In search of a solution
 | By Tayler Mayer Monday, April 14th, 2008 |
Video not working? Watch it at DeafVIDEO.TVHello everyone! It’s been a while since I last vblogged here. *dusting off this blog*
The DeafRead team listened when people shared concerns about blogs they did not want to see on DeafRead. We talked to several people to find out their thoughts. We videophoned, exchanged e-mails, and met in person to gather different perspectives. We came up with some solutions and bounced them off anyone who were willing to lend a listening eye and offer productive feedback. The DeafRead team had several ongoing discussions via e-mail.
A solution was selected last week, but was out-of-town at the time. I returned last night and am announcing the experimental solution. It will be bundled under what will be called DeafRead Dashboard.
We will be building a feature that will allow you to make DeafRead your own. That is, once you are logged in with an username and password, you will be able to choose from a list of all DeafRead blogs–customizing DeafRead to enjoy only the blogs you want to see.
Also available under DeafRead Dashboard will be two other features. They are “Watch” and “E-mail”.
If there is a post you wish to share with your friends and family, conveniently e-mail the corresponding link along with the summary that you see on DeafRead. Logging in will be required to minimize abuse of this feature.
The third feature is “Watch”. If there is a post on DeafRead that you would like to follow, you can move it onto your “watch list”. Say, there is a vlog that has a good discussion in the comments, clicking “Watch” will move it to your watch list. This way, good discussions won’t be lost.
As I said, DeafRead Custom will be launched as an experiment. The DeafRead team isn’t yet firm with the feature as the complete answer. On a trial basis, we will be seeing how things go. Moreover, feature development hasn’t begun, so there is plenty of time for you to share with us your input and feedback. Let us know what you think!
Non-constructive feedback in comments will not be published.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Nice! I think this will be a good change for DeafRead! Thank you for doing this, and I look forward to the release.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:13 am
It’s pretty obvious, based on my tabluations, that ASL blog/vlog has gone down! It’s not that CI blogs are taking over…its the other way around. Numbers don’t lie.
What is the real reason why DR ASL bloggers and vloggers not submitting their blogs/vlogs like they used to?
Obviously we need to find a solution to make everyone happy without causing things to backfire which is what happened, as we can see.
I am looking forward to see how this feature will work. To make it more customized might work. But it will also send out another controversial message about DR and it’s viewers that we might not like. Being a culturally deaf hoh person, I value the image that the world has about deaf culture and hope that one day everyone will learn to live their lives without bias.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Fantastic idea!
I like to learn and read some more about everything. I do not want to see *any* bloggers and vloggers to debate about against having CI blogs that are taking over the DR.
I have always enjoyed learning some more about *ANY* CI issues from the CI/hearing loss bloggers. There are many things that I *NEVER* thought/learned what they have done for their education and children’s future. Being a deaf person, I value to embrace any adults and children to live with in this same world. Do I say as Candy’s value, I do the same.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:32 am
that’s GREAT!! Let us hope for the best!!
deafk
April 14th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
What is the real reason why DR ASL bloggers and vloggers not submitting their blogs/vlogs like they used to?
The reason is…DR is no longer Deaf/ASL-friendly. It is moving toward CI people and people who have nasty attitude toward ASL. Editors need to make up their minds.
I don’t think Tayler’s idea will work. ASL/Deaf people need to set up a new ‘DR” that promote blogs/vlogs without focusing on ears!!! hearing loss!! deafness!!
April 14th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
How about setting up the “don’t want to see” wordings ?
Ie. I don’t want to read “vpad” and it will not shown up on my customized DeafRead listing. Ya know what i mean??
Wha da ya thina ?
April 14th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Hi susan, the DeafRead team has our minds made: we will be unbiased and neutral. On the other hand, DeafRead Custom will allow every DeafReader the ability to practice bias. Deciding your degree of bias would be too tremendous a task, instead we are leaving that to you. The decision is yours and yours only.
If you want to find blogs/vlogs that don’t focus on ears, hearing loss, deafness, visit DeafRead Extra.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Question for you Tayler,
This custom is optional?
So, we have the option to continue to see DR the way it always was or to choose custom?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hi Candy. That is a good question. The front page will continue to appear as it does now. Only by creating a login, logging in and selecting your list will the front page show your customized list of posts. So yes, this feature is optional!
April 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Ouch… I feel unsure of the whole idea. I skim through the screen and open those that I’m interested in. My interest varies on weekly basis – Some time I’m more interested in technology, other time I have zero interest in technology – for the example.
One burning question I have now – is the custom dashboard an optional?? If so, I will not use this option. Thanks, Kim
April 14th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Ooh! Deafmom3 (Kim), we commented at the same time.
See my previous comment for the answer to your question.
However, that brings up an issue. It is of my feeling that most DeafReaders will not use this option, for the reason you mentioned. That is, DeafRead Custom is to satisfy the wants of a very few. We understand the concern, and are addressing it in the best way possible.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Tayler says,” If you want to find blogs/vlogs that don’t focus on ears, hearing loss, deafness, visit DeafRead Extra”
That is the attitude I am talking about. ASL/Deaf culture/Non CI issues should be on the front. Ears, hearing loss, deafness should go to DeafRead Extra. Pathological view should never be acceptable. Why are we accepting abusive blogs and let them on the front?
Deaf/ASL culture/Non CI issues and ears/hearing loss/deafness do not mix. That is why I said that editors do not get it. Blogs and vlogs focusing on FIXING DEAF PEOPLE should go to Extra!
April 14th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Susan, once we choose sides, we start falling down a slippery slope. Neutrality and censorship (of ideas and opinions) cannot co-exist.
If I were to build an aggregator favoring a side, it would be host to a whole set of its unique problems, including groupthink. And you know how likely infighting will occur no matter where. Start kicking people out (to control infighting) and you’ll bring accusations of favoritism. It’s a never-ending battle wherever you wish to go.
Case in point: DeafVIDEO.TV is a website where vloggers are required to use sign language. Its videos are unfiltered. While this creates a different environment than DeafRead, DeafVIDEO.TV still has its own issues.
The bottom line is that everyone has their own opinion. Whoever runs a website that shares opinions needs to accept the responsibility of balancing the policies (e.g. to reduce negativism) versus censorship. It is not an easy task, and you only can try.
By adding DeafRead Custom, we turn the decision-making power over to you. You’ll be enabled to personalize DeafRead to your tastes. Here’s my personal opinion: I prefer to read and discuss all deaf-related subjects with the least control and bias. As a reader, I like to decide for myself what is the truth. In order to do so, I need to be well-educated and versed in the subject. But even so, that is not the approach some readers take so we are responding by building DeafRead Custom.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
it’s the next level… DeafRead 2.0!
April 14th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
It seems like an idea that should work for everyone – if you want to see it all, you see it all, if you don’t you can cherry-pick (although that’s what RSS feeds are for).
I respect the “freedom of speech” desire.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Tayler,
Surely you realize you cannot possibly be “neutral” and keep the majority of us content. This is just not human nature. We will form opinions regardless of how you attempt to “fix” the problem on DR.
Basically, originally, DR was intended FOR deaf-centric topics and it should stay that way. As owner of this site, you do reserve the right to moderate. You DO and CAN accept and reject entries and most of us know that. We are wondering why don’t you do just that?
As some readers suggested, send the CI entries to Extra and leave the front page deaf-centric. Or let the CI community form their own site. There’s plenty of cyberspace for that. If we wanna know about CI, we can always visit their site.
One of the life lessons we all learned is we can’t ever satisify everyone. It is just unrealistic so you as well do whatever you please, actually.
But after reading your replies, I get the impression that you do enjoy reading the CI entries as they broaden your horizons. While this is commendable, you need to ask yourself this question: who is the stakeholder of DR; you or the readers?
You know the old saying, “The customer is always right.” Your customers are deaf-centric, Tayler.
Bottom line, you own this site and will do what you think is best – I can only offer my thoughts.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Tayler wrote: “If you want to find blogs/vlogs that don’t focus on ears, hearing loss, deafness, visit DeafRead Extra.”
That comment really hit me hard. Do you mean that the smallest part of the body, ears, (hearing loss and deafness) is superior than other parts such as mental, spirit, language, and culture? If so, something is wrong here.
What is the point if we try to fight for our linguistic rights? We might as well give up and allow the degree of hearing loss control our lives?
April 15th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Hi Cy. That is one of the biggest misconceptions about DeafRead and I’d like to dispel it now.
DeafRead is deaf-centric.
Because there are different definitions of what “deaf” means, not everyone has the same view of what is deaf-centric. Rather than try to define what is deaf, we consider all things as deaf. This includes Cochlear Implantees.
Cochlear Implantees may have chosen a different approach to dealing with their deafness, but the struggles are the same. We experience discrimination and injustice. We experience a unique identity development process. Many implantees were without their implants for the majority of their lives.
Another misconception that I’ve seen is that DeafRead was created because of the Gallaudet Protests of 2006. DeafRead was created in July 2006, several months before the protests began. Right from the start, we’ve been inclusive welcoming CI bloggers. This has been an unwavering policy. It wasn’t until a few months ago that CI bloggers started posting on DeafRead, causing readers to think we changed our policy to welcome them.
Yet other misconception, and an important one, is that DeafRead and the editors endorses, supports or promotes the ideas or opinion put forth by the posts we publish. I can see that there is as much difficulty separating our roles from the issues in the published posts as there is for us to remain neutral–yet we do it to our best ability.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that it’s been observed for many months that commenters and vbloggers are more vocal about removing CI bloggers — while people that approach me in person are more supportive of keeping DeafRead open and inclusive. So don’t presume to know who the stakeholders of DeafRead are. Bloggers and commenters are less inclined to drum support for CI bloggers’ right to exist on DeafRead. Admittedly, the environment that the deaf online community has created for fostering this kind of communication sharing isn’t the healthiest.
Our eyes are always open to listen, and as Cy said, try as hard as we might, we will never make everyone happy. Even if CI bloggers were no longer a part of DeafRead, people will always find flaws. Where does it stop? Our experience over almost two years has taught us: nowhere.
DeafRead Custom is a step in the direction of letting DeafReaders choose precisely what is deaf-centric–to them, the individual. As we’ve established, everyone has a different interpretation which is why I think DeafRead Custom could be an awesome solution.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Joey, what the statement means is that if a post isn’t deaf-related, it’s published at DeafRead Extra. This has been our practice since day one. Mental, spirit, language and culture can be deaf-related.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:58 am
if the ASL/Deaf bloggers/vloggers won’t blog alongside the CI bloggers… it goes to show how closed they may be to the changes that are happening in the world.
my advice; don’t hide, don’t roll over and die. What are you going to solve by being exclusive anyways?
April 15th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Deaf people do have a site of their own; its called deafvideo.tv . use it.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Let’s define Deaf-centered (some people say Deaf-centric – we prefer to say Deaf-centered, but that is a long story).
To me, Deaf-centered does not mean a focus on pathological or medical views of being Deaf. The Deaf-centered concept does not suggest that Deaf people need to be fixed and be like hearing people nor does it say that Deaf people need to hear in order to function.
I believe that the majority of blogs on the front page lately have not been very Deaf-centered. It does not necessarily mean throwing out the non-Deaf-centered blogs completely. They just need to go to a different section (Extra or a new medical section) when they discuss mapping, speech therapy, hearing aids, and other pathological issues. Let me clarify I do not have a problem with implantees’ or hearing aids users’ blogs or vlogs showing up on the front page if they discuss Deaf-centered issues (ASL stories, rally for captioning access, Deaf schools, etc.).
April 15th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Thanks for the clarification.
As a founder and human editor, I know it won’t be easy for you to do on your duty. I commend you for making this happen and dominating when there are many obstacle courses.
Cy –
There is not always just for the deaf/without CIs only in the Deafread (DR). I know you want this DR to preserve in the history. However, there will be many changes within 20 years from now.
For what I learned from Barb, a blogger from the Deaf Progressivism is that there will be more CI kids in the classrooms. I.E., her son shared his experience about his classmates who almost all are CIs except him.
So, what do we expect within 20 years from now? Let’s face the reality in the DR.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Candace…bingo! I tried to say DeafRead is CI-centered or CI-centric because many blogs discuss ability to hear, mapping, speech, etc. People are confused about what deaf-centered or deaf-centric means. Hand waves to you for clarifying. Joey and Cy, you both are right with your observations. Soemthing is very wrong here. Many of us already agree that CI users are deaf, but some of their blogs are not deaf-centered while some are deaf-centered. Tayler, you need to understand the difference between deaf-centered and ci-centered blogs.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Susan, be sure to read this important statement I wrote above.
“DeafRead Custom is a step in the direction of letting DeafReaders choose precisely what is deaf-centric–-to them, the individual. As we’ve established, everyone has a different interpretation which is why I think DeafRead Custom could be an awesome solution.”
You, Candace and others have your own interpretation of what deaf-centric is. Rather than impose our interpretation on DeafReaders, we empower them to choose their own.
Susan, DeafRead Custom directly addresses these issues and concerns such as yours. This is positive.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Hi Tayler,
After watching your vlog, as well as reading all comments, I would like to comment here.
Based on your comments on vlog, to me, I don’t know if it will solve the problem, because, if deafies choose some of their favorites deaf related issues from vlog/blogs; some deafies with ci/hoh or hearies, that choose one or more of same vlog/blogs as deafies, will still comment non deaf related issues on these vlog/blogs. If that happen, there will still constantly have arguments/disagreements between deafies and deafies with ci/hoh and hearies.
Therefore, I think that, like some of comments above, the best solution is to have separate sites.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Thank you Kelly87 for your comment. DeafRead does not hold the authority or expertise on how to classify the subgroups within the deaf community. Even researchers’ published works on this topic are questioned, still to this day.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Tayler..can you tell me what your interpretation of the word deaf-centered or deaf-centric? or are you afraid to form your own opinion? I am interested in hearing your own opinion separate from DeafRead.
April 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m unafraid to share my opinion.
Because I know several Cochlear Implantees who use ASL and embraces the deaf community, I consider all implantees deaf. They all share the same deafness. Certain implantees may not agree with me, then again I’ve been given a label with which I do not agree.
I love using this as an example. Doesn’t it drive you crazy when you meet a hearing person that is more culturally deaf than a deaf person you know? They can be CODAs or even if I daresay, hearing people without any deaf family members whatsoever!
I know of a person whose identity I will not disclose who hears so well he could talk on the phone quite easily–but has chosen to live his life as a deaf person by refusing to speak.
Examples such as those makes it difficult to clearly visualize groups within the diverse community that is deaf. I am not a fan of “over-labeling”. I feel that once we get over our labels, we can begin to work together for the better.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
ci implantees who follow the deaf centered philosophy will not put down people who use asl or obsess on mapping or ability to talk. i have no problem with those people. i have a problem with people who are very condescending toward deaf people and their condescending attitudes do not belong on the front of deafread.
the person you mentioned who refused to speak is indeed a deaf centered person. hand waves to him/her.
we can agree to disagree. deafread will be more ci-centered than deaf-centered if you allow blogs to focus on ears only. deaf people are bigger than ears like joey baer commented. joey baer is one of few people with senses.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
If a post is condescending, you have two choices: 1) ignore 2) educate. Please be sure to avoid double standards by educating vbloggers that are condescending to CI vbloggers.
Focusing on deaf-related issues has been a long-standing philosophy at DeafRead for the simple reason you can easily find other forums that are not deaf-related. A deaf aggregator that published everything under the sun failed because of too many irrelevant posts. This is the edge that has helped DeafRead steer away from the same fate. But that’s not to say DeafRead will be ever problem-free.
By wanting to remove CI blogs (or not seeing DeafRead Custom as a solution with potential), terms are dictated on other people. Through our work on DeafRead, we minimize this dictation so the readers can empower themselves as much as they choose with the available information and opinion.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Even though some Deaf DR users may not appreciate the cochlear implant blogs, there are other Deaf people who read these blogs in order to understand better the cochlear implants. These readers are also looking for opportunities to educate the deaf c.i. users and expose them to ASL and Deaf Culture. I know at least three C.I. bloggers who have signed up for ASL classes as a result of their interaction with other bloggers at DeafRead. I’ve also seen a softening of one highly vocal deaf c.i. user’s bias against Deaf Community and ASL softening
Deaf Community has always been very diverse, ranging from Deaf people to deaf people and hard of hearing people who use ASL. Some are more tolerant than others toward deaf people who don’t use ASL. If we practice one groupthink only, we are actually interfering with these viewers’ access to these blogs/vlogs.
This is an aggregator, nothing more. We publish what is a clear cut deaf-centric. Anytime we are asked to moderate and use our subjective opinions what constitutes a Deaf-centric, then DeafRead loses its own uniqueness. Not just that, a slippery slope toward censorship has begun as we are given too much power to dictate to people what they can read and not. Who are we to determine if a person is Deaf-centric enough? Not Deaf-centric enough? Our subjective evaluations may clash sharply with the other people’s subjective opinions. Believe me, this will create additional problems.
With this new design, we are actually empowering the DeafRead users. They now have the power to design the DR that they are comfortable with. They can decide for themselves who meets their criteria of being Deaf Centric.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
What about a feature in the DeafRead Dashboard that allows bloggers to decide who can read their blogs? Similar to a ban option on message boards. After all, if readers can choose which blogs to read, shouldn’t the bloggers have that choice as well? Just a thought…
April 15th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hi Paula. Anyone would be able to visit a blog directly.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Candace,
You said it better than I did! Took words outta my mouth.
White Ghost,
Yes, I fully expect a lot more deafies will have CI. I am a teacher and I already see a lot of CI students k thru 12. About 75 percent of them stopped using their CIs. I don’t know what this says about the future of CIs but I know hearing parents…and the medical community. They will always continue to medically “fix” us. CI is the trend now but in 20 years? We could only wait and see.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Tayler, do you have a roll-out date for this new feature?
April 16th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Demonising CI users by ASL/BSL users, is what is going to affect deaf.read, not the blogs themselves, we all have a choice to read blogs or not, to simply complain they are there seems very negative and quite pointless. This the acid test for deaf culture, whether it has the capability to stand its ground, or whether all it is capable of doing, is to retreat into enclaves again. If they do retreat into ‘Deaf’ spaces, then in the end we are all losers, whether they CAN do this now is debateable, since deaf.read’s success is because diversity is happening and because ‘Deaf’ space sites failed. Embrace the diversity, attacks can be dealt with by deaf.read providers. We are all deaf to various degree, so the real test it seems to me is accepting one another.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Giving the readers the option to exclude sets a very dangerous example. If you’re going to be fighting discrimination against the deaf community, you shouldn’t be practicing discrimination within the deaf community in the first place.
Richard
April 16th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Ella Lentz wrote this on ASL MUSIC. Her comment makes sense.
“Maybe its time to show more real respect to the Deaf ASL vloggers who have been “saving” DeafRead and LISTEN deeply to what they are thinking, feeling, and saying (or not saying)…..
Also, time for us to FACE that darn elephant in the Deaf room which is also taking over DeafRead…
Better that…and that’s more right…than criticizing and blaming on the hard-working, courageous Deaf ASL vloggers if they make a political statement or are busy building the groundswell….
For me personally, I have been busy travelling, presenting, planning the Deaf Bilingual Coalition Conference in Milwaukee, working on the huge revision of Signing Naturally curriculum (to elevate ASL teaching and increase respect for ASL), and promoting the “whole system thinking” training for California Association of the Deaf.
Frankly, yes I am discouraged with and feeling unsafe on DeafRead lately and that has resulted in my not feeling inspired to present ideas as I did before on DeafRead.
I find it interesting that DeafRead is insisting on neutrality and thus exposing itself to the disease that has befallen many other Deaf organizations and forcing them to be passive and meek in terms of facing the elephant eye to eye and pushing it out of our “room” so we can finally reclaim our rightful home.
Sure, I welcome all healthy dialogue and naturally I prefer those that focus on possibilities and cherishing our history of resistance against ORalism/audism, and celebrating ASL and positive Deaf identity. I also prefer those that do not exhibit audism or internalized audism (at least consciously), and I say again, yes, DeafRead DO have the right to do whatever they want..and that includes banning intentional audism.
I am waiting for that day where we see MANY Deaf people (and hearing allies) take courage and do that.”
April 16th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Cy,
Eventhough, we don’t always agree, I do like your blog.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I don’t know if I agree with your concept, now that I’m thinking about this, its really sad that this has to be done because of CI blogging in DEAFRead…
I’m just tired of seeing “topics” with statements from CI, how excited they can hear/how the mapping is going/how everything is so great with CI….this is MY opinion and feeling -
DEAFRead should be only DEAF issues, DEAF life, DEAF way. NOT talking about how much can hear, or having speech, etc.
My heart REALLY truly breaks today, because of this.
Now I missed the “OLD” DEAFRead….WE (Vloggers) can come back, WE can do it, just keep on Vlogging upon yourselves, and talk about YOU, and your life (Deaf)…WE ARE PROUD DEAF!!
Taylor – Question, IF we customized OUR own DEAFRead….what if a NEW Vlogger comes in, will it show up on our customized DEAFRead?
I ask of you, the loyal of the Vloggers, please don’t stop, come back……
Anaology: DBC is here to announce to AGB & the world – SIGN LANGUAGE RIGHTS for Babies. AGB will not give-up, so DBC does not GIVE UP…..
Therefore Vloggers (DEAF) Please DO NOT GIVE UP beause of CI – blogging(s)!
April 16th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Hello again.
@DT
we hope to roll it out very soon. We look forward to seeing how effective it will be.
@TJ and B.A.D.
Again, Ella and B.A.D. are expressing their interpretation of what is deaf. What of those people who do not agree with your interpretation? By using DeafRead Custom, you will be able to tailor DeafRead exactly to your tastes.
If we took it in our own hands to handpick what is deaf and what isn’t deaf–we’d be bombarded with complaints and disagreements about our choices. With our millions of different backgrounds, there is no clear cut definition of what is deaf. What better solution than to give you the choice.
Perhaps DeafRead Custom needs to be implemented, released and used before people understand what it does.
For B.A.D., new blogs will appear in your customized DeafRead. It’ll be a few clicks to add this blog to your list of blogs that you do not want to see (if that is what you desire).
April 16th, 2008 at 11:31 am
What happens if there is a mass switch OFF of ASL input ? You could simply be helping marginalise them by default. You are gambling an ‘ASL’ spot will then re-group and expand….
ASL is switched off ANYWAY by non-american deaf bloggers and other deaf at deaf.read, because they can’t follow it. I really do feel if ASL blogs were captioned more, then more would support the ASL input, because then more people would be aware what is being said.
It’s basics really, not helped by die-hard sign using deaf who refuse point-blank to offer alternatives or allow others to help them do it free. Readers will then take the path of least frustration. I realise this should go both ways, but the onus does seem tobe on culture to put out, life isn’t fair, that’s life… For awareness to work, you HAVE to provide a way in….
April 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Hey Tayler
Please do not change the current format. It works perfectly well for me. Will it stay the way it is? If anyone doesn’t want CI or Deaf, then they can “customize” their choices. We need to broaden our knowledge and to accept diversity. I want to see different blogs and vlogs to see what make them tick.
People with cochlear implants will be part of us. Remember the old days when hearing aids were new. Now, the aids are accepted. Implants are becoming part of us. I get bored with one-sided debates so we need to see the whole picture.
As a strong Deaf person, I look forward to learning more about cochlear implants as well as about Deaf issues, communication issues, and other matters. That is the spirit of Deafhood. We need everyone to get together and work together.
April 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I really do not understand people’s complaints to this concept. With what Tayler and the DR team are doing, they are empowering us to be more selective in what we want to read.
We have people saying, “No. I want the CI v/blogs gone, period. I don’t like them, therefore it shouldn’t exist for ANYONE.”
It seems to me that people want to be controlled, instead of being empowered to make decisions for themselves. They want to be told which blogs are good or bad, and what’s Deaf and what’s not and so on. But then, I can kind of understand that. It’s a lot easier to live your life, if someone else’s making the decisions for you, and far too many of us have lived our lives that way.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
@Deafread fan
If you are not logged in, or your Custom list is not yet changed, you will see everything as you do now. Using DeafRead Custom, will of course be optional. I commented above in this thread that it is my feeling the vast majority of DeafReaders will not use this feature.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
[...] do not understand why people are still upset over DeafRead’s upcoming changes. Tayler and DeafRead are going to release a version of DeafRead where you can customize the list of [...]
April 16th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
While I find it sad that the constant negativity and complaining about CI related blogs has lead to this, I understand, and thank Tayler and co for taking the high road, and acknowledging the fact that CI-implantees *ARE* a part of the deaf community. Its disheartening to see a culture that complains so much about being misunderstood and discriminated against wanting to practice that very discrimination against those within their own community.
Kudos to you, and keep up the great work. I love reading the blogs and vlogs. I enjoy them whether they talk about CI, ASL, deaf-related issues or not. And if somebody DOESN’T like a particular blog….well the [X] at the top right corner isn’t far away.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Colonialism is an important word for us to think about. Some deaf people seem to think that if we are concerned about colonialism, we are rejecting deaf people with ci. I don’t think that is what we are doing. We are just rejecting attitudes, not deaf people themselves.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Kudos to Neecy and the Deaf Pundit.
Good job Taylor… I know it is not easy for you… remember everything has its ebbs and flows (ups and downs.) We can always try to improve.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:53 am
susan, I understand your point. I feel that if we blocked these “attitudes” you speak of, we deny ourselves the opportunity to correct and educate, allowing them to continue or even run rampant.
Additionally, readers can learn how these attitudes are dealt with, empowering themselves to deal with these attitudes when they are experienced firsthand, say, in the workplace. Of course, it is helpful if the discussion thread is constructive, factual and rational.
Finally, who are we to determine which attitudes are negative or positive? You will be able to tune DeafRead to your level of tolerance. How many times do I have to repeat that?
April 17th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I am all for the DeafRead’s experimential basis to see what will happen on the DR “Watch”, “Custom” and other experimential features.
See that? I am not the person, who is totally against any kind of technological and social and political and economic changes. As the change itself could be better or worse.
DR’s new experimential feature, “Watch” will be real big plus to make much easier for all of us to keep the tracks of others’ comments.
I must admit that I am little leery of the idea of “customized reading” which would keep us abreast from reading and understanding others’ perspective/personal experience. How can we keep growing as human beings from being exposed to the diversity of human life?
At least, we could choose whatever we like to read and view. Same thing with newspapers. We could take out various newspaper sections to read and discard other sections. I usually give the sports section to someone. I hardly bother to read the sports section. I do glance over pictures of athletes to see if there are any hot-looking male athletes.
I sometimes briskly read any interesting articles in the sport sections if any of them arouse my curiousity. I personally oppose the idea of professional sports which many people are really hyprocritical for being willing to buy high-priced sport tixs, not fair taxes for good schools, intrafrascrtures (roads, bridges and public works project) and other regular government operations, etc.
I am really look forward to the real experimential changes within the DeafRead to see if any success prevails.
We sometimes ought to keep our enemies, ex. CI proponents, audists and inflirators more closer (keeping eyes on them). So we could prepare for any kind of resolutions and crisis(es) that might threaten the deaf community in general. You, Cy, Joey Baer and other deaf vloggers know what I meant.
I will keep reading CI blogs and other CI proponents like Jamie Berke.
I am really pleased that the DeafRead chose not to engage in any kind of “groupthink” and remain netural and refrain from taking sides. Let’s return the DeafRead back to the glory day!
I always am very grateful to the DeafRead editors and readers and viewers for letting me express my thoughts. Smile!
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog
April 17th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
RLM. I agree with you that we should keep our enemies (ie CI proponents, audists) more closer. You talk about newspaper sections. I am for DeafRead sections so we can throw away the section on CIs if we don’t feel like reading them.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
susan, that is what DeafRead Custom will do!
April 17th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Everyone, it’s been released. Mucho Gracias to Jared for developing DeafRead Custom!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:17 am
I really do not understand people’s complaints to this concept. With what Tayler and the DR team are doing, they are empowering us to be more selective in what we want to read. (Deaf Pundit).
We have ALWAYS had that power. I know people that never log in to CI blogs now, and others that never look at ASL/BSL vblogs because they don’t know the sign anyway. I can’t see the need for making it even ‘easier’, it allows the blinkered to be be even more blind. It panders to those who think ignorance really is bliss…. Do we get Disney next ?
April 18th, 2008 at 3:08 am
that is not what i mean. i m for the sections feature, not the hide feature. since you seem to think deaf-centric means everything (both pathological and cultural), everything is overwhelming. we need to divide deaf into sections. Anti asl ci people, pro asl ci people, cued, asl, etc. sections within the front page, but i know you are set in your own ways. i guess i will have to sit with joey baer and others monitoring deafread carefully.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I know, Tayler. My comment was tongue in cheek. It’s a shame that you have to revise DeafRead in order to accommodate people who aren’t able to skip over blog titles and blurbs they don’t care for. What do they do when they read the newspaper?
Quite honestly, I think what you’ve put together at DeafRead is quite outstanding as it brings issues and discussions to a broad audience of people in an organized manner. It’s too bad that some folks can’t try to get along and agree to disagree.
Best to you in your endeavors.