Hello, I am at Beijing,China. I still attend to Action Aid.

I have read your article which is interesting to me.

I would like to ask you some questions:

1. Do you know any Career Self-Assessments for the Deaf online free?

I would be grateful if you could give some details.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you,

Bushra Khan

Also in the Deaf community heirarchy, I think that sign skill is just as important as hearing status. So where she has hearing people at the bottom (and does not mention CODAs, so I am not sure if she included CODA in her thinking of hearing people?), I would argue that a hearing person with native or strong ASL might have more power in the Deaf community than a deaf or hard of hearing person who is in one of the lower categories or less fluent in ASL. This is why we have some hearing and interpreters who seem to consider themselves more deaf or their opinions worth more to the deaf community than some deaf or hard of hearing.

Federal Government already did research on deaf education twice:

1965 – Babbidge Report on oralism failures

1988 – Commission on Education of the deaf – again oralism failures

What does that entail?

Why is everyone sticking their heads in grounds like ostriches?

Time to stop audism!

That way schools will no longer be able to skirt and hide statistics and resort to smoke screens (e.g. claiming to use the county public school curriculum but not actually applying the rigors across the board).

This includes comparisons of not two but three different basic settings: Deaf Schools (with a sub-category for ASL / Bi-Bi); Self-Contained Classes in non-Deaf schools; Real Mainstreaming only in the core areas of academics within non-Deaf schools.

WIthin and across above comparisons there’s a need to publish data by methodologies used within each component of Deaf Education.

One word for you: transparency. It’s pointless debating without hard data.

Deafism is just as bad as audism, if not worse, because deaf people will put their trust in another deaf person assuming s/he will do the right thing because s/he is deaf too. Instead of looking at someone’s position on the power structure, I look at them as human beings. What are their qualifications, experiences, knowledge, skills, reputation, integrity, and moral values? Track record as an administrator, teacher, etc.? Those are the things that really matter. It’s ironic to me that Deaf of Deaf put boxes around their ears just as much as they accuse hearing people of doing.

I do agree with Mr. Hawkins that I do not like hearing people who know nothing about deaf people or deaf education making decisions about our schooling without any input from trained specialists such as are available at residential schools for the deaf. Hopefully that is one of the things that has changed since 1993.

The Deaf Schools vs. Mainstreaming debate is a sham because it often excludes the deaf in truly mainstream settings NOT self-contained classes for the Deaf.

Mainstreamed Deaf Students are those who attend classes with interpreters. Period. NOT those who attends Self-Contained Classes for Deaf students in non-Deaf schools.

(MOST DEBATED)
Deaf Schools vs. Self-Contained Deaf in non-Deaf Schools (wrongfully lumped nowadays as mainstreaming)

(OFTEN AVOIDED BY DEAF SCHOOLS)
Deaf Schools vs. Mainstreamed Deaf Students in non-Deaf Schools.

(A DEBATE I’D LOVE TO SEE)
Self-Contained Deaf in non-Deaf Schools (wrongfully lumped nowadays as mainstreaming) vs. Mainstreamed Deaf Students in non-Deaf Schools.

Sounds good, right? Well, some of these Deaf of Deaf administrators would like to, or are actively trying to eliminate aspects of the program having anything to do with speech and hearing, and anything that smacks of the medical model of deafness, such as assessments and IEPs. Our superintendent has talked for years about establishing a CI program, but it’s not happening. My personal opinion is that Deaf of Deaf educators want total control of schools for the deaf so that they can recreate deaf education like it used to be in the glory days before Milan 1880 when, supposedly, every deaf person was literate in English and was employed in a skilled vocation.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of ASL as the language of instruction for SOME deaf students. Based on my experience, I just don’t believe it should be the only option. By not accommodating deaf students with different needs and abilities, such as those who have speech, hearing, and/or CIs, I fear that student populations using ASL exclusively will continue to shrink, and deaf schools will continue to close. My school has a job opening for which no one from outside the school applied. Is it because some qualified applicants are hearing, fluent in ASL, but think they won’t be hired because they are not deaf? Is it because a qualified deaf person thinks because s/he does not have deaf parents or go to a deaf school is not deaf enough? Is it because Deaf politics are not so friendly any more?

The problem as I see it is that most Deaf of Deaf know only their own world. They are very insular and very ethnocentric. Insularity and ethnocentrism are the problems, not the individuals we all know and respect, if not love. The tools are communication, a willingness to examine oneself, and engage in dialogue, in whatever language, not just ASL.