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What is wrong in Indiana: start with the OMB report
 Musings on communication Patti Durr mentioned the December 2011 OMB report that led to Bill HB 1367 being drafted. I decided to have a look for myself and here it is: Indiana OMB ReportAfter reading it, several items stick out:1. The point is hammered that each ISD child costs $45-47,000 per year to educate while a mainstreamed child costs $1,000 beyond the normal cost of public education. (R...Sat, Feb 11 2012 Are we talking about the same people?
Musings on communication The MediaNews media and reporters are not the most brilliantly perceptive people in the world. Any person with a hearing issue is likely to be called "deaf" and their accomplishments are likely to be said "in spite of..." or "due to the miracle of..." Stories about the newest hearing devices are usually accompanied by "cure" or words alluding to it. There has bee...Sun, Oct 09 2011 Police Training and Deaf People
 Musings on communication We're good citizensNormally most Deaf people don't fear the police, despite the unhappy encounters that have been reported in the media of Deaf people being mistreated or killed by zealous police officers. Most of us believe that if we continue to behave as reasonable people, we will be treated reasonably by conscientious officers who recognize that good-citizen quali...Thu, Sep 08 2011 Contemplating Our Extinction, part 3
Musings on communication The Naysayers: Defenders of the Status QuoThis blog will address some negative opinions about Deaf by deaf people. We call them the "naysayers"-- people who reject the concept that we have a culture and a language that are recognized as equal to other cultures and languages. (Disclaimer: we still must remember that in a free world, their...Mon, Mar 21 2011 Contemplating Our Extinction, Part 2
Musings on communication This blog will be playing devil's advocate. Not all hearing people (or even all deaf people) believe this, but there are enough who are saying it for us to be concerned.We have evidence of whole societies and nations becoming extinct--either by disaster or by design--and with each one we lose something. Whether we accept this as inevitable poi...Tue, Mar 15 2011 Contemplating Our Extinction as a People, part 1
Musings on communication In the mad budget-driven push by politicians, any excuse will do to SAVE MONEY. Dollars translates into votes. When it became a matter of 1500 children in 11 schools in New York costing twice as much per capita as 4.5 million children at other schools, the politicians became greedily opportunistic with dollar signs in their eyes. What are 15 hundred kid...Sun, Mar 13 2011 A Thousand Committed People were Just Grand!
Musings on communication For the past month, we had known buses would be chartered from the major cities of New York State, three from Buffalo, one from the Southern Tier, and three from Rochester; with more from elsewhere and downstate to converge on Albany's Legislature buildings. Somehow that didn't seem like many. The third of three buses arrived at Marketplace Mall for th...Sat, Mar 12 2011 Dear Governor Cuomo,
Musings on communication Governor,Your proposal honestly left me scratching my head. I voted for you, being a huge believer in that the Democratic platform was citizen-friendly and had its priorities straight. Everywhere we balance many contradictory requirements: infrastructure, big business, the wealthy who control much of our economy, politics, the middle class, the elderly, the ...Sun, Mar 06 2011 What Blogging Means to the Deaf Community
Musings on communication Who reads blogs and post comments?It has been said that people participate in online discussions in the proportion of 90-10-1, or that 90 percent of blog readers lurk but do not contribute, another 10 percent may contribute occasionally, and 1 percent will be active bloggers or contributors on a regular basis. What about Deaf people?Add to thi...Sun, Mar 06 2011 Audism in Online Job Applications
Musings on communication Recently this came to my attention because Son was applying for jobs while on break from college. Most places nowadays ask one to submit an application online, some providing for attaching or pasting in a resume. So he went at it, completing six online applications for entry-level jobs this past week. He was confident because his resume had a respe...Sun, Jan 23 2011 Ella's Ghost of Oralism
Musings on communication Ella's recent video created controversy because quotes pulled from it gives the impression of violence in fighting oralism. I didn't see it that way, although she used strong expressions. What she is fighting is a powerful ghost that nevertheless still haunts all of us today. We should outline differences before climbing soapboxes. Oralism t...Tue, Oct 05 2010 Divisive or Reflective Looks at the Deaf Community
Musings on communication Recently Mike McConnell, known for his critical comments on the Deaf community, did it again. After detailing recent arrests of Deaf people for crimes, he asked,"All in all, when combined with these past events did they help tarnish the image of the Deaf community in various ways and perception? What are the lasting effects?" Did it "help tarnish" the i...Mon, Sep 13 2010 jnevans, DeafPundit liked this The Beloit List and the Deaf
Musings on communication Each year Beloit College in Wisconsin publishes a list of items that young people entering college don't know about. WARNING: Reading this list may make you feel old, even if you are just 30. I selected some items and commented on how Deaf people might view them, plus added a few of my own.The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014Most studen...Tue, Aug 17 2010 When Deaf are Stopped by Security or Police
Musings on communication This viral video has been making the rounds of the Deaf community internet groups. The link is provided here for those who haven't seen it: [link] Two deaf brothers were stopped coming out of a California ladies' clothing store in Hollywood. One was taken down in a choke hold by a burly security man, while another equally burly guard prevented his ...Fri, Aug 13 2010 To Fight or to Ignore Fallacies about ASL?
Musings on communication This blog had me puzzled...not in its original premise, which was about pros and cons of the different methods of early childhood communication. While reasonable in its question, the blogger focused only on ASL and mused how its "cons" would be explained.Respondents such as the Holism, Candy, and Nesmuth immediately appeared to present their own vi...Wed, Aug 11 2010 The Jigsaw Puzzle of Deafdom
Musings on communication Deafdom, as opposed to deafhood, is a physical world where d/Deaf people and their contemporaries live, grow, work, learn and interact with one another. No set of beliefs, no customs or even language is specified and these vary for each individual. They are constantly in motion, often bouncing off one another, and in time form keys and spaces of jigsaw puzzl...Mon, Jul 12 2010 Grandpa and the Deaf toddler
Musings on communication It was a hot summer day and the grandfather was busy in the vegetable garden, fenced off from the back yard where the deaf child and her dog romped. Occasionally he would raise his head to check on the little redheaded girl and see that she was still there, or simply listen to her bouncing the seesaw or creaking in the swing. He heard the fence rattling and looke...Sun, Jul 11 2010 The professor and the layman
Musings on communication Of late there have been charges about "deafhoodized" and "closed society" by some who do not agree with Deaf Culture ideas. Recently on Sewell's blog he talked about ASL suppressing Native American Sign Language, ISL, just as the oral/aural people suppress ASL. Richard Clark Eckert, a professor of sociology and anthrop...Fri, Jul 02 2010 "Hate Crime" Verbiage Can Harm Us
Musings on communication This is for us, the Deaf Community, those of us who prefer ASL and use it with our most significant friends and family. At the same time, we have to live and work in the Hearing community. As equals, not as downtrodden people.Recently some people have been flinging around extremist language. At first it was "Holocaust" and "genocide", then went to "xenophobia" an...Mon, May 10 2010 Random Comments on the Deaf Blogsphere
Musings on communication These days it is pretty darn easy to get ticked off. The current flap in California has brought out the Deaf Culturists and the Anti-Deaf Culturists again. People who should know better are dragging out the same old tired arguments...attacking that word audism again. The nutcases are easy to spot...they keep cropping up and saying the same things in a ...Fri, Apr 23 2010 A Different Blog
Musings on communication For a creative person to try another blog is like browsing an art store and deciding to try a different kind of paint or a new polymer clay. I had forgotten about this blog that was opened in 2006 and never attended to...until it came up unexpectedly when cleaning out old Favorites on my browser. Hm, would it work for photos and artwork? Yup, it works. Here goes a dif...Sun, Feb 21 2010 The Internet is Leaving the Deaf Behind
Musings on communication The Internet now discriminates more than ever The Internet began in earnest when the World Wide Web programming made the material accessible in a colorful and picturesque way. Then along came audio and video and the news agencies began replacing stories with talking videos. Gradually text became pushed aside and TV news bites were put on the internet with ...Mon, Feb 15 2010 Call to Virginia Deaf Residents! HR 3101 Needs You!
Musings on communication Dear friends, are you are tired of feeling like a second class citizen when you surf the net and video after video comes up without captions? Does the words "click to play" make you want to immediately surf to another website? None of these news videos are captioned!The news might be straight out of CNN-TV, where it was captioned this morning on TV&nb...Thu, Jan 28 2010 Dianrez Flips over Deaf Business Discrimination
Musings on communication Impact Computers advertised on their website "13 Years of Excellence" in selling and servicing computers to the national and international markets. They also happened to carry the exact item I was looking for: polarized film to be used in my photography business. Yay. At a price that wasn't out of reach. After calling their chatline to verify that it was in ...Tue, Jan 19 2010 The Deaf Club: Changing or Dying?
Musings on communication The Old Club: An Oasis Clubs for the deaf were formed before the 1890's when deaf people found a need to get together in an atmosphere of normalcy that they missed in school. In schools they chatted, learned, and taught in sign language; confidences were exchanged freely, and very little happened that did not get translated into signs. The ea...Sat, Nov 28 2009 A note of caution on stem cell treatment
Musings on communication This past week stem cells have hit blogs in a big way. One young woman went public, along with her physician parents, as having benefited from 50% in one ear to 100% in the other from several stem cell treatments in a Korean clinic.At first it struck me as interesting in several ways: 1) stem cells being a natural treatment with one's own harvested cells, 2) the young...Sat, Nov 14 2009 LaRonda liked this On DeafRead losing Bloggers
Musings on communication Losing Contributors: There Goes the Neighborhood!Of late more bloggers and vloggers have been announcing their leaving DeafRead. Some cited the influx of CI and oral blogs, others blamed the occasional mean-spirited respondent that "ruined the atmosphere" at DeafRead.com. Mostly, the latter reason referenced DeafVideo.tv. This is sad, because when good v/bloggers leav...Tue, Sep 22 2009 souggy, jeanboutcher liked this Parallels between Deaf Society and Dwarf Society
Musings on communication We aren't alone or unique as a people.It was only in the late 70's that we firmly announced that we were a cultural group, that is, a society of deaf people equal to any other in the world. Before that we organized clubs and civic associations, sports teams and churches and fought for legal rights, but never before did we come out and ASK for recognition as a cultural...Thu, Aug 13 2009 Bury "Deafless" thinking!
Musings on communication Often I find Barry Sewell's comments interesting, if not always agreeing with them. His recent vlog promoting a new concept he invented, "Deafless", makes sense up to a point.His idea was: elderly people who participate in athletic contests are called "ageless", writings that are still interesting despite being old are called "timeless", so a person who considers hims...Wed, Jul 29 2009 Do you know this sign?
Musings on communication Portrait of English young girl making a questionable sign: This early 1800's painting was found while I was researching the internet for Deaf culture tidbits. (Yes, I know what this sign looks like!) I became curious about its artist, and found the following information:William T. Annis, an English mezzotint engraver, of whom very little is known. He exhibited landsca...Wed, Jul 22 2009 Reflections on Last Week's Blog
Musings on communication Protest or Censorship?The response to my blog "Enough with blogs about CI surgery!" was interesting. Not only were there both pro and con responses on the blog itself, it spilled over into other blogs as well. [link] first responses were positive. It touched a nerve in other Deaf people also sick of blogs about CI surgery and its skewing focus in the lives of d/Deaf...Sun, Jun 21 2009 pooch, Deafeye, MS liked this Enough with blogs about CI surgery!
Musings on communication Medical and cultural views on being DeafThese two viewpoints on being d/Deaf couldn't be more opposite. In the medical view, one focuses on the deficit (loss of hearing) and curing it. In the cultural view, the person is accepted as a Deaf person and the most sensible language is used. Sign. In the medical view the person is brought to a standard or as close as possib...Sun, Jun 14 2009 LaRonda, MS liked this The CI, Audism and Deaf Credibility
Musings on communication The CI controversy."Audists!" "Hearing supremacists!" are some choice words being flung about. What caused this? Some hearing legislators up in Wisconsin saw that some parents were getting free CI's for their children but others had to pay tens of thousands of dollars. The lucky families were covered by state health insurance or top-quality health insurance; but the o...Fri, May 22 2009 LiLisMom, DeafPundit liked this How Oralism Divided the Deaf Community
Musings on communication The hard sell of oralism in the middle of the 20th century was something I grew up with. Hearing people have a natural bias; they cannot think of living in any other way same as we cannot think of living without our sight. Remember how salesmen would play on our weaknesses to sell us cars, furniture, clothing and jewelery? That is how the oralist group works--in...Tue, May 12 2009 A HOH View on Deaf Activism
Musings on communication Michelle and I have been good friends since we were teens at a local high school. Back then interpreters were not common, so she passed me notes in class. She confided that she had a hearing problem and in the years since has experimented with various devices such as the TTY and CapTel. Today she is an active member of a HOH group and answers questions from the commun...Thu, Apr 30 2009 Deaf Media War--Fighting fire with fire
Musings on communication AGBell has relentlessly sent out public information for years. One reason for this is that it shows their best face as benefactors to the deaf people and the publicity rakes in money in the form of donations, grants and endowments. Another reason for this PR is that it promotes the livelihoods of its members, most of which are professionals working with deaf people. M...Fri, Apr 10 2009 Deafeye, Deaf4Empowerment liked this Why go after AGBell? What is the difference between AFA and...
Musings on communication Participating in the AFA protest was at once enlightening, troubling and thought-provoking.Enlightening because I had questions about who the AFA leaders were, what its agenda was, and its future plans. Not all of these questions were answered, but I am satisfied that it is a separate organization from the DBC and directed by different leaders than are involved i...Thu, Apr 09 2009 dbag, InsaneMisha liked this Historic AFA Rally: Also a Bloggers' Meeting Place
Musings on communication (Above) The day started raining so heavily that the brave Rochester group arriving by overnight bus waded eight blocks, sloshing through riversand Georgetown mud to reach the AGBell headquarters. Around noon, the skies started to break up and we could see patchesof blue sky. The sun played peekaboo most of the early afternoon as you ...Sun, Apr 05 2009 pooch, Deaf4Empowerment, LaRonda liked this Paula's Pearls: Still Opinion
Musings on communication Paula Rosenthal writes a valuable information blog, [link] is intended to give information to "people with hearing loss, parents and professionals". I enjoy some of the things in it; even though I might disagree with them based on my experience as a Deaf person, parent, and professional. Still, the following item touched a nerve:"Misunderstanding #3: Sign lang...Wed, Feb 18 2009 Sidekick Stolen, Got Pictures from the Thief
Musings on communication The last time I used my Sidekick II was on Tuesday at the Rochester airport, in an area where people wait for pickups until called by cell phone. My son had found my baggage, so he sent me a message and I drove around to get him and the bags. The Sidekick was then unplugged and placed in the console of my car. It is not clear when it disappeared, but I m...Sun, Jan 11 2009 Reflections on the Deaf Community while traveling
Musings on communication The post-holiday trip involved four jets and three airports; as it had been 30 years since I last flew, it was quite different. (No one offered me a wheelchair, though my legs could have used it as airports were definitely bigger since the last time.) Communication still was a problem, but nothing that visual alertness couldn't solve. On asking which gate I ...Wed, Jan 07 2009 Weird Hearing People--Using Music as Torture
Musings on communication This news story made me scratch my head. How mysteriously the Hearing mind works has caused me to reflect on the differences between Deaf and Hearing. [link] alleged terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay in prison are subjected to hard rock music at full volume in order to break them during interrogations. Huh? I recalled hearing people hollering about their childr...Wed, Dec 10 2008 No, I'm not crazy, I DID see a UFO!
Musings on communication On Mike Schmidt's blog Oh I see he discusses paranormal experiences that Deaf people have had, or seen. Well, Mike, I can't say much about ghosts although my former in-laws are always good for spectral stories that they swear to have personally experienced! (Promise to tell you about that in another blog.) However, a commenter on your blog brought up UF...Thu, Sep 25 2008 Deaf people who consider themselves disabled
Musings on communication There are Deaf people who confidentially have discussed their feeling disabled with me. "I have no power, no influence and no money," said one 50 year old man, although he was self-taught, employed, married with children and owned a home. "Hearing people with the same ability as I get more than I do." Struggling to pay his bills, he sees others apparen...Mon, Sep 22 2008 Why do we say we are not disabled?
Musings on communication How is it that we do not regard ourselves as disabled? Is it because of the way we were raised, to be not different from other people? Is it because our difference is invisible and outwardly we look and move about like everyone else? What is the origin of this "not disabled" feeling? This attitude is so pervasive that we object to any surgery or expensive ...Thu, Sep 04 2008 Wireless Systems Sucks
Musings on communication The email was very much to the point. The tech support guy who was coming to network my computer had been trying my doorbell and giving up, had left. In a huff."I'm not too happy about spending 45 minutes of driving to get stiffed on an appointment."The wireless doorbell flasher system that I had bought three years ago on moving to this home was devilishly i...Thu, Aug 21 2008 Grieving before One Can Take on AGBell
Musings on communication DBC came about partly as a need to grieve by its Deaf followers: they and their family relationships have been profoundly harmed by the pure oral approach and by inappropriate emphasis on speech and hearing. Most grew up in hearing families and were shut out of family interactions by default. Even enlightened parents who tried to inform their ...Tue, Jul 08 2008 Thoughts on Rachel and DeafRead (Cartoon Blog)
Musings on communication Rachel Ejected!DeafRead booted Rachel because they felt she supported a commercial operation...Cochlear America has an auxiliary corps that they call the Cochlear Awareness Network composed of volunteer supporters. The company does not pay these volunteers, but offers them training and materials to do their work, and probably perks such as inspirin...Tue, Jun 10 2008 Cell therapy: Cure for Usher's Syndrome and....?
Musings on communication Cure for RP. A 2008 publication by the Foundation Fighting Blindness in Maryland announced a therapy that helped some subjects to see despite being blind from a severe form of retinitis pigmentosa. This is described as taking cells from the skin and converting them to stem cells, then delivering them to the retina ...Thu, May 22 2008 Ushers and Waardenburgs in the Same Family?
Musings on communication A Dupont Circle opthalmologist handed me a shocker after my eye exam: "You need glasses and you have retinitis pignmentosa." The glasses was nothing new as my graduate classes at Gallaudet had been a bit fuzzy lately, but RP? I had Usher's Syndrome? Will I be blind soon?"By definition you have Ushers," said Dr. Donald Bergsma at NIH a few week...Mon, May 19 2008 |
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