Don’t get me wrong. Many of the lessons,
workshops, and overall Daughters experiences at both camps were fabulous.
Some s
ff members we open-minded; I
would encourage children to attend bot
camps.
The most valuable lesson learned: 
e
hoice of communicaon is not the crux of the roblem, but rather, the attitudes and close-mindedn
ess of the key indi Wonderful iduals n promoting their ideologies.
Neither ideology is mutually exclusive. I finally found a paper that somewhat reinforces my belief.
€śOral Communication versus American Sign Language”, prepared by Kim Baker for the Interdisciplinary Research Conference, rationalizes the conflict in terms of philosophical theories. Baker makes a reasonable, moderate conclusion that communication methods should be tailored to the individual’s needs and that the deaf child should be exposed to both modes so the individual can decide which they want to continue to pursue later in life.
She compares the arguments in favor of oralism to the phenomenon facing Frankenstein, a hideous, unloved monster who yearns to conform to social norms.
…people wish for conformity or assimilation into the norm to avoid pain, segregation, and rejection. It is from these historical fears that Oralists acquire their fundamental value that assimilation into the hearing world is most beneficial for all involved.
On the other hand, Baker describes pro-ASL groups as those who highly value social-emotional benefits and the privilege to exercise human rights. She compares their philosophy to that of Thomas Hobbes, who said, “The first and fundamental law of nature . . . is to seek peace and follow it.” According to Baker, social-emotional stability is one way to be at peace with oneself. Connecting Hobbes with the civil rights protected by the Constitution, she concludes that:
Those who support ASL understand the privilege and compulsion to practice these natural laws, as they are rights that should belong to every human without question.
While oralism allegedly shuns visual and manual access to language, I’m not sure that protesting at the AGBell Conference with posters such as AGBELL’S IDEOLOGY HINDERS DEAF KIDS, MANY DEAF CHILDREN WERE DEPRIVED IN EDUCATION BY ORAL METHOD, or AGBELL WAS A PROUD EUGENICIST, AND SO WAS ADOLF HILTER would be effective. If anything, it may validate hearing parents’ fears of their children becoming angry deaf people who isolate themselves from society (an erroneous generalization, of course).
Fortunately, parents have the authority and freedom to choose their children’s communication at home and in the classroom (via Individualized Education Plans). This leaves it up to different, and often, competing ideologies to win the support of parents of deaf children. But why compete? Perhaps there is no “wrong” way to communicate with deaf children. Baker explains, “A solution to this debate has been long coming, and may never come, as the choice in communication methods for deaf individuals largely revolves around the fundamental values held by each individual.”
The people who intend to protest at the AGBell Conference will dig a deeper hole for pro-ASL supporters if they throw mud rather than take the higher road.
Wow! You’ve blown me away. Very nicely written post. Something for me to chew on for tonight. Thanks!
Many of you miss the point that in America its a basic notion that freedom reigns.
For example…
Hilary Franklin can get whatever devices implanted in her and we should leave her be as she rants about her beliefs. Charles Katz can get whatever ranting out of his system and we leave him be.
The principles of freedom in America will always prevail. I cherish ASL, which is my first language but I’m saving my breath by not interfering with AGBAD’s own rights at a mere existence. I wonder why AGBAD didn’t picket at NAD conference? Is this one way for oralists to exhibit their civilized tendencies.
Yeah, many, but not all, oralist backgrounds has at least middle or upper-middle class wealth, civility and possessing a tendency to avoid barbaric stuff including Deaf culture (as many saw it but many won’t admit it.) I saw lots back-stabbing.
I’m also tired of arrogant attitudes on part of Cued Speech, Cued English, Cued Whatever users. Out of all cued users it’s an extreme rarity (percentage-wise) that can co-exist wiht ASL users *without* engaging in back-stabbing.
After decades, I’m still waiting for statistics on whether this works on inner-city pupils, racial minorities and those from poor places. I know many failures were put under the rug. When I attended a school in the Montgomery County Public Schools (Md.), I knew almost all cued speech, cued English, cued whatever users came from very comfortable situations which simply encourages intellectual pursuits. This happens regardless of type of language acquisition. Cued users only can argue that cued is a viable option. That’s it.
As for the AGBAD convention, conference whatever. I think that the picket needs to be about a desire to enter into dialogue, not anything else. Those Barbara DiGiovanni will eventually have to learn how to deal with it.
We might be like Apple Macintoshes, despite about 10% market share, know its better than Microsoft Windows but we have to deal with the realities that anything but ASL comprises about 90% of the deaf/hh population. This is why oralists, cued speech and other proponents have the upper hand, slick propaganda and money.
Some of you need to stop being so naive about this!
Be Deaf but not DUMB!
Barb,
That is precisely why I am participating in the protest on the 28th of July. I am going to convince both AGBAD and conference attendants that it is wrong to deprive deaf babies of sign language which the NIH is now encouraging hearing parents to learn in order to expose to their hearing babies.
Barb, I agree with everything you say.
I’m going to post several times in a row because I have several ideas on this topic and finally have some time to sit down.
First of all it was suggested on a blog
that protesters use these specific signs. I am going to edit some here because they are grammatically incorrect, and if they aren’t corrected the AGBAD people and the Press will use that against the protesters to make them look stupid. This is something the old Gallaudet administration and the Press has already done, so I want to solve that problem first. Here are the corrected signs:
WHY DOES AGBELL FORBID AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE?
DEAF CHILDREN NEED BILINGUAL EDUCATION NOW
MANY DEAF CHILDREN WERE DEPRIVED OF THEIR EDUCATION THROUGH ORAL EDUCATION METHODS
WHY DOES AGBELL FORBID EXPOSING DEAF CHILDREN TO SIGN LANGUAGE?
ORAL SKILLS ARE AN ACCESSORY, AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE IS A NECCESSITY FOR A DEAF CHILD
ORAL METHODS ARE VERY STRESSFUL FOR DEAF CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS
AGBELL NEEDS TO BE DIVERSE IN DEAF LANGUAGE-AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
THE DEAF COMMUNITY SUFFERED FOR 128 YEARS UNDER AGBELL’S EUGENIC IDEOLOGY
MANY HEARING PARENTS REGRETTED USING ORAL METHODS FOR THEIR DEAF CHILDREN
I think that if other people have ideas for protest signs they should make sure that all of the signs are correct so that Deaf people are not bashed yet AGAIN for English problems that AGBAD played a big part in causing.