The Frank Turk Imposter

An entertainment vlog: I love this video!

A Visit to VIABLE

An announcement vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about his recent visit to John Yeh, CEO of VIABLE last week Thursday. He summarizes talks by Frank Turk and Jeff Rosen who were there, too.

Normalcy in Deaf America

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses how our American society makes everyone normal under any circumstance whatsoever. The U.S. President John F. Kennedy made it possible for my Deaf parents to move to the U.S. within 6 months so that we could have a normal life. We came to live in the U.S. on September 21, 1963, just two months before JFK's assissination.

Three Cups of Tea: Recommended Reading

An book review vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses concisely the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is an inspiring book that brings us into the "friendly yet different" world of Muslims. Visit www.threecupsoftea.com

ASL Enquirer: Myth Issue

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder makes some satirical statements in this myth issue of American Sign Language Enquirer.

Deaf Syllogism

A philosophy vlog: Carl Schroeder asks who lives in a doghouse after discussing this syllogism.

Premise A: Deafness is not normal.
Premise B: Ken is deaf.
Conclusion: Ken is not normal.

True of False? You be the judge!

American Sign Language in 1965

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder shows how ASL was written with lowercase in 1965. The English language does change, too!

CI War Stories: Vulgarity Is For Losers

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder compares CI vulgarity to President Richard Nixon's vulgarity. Vulgarity is for losers, neither more nor less.

Guest Vlogger: My Son Is Deaf, Finally!

Four years later after a hearing son of deaf parents was born, the time was right. His parents felt ready to explore the option and made the decision to go ahead with surgery for him in Brazil. Last week, he had his hearing inactivated indefinitely b...y removing both cochleae from the ears. He became profoundly deaf like his parents. They have been immensely blessed with the choice they made.

The Second Commandment and the Deaf

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses whether Deaf babies are endowed within the image of God. Although he is not very religious, he has been appalled by people who attempted to create the image of God in DVTV. The creation of any image of anything at all, whether divine or mundane, that makes Deaf babies hear is already a no-no!

I Am an I.D. Theft Victim for 12 Years

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses his being an I.D. theft victim since 8/25/1997 when he was arrested and charged for bulgary, breaking in a warehouse, looting various stuff, and pawning the stolen items. Although his case was dismissed and expunged, the FBI flagged him for criminal. FBI doesn't have the court information. Carl's painful experience was recalled during his process of purchasing a log cabin this week.

A Contract with Interpreter: The Cheapest Bid

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains his experience with an interpreter who had a contract with the Maryland courthouse. Something must be wrong!

Lessons Learned from Silent Weekend

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains some feedbacks from last weekend's retreat for interpreters and ASL instructors. Numerous participants want to hear stories "we tell ourselves about ourselves."

Is God Human?

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder presents two premises to support his statement that God is human. Premise A: People are human. Premise B: Jesus (is) human. Conclusion: God is human.

What If God Uses Sign Language

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder recalls Senator Robert Kennedy's speech in South Africa in 1960s when he asked what if God is black. Now Carl asks: what if God uses sign language.

Let's Teach Each Other ASL Academically

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder reacts to InsameMisha's vlog and supports academic ASL discussed by Nancy, Nikki and Mike. ASL grammar can help Deaf children learn English. In ASL pragmatics, we can offer each other critiques.

Two Pictures from my Past

A show-and-tell vlog: Carl Schroeder shares his picturesthat he used for his introduction in the workshop at Western Oregon University yesterday.

Deaf People Think Differently ...

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder thinks that hearing people think deaf people think differently!

The Crabbiest Moment: High Functioning

A satire vlog: Carl Schroeder is Gisba the Clown, joking and mocking in American Sign Language (ASL) those who are high functioning.

ASLeCLUB.com

An announcement vlog: Carl Schroeder announces a new electronic club. Visit www.asleclub.com and watch his video about five language components of American Sign Language.

ASL: From Deep Structure to Surface Structure

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about an upcoming workshop he is preparing. He discusses briefly how important the cervical bones and nervous system are to using American Sign Language.

Open Video Letter to the RID: Bright Blue Ribbon and Star of David

An open letter vlog: Carl Schroeder challenges the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) for issuing bright blue ribbons to the Deaf attending its Philadelphia conference last week. Were these bright blue ribbons similar to the yellow Star of David issued to the Jews during the past century? A full explanation is expected.

Kill All the Linguists

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder offers some linguistic explanations for a different hand configuration in one of his pictures.

A Hearing Friend from my Childhood

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains that his linguistics informant made him realize how his childhood friend who can hear sounded, which was unbeknown to Carl for many years.

One Weekend of a Lifetime

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder shares his personal experience of one weekend he spent with his schoolmate Tom. Communication was completely minimal (if not minimized).

ASL is ... Deaf-Centered, Deaf-Controlled, Deaf-Oriented

One role is to convince hearing people

of the value of ASL and Deaf culture.

The other is to pull in deaf people

to a particular brand of ASL

and practice of Deaf culture

from other ways of being deaf.

--Jane Fernandes and Shirley Shultz Myers

(to be published in the Journal of Deaf Studies

and Deaf Education, 2009)

Today we are living in a culture that is fascinated with American Sign Language (ASL), the language and culture of the Deaf in the United States and most of Canada. In 1965, William C. Stokoe published the Dictionary of American Sign Language, the book that changed our world, our way of thinking.

As a born-Deaf individual myself, I am most impressed by Stokoe's knowledge of a language and culture that is not his own. By publishing his thesis that Deaf people have ASL and, therefore, are not languageless, Stokoe was obviously blessed with a keen intellect and extraordinary insights.

When I went to live in the United States at age 10, in 1963, one of the first things I learned about ASL was that I would acquire a new culture that is completely different from Gebarentaal, the language and culture of the Deaf in The Netherlands where I was born, and, as a result, I would never know what I didn't know. ASL provides many, many tools for my personal journey, the most important journey of all. That is the journey Paddy Ladd describes as being toward Deafhood. ASL is, above all, Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented. ASL is coming to home to the power within me ... and many Deaf people.

Once that realization of this language power, I was not exactly surprised to discover that there exists an uphill battle against ASL simply because it is Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented. Deaf people who know about this battle are keeping mum, safeguarding this precious knowledge from being taught to those who are not ready to learn the language and culture of the Deaf. And other people studying or using ASL haven't discovered it yet.

I have had a deep conflict for many years now about whether this Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented information--which has been so carefully preserved and deliberately kept hidden--should be displayed at all. Yet I am convinced now is the right time. The expansion of ASL has had some positive consequences for the rest of my journey.

The sacred bond formed between ASL and the Deaf is perpetuated in every new generation by the stories we tell about ourselves as Deaf people. We are caught between two worlds: the one "we" perceived and the one that "they" have created around us. Paddy Ladd writes: Every word from every Deaf informant or conversationalist, and most of the quotations from Deaf people of past centuries too, is likewise suffused by a sense of one or both of those realities (... global citizenship and the scale of the damage wreaked upon it). Today I know that the time has come to impart to the world that our own account of Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented language and culture is not too far deviated.

But this is the modern myth that the story of my life disproves; ASL is not so characterized by language deviation that we shouldn't use it. There is even a suggestion about a language hybrid, the offspring of ASL and English through human manipulation, through language hegemony, through culture bigotry. Neither ASL nor English can be compromised, for it would be academically and intellectually absurd.

My ancestors, especially my parents, believed it to be their duty to preserve the Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented nature, a duty passed down to me ... my children ... and all of you!

;-) Carl Schroeder, 8/8/2009

A Badly Translated "Mother Goose" Book

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses how ASL is destroyed and bastardized in the book "Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose told in Signed English" by Harry Bornstein and Karen Saulnier and published by Gallaudet University Press. Signs are completely and intentionally distorted, and there are absolutely no "ASL hand shape" rhymes in this book. This book is probably a symbol of the saddest of all chapters in Deaf history.