sorry but JFK is using her personal vendetta in a scholar attempt to get back at those who stopped her from ruining Gallaudet and thus the whole Deaf community. She is NOT being scholarly at all in these quotes. Granted, I should read the whole article and do a more thorough critique. That is if nobody else is doing that.
I sure do look forward to the forthcoming critique tho.
I can’t believe she credits the “white” Deaf Americans with that much privilege and power! Nah, we are far far from having those. This is a classic example of Deaf against Deaf due to colonialism. And to have allowed this to be published exhibits how scared the folks up there in the ivory tower are of this clear, paradigm shifting, Deafhood thinking emerging recently.
How sad and irresponsible. I am also very disappointed that Shirley Schultz Meyer is involved with this. She is a CODA who used to be married to a Deaf Mexican-American from a largely Deaf family, and now is married to another CODA. She’s also up there in the ivory tower, so she may be scared also?
Oh well, power to the freedom of speech, I guess…I just don’t see any benefit of this supposedly academic distraction from the Deaf grassroot movement supported by many many hearing allies–parents, interpreters, ASL students, CODAs, etc.
Onward and upward we go undoing the shackles of Oralist colonialism and embracing all positive and possible experiences of being Deaf to transform our culture of survival into a culture of nuturing all Deaf babies of ALL colors into vibrant, healthy, wise and audism-freeee individuals!
August 5th, 2009 at 11:16 am
What the hell? White Deaf Americans?!? Damn, that is racism and audism combined together. JKF needs to get her head out of the clouds and get back to reality.
I couldn’t purchase that article to read further so I don’t bother with it since it would be one time. Still, I really don’t appreciate how they label most of us. Not so good. That pisses me off to no end because that could cause more further division among us like others still do. *sighs*
Insane Misha
August 5th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Ella,
Thanks for leaving the comment. Yep, there is a big difference between two groups, academic and grassroots. It is important to keep that in mind that whatever we publish our blogs and vlogs are examined by scholars who can publish these journals. We need to do something to make them accountable, by publishing more journal articles to counteract what Fernandes and Myers wrote. I encourage you to download this article and review it. Share this article among your peers as well.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 11:22 am
People in the know who experienced what happened behind the scenes during the 2006 protest know that the Gallaudet administration at the time (in 2006) lobbied *against* the candidacy of Glenn Anderson to be Gallaudet president. In fact, it was we protesters who fought against that injustice and fought in favor of better racial integration, not the other way around.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Insane Misha,
I understand how pissed off you are about Fernandes’ choice of words that can cause uproar, especially White Deaf Americans. I think it has to do with Deaf Americans who have more privileges due to their educational background, language fluency, and communication skills (also the ability to hear too…) – Also the hierarchy has lots to do with hegemony within Deaf Education too. We need to recognize these issues and have all of us to discuss this. Why did Fernandes write that? Personal vendetta as Ella states? Let us examine this further, and I still encourage you all to download this article, or try to obtain a copy as you can.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Right, Brian that the protester fought hard against the injustice and favor of better racial integration. My question is that why was the majority of the protesters wanted Ron Stern, and not fighting harder to re-enact Glenn Anderson to be one of the candidates OR stop the process? That’s something we need to examine this little bit further. Why did Gallaudet Administration used hegemony to prevent Anderson to be one of the candidates? That’s something we all need to ponder.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Amy,
You are a real “godsend” to the entire deaf community by keep looking out for us what is going on within the deaf community.
I have to read the entire scholarly posting before making any further comments.
No questions about JK playing the “race card” to undermine the effectiveness and success of deaf community as what Ella and others pointed out.
I gotta go now. Smile.
RLM
August 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Thank you and I found out this article from Facebook when one of my friends quoted something from this article. It piqued my interest and I went ahead purchased the whole article. Fernandes and Myers wrote TWO articles in that journal and I am curious about the second article. It is important for all of us to read and then discuss together.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Amy,
Could you possibly make your blog posting to be available for the instant FB posting?
I will do the posting of your blog on my FB for others to read your blog entry later today.
We always dearly love you, Amy!
Thank Brian Riley for his comments along with others. I could not imagine what we would do without
Brian Riley. LOL! Br is our real staunch advocate of the deaf community. We owe him greatest gratitude from the heart of deaf community.
We did endlessly pointed out to the likely racist scenario within the selection process.
JK herself did emphasize her whiteness on her CV while she applied for the Gallaudet presidency. Didn’t she?
We could use that kind of evidence against JK.
RLM
August 5th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
RLM, let us first read the whole article and that will give you a better frame of reference to raise points against Fernandes/Myers’ article.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Amy, some of the protesters advocated for Stern as the best choice among the three finalists *after* Glenn Anderson was eliminated from consideration. He was part of the final 6, not the final 3.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I only know final 3 candidates, and how do you know that Anderson is part of the final 6? Is this a public information or do you have an access to this information? Who are other three including Anderson? There was a group who are trying to stop the process, but it didn’t happen.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
The six semi-finalists were announced to the public when they were chosen: Scoggins, Marshall, Anderson, Fernandes, Stern and Steve Weiner in April 2006.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
That’s news to me… do you have a source that these six semi-finalists was announced? I never knew of Scoggins, Marshall and Anderson were considered as semi-finalists until today.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The few excerpts that were quoted here had me feeling incredulous. JKF said that?? You’re right, we should all download her article for $22, however, there will have to be some other opportunity in the future for me to read it than spend that much money on opinions that borders on ….
What we definitely do NOT need is more division. Pointing the finger at familial white Deaf Americans and blaming them for events that were visited upon us by an older system isn’t the way to go.
There is a groundswell of liberal, inclusive and cultural appreciation among Deaf Americans that is apparently not being given any recognition. I am one of the considerable many who rooted for Glenn Anderson. Also there are many who are excited by Native American, Hispanic and multicultural ideas.
For the racist few to be given notice and those who are not, being overlooked, this is an outrage.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Hi Dianrez,
Yep, when I was reading this article, and I was surprised with Fernandes’ choice of words and there are some areas that she raised interesting and valid points. Racism is very prevalent within the Deaf Community, and we do try to do something about it today. When you are able to obtain a copy elsewhere (you are close to Gallaudet, wink…) and you will be interested what Fernandes and Myers has to say.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Hi Brian,
You forgot Dr. Roslyn Rosen. She was one of the
six ones.
Best,
Jean
August 5th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Now, conflicting information —- Rosen, Scoggins, Marshall, and Anderson? That’s seven. Please provide source of information. I need facts, Jean and Brian. Thanks!
August 5th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Brian,
I heard that it wasn’t the color of Glenn’s skin that got him removed, but his age, since he’s in his late 60s.
Ali
August 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Allison, we will never know what was the reason for Glenn got removed. The gist of this blog entry is for us to understand that there is a ’scholarly’ journal article written about what was happening. We need to publish more journal articles which presents different perspectives.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
“Audism and a U.S. version of Deafhood are particular strategies to maintain a core Deaf culture.”
I completely disagree with this statement. We do not use them as strategies to “keep our culture alive.” Does Black/African Americans use racism as a strategy to maintain their culture? No. We do not use “Audism” as a strategy at all, but use it as a way for people to understand the real experiences of deaf people with those who oppress them just like racism. Again, Deafhood is another way for us to gain our understanding of our own beings like how Black/African Americans examine their black consciousness to gain a better understanding of their beings. We do not need strategies to maintain our culture because there are many Deaf children who are eager to learn Deaf culture/ASL. We allow our language/culture to be exposed to those who are yet exposed like social events and schooling. She implies that all we do (blogs/vlogs on audism/deafhood) are a part of our hidden agenda and, unfortunately, her perspective oppresses the true perspective of our culture. While she mentions that Deaf Studies programs that need new directions, I am eager to read it because that is the topic of my dissertation.
Thank you for sharing.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Amy –
I reviewed (and rejected both times, on the grounds that the article was very poorly written and based on highly inaccurate and biased misreadings/understandings of Deaf culture and Deafhood — unfortunately, I was outvoted by the other reviewers, which is why this piece of tripe was published). You should have seen the original version — it read very strongly like a personal vendetta against Deaf culture and community!
Just as on example of how poorly this article stands as scholarly work — they cited Barry SEWELL as an AUTHORITATIVE source on DBC — when we all know he was deliberately twisting the facts on DBC. If they wanted to state accurately what DBC was about, they should have cited the DBC website directly, or contacted DBC founders. Now, I would not have had a problem with them citing Barry as an example of how DBC was PERCEIVED by some people — this is what blogs and vlogs are good for — using as examples of how people are thinking and perceiving, but much of the time, they cannot be used as scholarly works.
I personally am very disappointed with the Journal of “Deaf Studies” and Deaf Education for publishing this piece of dreck.
Thanks for letting us know about this. I haven’t gotten my copy of JDSDE yet and didn’t realize it was out already.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Hi John,
I am curious about the topic of your dissertation. You brought up an interesting point about using audism/racism or deafhood/black consciousness movement as a strategy to maintain culture, is not the way to do that. What are the factors that takes to maintain cultures? I know that American Sign Language is a main factor, which influences the culture and identity of the individual.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Comments:
1.) Thanks for sharing, Amy.
2.) Yup, we all need to read the ENTIRE thing.
3.) I agree with the others that racism is a problem throughout our entire society at large, it is not the deaf community’s fault SPECIFICALLY. It is in our country’s history. It is a fact that non-whites start out at a disadvantage compared to their white counterparts.
4.) Still, everyone who has commented so far is white…as far as I know (guessing here)…maybe we need input from someone who is non-white…maybe they will point out stuff that we all have missed… I personally have seen a black kid discriminated against in a deaf school, but it was because the teacher was a racist SOB…it had nothing to do with him being a “white native ASL user”.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Hi Don,
Thanks for sharing the background information about how this journal article was published. I checked online and there is a long list of names under editorial board.
Here’s the link: Editorial Board
Is it editorial board’s responsibility to check the source of the article, or is it the writer’s. It is peer reviewed and are u saying that the majority approved this article? That reeks hegemony, mmm? If they approve Fernandes/Myers articles, then how about you? How about Dr. Gertz? How about Dr. Bauman? To refute to this article?
Thanks for leaving the comment and your thoughts of this.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Good points/comments, JJ!
I wish I could provide the entire article, but I cannot do that without breaking any copyright laws. I encourage you, the readers, to pay $22 dollars and share this article with your peers. You can get 22 friends, and have them contribute one dollar each, so that they can review this article.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Hi Amy,
I do not have an exact title of my dissertation, yet, but it focuses on all Deaf Studies programs in the U.S.. I want to analyze all programs’ curriculum, successes/challenges, faculty, and outcomes of the graduates and compare them with cultural studies programs. In Massachusetts, there are six colleges/universities that have Deaf Studies Programs and I have encountered many graduates of such programs who are not qualified yet work in the community. And who suffers the most is Deaf consumers. In addition, I do not see Deaf people going into such programs. My goal is to identify the best model that serves the best interests of Deaf people and readily produces a qualified workforce. That’s a start for me at this point.
I am in my first year of my doctorate program (Ed.D).
There are many ways to maintain our culture – social events, schools, clubs, organizations like NAD, and media. These are our social spaces that provide a high exposure to Deaf culture and ASL. If we do not have any social space, it will be difficult to maintain our culture. We do not use words or concepts to maintain our culture. JKF used “identity politics” as a strategy to maintain her position, but that’s not how we do it in our culture.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Hi John,
I am intrigued to what you just said, “We do not use words or concepts to maintain our culture.” Could you please elaborate on this and you gave me one example how JKF and others used “identity politics” as a strategy. Do you also mean audism and deafhood as ‘words or concepts’? I wanted to make sure I am understanding your position.
Thanks!
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
No problem.
What I meant is that my interpretation of JKF’s point is that she thinks that the reason why we come up with a concept/word (audism/deafhood) is that we need a strategy to maintain our culture. It is as if we are going to lose our culture and we need to come up with something as a strategy. It’s not like we sit and say, “Oh, let’s use audism/deafhood and that would be our best strategy to counter those who oppose.” Both words/concepts are fully researched and shared with us because they help us to understand who we are and our relationships. Maybe I misinterpret JKF, but that’s how I see it. I just have a feeling that she dismisses these words/concepts as cheap ones. I hope I make sense here.
August 5th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Excellent dissertation topic, John! I look forward to reading your dissertation. If I may ask, where are you studying (I’m assuming somewhere in Massachusetts… Boston University?)?
August 5th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hi John again!
Thank you so much for your clarification. I appreciate you sharing your interpretation.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Amy, smile.
Raychelle, I study at Northeastern University and I will definitely share it when I am done with it, smile.
August 5th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
It surprises me that JK Fernandes decides to write this article and hurt the entire deaf community as a whole in attempt to take revenge on the protesters who have committed a lot of vendetta on her in 2006.
Fernandes could have filed a civil lawsuit against Gallaudet University and the Board of Trustees for failure to control the students that had a protest upon the campus on a daily basis against her. Since she has not done that, it’s clear she hopes to divide the entire deaf community with her article so much more.
In this case, I should say that Fernandes should not have written this article and be thankful that she has a job in another college and far away from the deaf community.
August 5th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Greetings everybody. I fonud it rather comical to read above stated defensive comments posted by so-called “die-hard” deafhood militants who did not refrain to comment until after they’ve read the entire article. Talk about panic mode. It’s also a classic example of how people like to react without understanding the wholes (holism) beforehand.
Let’s exercise our memory cards and take a hard and long look at our brief history with Deafhood, DBC and AFA. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that they were always in such a rush to accomplish something without first laying the foundation, understanding human’s natures as well as understanding potential consequences afterhand. Upon seeing how these people lacked strategic planning skill I preached this subject to death.
And now this? I could careless about the panel’s choice of words, that of white ASL-users. It’s probably the truth if one really got to know people that are behind deafhood movement. Ella said it many times and will say it again. We all have to think alike in order to work together. It’s been her lecturing point since I joined DBC. I was told many times that I’d have to agree with her sticking points or be rejected. Naturally I choose rejection every time she said it because such demand works against “tolerance” and “diversity”, which we seek in this world. I’m very pleased to see that a panel of scholars recognized this very problem enough to write an article about it. I guess it takes a panel of scholars to shake their (deafhood, dbc, afa) world since it was not enough for a simple person like myself to propose changes in the way we treated our very own people.
Nobody in this deaf community tried to emphasize the importance of treating each other equally with respect regardless of our race, gender, background, education, and social upbringing more than I did. The way I sign it in my vlogs, using my left hand and five fingers to identify 5 different groups and bringing down the top level in order to seek equality in all of us has made a huge impact in the vlog sphere and rightfully so. It’s a popular sign today in the vlog sphere because it’s what the deaf community want as well. So, my hat is off to this scholars panel for finding the courage to tackle the problem.
This incident is also a historic one. If we think about it, it also mean we, common people like myself, are no longer voiceless and powerless. It also mean we’re no longer binded by hopeless hope while the powerful few control us like puppets, steering us into directions that only serve the interests of powerful few. The power of media, as in vlogs and blogs are now in the hands of people who were once viewed as the weak and the powerless. The day of reckoning has arrived, thanks to this panel of scholars who demonstrated enough courage to tackle the problem once and for all.
Thanks Amy for bringing this important information to our attention. I’ll purchase the copy and secure it for my history book since it has been written.
Barry Sewell
August 5th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Hi Steve,
I encourage you as I did with others that we need to read the whole article first before we come up with conclusions. I downloaded another article written by Myers and Fernandes “Deaf Studies: A Critique of the Predominant U.S. Theoretical Direction” which is also published in a same journal. There is a note which says,
“Although there has long been cross-fertilization between European and American sign and culture study, the current article directly expresses only the authors’ U.S. frame of reference. We also wish to disclose that we are both women, both White, both with a PhD, both able-bodied, both straight, and both middle to upper-middle class. In addition, Myers was raised Christian and converted to Judaism, and Fernandes is Christian. Myers is a hearing daughter of ASL-using deaf parents, and Fernandes is a deaf daughter of a deaf mother and hearing father, who was raised to speak English and learned ASL in Iowa at age 23. In April 2006, the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees appointed Fernandes as the university’s ninth president. Her appointment evoked a protest that lasted over 9 months until the Board rescinded her appointment before she had taken office. Myers strongly supported Fernandes’ selection as the ninth president and spoke out in opposition to the protest.”
That disclosure may be interpreted as no conflict of interest, or a personal vendetta.
This article emphasizes Deaf Studies and how it had changed, and how it impacts on Deaf Community.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Hi Barry,
Please let me know if you did download this copy, and tell us what are your thoughts after reading the article in entirety. Did either Drs. Myers or Fernandes ever contacted you about their article?
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
You do not have to pay to download the article to get a copy of it. You should be able to download it for free from any university library, or a local library can get a copy for you through an inter library loan.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Thanks for bringing that up, Deb. That is another way for all of us to obtain a copy. For me, I am able to download right away from my home computer, and it is true that we can get a free copy from any university library. Thanks for the tip!
August 5th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I could not help it but remembered how Jane Fernandes was treated by ASL power houses back then when she was rejected for being “not deaf enough”. I wondered if she would have survived the historic onslaught if the term ‘deafless’ was invented before hand because it’d have given her an identity to work with. Back then she did not have any identity to hold onto while people mocked her as “not deaf enough”. These ASL-power house took advantage of her lack of identity to drive her out. Who would have thought that a simple person like myself could have made a major impact in the deaf community simply by inventing ‘deafless’ and published the idea via v/blog sphere. It’s one small example of we could do for our society. Perhaps Jane Fernandes is going to write an article about it next year? LOL.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Barry… the “not deaf enough” was a red herring for Gallaudet Administration used to confuse the media. The underlying factors that the community did not embrace Fernandes were her administrative style and institutional hegemony which was reinforced during these times. The selection process was flawed from the beginning and the involvement of I.King Jordan with the selection process was questioned. So, it is not about ‘not deaf enough’.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Everyone,
Please try to stay on the topic and it came to my attention that the discussion had gone little bit off the tangent. We need to discuss how we can present ourselves on scholarly journals with various perspectives. Our contributions on blogs and vlogs are important, and we cannot ignore the opportunity to share our perspectives in scholarly journals.
Thanks,
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Hi Amy,
I sure will share my thoughts after I’ve read the entire article. I’m at the ranch in Nevada where my wireless signal isn’t too great. And no, there is no landline to the ranch. I’m using the mini wireless notepad to keep myself abreast of current events while I’m sitting out here in middle of Buckaroo Country. I see many black angus (cattle) right out of the window right now as I type. No sign oc civilization for many miles. Just the cows and my family in this beautiful valley. Use your imagination!
No. Neither Dr. Myers nor Dr. Fernandes contacted me. If there are any other individuals from the panel they certainly did not contact me either.
Thanks for asking,
Barry
August 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Well Done, Amy and John P.
Well, I am glad to see that many scholars recognizing many cultural and minority studies that provides the curriculums at any Universities.
During the Iran protest in order to the election problem, I saw an Iranian scholar doing the interview for the NBC Nightly News and he’s working in the Iran Studies program at the University of Michigan (I think). I find it very intriguing because I thought it’s great to know that many scholars to research and recognize that any foreign studies that needs to be expanding and understanding better for this world. It is what an analogy to the deaf studies at Gally, perhaps, at CSUN. It has nothing to do with the disability, at this point, it’s about the culture.
John P., I am eager to read and learn about your dissertation. Is it possible for you to post your dissertation in your blog after your professors approve it?
August 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I want to clarify one thing. The two articles that were written by Dr. Jane K. Fernandes and Dr. Shirley Shultz Myers (one article has Dr. Fernandes listed as the first author while the other article has Dr. Myers listed as the first author) are still not published in an issue of the journal. But, they are now made available for access to the subscribers in advance of the actual publication in paper. Since I subscribed to the journal (by paying the annual fee of $114.00), I have the access to both of the articles.
The article “Inclusive Deaf Studies: Barriers and Pathways” is 13 pages long (including references) and has Dr. Fernandes listed as the first author. The other article “Deaf Studies: A Critique of the Predominant U.S. Theoretical Direction” is 20 pages long (including notes and references) and has Dr. Myers listed as the first author.
I encourage the readers to hold the judgment on the articles until they find the time to read the articles wholly and carefully. We should not rely on the quotations as given by the blogger alone to form opinion on the articles. I read the short article somewhat too fast and I felt that the quotations did not give the whole picture of the article.
For example, here is quotation that I thought is a very important point:
“However, we believe the intentional combination of ASL and English, when done by a person proficient and fluent in both, represents a hybrid form of communication, if not language, that should be explored as a new possibility rather than dismissed out of hand as impossible.” (Page 4, second column)
The point of the article seems – I have to keep in mind that I read the article too fast that I did have time to digest the information from it – to be that the studies and researches should not be stuck in the binary paradigm of ASL and English and also the binary paradigm of deaf and hearing and they should be liberated to explore other possible directions.
Unlike Dr. Donald Grushkin, who is a member of the editorial board of the journal, I thought that the articles are good and that they are appropriate for publication in the fine journal.
Thanks to Ms. Amy Cohen Efron for informing us of the article.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
August 5th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Ohhh… I can imagine the serene background where you are right now! I find this amusing that neither Drs. Myers and Fernandes contacted you, and it makes me wonder about previous journal articles written by many people did not verify the information? That’s something we should ponder.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Hi White Ghost,
You are welcome and that is something we all need to encourage others examine more about our culture in American Deaf Community.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Thank you Joseph,
Yes, there are two articles published in one journal that should be released very soon. The one which I wrote about on the blog is Dr. Fernandes’ and the second one is from Dr. Myers. Both collaborated together to write two articles. I read both of the articles, and indeed it requires a lot of time to digest. I took out some of the excerpts (I did say excerpts) that captured my attention, and I want the audience to have the opportunity to get copies of these articles as soon as possible. It is important that we all read articles in entirety and discuss from there.
I want to discuss a bit about the quotation that you presented about a hybrid form of communication should be explored a a new possibility. I do want to question that because simulatenous communication (hybrid form of communication using English and American Sign Language) was used for a while since Total Communication adopted in Deaf Education. Lots of research had shown that Sim-Com did not provide equal access to both languages, and usually one language will suffer. I wonder why Fernandes did not want this issue be dismissed, but explored? Has it been explored a lot?
I am sure that there is a struggle of recognizing American Sign Language as a bona fide language in Deaf Education due to institutional hegemony and the point of the article is to encourage other options instead of recognizing ASL? That is something we all need to have serious discussion with scholarly research available.
Thanks for leaving your comment on my blog.
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
It is not absolutely necessary to contact the bloggers and commenters for verification if the authors can get the information from their posts and comments on their own.
Here are six references (out of 28 references) relating to blogs and comments that were used for the article “Inclusive Deaf Studies: Barriers and Pathways”:
Deaf Bilingual Coalition (2008, May 8). About the DBC. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://www.dbcusa.org/index.php/About-Us/.
Egbert, J. (2008, July 1). DBC: Confusing messages [Msg. 95]. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.mishkazena.com/2008/06/30/dbc-confusing-messages/.
Florin (2008, July 1). DBC: Confusing messages [Msg. 192]. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.mishkazena.com/2008/06/30/dbc-confusing-messages/.
Hokocan. (2008, July 1). DBC: Confusing messages [Msg. 94]. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.mishkazena.com/2008/06/30/dbc-confusing-messages/.
Mishka, Z. (2008, June 30). DBC: Confusing messages. Retrieved March 16, 2009, from http://www.mishkazena.com/2008/06/30/dbc-confusing-messages/.
Sewell, B. (2008, July 2). Hocokan, The Center. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from http://hocokan.blogspot.com/.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
August 5th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Hi again, Joseph.
Thank you so much for providing these references. What do you think of these references? Do you think it should be done out of courtesy notifying these bloggers that Drs. Myers and Fernandes will cite them? Dr. Fernandes did mention about Milwaukee newspaper, and why didn’t she include that on the reference list?
That’s something to ponder…
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Hi Amy —
It is hegemony in action, and it is not.
To explain, the editorial board are all the people they currently have available to review an article. However, not all of them review every article. The way it works is that when someone submits an article, they appoint one of the senior editors to be the “action editor” for that article. Then they select two or three reviewers (like me) from the editorial board to review the article. (Reviewers do not know who the other reviewers are, or who wrote the articles). My understanding is that they try to select the reviewers based on their particular qualifications — for example, Reviewer A could be strong in statistical analysis to verify the statistics presented in the article, Reviewer B could be strong in cultural studies, and Reviewer C could be strong in linguistics (of course there can be overlaps, such as Reviewer B could also know cultural studies as well). While the reviewers do try to analyze the articles based on their merits, it is impossible for us to fact check every reference and citation in the articles — it is pretty much up to the writer of the article to present the facts honestly — but reviewers can utilize their knowledge of the literature in the area to determine whether the facts are being presented accurately or not.
With our review, we are supposed to recommend whether the article should be accepted as is, accepted with some revisions, accepted if MAJOR revisions are done, or rejected for not conforming to academic standards or other reasons. Then they average our scores, and if the scores are high enough, they accept the article or send it back to the author (authors are given the feedback from the reviewers to include in their revisions — Fernandes chose to ignore almost all of my feedback, because I represented exactly what she is writing against, basically).
Ok, so now you have that background. Now, why I say it could still be hegemony in action is that not all the reviewers are Deaf-centered (could be audiologist, psychologist, very Hearing-centered person, etc.). Take a look at the editorial board list. How many of them would you say have a good, strong Deaf center or are strongly supportive of Deaf culture? So, if I was reviewing along with two other reviewers, and I was the only Deaf-centered one, then my feedback basically can get dismissed by the audist hegemony supported by the other reviewers and/or the Action Editor.
Hope that helps and gives you some more food for thought.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Amy,
I understand the importance of verifying information from sources prior to publishing somethng. However v/blogs are public records and they are accepted as recorded documents/datas these days. Whether any information needs to be verified or clarified would depend largely on whether the provided information is clear enough and has enough details to stand on.
If not, then the process for clarification and verification takes place. I know for a fact that my v/blogs are always lengthy and detailed. I remember your piece of advice some time ago. You told me to keep my message short. But for some reason I didn’t listen. LOL.
Barry
August 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Hi Don,
Mmmm….. that is definitely a smorgasbord for thought! What if a deaf-centered writer decided to submit the article for publication, and do you think the action editor and reviewers may reject this article? How many articles were rejected or sent back for major revisions? If the writer does not accept feedback, then why is this article been published? Also, how can we define a ’strong Deaf center’, since it can be a relative term. Could you please elaborate on that? Are there any other available journals that comes with a ’strong Deaf center’?
Thanks for enlightening comment.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Hmmm…
NTID is having a summer camp devoted to the minorities (African Americans, Asians, and Native Americans) next week, after this week’s TechGirlz’ Camp, to show the colored minorities that there are ways for them to succeed despite their skin color. So JFK may have a point… that ASL may be used the white deaf people a lot, due to the backgrounds (income, education, etc.) In no way I am being a racist, but, the deaf minorities are no different from the hearing minorities. When I attended NTID in 1980s, there were FEW deaf African Americans and FEW deaf Asians… mostly deaf whites. I don’t know about Gallaudet U. though.
It would be interesting to gather the statistics on the colored minorities using ASL though. Audism does not really play a role in this whole thing, I am sorry to say… that is my opinion alone.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Barry,
Hahaha, it is okay for you to not listen to me and you can be quite verbose which is okay with me. I am interested how the message been presented to the general audience without driving them away. It applies to all of the blogs/vlogs. Scholarly journals or research papers are bit different.
Amy
August 5th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
HI Karen,
Thank you so much for leaving this comment and yes it should be interesting to gather statistics on minorities, and how many are using ASL. That is something we must examine. If we look at the DeafVideo.TV, the diversity is quite limited, and do you think it has to do with language, socio-economic levels, education, and so fourth? I believe so. Not everyone have computer or have skills with blogging/vlogging. So DeafVideo.TV and DeafRead represents a very small segment of Deaf Community. DeafVideo.TV is used by predominantly ASL users.
Mmmm… I appreciate you sharing your opinion!
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Hi Ms. Efron…
Although SimCom (simulatenous communication) is not always a great pedagogical tool for many deaf children in the educational settings, it is still used among some deaf people outside of the classroom. This is a valid communication system that they use in some social activities. For example, it is not uncommon that some or few deaf children use SimCom with their hearing parents. What Dr. Fernandes and Dr. Myers seem to try to say is this: “Look at them. They are human. They do exist. They use SimCom. Why don’t we study them as well?!” They don’t want these users of SimCom to be ignored, belittled, converted to pure ASL users, or be treated as outcast all just because they do not fit the nice, romantic view of ASL world.
Thanks for allowing me to make comments here.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
HI Mr. Riolo,
Good point taken! Do you think some individuals who use SimCom are proficient and fluent in English AND ASL? Or they are fluent in English with supported sign speech? That’s something we need to ponder. Is SimCom widely used in our Deaf Community especially these individuals who graduated from schools, do they continue using SimCom? Lots of questions that we need to explore.
Thanks again for coming back and leaving comments here too.
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Don G,
Naturally! You laid it out beautifully and explained the “works” of reviews and how it’s processed. However, one has to understand the targeted audience of a proposed article prior to determining where, how, and when to have their article reviewed. There is no shortage of reviewer like yourself so it’s not surprising to see an article like this cleared for publication. Heck, my nearest ranching neighbor from where I’m sitting right now, approximately 5 miles south of us, is a reviewer as well and works for University. He has a deaf brother who does not sign at all. You see, there is no shortage of reviewers so when you decide to write an article, choose your reviewer carefully and wisely. I call it strategic planning. It’s not that difficult.
Barry
August 5th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Following up on the library contacts for download, I found that most are European universities; the publication seems to be intended for a world market.
None of the Rochester, NY or Washington DC universities are listed, so access will be more difficult in this way.
This brings up another concern: that the status of Deaf thinking and movement is accurately represented in the world stage. A very good point raised in this blog is that we need a good cross section of Deaf researchers and thinkers to present a balanced view that represents all ethnic and racial views in the Deaf community.
Until the full text of the articles becomes more widely available…
August 5th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Blah. Blah. Blah. You should know that the best way to dignify insubordination is to ignore and not discuss JFK works. She’s full of ignorance and can bring you down in name of irrelevant semantics. Focus on what what needs to be cleaned up in your own yards. There’s now too much scandals exposing “Deaf” weaknesses.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hi Dianrez,
Are you serious that Rochester, NY or Washington DC are not listed to download this article? Oooooo that is very interesting. Yes, how can we achieve a good cross section of Deaf researchers and thinkers to present a balanced view? What is balanced views mean to a specific group of individuals? That is an relative term again.
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I appreciate Joseph’s comment about SimCom. My kids who are mainstreamed use SimCom a lot of time and they are thriving academically… I know a lot of deaf people who use SimCom and they are doing very well in their lives… hmmm. Which brings me to this… a lot of time is focused on ASL and oralism/CIsism (for the lack of a better word), very little is focused on SimCom, Cued Speech, etc. In other words, they are somewhat dismissed in favor of ASL or/and oral approach.
It would be interesting to gather data on the deaf people who attended hearing universities and deaf universities, which used ASL or SimCom more, etc.
Ahhhh… statistics! ;o)
August 5th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Deaf Anonymous,
This comment is not productive to this discussion, and you tell me what do you mean by clean up in your own yards? What kind of information that can be helpful for all of us to examine our issues and come up with solutions that may help all of us?
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Hi Karen,
Also that brings us another issue to explore… are Deaf minorities fluent in ASL or semi-fluent because of what they have learned in their schooling? What caused that? That’s something we need to examine. Why is there a social divide between white Deaf Americans and Deaf Americans with color? I know about the history itself, and how can we overcome that? What are ways that will narrow the gap?
Amy Cohen Efron
August 5th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Dianerez — I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Many American universities subscribe to the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, and anyone affiliated with the university can download it for free. If the university doesn’t subscribe, then a copy can be obtained for free through an interlibrary loan — usually they copy the article and send it through email as a pdf. Every university in the Washington DC area has access to this journal.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
The prevalence of racism exists in all societies. That’s one indisputable fact, and it will always exist no matter how hard we try to avoid it. We can always try to soften the blow by giving everybody politically correct names such as “pigmentally enhanced” or “little people.”
Whites are being discriminated against in South Africa and Christians are being discriminated against in Afghanistan. At least I take comfort in knowing racism in America is not sanctioned by the government unlike certain areas of the world, but we got a long way to go when it comes to total eradication of racism in the U.S.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Hi again…
I want to make a very quick comment before I retire for the night.
About quoting comments and blogs, while it is always nice to inform the writers that their blogs or comments will be mentioned in an article, it is not absolutely required. Not all authors do that for all the references that they use for their works. Imagine the enormous time that an author has to spend informing 100 people for using their references in the author’s work. It is up to each author.
About the Milwaukee article, because the article was mentioned by the commenter within her comment, the authors were not obligated to give the citation for the article. They could but they were not required. If they mention the newspaper in their own article, they could have to provide reference.
You have good questions about SimCom. These questions should be explored, not to be dismissed.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Gotcha, Karen M.
That’s what Dr. Fernandes has been trying to say…..as you mentioned that there were more white students, few African-Americans and Asian-Americans who were at NTID.
Visibility……It is what it is…..
Don’t forget that there were about 3 percent Christians in Iraq. It’s pretty small.
I don’t think it is about the religion or racism. It’s about the statistic that I hate the most! Hummm….
August 5th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
This is a reaction based on Joseph Riolo and Karen Mayes’ comments above.
The hybrid form of communication known as SimCom is generally disliked by many in the ASL community despite the fact that there are deaf/hoh people who sim-com.
I can speak from personal experience. We are a Deaf ASL signing family. Our daughter who has a CI uses sim-com predominately with specific individuals. Not because she has to shift to this mode in order to be understood, but because she likes to voice and sign. She tends to voice everything and adds ASL sign vocabulary here and there. However, she prefers a fluent ASL interpreter in her classes. I think Jane K Fernandes is noticing the trend among the newer deaf generation who uses sim-com with certain individuals and in certain settings. This, in my opinion, warrants further exploration and this may be what Jane is trying to do.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Amy,
When you asked the question,” if Simcom is used in OUR deaf community especially from those who graduated college”. You are making JKF’s and Meyers point for them. The point is it doesn’t matter whether you are part of the “deaf community or if you graduated college. It only matters that these are still people worthy people or cannot be forgotten.
It’s sounding like the truth is starting to hurt a few of you.
I think they are right on the money with the articles and that they have definite merit.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Deb and Amy, the link in this blog was to Oxford Journals which offered a direct download for a one day membership of $22, or an indirect download through a list of mostly European universities.
Not mentioned was possibly downloading through a subscriber account in a local library which Deb mentioned.
Next time I am at the library, I’ll bring a printout of the Oxford page and ask for an interlibrary loan download of this article. None of the public libraries in Rochester are subscribers. RIT library is a subscriber, so that will require a visit.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Hi Amy –
I did submit an article a while ago written from a Deafhood perspective, and it was rejected. I don’t think it was perfect, and I would have accepted good feedback, but I do know that it was well-researched and supported with citations (unlike JKF’s article, which had many missing citations or poorly-chosen citations which did not serve to support her case). So, yes, it can and does and has happened.
I don’t know of any Journals that have a strong Deaf center, unfortunately. I have been thinking for a while that there is a need for one with such a center.
Now, how to define “strong Deaf center”… I would say basically this includes:
1. Support ASL as a language, and birthright of all Deaf people, not a “tool”
2. View Deaf people as positive, healthy beings, not “handicapped”/disabled
3. Examine Deaf issues from what Deaf CAN do, not what Deaf can’t do.
4. Resist the imposition of Hearing-centered norms and values on Deaf people, especially where those norms and values run directly counter to Deaf values and norms.
Just off the top of my head, but I would guess this sums it up.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Through my school, I was able to view the article and it was an interesting article. My position on Shirley’s and Jane’s statement on “strategies” remains unchanged and they are mistaken for stating, “If these strategies did not exist, possibly something else would come to the fore to help Deaf culture’s struggle to maintain itself.” They refer “these strategies” to audism and deafhood and our culture has been successfully maintained for many decades, even centuries before these terms emerged a decade(s) ago.
Other than that, there are many things that I disagree with Jane and Shirley but one thing I do agree with both is that we should include broader studies on deaf people with diverse background. But, my question is that is it a real problem that Deaf Studies programs fail to offer courses to study deaf people with diverse background? It would be nice if Jane and Shirley could provide supporting data to back up their argument.
It’s apparent that they oppose the idea that Deaf people are a “single” entity (like the concept of essentialism) and I am annoyed by how they frequently use “White Deaf” in almost every argument. Because they do not have evidence to back up. While it is true that I don’t see much diversity in some entities, just because there is a lack of diversity in some areas does not necessarily mean that the community must be dominated by the White Deaf ASL users. They should hold their judgement until they have a real analysis on this issue.
Inclusion has been the main theme in that article, obviously. Albeit she mentions race several times, when she brings up inclusion she usually refers to those who do not use ASL because she mentions that a lot in her arguments.
Anyway, it’s still an interesting article.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Why hasn’t JK’s “whiteness” on her CV to the Gallaudet presidential screening committee being explored so far?
JK had to confront her own superiority of being white in the first place when she submitted her CV (curriculm vita).
The city of Worchester was a bastion of white racism where JK grew up in. She never had formally denounced the existence of institutional racism during her Gallaudet leadership. Worchester was very blue-collar city at that time.
JK never issued the formal statement to explain why she put “white” on her CV. She chose to quiet down her submittance.
Anyone whose emphasized greatly on the issue of race reflected the true self.
RLM
August 6th, 2009 at 3:22 am
I am wondering about the timing of this article and if it has anything to do with the current presidential search. These articles may be trying to encourage us all to be conscious of diversity as we search for the next president.
Most of the possibilities that come to mind are white men.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:17 am
RLM,
To call JKF a racist because she grew up in a city where you think racism was rampant is ignorant. By the way, it;s Worcester and not Worchester. I happened to spend a lot of time in the city of Worcester in my younger years. That city is a melting pot of all races and still is. I am sure there were some racist people there just as there are where you are from but no one is calling you racist.
You are way out of line on your thinking. Not surprising though.
Curious,
I do no not believe the unconscious radicals will ever let Gallaudet become diverse. That has been proven over the years.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Hmmm… It was interesting to see mixed reactions to your blog. I thought that Jane’s summary was good, throwing light on the colored deaf minorities. It was her perspective and it had some ground… I did not sense any hostility from her in her writing. We have to admit that the majority of us do not know much about deaf minorities and that we have no idea about how much of us use ASL or SimCom, etc. DeafRead and DVTV are NOT representatives of the whole deaf community, we tend to forget this fact.
I see that some people are extra sensitive, quick to judge, which is sad, since I strongly believe that everyone is equal and have a right to their opinions and at the same time, it would be nice if we all are able to agree to disagree respectfully.
Peace out.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Amy:
In responce to your question #28 in regard to the post #27:
Over 33,600 alumni and students saw the information with the photos of candidates right there in Tayler Mayer’s GALLYPRESWATCH.
Jean Boutcher
August 6th, 2009 at 10:29 am
JKF has a small and very loyal following of African students and African Americans from when she was at Gallaudet. She may be drawing upon their feelings in her remarks within these two articles and is to be commended for doing so.
However, the two articles, from what I have seen in a preliminary reading, confused the issues of racism in the Deaf community with “deafhood”, Deaf Culture and the majority white Deaf population. They seem to her to be inseparable and that “Deaf white people” are generally racist. Whether that is accurate or not will bear examination.
I would still prefer to see issues about racism being presented by d/Deaf people of color, and see what their opinions on Deaf Culture are as it relates to race. Any other person speaking for them would need to step aside.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Dianrez,
I agree with you that it would be appropriate if an issue of racism within the community is addressed by d/Deaf people of color. What the articles lack is empirical research on racism, sexism, and linguicism in the community so an analysis is needed.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Good morning Amy. Thanks so much for bringing this article to our attention! I definitely plan to pay my $22 and download it. I’d just like to mention about the people who are on the editorial board for this journal. I know 5 of them personally, and of those 5, two are deaf. Both now work, or have worked, at Gallaudet for many years, and published many scholarly articles and books. I have heard about 6 others who are very, very famous and respected in their fields with decades of experience of work with deaf people of all ages. Notwithstanding Dr. Grushkin’s objections to the contents of the articles, which I feel represent his purely political and personal biases rather than objective analysis, the fact that both articles were accepted for publication by this sterling editorial review group says a lot for the articles’ credibility.
I agree with your original points: (1) professionals with a Deaf-centered approach need to conduct their own research and publish their own scholarly articles and books to counteract the medical model of deafness, and do it with sufficient integrity to be accepted for publication. (2) everything we blog and vlog about is very, very visible to the general public and can be used as a reference. *Especially* those v/blogs and comments that show disrespect, insults, belittling, offensiveness, rejection, and exclusivity rather than calm, respectful, inclusive, reasoned discourse. As we’ve learned from Fernandes and Meyers’ articles, choices of words and nuances are important!
I hope this isn’t getting too long, but I want to share one story. Twenty years ago almost to the day, I attended a deaf culture workshop at Gallaudet. A famous Deaf presenter showed a pyramid of the hierarchy of Deaf culture, with ASL-using Deaf of Deaf at the top, then deaf of hearing who use ASL, then oral deaf, and then hearing. The Deaf of Deaf at the top, of course, are the most valued by the Deaf community because they are presumed to transmit Deaf cultural values from one generation to the next.
Another pyramid showed the hierarchy of hearing people, with hearing at the top, then oral deaf who speak and hear pretty well, then signing deaf who speak somewhat but don’t hear, and last, deaf who don’t sign or speak. At the time, I accepted that information as God’s honest truth. But now, I’m rethinking that whole concept. Deaf of Deaf on top — says who? Says them. I never even questioned it! Now, especially after working in the field for 20+ years, and seeing the diversity of deaf people, I have lots of questions. And I see those Deaf of Deaf people on the vlogs every day, and I have to wonder if they are really representing *my* best interests, or if they are more interested in preserving their positions of authority at the top of the hierarchy.
Then again, I think the majority of us are just living our lives and don’t care a fig about any hierarchy at all.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:50 am
dang it, I need an editor! Correction #1: Of the two deaf on the editorial board, ONE has worked at Gallaudet for many years. Correction #2: on the hearing hierarchy, deaf people who sign ASL exclusively and do not speak are at the bottom. (if you can fix those for me without this correction, please do so!)
August 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Don G -
Your definition of a Deaf-centered person is great and I want to add some to your definition:
– Take a proactive role to dispel any myths or false ideas about Deaf Culture and ASL.
– To ensure that Deaf people’s cultural views are well-represented in academic discourses.
That’s my thought.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
To Curious Eyes,
You wrote, “the fact that both articles were accepted for publication by this sterling editorial review group says a lot for the articles’ credibility.”
The fact is that one of the three members of the reviewing group did not accept the article’s credibility.
And in the article:
Deaf Bilingual Coalition
One organization with a number of members also pre-
senting on Deafhood (Sewell, 2008) in the United
States is DBC (2008). Mostly over the summer of
2008, reports in blogs and vlogs of communications
from and within DBC indicate tense cultural processes
at work that explain the fracturing of the coalition and
eventual collapse. (Recently, some members of this
group have created another organization, Audism Free
America.) A well-known deaf blogger who goes by the
name of Mishka (2008) reported contradictions among
various public messages and blogs:
This is not true that DBC’s eventual collapse and this information was given by Sewell, a person with no college degree! And eventually he apologize the turmoil he created with his Vlog/Blogs site.
DBC is alive and growing, http://www.dbcusa.org/
This article doesn’t have the integrity to be placed in Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education and the ramification of this article if published in Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education will be seen.
John Egbert
August 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
One more for Curious Eyes,
It is now 2009 and I don’t think hierarchy is an issue. It is hegemony.
Who are the people that dominates how Deaf people should learn their language and education?
At 1880 Milan, 100% of the people that decided for all Deaf people to learn oral only method were hearing.
“The Deaf problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of hearing thinking that created them.”
Anonymous
Again, it is hegemony that still exist for the Deaf culture, reality, community, education.
The Black culture, Women culture, Gay culture have overcome the hegemony oppression.
But this article by Jane Fernandes continues to subtly divide the Deaf/deaf community. And should we advocate telling the people that hegemony towards the Deaf community is normalcy?
John Egbert
August 6th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
This link was first published in the Gally-L listserv and has relevance to what JKF said in her paper.
http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2009/08/deaf-deans-lawsuit-survives.html
I honestly don’t know what to think.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Thanks, Amy, for bringing up the JKF and Myers’ articles. I do intend to read them.
To Curious Eyes,
To quote you, “Deaf of Deaf on top- says who? Says them…And I see those Deaf of Deaf people on the vlogs every day, and I have to wonder to wonder if they are really representing my “best” interests, or if they are more interested in preserving their positions of authority at the top of the hierarchy.” You have expressed what I’ve been saying for a long time on the deaf blogosphere, thanks.
I would be really curious how those d/Deaf of a different race, of different ethnic backgrounds, even of different language other than English and ASL (immigrants to this country, e.g.), perceive what has been a predominately white Caucasian Deaf angle on the bilingualism of ASL and written English. In the hearing world, we know about spoken Spanglish and African-American “black English”, and these minorities in turn see white Americans as gringos and “honkys”, among other terms to be sure.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Huh oh to Dianrez’s comment about the lawsuit.
I see that the problem is bigger than we actually believed.
Ta Da… what goes around comes around, or karma… either way.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
As for Dianrez’s comment on the lawsuit…..
I think Dr. Fernandes shunned from her reputation at Gallaudet and got a job at Univ. of North Carolina at Ashville. She survived from the brutal protest and came clean. I don’t think she would want to file the lawsuit against Gallaudet and get nasty. That’s why she got a fine job at UNC-Ashville.
I think that’s a smart move……
August 6th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Mr. Egbert, I’m glad to hear that DBC is alive and well. I do support its mission that hearing parents of deaf babies be informed and educated about the benefits of ASL, along with whatever languages, amplification, and services they wish to use. Members of DBC attended the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EDHI) conference in Dallas, and their information about ASL was reportedly well received. Parents and professionals desperately need balanced, practical information about ASL, the benefits of deaf culture, and the capabilities of deaf people.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I’m wondering whether JK and SSM had gotten permission from the Black Deaf community to speak for them. Like Dianrez said, I would prefer to hear from the leaders of the Black Deaf organizations on whether they agree with JK.
I get the feeling that the racism card is simply a tool used by JK to further divide the Deaf community. If so, that tactic sucks big time. If she is able to stoop so low as to prop a strawman argument using the Deaf card, then what is to stop her from doing the same with racism?
That is not to say racism doesn’t exist, but when the ASL community is fighting hegemony, where would they find the time or energy to police how ASL is being developed or used by other minorities? They have their hands full with ASL being reduced to mere communication tool or option as it is.
Food for thought.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
JP in #83:
Excellent summary about your points of view on the article of Fernandes and Myers. It is my understanding that Prof. Dr. Caroline McCaskill, an African American, has been with the Department of Deaf Studies Program at Gallaudet for about a decade or thereabouts.
Jean Boutcher
August 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
As a Latina, I was disgusted with the right-wing’s attack on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Senate Confirmation to the Supreme Court. “No, Newt, “Reverse Racism” Doesn’t Exist And, If It Does, It Isn’t Racism.” by M.J. Rosenberg. (http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/28/no_newt_reverse_racism_doesnt_exist_and_if_it_does/ ).
Denials play a huge role in dealing with Racism. Whoever is thinking that racism doesn’t exist in our Deaf Community obviously isn’t a deaf person of color. And if you even think we are “ahead” of what the hearing community knows, and or is doing, hey – knock it off – that kind of thinking will get you nowhere – we are in fact, very behind. Just last week I attended the National Black Deaf Advocates Conference. Where any of you there? If you had been, you would have heard first hand, stories and examples of how very much ALIVE racism is in the Deaf Community.
It’s unfortunate that this article written by JKF chooses to zero in on audism and Deafhood, from a divisive standpoint rather than an educational one. There are a great number of white Deaf folks who fully understand white privilege, and while the article talks to white deaf power using ASL, it clearly lacks explaining the big picture in terms of how with our American history in dealing with Racism, it centered from a very important factor – Language.
“Language is influenced by social values and beliefs and is reinforced through the words and images used to convey information and messages that ‘political correctness’ alone cannot address. The language of people, media and policies perpetuates racism. Media filters to us what we hear and read and see. Presenting only one side of a story influences what we think and believe – this perpetuates racism. We need to think about what we see on television and read in the newspapers and challenge those messages that present only one side of the story. We must be cautious of the use of ‘expert knowledge’ and question on what basis does this person claim to possess ‘expertise’ – who has assigned this title, and whose interests are being served. Restrictive government immigration policies, which have recently been amended, have become increasingly more restrictive, punitive and serve to legitimize ethnic, cultural, racial and religious discrimination. The language of Racism is both overt and covert.
According to Kivel (1996), “Because concepts of whiteness and race were developed in Christian Europe, references to whiteness are imbued with Christian values. We have ended up with a set of opposing qualities or attributes which are said to define people as either white or as not white. http://www.angelfire.com/dc/antiracism/
Certainly, poor black and Hispanic families experience the same kinds of stressors that poor white families experience: e.g., housing problems, the dangers posed by living in high-crime neighborhoods, stretching the limited income available to buy food and pay for other necessities. But poor families of color experience a stressor that poor white families do not experience: racism. http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/04/12/poverty-stress-and-achievement-what-role-does-racism-play/
Perhaps this is a good time if any, to have healthy discussions about white deaf privileges, racism, and how language plays a role. But more importantly, what I wish to see as a result of this discussion, not about what JFK said or didn’t say, not about the GU Presidential candidates, not about individual’s names here, what I REALLY would LOVE to see stated are: tell us, what are YOU (yeah, you! the individual reading this message!) – -What are YOU doing to help eradicate racism in Deaf America?
Hmm?
August 6th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
The sociological model of deaf hierarchy somewhat is very outdated in many ways. That is very 60s and 70s which not really reflect the current model of deaf community nowadays. Major and rapid changes within the deaf community at large from the sociological studies of deaf community since the 1960s.
JK somewhat manipulated the small group of African and African American students for her political benefits which really doesn’t represent the majority
of African and African American students and faculty members at Gallaudet
University anyway.
JK and her hubby and children’s residence in Annapolis, MD area were not the fine example of racial neighborhood inclusiveness. How come didn’t JK and her family live in the racially mixed neighborhood within the DC area in the first place. JK had to walk and practice what she espoused her personal beliefs on societial and racial homogeony/inclusiveness. Just a purely political showmanship on her part!
I grew up in the racially mixed neighborhood, then my parents decided to move to the countryside for my deaf mother’s personal safety. I know pretty much about the seriousness of racial issues. I had an African American babysitter when I was an infant and toddler. I understood the issue of race at very early age, but doesn’t make me an expert on race issues anyway.
Many of you, commentators left real great thoughts and rebuttals. John Ebgert surely left many brillant counterproductive points. Jean Boutcher, too. Thanks to Dianrez for submitting the article from the Gally L-Serv.
RLM
August 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
As a UFG supporter, I concede that Dr. Fernandes and Dr. Myers have brought up many valid and thought-provoking points.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Hello One Voice,
Which of the points that you feel strongly about? It seems like the UFG conflict has not really resolved, and some people do harbour some strong unresolved feelings. Am I correct?
Amy Cohen Efron
August 6th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Sheri, the article does not address the issue of correlation versus causation on the issue of race, and therefore doesn’t really represent a satisfactory scholarly effort. The issue was already discussed years ago in the book “Dancing Without Music,” and the Fernandes-Myers article actually represents a step backward in untangling and understanding the issue, in my opinion.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:49 am
RLM and Riley,
You continue to make JKF’s and Meyers point. Good work. The first sign of a racist is when they bring up the fact that sometime in their life they had some personal contact with an African American to justify why they aren’t a Racist.
We all know Riley comes out of the closet whenever JKF does anything, good or bad.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I’ve finally read the entire article and done it with great interest and care. Yes, word by word. Instead of rambling here I intend to post my own blog on this subject for all to read.
However I have several points I’d like to make here. Some of you jumped the gun as soon as you read “white”, failing to realize that the writers meant “origin sources” of the so-called deaf culture and language, what was seen as “ideal” to the “white deaf society”, whom continue to thrive today as a form of hierarchy at the expenses of other deaf people with lesser privileges. Now, note this, lesser by whom standard? Lesser by the standard of self-appointed hierarchy society. This article was written with mind to communicate the very message towards the hierarchy society rather than other societies.
In response to John’s comment regarding DBC as a thriving movement, I’d ask why they’ve not created a new chapter since they collapsed. The last time I checked there were only two registered DBC chapters. Would I call it a thriving movement? Call it thriving? By whose standard? By hierarchy society’s standard? Perhaps so. There were at least 38 States interested in becoming a DBC chapter when I was part of DBC. You can imagine my response when I saw only two chapters in their web site recently.
DBC may continue to survive, not thrive, because it was only made of very few core members therefore it’s relatively easy to maintain such status. However when one takes a pulse of deaf community’s support for DBC it’s nearly dead. Sorry for imposing a small dosage of reality check into the picture.
John, I apologized because you whined. My apology is not there for you to sit on, which you did and never responded. In order for an apology to be effective the other side need to respond, acknowledge, and even grant forgiveness. In this case it never happened. You refused to respond. And now you want to glorify yourself over my apology? Sorry but I think I’ll take that apology back.
Amy, in short, I just wanted to say that I was very impressed with the article. I searched hard and log for certain line(s) that I’d want to disagree with but could not any. Much of what was written was what I’ve fought for since day one so I’m very pleased to with it. This article emphasized us as human beings, something I’ve preached every where. It also emphasized on the importance of recognizing different modes of communications and wealth of diversified cultures rather than limiting ourselves to what’s ideal to the hierarchy few. I’m truly impressed with this article. I really am and felt inspired to create my own blog, which will also verify and confirm the contents / references that were made from my v/blogs. I did not see any incorrect information therefore I do not have any concerns.
Regards,
Barry Sewell (DR Hocokan)
August 7th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Bill, you don’t seem to understand what I wrote in comment #107. Secondly, RLM and I did not discuss the issue, and I don’t agree with him on the point to which you refer.
August 7th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
To Barry Sewell,
Regarding about responding to you,
I had a very good reason.
Read the book, Mask of Benevolence and you’ll understand why.
John
August 7th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Barry, I agree with you… the deaf hierarchy, especially with colored minorities warrant something to look into, as well as different communication modes. I look forward to your vlog about it.
Amy, thank you for sharing it with us.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
John,
I’ve read that book and it reminded me of you. Ever wondered why I always say that the words are like mirror, a reflection of self? Works every time.
Barry
August 7th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Amy Cohen Efron here…
Everyone, I am amazed by the number of comments, especially the insightful, enlightened, and well-thoughtout ones! There are some comments that I am not very comfortable to approve due to personal tit-for-tat or showmanship. It is getting tiring.
This article really brought out a lot of reactions from the community, and some did agree to what the article is saying, and some did not agree.
What I truly think is that this article does cause some kind of reaction to make all of us to think how to counter-act or argue the points which Fernandes and Myers made, and make us listen to others who agree with the points which Fernandes and Myers wrote.
Granted, that there are two ‘camps’ and most of us are ASL users, and we do have completely different perspectives. Some may argue dysconscious audism is taking place, or some may argue about what kind of reality we are in right now.
Please try to refrain ourselves from writing unproductive comments that are personal in spite for tit-for-tat. It is not helping with this kind of discourse.
Let’s me say this… it is my opportunity to present this information on my blog, because I feel it is very important to bring this article out for everyone to read and discuss.
There are thousands of scholarly journals had already been published in many decades, and we haven’t had an opportunity to truly discuss about what is the writer’s intent and what kind of information we are absorbing. Then, why this article caused so much reaction for some people, and not as much reaction for other people?
To summarize this with my question for all of you…
Is our current Deaf Studies curriculum reflects to our existing community today? Please explain.
Should we examine closely to the Deaf Studies instruction to be closely aligned to cultural model or medical model?
Then, is the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education is based on a medical model? What about Sign Language Studies (SLS journal)? Should we submit more Deaf-centered articles to International Journal of Cultural Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and International Journal of Language and Culture?
Why are we so fixated with Deaf-related journals because it comes with its own hegemony, and medical connotations.
That’s something we need to ponder…
Amy Cohen Efron
August 7th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I would like to take this opportunity to answer your though-provoking questions.
As for why some or few people reacted strongly to the articles written by Drs. Fernandes and Myers, my theory is that the mention of Dr. Fernandes’ name alone is enough to cause people who do not like her to react in negative way. Other possible theory is that their criticism of DBC and AFA is unsettling for the people who are heavily involved in these organizations.
My opinion to your second question about the Deaf Studies curriculum is that it does not reflect the whole deaf population. It is definitely slated toward the ASL or natural sign language users, ignoring the rest of the population. It is almost as it is practicing ASLism.
In response to your third question, I don’t believe in the exclusive or where only one of two models can only exist at a time. I believe that it is possible to have both models to co-exist, similar to the yin-yang concept. It is entirely possible to discuss both models. As explained in the paragraph, the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education (JDSDE) does that.
In response to your next question, JDSDE embraces both cultural and medical models. It provides articles that cover the cultural perspective as well as the medical perspective. On the other hand, Sign Language Studies (SLS) (I also subscribed to it) limits itself to the cultural and linguistic models. Given that the scope of SLS is limited to natural sign languages, it does not make sense for the journal to cover other fields that have no relationship with the natural sign languages. For example, a journal for mathematics will not include articles about psychology. However, I detected some weak signals of hostility toward other communication modes among some articles in SLS.
It is always good idea to seed other journals with the articles about the deaf population. But, these articles should reflect the whole spectrum of the deaf population, rather than limiting themselves to the ASL users only. After all, the ASL users do not have the monopoly over the whole deaf population, as few Deafhood proponents attempt to do.
We have SLS that focuses mostly on the linguistic and cultural models and we also have JDSDE that covers both cultural and medical models. I don’t see what is the problem with fixating on them. Perhaps, I am misunderstanding your question.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
According to my comment #53, that’s my point, Amy. I am very glad that the thousands of Scholarly Journals around the world have considered and presented the general cultural and foreign studies programs at any universities. Especially, the deaf studies in which is unique because the cultural studies program is now considered that the deaf studies program is part of the cultural program.
Although, there are some struggles nowadays and we need to remind ourselves that we are not alone.
Barry! Oh my favorite comedy vlogger…..Thanks for the greatest laugh. I am looking forward to read your b/vlog.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
In this economy I don’t like spending $22 on an e-journal article when I have more pressing expenses. However, I’m still pursuing the articles via a university library and this will take time.
I agree with JPR’s observations regarding your questions, Amy. Just because Fernandes had penned this article is bound to bring out opponents who were against her appointment at Gally and they will continue to oppose anything she writes anyway.
I humbly request that readers of the article read the article as though it was written ANONYMOUSLY before passing judgment.
And I can add a resounding yes to the fact that Deaf Studies rarely take into account a diverse d/Deaf population who implement a number of communication methodologies besides ASL. For example, SimCom is often looked down upon by those who use ASL only. Try putting yourself in the shoes of one who uses SimCom or who uses lipreading and spoken English. Every d/Deaf person’s background/education is different and “Deaf experts” cannot just go around slapping only one cookie-cutter standard on every d/Deaf person.
Thirdly, I’m not familiar with the two publications that JPR mentions, but for scholastic journals to ignore one part of the spectrum of the d/Deaf experience is to end up ignoring SOMEBODY deaf or Deaf.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Amy, just a short note to say that I’ve posted my thoughts on this article at deafread. Look for it there anytime now.
This blog has been very informative. I find it very helpful to know how others view this article. Thanks again for bringing this matter up. I’ll continue to follow this site.
Barry
August 8th, 2009 at 6:17 am
You know what?
I think ASL is a fine language… but it’s not for my children who prefer SimCom, even though they have been exposed to ASL at sufficient time for them to become fluent at some degree. So from now on I am going to let them know that it’s OK for them to adopt SimCom over ASL. If they prefer mainstreaming over the “world class” deaf school, they need to know that there’s not anything wrong with them. The spectrum of deaf community is rich, with hidden gems that are not part of ASL. A lot of us have to offer and we need to be able to contribute… there’s no need for the glass ceiling for us just cuz we are not ASL enough (or deaf enough, for that matter.)
I appreciate Ann_C, Joseph, and WG’s comments… that the journal needs to have a balanced approach at the medical and cultural opinions. I see it’s something that many of us overlook completely, hence strong reactions.
August 9th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Audism and a U.S. version of Deafhood are particular strategies to maintain a core Deaf culture.
Where is the difference between ‘American Deafhood’ and ‘British Deafhood’ ? which was the concept origionally. The writer was a Brit, who actually failed to get British deaf inviolved at all and couldn’t sell his concept there.. Both Audism and Deafhood are not followed in the UK at all either. Americans seem to have taken deafhood where it was never intended to go… and added their own interpretation. I’m a bit concerned racial issues are going into the articale’s interpretation, deafness, the basis of deaf culture, has no care for colour, race, or religion.
August 9th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Amy and other interest readers,
There is another blog related to this issue that have interesting commenters,
http://slcresearchethics.blogspot.com/2009/08/academic-gatekeeping-who-has-power.html
Thank you for letting me post this.
John
August 10th, 2009 at 3:09 am
MM: For a long time, I resisted in dealing with your comments but today, I’ll address one thing.
The reason why the Brits did not take up on Ladd’s issues is probably attributed to the fact that the large number of Deaf Brits not being progressive nor advanced like Deaf Americans in terms of education, social and political activism.
I know because I was in London for a while not a long time ago.
R-
August 13th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Having read the two articles carefully, I believe this entire list of comments reflects poorly on Gallaudet University. If you cannot handle two highly scholarly treatments of Deaf Studies, you have no business being in higher education.
August 15th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
[...] blog entry that was posted today. Ann_C used one of the commenters’ comment from my blog discussing about the published papers by Dr. Jane K. Fernandes and Dr. Shirley Shultz Myers. Hope this isn’t getting too long, but I want to share one story. Twenty years ago almost to the [...]
August 16th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Karen,
You said,
“think ASL is a fine language… but it’s not for my children who prefer SimCom, even though they have been exposed to ASL at sufficient time for them to become fluent at some degree. So from now on I am going to let them know that it’s OK for them to adopt SimCom over ASL.” I might be out of line commenting on this since I am not fluent in ASL, but it sounds to me exactly how many families in the US are. I know people who only speak Spanish at home, but they use English in public and at school. Some people, I’m thinking of black friends, switch easily between their ‘folksy’ black way of expressing themselves and formal English. I know others who can speak a perfect southern drawl or perfect English accent on cue because of their “roots” It seems the most obvious and natural solution for raising deaf children in a deaf home is to expose children to their language heritage as much as possible while also allowing them to choose how they prefer expressing themselves– whether that is through ASL or speaking with an implant in place, it will ultimately be their choice.