Me Deaf-Mute that!

For transcript of this vlog click below

Bisous français,
Der Sankt

After translating some opinionated vlogs for and against the “Deaf-Mute” title being labeled upon the Deaf, I was inspired to do another vlog.

I want to tell you a story. When I was a young kid in Virginia School for the Deaf, I came across a video that I would never forget. The video was a short collection of ASL poetry by Ella Mae Lentz (titled, “The Treasure.”). A couple of poems never left my heart from the very first time I saw it.

It was the poems she wrote in thin air that made tears swell up in my eyes; at that point, I was never prouder to be Deaf, that ASL is my one and only true language. Her ASL, her fluidity, her choice of words, ah, it is just enough to make you want to melt. That is something reserved for these who are truly Deaf-Mutes. My houseparents who were once my parents’ houseparents had the same flair. How?

One of Ella’s poems explained it quite clearly—Gallaudet brought ASL to the Deaf, not oralism, SEE, cued speech, or even PSE. Later on in Deaf history, the majority decided against ASL—we the deaf-mutes shut ourselves off with the rest of them and preserved years and years of history, culture, information, and the language. Later on, after years have passed, we opened up the doors once again—after noticing that the majority seemed to accept ASL.

Upon opening the doors, we learned that their intention was to use ASL in order to incorporate English in the Deaf. ASL was not being treated as a language. Again, the core community, the deaf-mutes, shut the doors and locked them all out. Not because we do not like them or have anything against them. We did this to preserve what we have. The Deaf community today owes their existence to the deaf-mutes who were defiant and signed in dorms with their peers regardless of the ASL ban. We kept traditions of our history alive by exchanging ideas, stories, and values with our friends. Who, then, passed it on to newer generations.

I still remember the stories they told. “Before you born, long time ago, ASL not allow! Have ruler big will bang your hand will. Sign, Bang! Sign, BANG! Serious business. Teacher all hearing, oral. Red stripe all over, sore—painful, sometimes one two days! Can’t go home. Only home once month, parents hearing don’t care do do school. Not important.”

They worked hard to preserve everything. Now it is up to me to pass on these information, stories, history, and language to the next generation. They gave me the “Treasure,” and in me it will never die. Nowadays, there is a new term—“hearing impaired.” This is the wish of the majority—political correctness. I have many many times demanded that I be called “Deaf” instead of “hearing impaired.” Also, I have yet to see a doctor tell a hearing parent this:

“Your child is deaf.”

Most of them goes to say “hearing impaired.” That is a negative term, much too negative in my opinion. Impaired. No. Now, Deaf-Mute, uhmm. When I sign, I do not speak. I make it a point that it is nearly impossible to do both. It’s like writing in French with your right hand and English with your left.

It was the core ASL users that fought to remove deaf-mute because the term indicated that it is important to be able to hear and speak. We fought years to remove that implications—the oralists fought against us, the hearing parents fought against us, pretty much everyone outside the core fought against us.

Now we broke that barrier. “Deaf-Mute” is ours to reclaim. Now the word does not imply that we need to speak or hear—no. The word represents the fact that we do not hear nor speak with our voices. Our muteness gives way to ASL, separating the two languages.

Some might argue that term is being inconsiderate of the other sections of the Deaf community—i.e., oralists, hearing parents, etc. How is that? We are a community with our set of values, culture, and standards. Why are we being asked to adjust and be open to them who want to join? This is OUR community, in order to join, THEY must have an open mind. They cannot walk in our community and tell us to change, what norms we must accept, destroy years of accomplishment that we have done.

No.

It is them that need to walk in our community with an open mind. It is them that need to understand that they know NOTHING, that we are the experts. We are the ones with years of experience and years of modification to ensure that the community is open to newcomers but does not change our traditions, our culture, and our stance. I will never allow hearing parents come to me and tell me that I need to be accepting of Cochlear Implants in Babies.

How many babies actually became hearing and how many did not? With that failure rate, no business would continue to operate…and yet, they do. The success rate of fluency in ASL is nearly 90% (estimation of mine of course) not only that, out of that 90% success rate, nearly all of them are familiar with the English language via ASL.

You’re telling me that we need to open our minds? Accept their concerns and make adjustments? We have lived in years and years of failure: Milan Conference, Alexander Graham Bell, CI, eugenics, and all that. Failures after failures because we had to be sure their concerns were met.

No more.

Our success rate has spoken, again and again and again. It is time for us Deaf-Mutes to lay down the law and say—you come in our community with an open mind—not with the intent to change or improve (by means of “normalizing” us) but with the intent to learn and advocate for our causes.

Deaf-Mutes unite and preserve the Treasure we are constantly at the brink of losing.

Bisous,
Der Sankt