Defend The Deaf = Defend The Bible

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder discusses defending the Deaf by defending the most powerful literature, The Bible.

Professor Mary Malzkuhn as an User of ASL

I had an interesting conversation with my professor last night, and we discussed my experience with American Sign Language (ASL) at Gallaudet University and wondered how it might apply to the first chapter for my dissertation.

For me, the best ideas about ASL and higher learning came from Professor Mary Malzkuhn, a Deaf and native user of ASL. She brought herself as the whole professor into the classroom, modeling a presence and authenticity that would engage me as her government/human rights student. Beyond ASL, Malzkuhn reminded me that learning is unique for every student, and that I need to bring myself and my best gift to the art of higher learning, that there I would find the passion and joy to face my own limits and to love what Malzkuhn loved...learning how to learn...in the language and culture we shared, ASL.

Nevertheless, it was always instructive to chat with Professor Malzkuhn, who was accessible and open to my ideas and questions. She stressed the idea that using ASL academically was distinct, rather than unique. In other words, as users of ASL, we should be delighted if schools and programs for the Deaf across the nation and most Canada want to emulate the model of "the whole ASL teacher meeting the whole ASL student."

Professor Malzkuhn challenged us intellectually and personally, demonstrating by her actions what it might mean to be an user of ASL. Most striking, for me, were her efforts to be thoroughly honest, whether she was speaking personally or as a professor. She told about encounters with people who struggled with issues that seemingly put them at odds with the university administration (Edward C. Merrill, Jr.), but she also took on unflinchingly the challenges we faced in our efforts to collaborate and to define ourselves as users of ASL. I came away from that professor-student relationship with a renewed awareness of just how important intellectual and personal honesty are in both ASL and higher education.

What matters now, of course, is how effective we are in continuing the use of ASL in higher education. It is about what I learned from Professor Mary Malzkuhn about who we are and what we can do to make Gallaudet University not only unique, but also distinct.

Author's note: I graduated as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow from Gallaudet University in 1983. I was successful in receiving this fellowship to travel abroad for one year because Professor Mary Malzkuhn was one of a few influential mentors I had at Gallaudet.

Culture of Lying at Gallaudet University

Aloha Xxxx and all,

For many years, Gallaudet University managed to deflate the facts that The Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet brought Laurent Clerc to start a new school specializing in the instruction of the Deaf. When the first school was set up in Hartford, Connecticut, there must be a huge sign language clash between Laurent Clerc and those (60%) from Martha's Vineyard Island, which led to what is called American Sign Language today.

When I was very young, Gallaudet was like an Ivy League because the college entrance examination must be taken. I took it in 1971 and I was successful. It was an honor. The School of Preparatory Studies was great at Gallaudet University.

Today it's a different place. If a bed is available, it's for you! Anyone who comes to Gallaudet University may be a freshman for two-three years before he or she finally moves up as a sophomore. They are generally ill-prepared for academic discourses because they were taught to use some modes of communication rather than to think critically.

The rapid spread of relativism in academy is not surprising. What is more surprising is that while relativism grows out of the heady thinking of some of Deaf people's brightest minds, Gallaudet University (some faculty members are inept in ASL) feeds on the collapse of everyday norms. It results from the breakdown of communication. Various modes of communication Deaf people have experienced have severely affected their ability to appreciate the existence of ASL.

Gallaudet University continues to dodge the issues related to ASL by "supporting" rather than "sustaining" the language and culture of the Deaf. Gallaudet University should reveal a deep-seated belief in ASL. Deep in the hearts of Deaf people and their hearing friends resides a knowledge that ASL is a necessary bedrock for life of all the Deaf in the United States and most Canada.

Just two cents for you, guys.

Mahalo, Carl

(I thought you would like to know what happened before this above email... A friend of mine wrote me and I thought you should be made aware. Here it goes.)


Carl,

Culture of lying? I would like to re-read Linguist Bob E. Johnson's open letter. Nevertheless, I hope you will not sell your soul to the Devil after you receive your Ph.D.

Culture of lying? It rings a bell about Democrats. My cousin emailed me recently that she has lost faith in presidential candidates but one. They tell lies through their teeth. The one and only one truthful and honorable candidate is John Edwards.

The deaf community needs you and Elizabeth and Brian. You threesome are like the 21st century George Veditz - Moses.

Xxxx

SLCC: Exploiting DPN (Deaf People Now)

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder discusses a possible expansion of Deaf/ASL Studies and a new "ASL" building in the near future. He hopes he's not mistaken about the future of ASL/Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University.

American Sign Language: The Pursuit of Happiness

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder explains his reason for pursuing American Sign Language.

False Turns and Silly Answers

The school that fails to teach

thinking fails in everything.

--Richard Mitchell

I think there are two kinds of Deaf people, those who are silly and those who aren't. Since I belong to the first group, I tend to be silly about everything there is. I do so not only because my parents taught me but also because my education is so rich enough to enable me to express my thoughts, silly or not.

Take my elementary teacher, Sarah Quinn, in Maryland School for the Deaf. As CODA, she used ASL and then, anticipating the puzzled-looks on our faces, explained how she was related her information to the assignment we were to undertake. She was going to tell us, told us that she told us, and then asked us to tell her what she had told us. Our job as students was to pay attention, that is, to think about what was taught. It was hard to be silly in her class.

What I eventually came to understand, thanks to my transfer to Model Secondary School for the Deaf, was that there was a better way to be silly. Sarah Val, a Deaf teacher, began each lesson by posing a major problem about the meaning of the day's assigned reading. We were reading the best seller, Love Story, and she kept her opinions to herself and asked only follow-up questions on our comments. Our job as students was to pay attention to what comments, silly or not, were.

Both Sarah Quinn and Sarah Val challenged us to think independently, to become responsible for our own thoughts and ideas, and to be silly. But what is just the point here?

Well, wrong answers are a necessary part of the learning process when real thinking takes place. False turns and silly answers are inevitably important to allow the freedom to be wrong...and right. After all, thinking is difficult and we often resist it like a plague. So why not become silly!

Deaf Mute Mothers and CODAs: An Email Message

Aloha Ron,

Yes, you're right that MTB (Mary Thornberry Building) is not a joke. Maybe you can discuss that Mary Thornberry loved DEAF students and took his son Homer to help the students during the study hall in Texas School for the Deaf. She was an excellent role model who made her son very successful in life. You see, her son learned how to interpret what was read by the students from early on, and as the Civil Rights Judge, he was able to interpret the law to protect civic virtues. We can learn from not only Mary's action but also her CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) son Homer about the future of all the Deaf. MTB should continue on this notion that "deaf mute" mothers and CODAs do play very important roles in preserving and promoting ASL. Another example, Sophie Fowler Gallaudet and her son Edward were very close so that ASL could continue.

Mahalo, Carl

Paratheses (...) are added for clarification. Carl

Why I Fight SLCC?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder asserts that if SLCC becomes materialized, then the Administration and Operations Manual would constitute policies in the same manner it did for LCC (Laurent Clerc Center) affecting numerous Deaf people, especially Kitty Fischer who lost respect and prestige for her 29 years, 11 months and 3 weeks of service at Gallaudet University. ASL and Deaf Studies need to get out of the SLCC development so that it could develop its own identity and character.

An Email Response: Be Like Queen Esther for ASL

Aloha Xxxx!

Right now I am at work so I will be brief in answering your questions. OK. I believe AGBell and Edward Miner Gallaudet were rivals since the establishment of the first college for the Deaf and Dumb in 1864...it was changed to National Deaf Mute College in 1865. George Veditz's film was made in 1913, I think.

I have my own hypotheses that could become a theory eventually. OK.

Here it goes:

In the past there was no amplification (hearing aids, microscope, etc), and Deaf people were told that no matter how well they spoke, they didn't sound normal. It would be very rude to the English language if a Deaf person attempted to speak it because he or she won't sound right. Therefore, it would be a good manner not to speak at all. Use ASL instead.

With the coming of the telephone (thanks to AGBell), amplification began to merge to educate the Deaf that they did have voice and therefore the ability to speak. Not so very honest, I believe! Today, we are witnessing numerous Deaf people believing they could speak fluently "enough to run for The White House." Well, try to imagine this pianist friend of ours, Mike McConnell campaigning for the nomination in the G.O.P. and then running for The White House...presumably on his ability to speak.

We need to be honest with ourselves. We need to model on Queen Esther who announced herself as a Jew and saved her people from massacre in Purim. We need to proclaim ourselves as Deaf people who do not speak well "enough to run for The White House." Once we become honest with our society, ASL would thrive very well, especially in schools and manstreaming programs for children who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing.

Just my hypotheses. If you find them agreeable, then we have more honest Deaf people out there.

Carl

Scatology in SLCC: ASL and deaf culture

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder compares two places, Primate House and SLCC, in which humor referring to excrement can be generated.

Mary Thornberry, Sophie Fowler Gallaudet and Emma Chaney: Deaf Mute Mothers

Like all living things,

trees communicate.

--Morgan Llywelyn

With the coming of the James Lee Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC), do you think the name of Mary Thornberry--a "deaf mute" mother of the Honorable Judge William Homer Thornberry--shall perish? Then you are doubly and grossly a fool.

"Deaf mute" mothers will always be honored and cherished. Mary Thornberry was among well-claimed "deaf mute" mothers of CODAs: Sophie Fowler Gallaudet (Edward Miner Gallaudet) and Emma Chaney (Lon Chaney). Who else understands the rhythms of her CODA children and the strength from them? Who knows what sacrifices are to feed and reward the intellectual life of all the CODAs? Mary Thornberry, Sophie Gallaudet and Emma Chaney were "deaf mute" mothers who knew!

Without "deaf mute" mothers, I am telling you here, people in their ignorance would simply oppress and destroy the language and culture of the Deaf as Julius Caesar raped and plundered Celtic tribes. There was disaster when these Celts shook their fists in the face of Caesar. Those who opposed Caesar suffered more when he overran them than those who acceded to Rome from the beginning. Today, I dare to say, there is a new Julius Caesar in the Deaf community who wouldn't get down off his high horse because he simply wants both the namesake building and the human exhibition of ASL. We need to rally Deaf people against the encroaching might of Caesar and the soulless supporters of SLCC ideology that speech and language professionals be exposed, not necessarily experienced through the language and culture of the Deaf.

Now let's capture the Mary Thornberry Building! Renovate the Mary Thornberry Building and bring our language and culture to it! Honor all "deaf mute" mothers! Celebrate all CODAs! Buy and wear the SUPPORT ASL wristband. Be like the oaks standing with their arms upraised against oblivion.

Amy Was Right About SLCC!

In Bob Davila's February 27, 2007 letter: "The academic disciplines of speech and language sciences are here to stay; and we have a golden opportunity to expose professionals in these fields to ASL and deaf culture."

ASL Dragon: Children Are Like Plants

A vlog about Sooket telling children how ASL Dragon compares them with plants.

The Counterfactuals of ASL: The Disguise of "Stumbling Blocks"

Aloha folks:

From time to time, I will post some written notes that I decided to discard tentatively from drafts for my dissertation. I would like to listen to your comments whether they have merits.

Mahalo, Carl

Perhaps the single most important incident in the history of the Deaf did not occur in Milano, Italy where teachers of the Deaf around the world gathered together in 1880 and decided to ban the use of sign language in Deaf education. But it was in 1843 when American Sign Language (ASL), advocated and promoted by the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc, was countered by Horace Mann and Samuel Gridley Howe, who made "a glowing report on oral instruction in German and Prussian schools" where they visited. This Mann report launched endless controversy regarding educating the Deaf.

The Mann report is properly the literature of what did happen to the Deaf around the country, but that shouldn't diminish the importance of the counterfactuals. It can lead us to question long-held assumption that speech education can actually define Deaf population. Consider the effort of Alexander Graham Bell that manipulated the United States government into banning the intermarriage amond Deaf people. Without the Mann report, as I would point out, Alexander Graham Bell might have never been Edward Miner Gallaudet's rival in Deaf education. Would there have been an Amendment to The United States Constitution mainstreaming Deaf children in public schools? That might have had the same result. Few events have been more dependent on counterfactuals than the history of the Deaf. With both the Mann report and Milan Resolution, Deaf people are the product of a future that might not have been.

Recent historical counterfactuals have a further important function: It can eliminate what has been labelled "Deaf absolutists" by Gallaudet University's president-designated Jane K. Fernandes. After her selection as the university's ninth president was revoked by the Board of Trustees, was there any way that ASL could have been emphasized in the Sorenson Language and Communication Center "brick" card? Gallaudet University's new president Bob Davila wrote in the February 27, 2007 letter about the school's unconditional commitment to ASL which can be viewed as high-water mark. If nothing else, the road not taken belongs on the map at Gallaudet University. The question remains whether the road not taken is already taken. But, perhaps, the SLCC bricks can be the disguise of "stumbling blocks."

"Why George Veditz Mentioned Joseph?" Redone

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder redoes his recentl vlog, "Why George Veditz Mentioned Joseph?"

Deaf Generalizations after "Through Deaf Eyes"

"Through Deaf Eyes" contributes to the overall Deaf movement that deafness is much more pathological than previously thought. The underlying message of the TV program is that Deaf identification (compared to identity) is viewed as an embrace of auditory deviance. Independent of the Foucaultian debate about essence versus construction, Deaf identification is just as much a repudiation of normalcy as it is of deafness--a pathological term.

Not all of us fit this Deaf identification. Terms like "deafness," "hearing loss", and "hearing-speech impairment" are necessarily generalizations. In a way, anything we say about them can be disproved by a single contrary example. Nonetheless, it makes sense to talk about Deaf people without having to include each and every Deaf person and each and every exception to our prototype. The generalizations in this TV program about the meaning of deafness or even "human nature" do not apply to everybody. But they do apply to a culturally constructed image of what Deaf people are like--the myth of Deaf people.

This myth is a constructed image that helps Deaf people explain their experience to themselves. The image has changed dramatically in the last five decades, after the publication of Professor William C. Stokoe's Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. The myth of the Deaf in the 1800s was of a EAR-MUTE breed and the Deaf in the early 1900s was of a EAR-CLOSE breed. The mythical Deaf people during those periods were transformed from individuals who couldn't hear and speak to those who couldn't hear but could speak. After 1960s, with ASL awareness, Deaf people had become a responsible and intelligible breed clamoring for their rights--from Civil Rights Act of 1964 to American with Disabilities Act of 1990. Overall, in the last half century, the transformation has been tremendous. We the Deaf no longer think ourselves as EAR-CLOSE folks; we have stopped being language victims and become language survivors. We have changed our myth.

As soon as we notice these transformations over time (from the 19th century Martha's Vineyard Island to the 21st century Kendall Green), we can see that the generalizations are just images and stereotypes. When we rise to a higher perspective, we are freed from the momentary appearance of things. Within the Deaf world, of course, we have always known the realities were much more complicated than the stereotypes. But it was precisely by changing these generalizations of what a Deaf person was that the liberation of modern times was achieved. Deaf people changed how they thought about themselves, and the world around them changed, too.

Some of us think of ourselves as Deaf people struggling to create good lives, struggling to "save the Deaf world" or, at least, the world of our own experience. As we embrace this new Deaf identity, we transform our interior worlds and the world at large.

Written Critique in 100 Words: "Through Deaf Eyes"

"Through Deaf Eyes" is itself a new myth, a metaphorical way of giving authority to a particular story. More importantly, it is an expression of the particular tradition's notion of metaphysics. Manualism (the use of American Sign Language) and oralism (the use of speech language), its major spin-off, both imagine the world as division. Our major stories are Deaf people who broke with the status quo. From our perspective on top of the wall we can see things through our eyes. We can see both sides of the wall. We can switch between both sides and understand many things.

Why George Veditz Mentioned Joseph?

In this not-so-great vlog, Carl Schroeder hypothesizes that Joseph was a master interpreter and translator. George Veditz might point out that to master ASL is to know how to translate from it. As long as there are Deaf people around the world, there are sign languages to be mastered and translated.

Critique: Through Deaf Eyes?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder critiques that although "Through Deaf Eyes" covers the spectrum of the Deaf, it has a strong inclination toward pathology. But beyond that, the saddest part of "Through Deaf Eyes" is the fact that there are people like this Deaf blond with cochlear implants who declares she's not normal. He is unable to discuss qualities of voices used by certain Deaf people in the program.

Neglected Population of Deaf...Students on Maui

Aloha DeafRead folks,

I am writing a grant proposal for Horizons Academy of Maui, a private school that attempts to impliment a bilingual program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students as well as students with Cochlear Implants (D/HH/CI). To answer these three questions:

• What is the problem/need the grant request is designed to meet?
• How is community impact by problem/need?
• Who is the target population and what are their specific needs?

We came up with the following problem statement, and we would appreciate feedback and suggestions. With aloha always from Hawai'i, Carl

Here it goes:

Children who are Deaf and hard of hearing and with cochlear implants (D/HH/CI) have unique needs that affect their personal development and their educational achievement. Maui has a relatively neglected population of D/HH/CI students. The Department of Education (DOE) provides a program for students from age 3 to 5th grade at Wailuku Elementary; however they currently do not have anyone teaching that class. Because of the lack of qualified teachers, these students are not receiving the quality of education they deserve. Some students are sent off island to Oahu where they attend a boarding school and are only home for weekends and vacations. This makes maintaining a family difficult at best when one member is only present on a part time basis. Maui needs a program that meets these needs.

On the average D/HH/CI students are performing 2-3 years below their hearing peers. The inability to communicate directly with teachers and socialize with their peers inhibits both their learning and their day to day interactions with other students. The lack of qualified educational interpreters and teachers needed to implement a well rounded program is a major factor contributing to the failure of programs presently set up by the DOE. D/HH/CI students have difficulty interacting with their peers during the social periods of free time and lunch because of the lack of spontaneity and ability to develop interpersonal relationships through an adult interpreter.

Facts identified by the National Deaf Education Project (Seigel) show that the target group falls below minimum standards:

• D/HH children graduate with 3rd grade reading aptitude.
• D/HH children gain only 1.5 years in literacy skill between the ages of 8 and 18.
• D/HH children are overwhelmingly unprepared for college evidenced by a graduation rate of just 8%.
• The earning capacity of D/HH children is, on the average, 40-69% below that of their hearing counterparts.

We need to close the gap.

Every child is entitled to a free and appropriate education. These children need a school, which will provide for their educational needs, allow them to communicate with their peers and faculty, and encourage peer relationships. They need a school which will promote family unity by allowing them to go home after a day at school.

Maui has an obligation and responsibility to its D/HH/CI children.

• D/HH/CI students should have full access to their educational environments.
• D/HH/CI students should be expected to achieve the same standards that are in place for all students and should receive appropriate support to attain those goals.
• Place D/HH/CI in bilingual programs based on their communication needs.
• Opportunities for D/HH/CI students to participate in all scholastic and social experiences provided for hearing and D/HH/CI students.

These rights should be offered to all students and fall within the realm of equal expectations for all students.

Our D/HH/CI children have no educational program on Maui that fulfills their unique needs. Horizons Academy is in the process of putting together a program for these children that would integrate those individuals into the Horizon ohana and our community. Instead of relying on a school outside of Maui County to educate our D/HH/CI children we would accommodate their special needs here. We expect them to become valuable, contributing assets to the community as a whole. Establishing a secure and stable family environment is paramount in developing a D/HH/CI child who will become a productive member of our community. Enabling our D/HH/CI children to remain at home would reduce the cost of education, increase participation by parents in the educational process, and comply with the least restrictive academic program.

The target population of our program is the D/HH/CI children who are not being served in the least restrictive setting, and who are being short changed by the current educational system. The number of D/HH/CI children had increased during the recent years due to earlier detection and more accurate reporting and the increased availability of technology. These D/HH/CI children are entitled to a free and appropriate education.

These D/HH/CI children need:

• Support services
• Educational monitoring
• Trained teachers and staff who understand their needs
• Individualized program based on their communication needs
• Opportunities to participate in all social and educational experiences with both hearing and non-hearing peers
• To be able to attain the same standards set for all students
• To provide families and students with information, resources, guidance, and support
• To provide direct contact with CI students to ensure that the implant is programmed to maximize the student's hearing potential

We at Horizons Academy have developed the Deaf Education program and plan to have it firmly in place as school begins in July. We have been able to recruit a part time teacher and have applications for an interpreter position. We have space available for the classroom. The program includes teaching American Sign Language (ASL) across the school curriculum, enabling all students on campus to communicate with one another. We are presently teaching ASL to our high school class and staff, as a second language. We have begun community outreach and found an interest among parents of some D/HH/CI students. We have invited the DOE and all Deaf Education providers to an informational meeting on services available on Maui. Our major focus is to establish a more enriched family life for Maui's D/HH/CI childtren, have them meet the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards and establish peer groups within the school, Deaf and non-Deaf students.

Some Misgivings about BoT at Gallaudet: MY AIM Conversation with Mishkazena

GISBATZED (7:23:05 AM): I want to share with you my serious doubt about serving on BoT. I am not going to recommend anyone. Let me tell you why.

mishkazena (7:23:23 AM): go ahead

GISBATZED (7:26:44 AM): There were many great Deaf scholars who worked very hard. When they got hired or appointed to work at Gallaudet, they became marginalized. For example, Dr Allen Sussman was big at New York University. He became marginalized after the deanship at Gallaudet. Ben Bahan was big at Boston University, and today he is silenced. Dr. Steve Gough was big in the state of Michigan, and he was struck down into early retirement from Gallaudet. MJ was outspoken about ASL and Deaf Culture, and today she became the SLCC spokesperson.

mishkazena (7:27:15 AM): Right

mishkazena (7:27:26 AM): That's why when some people told me I should try for BoT

mishkazena (7:27:47 AM): I said I cannot because that would be the best way to silence me

GISBATZED (7:27:57 AM): exactly

mishkazena (7:28:02 AM): why don't you cover this in your blog/vlog?

GISBATZED (7:28:20 AM): I was just thinking about it

mishkazena (7:28:52 AM): Some think I can continue to speak out even if I am appointed by Gallaudet. I told them, no it doesn't work out this way

GISBATZED (7:29:26 AM): Gallaudet promotes confidentiality

mishkazena (7:29:29 AM): even if BoT can change the policy, this cannot be accepted at all. All BoT must show extreme loyalty to Gallaudet

mishkazena (7:29:35 AM): right

mishkazena (7:29:55 AM): we are bound by confidentiality contracts

mishkazena (7:30:14 AM): before we enter BoT and it cannot be revoked afterwards.

mishkazena (7:30:47 AM): so yes, your blog/vlog will help others understand this

mishkazena (7:30:56 AM): cuz they keep thinking there is a way around this

mishkazena (7:31:01 AM): look at Harvey Goodstein

mishkazena (7:31:05 AM): what happened to him?

GISBATZED (7:33:07 AM): Bingo...Harvey is silenced

Let IKJ Blow His Own Horn!

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder suggests that IKJ be allowed to blow his own horn about his university presidency. It would be a professional courtesy to give him a round of polite applause...no hand waving, please!

True or False: American Sign Language Is Different

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder tells about his opening sentence in his first dissertation committee meeting yesterday. This is my pre-research project, soliciting comments from you whether it is true that ASL is different.
Here's my initial comment I wrote to a dear friend of mine who wanted to know how it went yesterday.
"What a day for me, too! It started with my dissertation committee. I was so happy it was over. It was the toughest meeting I've ever had. After listening to all my dissertation committee members, I began my first statement, 'ASL is different.' Then I got interrupted, getting fried about my opening statement. They quizzed how really different ASL is, and what grounds do I have to justify my statement. Somehow I mentioned Gebarentaal (the mother language of mine, Dutch Sign Language), they all fell silent and allowed me to discuss how different ASL is from Gebarentaal, British Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language, etc. However, they all share only one thing, the channel through which they are conveyed--the sense of sight."

From a Deaf mute to Deafhood or Deafdom?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder faces a great dilemma whether it's a Deafhood. Is it a progress of state, period, quality, fellowship, maturity, and characteristics? What about status or condition as they are in statehood and nationhood? What about a Deafdom? Does the Deafdom constitute a realm of independent thoughts and ideas? I need to be enlightened.

Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action (FOLDA)

Dear organizational contacts and library friends,

As some of you know, the American Library Association (ALA) will meet in Washington, DC this year, June 21-27, 2007. ALA expects 25,000 participants, not counting hundreds of booth visitors. The attendees are mostly key decision makers in the libraries they represent. www.ala.org

FOLDA plans to rent a table at the ALA Exhibition Hall, June 23 to 26, 9 am to 5 pm on each day except the last day, 9 am to 3 pm, a total of four days and 30 hours altogether

Ricardo Lopez, President, National Literary Society of the Deaf (NLSD) and Amy Bopp, President, Library Friends Section of the NAD will man the FOLDA table with help from several LA volunteers taking in turns.

The theme of the FOLDA table will be GOT DEAF CULTURE @ YOUR LIBRARY? There will also be a program using this title on June 25 during the ALA week.

FOLDA also needs help from organizations and library friends to share its expenses for promoting library access and quality resources for the deaf community during the ALA week. After expenses, the remaining cash and a list of contributors will be given to NLSD. www.folda.net/nlsd

Interested organizations wishing to help share expenses will please contribute 100 dollars each and/or in-kind gifts; interested individuals may contribute 5 dollars each for the Boosters List. Make checks payable to Library for Deaf Action and mail to 2930 Craiglawn Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904-1816. Do not forget to include your email address.

For those organizations that prefer in-kind gifts, please email your choice to folda86@aol.com.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Alice L. Hagemeyer, founder and president

www.folda.net E-mail folda86@aol.com

FOLDA BOOSTERS
Raymond Baker (VA)
Amy Bopp (MD)
Bernard Bragg (CA)
Dorothy Casterline (MD)
James Casterline (MD)
Merrie Davidson (FL)
Mervin D. Garretson (FL)
Deborah Gilman (MD)
Lois Hoover (MD)
Ricardo Lopez (MD)
Renee V. McGrath (MT)
Philip Moos (NJ)
Ron Mortzfeldt (MD)
Joan Naturale (NY)
Ken Norton (CA)
Larry Puthoff (SD)
Carl Schroeder (HI)
George Schroeder (MD)
Jackie Stover (AR)
Bernard Sussman (MD)
Chris Wixtrom (VA)
Barbara Yates (CA)
Jean Zisman, (MD)

Historical Linguistics: The Sign DEAF Did Evolve

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder demonstrates how the sign DEAF is derived and then oppressed.

More on ASL Minimal Pairs and Groups

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder discusses two ways to develop minimal pairs and groups in ASL: Sign Families and General Signs.

ASL Language Documentation Explained

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder explains abstract for his dissertation, using vlogs by Mike Schmidt and Adain Mack as examples for language documentation: minimal pair/group of signs.

Veditz: A New Race ... That Knows Not ...

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder recalls George Veditz's statement, "A new race of pharoahs that knew not Joseph..." to suggest that there may be a new race within the Deaf community that knows not ....

My Dissertation Abstract

American Sign Language and Language Documentation

Abstract by Carl Schroeder

American Sign Language, or ASL for short, is pervasive in communication across the United States as integral parts of linguistic practices of the Deaf communities. It plays a central role in everyday interaction as well as in more tightly communicative events like story-telling events, religious rituals, pedagogical practices, and interpreting situations. ASL comes into play where cultural taboos prohibit speech. Deaf communities have culture-specific ASL repertoires at their disposal, which serve as an expressive resource in tandem with language. Specific linguistic domains like demonstrative systems can often not be adequately understood without taking into account the accompanying linguistic notation systems. Moreover, the analysis of ASL can reveal aspects of cognition.

The documentation of ASL repertoires and their interrelation with communicative practices should therefore be an important component of a comprehensive documentation of language and culture that aims at preserving intellectual values. In addition to informing the rapidly growing field of ASL and Deaf studies, adequate primary data on ASL can be utilized for interdisciplinary research in the fields of linguistics, ethnography of communicative events, the organization of interaction (conversation analysis) and the interplay of language and cognition. In order to enable successful interdisciplinary research, a sufficient theoretical background, as well as knowledge about practical issues of data collection and analysis are the prerequisites.

ASL Storytelling Theatre: A New Blog Site

1. How many times have we seen George Veditz depicted as a sign language god?

2. How many of you know that ASL Dragon has moved to ASL Storytelling Theatre?

3. How many of you are proud that Gallaudet University began as the National Deaf-Mute College?

When we talk about ASL Storytelling Theatre, somebody usually asks, "Why ASL Storytelling Theatre? Why not just Deaf theatre?" Well, here's the answer. And along with it an hypothesis about the true meaning of ASL, based in the stories told in exclusive ASL by Deaf people. I am a storytelling artist, not a guru. I don't gather followers. But I understand what stories are really about, and I have an interesting and appealing way of telling them.

ASL Storytelling Theatre is highly interactive. Some people from the audience will have an opportunity to find themselves weaving together stories onstage with the storytelling artist, fulfilling the true potential of storytelling art to better the Deaf world.

Aloha and Mahalo

DeafRead has been undergoing a dramatic transformation because of the recent campus upheaval at Gallaudet University. Carl Schroeder has been honored to participate in it by making it irrefutably clear that Deaf people hold that missing piece of the puzzle that can at last bring the Deaf world together. There is an enlightenment that goes with being a Deaf mute, an understanding of the real meaning and ongoing message of the language and culture oppression.

Racism: Audism, Deafism, What-ism?

When you're discussing racism today, you do not focus on the human race. You would focus on the color of my skin--my daughter Vivienne used to say I'm brown. Was she a racist? Not exactly! However, she did have some ideas!

But next time you're making out a racial menu, take a look at what you mean when it comes to Deaf people and their language and culture. Are they very much part of the human race? But Deaf people our society find repulsive in language and culture may help them solve some of the mysteries of human life. Is being deaf primarily a problem--a social shortcoming? Or is it a bigger problem realized somewhere in language acquisition?

The synonyms for racism are: bias, bigotry, discrimination, one-sidedness, racialism, unfairness. Do Deaf people in general experience the synonyms for racism? Bias in the Deaf community is pretty high. Aidan could verify her experience interacting with Deaf people coming from Deaf families. Or is it just audism? IamMine could refute some propaganda that CI is not what it appears to be as she remains Deaf with it. What about deafism? Deaf mute is not anti-progressive.

So what is what-ism? A label can say a lot about different things, or nothing at all. Racism says a lot. It says that it is as serious as it gets. The word racism undergoes an evolution, too.

Another note from my SidekickII

Deaf Cause: ASL for Hearing People

I would like to present an argument for a Deaf cause wherein Hearing people could share ASL with Deaf people.

Premise 1: Whoever uses ASL has a cause.

Premise 2: Deaf people uses ASL.

Conclusion: Users of ASL has a cause.

Given the truth of the two premises, the conclusion necessarily follows. It must be personal and individualistic. What objections might be raised against this above argument?

Premise 1 seems obviously true--at the least, more so than its denial. ASL does exist for a cause, and there are people who use it.

Premise 2 seems to have a typical objection that raises against the philosophical argument for ASL. For example, not all Deaf people would like to admit they use ASL because it doesn't serve their cause.

Conclusion is therefore reasonable for a cause that users of ASL need not be Deaf people only. Hearing people, if they are born to Deaf parents or choose to pursue the language and culture of the Deaf, can share the same cause.

All causes have their effects that vary greatly from one cause to next. However, these causes all share three same effects: information, knowledge and communication. Information is needed so that knowledge could increase for communication to happen.

Written from my SidekickII

For Deaf Tea Time: A Response

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder gives his opinion.

Crab Theory Recalled, not Revisited

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder cautions about unhealthy mentality by a Crab Theory practitioner. (You're welcome to read the "Belgian" comment in my EAR-CLOSE vlog and wonder about unhealthy mentality.)

A New "Political Corrected" Sign for Cochlear Implants

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder proposes a new sign for people with cochlear implants, of course, for political reasons.

Gisbatzed: Why ASL Dragon Lives in the Forest

Another vlog about ASL Dragon: Trees have language, too. Oaks creak, beeches moan, willows whisper, pines hum, poplars chatter.

Initialized Signs and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Theory

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder questions whether initialized signs cause carpal tunnel syndrome among sign language interpreters.

Stop that EAR-CLOSE Sign; It's Racist!

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder rationales that the EAR-CLOSE sign for the English word Deaf is a racist sign, promoting not only speech education, but also discrimination against those who couldn't "talk English," also known as Deaf mutes.

There Are Hearing Mutes in Hawai'i

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder tells about seeing a hearing mute in Hawai'i in a meeting hosted by Sprint.

Water Dynamics in ASL

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder discusses a water cycle in Hookipa, Maui in Hawaii.

Man, Earth and American Sign Language

In this vlog, Car Schroeder talks about Hawai'ians interweaving themselves with the earth in a state of balance and harmony.

ASL in the Deaf Community: A Short Myth to Live By

Trumpet in a herd of elephants;

Crow in the company of cocks;

Bleat in a flock of sheep.

--Malayan Proverb

Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, when the ancient Greek town was inhabited by Deaf mutes who used sign language. They developed interest in life as they saw it, in people, things, literature and story-telling. Their world was so rich, simply throbbing with treasures and beautiful souls.

One day they had a visitor they had never heard before. The name of the visitor was Socrates who saw that their language--sign language--was the companion of power and the mother tongue of success. Socrates wondered if signs could replace words he spoke.

Many years later, Socrates' pupil Plato thought about Socrates and Deaf mutes so he wrote about them in Cratylus. Yes, there will always be cynical critics, which is, as Maya Angelou suggests: "almost the saddest sight to see ... from knowing nothing to believing in nothing."

This myth may hurt - not the search after; the running from.

ASL Dragon Poem

A vlog poem by Carl Schroeder

ASL Dragon: It's All in One's Mind

A vlog about ASL Dragon

What Right Do They Tell Me Like This?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder explains what right do they tell me about his people.

Language and Culture Intolerance: What is Truth?

At Gallaudet University, intolerance for language and culture of the Deaf has been commonly associated with academic freedom--and not without basis. For example, the following excerpt from an email I received from a friend of mine today is probably a classical example of academic deficiency at Gallaudet University.

Unfortunately, Gallaudet is a very secular college. It is not Gally's job to give students the highest attainment. Only God could.

What the Deaf community usually overlooks today is both that Gallaudet University can foster genuine language and culture tolerance and that American Sign Language (ASL) may pose a far greater threat to the language and culture tolerance.

Closely tied to the notion of "modes of communication" has been considered "tolerance" at Gallaudet. Although the IKJ-JKF-PK administration would accuse absolutists of intolerance, these accusers were most likely to have an unclear and distort notion of what ASL really is. They often were unaware that the concept of language and culture tolerance implies a close relationship to ASL and its embedded culture, Deaf Culture. Contrary to popular definitions, the IKJ-JKF-PK attempted to imply tolerance as "diversity and inclusiveness."

The contemporary definition of language and culture tolerance as part of "diversity and inclusiveness" is simply wrong-headed. It lands a Deaf person in massive communication inconsistencies. Take the matter of "modes of communication." The leveling approach of communicative modes arbitrarily asserts without qualification the relative hardship of Deaf people. Dialogue shouldn't begin by assuming respect for all modes of communication at Gallaudet; it has to be done in either ASL or nothing.

One of the ironies of relativism at Gallaudet University is that it exalts language and culture tolerance to the status of an absolute. A belief is what is "true for all the Deaf" interferes with the belief that is "not true for the administration." For example, President Davila said in his vlog that Gallaudet University has always supported the use of ASL, but some recent unprofessional behaviors displayed by the DPS personnel did not agree with Davila's language and culture claim. What seemed "true to the students" regarding to the campus security question was "not true to the administration!"

Lacking a real language and culture tolerance at Gallaudet University, relativism makes personal power-grabbing an end in itself: In the absence of language and culture of the Deaf truth, power is the only game on campus. Why respect another person's academic freedom if language and culture of the Deaf truth doesn't exist at Gallaudet University?

Welcome to ASL Storytelling Theatre

Welcome to the ASL Storytelling Theatre blogsite in WordPress (still under construction).

The Starry Heaven and I (A Response to Teri)

Socrates: The starry heaven which we behold is wrought upon a visible ground, and therefore, although the fairest and most perfect of visible things, must necessarily be deemed inferior far to the true motions of absolute swiftness and absolute slowness, which are relative to each other, and carry with them that which is contained in them, in the true number and in every true figure. Now, these are to be apprehended by reason and intelligence, but not by sight.

--Plato in The Republic

SLCC Built upon Wisdom or Opinion?

Socrates: But those who love the truth in each thing are to be called lovers of wisdom and not lovers of opinion. --Plato in The Republic.

Is SLCC built upon professional opinions of audiograms, communication speculations, and ASL/Deaf studies? Does ASL represent the truth of language? Are Deaf people real? What then is the wisdom of SLCC?

Could You Believe this Level of Craziness at Gallaudet?

A friend of mine forwarded this insane correspondence found in a recent GallyNet-L:

Delanne-

Under control? Burned effigies, two disrupive naming ceremonies, demonic drawings, stalking and a gun threat, HMBlockdown fiasco (and FSSA claiming they are not in support of it)? Um, I think I'll reserve my opinion of "under control" to myself.

Anyway, back to your questions-

There is a very serious problem if one specific group appears to be heavily reaping the benefits of a new Presidency and those not in that group appears to be reaping the downsides. If you cannot see this main point, then I don't know what else can.

There is a serious nepotism problem if assistants - that's Innes and Lytle- are advising the apparently "unaware" (as Davila puts it) President who to pick for appointments, appointments that are apparently targeted toward those in FSSA. (again, key word here is appointments. Why not make it an open position for all to compete for? Afraid that Darian wouldn't make it past round one?) And that problem is even worse if the person selected for that appointment is someone underqualified for it in terms of experience.

Say no to Team FSSA University, say yes to a better Gallaudet for all.

Kristi

-------------- Original message -------------- From: xxxxxx at aol.com

Kristi~

I am curious what the problem is with Innes being part of FSSA or not? Is FSSA a bad group? Does it contain bad people? If so, all groups have the same problem. Why hold it against FSSA? FSSA did A LOT during the protest that kept it under control.

Delanne

Be your own palace or the world's your jail. - Anonymous

Kristi was professionally erratic in asserting “a serious nepotism problem” at Gallaudet University. Neither Jay Innes nor Richard Lytle is a member of President Davila’s family. Was it necessary to fabricate the stories about FSSA? Passion or zeal—as with the 130 plus arrestees—needs not entail distortion of President Davila’s administration. Why use such a term nepotism, when most Deaf people expected a new educational philosopher, not a diversity or inclusiveness presidency? This is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps Kristi's closest colleague somewhere in Atlanta could even come up with legible excuses for her since Kristi has seriously lost her credibility.

However, simply to lump together one similar-sounding demand with another rather than taking each claim on a case-by-case basis will not do. This Gallaudet phenomenon has rightly been called “language oppression.” In fact, the once-influential IKJ-JKF-PK administration at Gallaudet, which engaged in language oppression by tying ASL to absolutism, was unable to articulate much force precisely because its inclusiveness of language oppression was too obvious.

We are left to ask which claim of ASL best explains the Deaf culture and community. Has anyone ever wondered, “What if I had grown up without ASL?”

Be True to Gallaudet or Get Beaten Up

The late professor Allan Bloom made it his central theme in his landmark book, The Closing of the American Mind: “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely sure of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.” Relativism is what we think is knowledge is really only an opinion. Brazenly interpreted, what is true for you is not true for me, and vice versa.

There are many faces of relativism: from Catholic Church versus Society of Jesus to reality-based ASL community versus ideology-based SLCC community at Gallaudet University. So deep is our struggle over our own truths that we see ourselves entrenched in a “culture war,” which isn’t at all new. Plato cited: “Man is the measure of all things.” Although the list of relativism is long, I’ll select some of the main manifestations of relativism within our Deaf community.

Objective relativism. The beliefs of a Deaf person or group of Deaf persons are “true” for them, but not necessarily for others. The previous administration at Gallaudet University, for example, believed there exist Deaf absolutists who don’t appreciate subdivisions of the university community. This type of relativism challenges the very existence of underlying assumptions—how they know what they know and the validity of their knowledge—of Deaf absolutists.

Cultural relativism. What is normal in our Deaf culture is not necessarily normal in another culture. What can be said in ASL can not necessarily be said in another language. No one, therefore, can judge another language and culture. In the Deaf community, we are comfortable to talk about death, but in our general English-speaking society, death is spoken in euphemism.

Historical relativism. The interpretation of historical “truths” in one generation may be replaced by a subsequent one. As an example, consider the 1988 Deaf President Now (DPN) demonstration. A generation ago the Gallaudet University administration wrote reports extolling the standing statement that the protestors were right. Today DPN is cast as a “not deaf enough” leadership. Historic relativists believe that researching and debating the facts of the October 13, 2007 arrests of the university students would be futile.

Scientific relativism. Scientific relativism asserts that scientific “progress” is nothing but one theory being replaced by another. The Mary Thornberry Building is getting too crowd, and the Audiology and Speech department needs a newer, bigger building, SLCC. Behind-ear amplification is being replaced by cochlear implants. There is no common language between the amplification and the implant, and what is true in one scientific perspective is not so in another.

Linguistic relativism. Linguists inform us that both ASL and English are language that can teach each other. Both have different sets of government binding approach. Linguistic claims such as grammaticality, creativity, and the enduring human experience are shunned by Deaf Education scholars.

This relativism in the Deaf community has been observed from long ago. William C. Stokoe discusses language hegemony in his book, Language in Hand. It is strangely ironic that Gallaudet University’s support of the use of ASL is not only true but also false. Talk with a campus security officer and hope that you won’t get beaten up.

A Brick Postcard from Gallaudet

A vlog dilemma:
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cheshire Cat: "we're all mad here.
I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
--Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

Diverse Philosophical Creatures at Gallaudet

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder recalls his first haircut at Gallaudet in 1964. It was when he first discovered that Gallaudet students added up to a zoo of diverse philosophical creatures. But all of this diversity had an unhappy side effect.

The Spirit of Silence

I recently received an email from a friend, and I will quote it in part:

"I know that I have to reply to you. I don't believe in silent treatment but I just needed quiet time to think things over."

Throughout life, I got clues that remind me of the direction I am supposed to be headed in. Among them is silence, a moment in which I stay focused and learn my lessons. My idea of silence is letting go of resentment that does not deserve my better interest, ridding myself of negative thoughts.

I first became convinced by silence took place a long time ago when my children enrolled in Christian Family Montessori School in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, where silence plays an important role in education. Only in silence can one Montessorian think about what he or she has acquired and mastered.

Silence is language that takes off its clothes, claps its hands, and goes to play, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators. I replied to this friend and I will share my email in part:

"I believe firmly in silence because it requires one to become creative in coming back. Your email proved it, and I thank you for returning to me."

My SUPPORT ASL Band

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder explains that he received his SUPPORT ASL band from Ron Fenicle of www.supportasl.com/.

More KODA Stories, Please

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder shares his experience being criticized by his KODA son, Justin. Are there parents who received criticized by their KODA kids?

Measuring Deaf Education

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder remains uncertain about measuring Deaf Education. Perhaps, after all, it's about obtaining a job.

S-O-M-E-T-I-M-E-S I'M S-L-O-W

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder is really slow!

The Deaf World - A Different World

Communication between a Deaf and a hearing witnesses to the interdependence of their languages, American Sign Language and English. The language polarities are the primal force called yin and yang, light and dark, creative and receptive, active and passive, signs and words, which generate the world. Deaf and hearing people, when together, become special cases of these polarities. The communication between Deaf and hearing manifests the duality that stirs purpose.

In the same way, communication between two Deaf people or two hearing people witnesses to the ultimate unity beyond duality. They become ever growing, ever changing, clashing in conflict and cooperating in communication. We become natural in our own language. The communication between Deaf people manifests the unity that precedes and transcends the duality, and the same truth goes to hearing people.

Today, even with psychological and linguistic sophistication, somebody continues to try to force Deaf babies to change their nature. Indeed, modern brain study has shown that Deaf people have a more developed connection to sight area that may result in “different” brain function. Nonetheless, Deaf people will have problems throughout their lives that hearing people do not; they will scrape their knuckles more often because of spoken language; they will smear their tongues because spoken language gone linear.

Deaf people view the world differently; just as hearing people view the world differently from blind people. We have a different understanding of the polarities. Many hearing people cannot understand American Sign Language and think it can be changed by signing in the English word order. The fact that we the Deaf use ASL is evidence that we have a different way of viewing the world.

We the Deaf see the world as separate and different from hearing people; they experience the world as characterized by how it sounds.

Another New Order of Deaf People: Anonymous

I hope that one day Sharon Duchesneau will discuss a new order known as Anonymous comment makers in numerous blogs and vlogs . We need to know who they might be and why they are the way they are. We need to know their psychology, too.

I have received numerous anonymous comments in my blogs and vlogs. I deleted some of them due to some insulting or mean-spirited remarks. I think that all anonymous comment makers are in the broadest sense coward. They are so hurtful they want to hurt not only me, but also my thoughts and ideas. I once received eight anonymous comments posted from the same source in Baltimore, Maryland. Although these posts were thoughtful, whoever commented them was simply downright rude when posting anonymously.

There are typical anonymous patterns: (1) a determination to stem ill effects of the blog or vlog, (2) a false accusation or information, (3) an effort to spread rumors, and (4) a desire to silence the blogger/vlogger. I will discuss each pattern.

Pattern 1: Stemming ill effects of the blog or vlog

Last fall, Jon Heffer made an outstanding vlog contribution entitled Language as Reality: An Introduction to Discourse Theory. He received the first anonymous comment which reads:

1. Anonymous October 9th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

Do us a favor. Don’t post anything until the protest is over. Your posts are too heavy — research kind of posts. Write something for lay people! Thanks.

This anonymous needs not discourage such a brilliant vlogger who attempted to have our community understand our language and culture.

Pattern 2: Accusation or misinformation

The most recent blog, Deaf Pagan Crossroads Deaf Pagan Crossroads received an accusation:

a
March 7th, 2007
Stupid posting and website

This name-calling accusation implies a lack of respect for the most important of American principles: freedom of speech.

Pattern 3: Rumor

There is a rather grim blog with an embedded vlog, A Vlog that upset me! (Destroy ASL). It is very serious and not an isolated case. There exist numerous efforts to bastardize ASL across the country by folks who thought Deaf children would “see” nuances of the English language on hands. The comment for this upset blog reads:

Anonymous said...

You sound so fragile when you get upset like this. ASL POWER = FRAGILE ASL?

She mixes PSE with ASL, and is no professor of language, just playing with ideas while learning about a new language.

Move on, nothing going on here, except two funny clips (check out the one about countries).

I am not amused by this comment, dismissing it and telling to move on. Think about Deaf children who are exposed to trivial efforts by some feebleminded people who thought they have great ideas about changing ASL.

Pattern 4: Silence

In my own blog, The Deaf Way at Gallaudet … The Big Divide, I received this anonymous comment:

At 5:15 PM, Anonymous said...
HOW MUCH DID U KNOW ABOUT THIS?

This is probably the most amazing comment I’ve ever imagined to receive. ASL is being marginalized at Gallaudet University by the SLCC campaign. Has this comment maker ever seen Amy Cohen Efron so mad before?

In my conclusion, this anonymous comment theory might not have its basis only in the imagination, nor have any facts ever been advanced in its favor for all the Deaf. Anonymous comment makers are selfish.

My Email Response to a Friend about Faith in Gallaudet

Aloha XXXX,

I heard you. I do still keep my faith in Gallaudet. I am only aiming at capturing the university back to the Deaf community. We must fight from every single angle to claim the university. We must also bear in mind that there's a great many of Deaf people who discovered ASL late in life, and they are very confused. They have yet to understand the power of ASL. We must be very patient and fight.

Be vigilant of everything affecting all the Deaf. Gallaudet University is the only institution in this entire world that understands the power of ASL but fails to articulate it to public. Deaf children across the nation (as well as around the world) would benefit greatly if Gallaudet University addresses truth conditions that deafness imposes. Among these truths is American Sign Language, not audiograms.

Mahalo, Carl

Bob's Vlog: Job or Self-Actualization?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder refutes Bob Davila's statement that Gallaudet University prepares the graduates for better jobs. This "graduation = job" mentality is directly influenced by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal mandatory that provides people with disabilities training opportunities for vocation. Gallaudet University should not be about occupation opportunities for all the Deaf; it is about intellectual pursuits.

The Deaf Way at Gallaudet ... The Big Divide

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder continues to criticize the March 2nd memorandum from Gallaudet University's Board of Trustees, announcing that Gallaudet University not peruse the Internet to see what the Deaf world community has thought of higher learning and teaching at Gallaudet University—an ongoing practice of exacerbating social inequalities through discriminatory projects (diversity and inclusiveness), philosophies, technologies, and social structure. The big divide in the coming decades At Gallaudet University will be between the "reality-based ASL community" and the "ideologically-based SLCC community."

My Favorite Presidential Perspective

President Coolidge and his first lady were taking separate tours of a large poultry farm.

Mrs. Coolidge, passing the chicken pens, inquired of a supervisor whether a roosters copulated more than once a day.

"Yes," the man said. "Dozens of times."

"Tell that," Mrs. Coolidge replied, "to the president."

Some time later the president, passing the same pens, was told about the roosters - and about his wife's remark.

"Same hen every time?" he asked.

"Oh no, a different one each time," the supervisor replied.

"Tell that," Coolidge said with a sly nod, "to Mrs. Coolidge."

Be Yourself

If you want the present to be different

from the past, study the past.

--Baruch Spinoza

When I was a senior at Gallaudet in 1982-83, I was preparing for an interview with a representative from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. I was applying for a fellowship to travel and study abroad. I was advised by faculty to exaggerate my academic experience.

Friends told me to be serious, sophisticated and a lot of other things that I was not.

When I arrived for the interview, I was escorted to a room in the Cadwallader Washburn Art Building by the foundation representative and an interpreter. We began chatting and because the representative seemed so open and friendly, I decided I could find out about what the fellowship involved by asking him questions.

The conversation went smoothly and after an hour, fear and trepidation had been replaced by enthusiasm. I was about to ask some questions about the past winners of the fellowship when the representative informed me that I would be expecting a letter from the foundation. The pleasant conversation had been the interview.

I was selected as the 1983 Thomas J. Watson Fellow, and I learned a valuable lesson from it - be yourself.

Some Horse Sense Presuppositions: Support or Use ASL

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder summons some horses to help him make presuppositions for "support ASL" versus "use ASL."

Gallaudet Board of Trustees: Ignorance and Isolationism

The March 2, 2007 memorandum from the Board of Trustees to the campus community reads: "The Board recognizes that Gallaudet's issues will not be solved on the Internet and asks that everyone bring these conversations into the community where real solutions to real problems can be developed as we continue working together for a better Gallaudet. President Davila has the full and unanimous support of the Board of Trustees and we thank him for the work he is doing to bring this community together and implement the changes needed to move Gallaudet forward."

ASL Game: Dice

A vlog about a game in ASL

Presupposition in ASL

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder discusses presuppositions for Aidan Mack's account in her recent vlog. If you are interested, you can google the word presupposition, written in English, of course.

Manual Alphabet

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder can do the manual alphabet in less than three seconds!

ASL and Morality: A Story

A Deaf friend of mine was telling me about the time when the Gallaudet University administration had become so corrupt and immoral, American Sign Language had become so degenerate, and conditions had become so intolerable that the Deaf community was alarmed.

In talking things over with the friend, I suggested that we pray for another flood to earth and begin anew, or even let the hearing people destroy themselves with nuclear bombs.

This Deaf friend of mine admitted that this might be necessary, but he did suggest, "According to your own statement, Schroates, only about 98% of the hearing population are unregenerately ignorant about American Sign Language, and the other 2% are trying hard to improve conditions. Since this 2% are good, and since they are right down in the thick of it all, they might have some ideas that haven't occured to us. Why don't you create a vlog for these hearing people and see what suggestion they might have?"

I agreed this was a good idea and so I developed a vlog and published it in my blogspot.

In telling his story, this Deaf friend asked his hearing friend, "What do you think Carl said in his vlog?"

After a moment's hesistant, his hearing friend admitted, "I don't know! Did someone translate his vlog?"

"Oh," said my friend, "you didn't translate it?"

The Clowns of Milan (Resolution)

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder recalls some funny incidents in his school.

ASL: Mutual Monitoring Possibilities

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder reacts to Aidan Mack's recent vlog in DEAF CINEMATIC FILMBLOG by discussing mutual monitoring possibilities (MMP) that we all have within the Deaf community.

Just for Less than 1 1/2 Minutes

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder reads a poem from "Gift Rap" by Tom C. Armstrong. This was how Rochester Method was used back then.

In ASL Dragon We Trust

A vlog about Sooket's story of "ASL Dragon's Treasure Chest" and Gisbatzed's motto, "In ASL Dragon We Trust."

http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2007/02/asl-dragon-treasure-chest.html#links

I Write What I Know about ASL Dragon

Why has there been so much confusion about American Sign Language (ASL)? It has largely been because through new research, new information has been brought to light that has changed the conventional wisdom on how we the deaf mutes acquire and process information, knowledge and communication. The important effects of ASL were simply not appreciated until ASL Dragon arrived.

But we also failed because we didn't take into account how the average school age children are not doing well in the NCLB mandatory. The Deaf Education regimens were often impractical, unnatural, and severe without ASL. They required us to abandon almost forever the language and culture of the Deaf to satisfy their social expectations that Deaf people can "hear and speak" cooperatively.

I have a front-row view of how their misconceptions about educating Deaf children led us the deaf mutes astray. As a student linguist, my primary interest has been to prevention of ASL marginalization.

My proudest achievement thus far has been my role in the development of ASL Dragon that prohibits any language translation--which can, in minutes, easily promote respect for the language and culture of the Deaf.

In response, people, deaf and hearing alike, feel free to watch my ASL Dragon vlogs … without language translation, of course!

More Pictures from My Photo Album

Mama and I

Four Generations: Papa, me, Oude Opa, and Opa

Meriam and I

I've got a story to tell you about this big pencil!

I took Meriam's book because I wanted to read it!

Drop Everything And Read (DEAR)

This picture of Dad and me reading books together was taken on my second birthday, December 26th, in the Netherlands.



Yes, I said, "books" because you could see them here. That's what I continue to love...reading books...many of them! After reading books, Dad and I often discussed them...in the language and culture we knew the best. These books were in Dutch and we used Gebarentaal.

Manipulation of the Oppressed

Good sociologists will delineate how children learn to tease others by observing how they get teased. They call it a learned behavior, and it often become ingrained within these children for a long time. The same truth goes to the oppressed who learns how to manipulate the oppression.

The common view of the Gallaudet University community is of an illiberal space between the oppressive decadence of the IKJ-JKF-PK administration and the airy, experimental humanism of American Sign Language. These are the so-called Dark Ages between two powers, governed by language and communication absurdists, policed by corrupt provisions of Gallaudet University's Administration & Operations Manual, and continuously burdened with the threat of exclusion and oppression.

While there is an element of truth in ASL, it is hardly truer as an overall picture of higher teaching at Gallaudet University. What we understood about ASL at Gallaudet University is never pure text, any more than the absolutists can ever be innocent of the hegemony of "speech and hearing" over ASL.

As so many recent critics have pointed out, Interim President Bob Davila is far from being just a university spokesman with a body of efforts to his name. He may become a major language and cultural institution if and only if he has people free of the oppression around him.

The SLCC (Sorenson Language & Communication Center) project is the center of controversy, but we shall begin with the history of Gallaudet University: The National Deaf Mute College. The point is to signal the sense of controversy that pervades identity crisis when addressing Deaf mute and ASL. And yet they are not treated as such by academic critics.

After its consistently profound contributions to general claims of ASL, it is arguable that ASL Studies should have taken as its most insistent, solemn theme the relationship between ASL and it's spoken counterpart English. How, I have asked around, can ASL Studies survive academy, other than by the literalistic means of the dealing with audiology and speech discipline?

I guess that one of the matters lamented for all Deaf children is the silencing of the oppressed.

ASL Is Alive: Prologue

In this "no translation allowed" vlog, Carl Schroeder creates a prologue for the six parts of "ASL Is Alive."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpMfHaf4vw0
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-1_03.html
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-2.html
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-3.html
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-4.html
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-5.html
http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/12/asl-dragon-is-alive-part-6.html

ASL and Autism

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder tells about his work with an autistic child this morning.

We Have a Bad Muse

At Gallaudet, there is a bad muse,
Winding through the SLCC episode like wind,
One of the just who fails to sing the truth
Eyeball-to-eyeball.

Poetic aspects of this bad muse,
The meaning of almost-morning walking away
From literacy, the difference a night turning
Over into day.

The naked tree, waiting weeks and breathing slowly,
About to welcome forever spring, not because
It will do this muse, or me a bit of good, but...
Because ASL exists.

We have a bad muse calling the kind she likes to see...
Before her on the desk is the blueprint questionnaire
Mapping audiological and speech history,
Writing off the literacy.

by Carl Schroeder

Maui, Hawaii

3/2/2007

ASL Blog-Poem: Hold on to Your ASL Heritage

In American Sign Language
There is much to learn -
An eternity to learn it.

Before we can learn the new,
We must unlearn the old -
Hold on to your ASL heritage.

Hold on to your questions in ASL-
With the asking of the question,
There is the beginning of the answer.

To you I bequeath this blog-poem
It is a map of the language of the Deaf -
And all cultural factors within and without.

Be true to American Sign Language
And to the knowledge contained herein -
Herein lies the foundation to live in....

by Carl Schroeder
Maui, Hawai'i
3/1/2007

Carl's Reaction to Bob's Vlog: SLCC

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder reacts to Bob's Vlog: SLCC. The truth needs to be told.

Deaf Mutes: No Hope Is Lost!

Speaking Is Believing

Early on, most of us, the deaf mutes, learn the facts of life but when, if ever, do we learn the fact of hearing ourselves speaking? Deaf mute doesn't mean to submit or lower one's own self. It means be as thoroughly as he or she can be as an individual who doesn't hear himself or herself speak.

Ben Vess emailed me about his next challenge blog, and I went to read some of his thought-provoking claims and counterclaims about deaf mute. He has earned my respect for his honesty. I recently visited his blog again to browse comments in it. Alas, Jean Boutcher wrote:

"When I moved into Brooklyn, NY, I looked for my personal physician. I communicated with him via PP (pen and paper). He asked me, “Can you say your name?” To which I replied via PP: “My name is Jean. Why?” The doctor said he wanted to HEAR me say my name with my voice on. So I spoke, “My name is Jean.” The doctor humbly smiled and nodded and wrote down, “Deaf - mute.” Was I offended? No, I was pleased with his frankness and honesty that my speech was not understood because at school, all teachers lied to me that my speech was understood. Why should deaf people be upset if called “deaf-mute”? Do they want to be lied that they speak perfectly?"

I've never seen an honest diagnose that Jean Boutcher's physician made after he heard Jean speak her name. Speaking is believing, and the truth of deaf mute prevails.

Beware of Allness

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder invites you for a short walk.

What Would You Advise?

In this vlog, Carl Schroeder recalls his conference with confused parents of a deaf mute child with cochlear implants.

ASL Vlog Poem: From Tulip Bulb to Enlightenment

A vlog poem by Carl Schroeder