Directions: Do the 3-minute video of topic-signing for the picture of Mer-People. Write an essay discussing what you've seen in your video by identifying what you've applied from learning ASL.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Mid-Term Essay/Video Exam
You will have one week to complete the mid-term exam. Due no longer than Thursday, February 14th.
Directions: Do the 3-minute video of topic-signing for the picture of Mer-People. Write an essay discussing what you've seen in your video by identifying what you've applied from learning ASL.
Directions: Do the 3-minute video of topic-signing for the picture of Mer-People. Write an essay discussing what you've seen in your video by identifying what you've applied from learning ASL.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Revised Lecture Notes: Deaf Hate Speech
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings,
whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex,
national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or
any other status. We are all equally entitled
to our human rights without discrimination.
These rights are all interrelated,
interdependent and indivisible.
—www.ohchr.org
When you lose your language,…
you exclude yourself from your past.
—Johan Van Hoorde, 1998,
Let Dutch Die?
Ignorance often leads to hate speech. People who are ignorant of the language and culture of the deaf think we shouldn’t care about American Sign Language (ASL). There is a widely held and popular—but nonetheless misconceived—belief that deaf children can be made “to listen and talk,” and that this anti-signing oppression is not a tragedy at all. The following are discriminatory language statements quoted from various institutes.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center:
CID (Central Institute for the Deaf) is a school where children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to listen, talk and read without using sign language.
DePaul School for Hearing and Speech:
We teach children from birth to age 14 to listen, to speak and to learn without using sign language.
Memphis Oral School for the Deaf:
…NO SIGN LANGUAGE is used, instead using speech and language therapies and audiological services in conjunction with our preschool classes to help profoundly deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages birth to six years old.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf:
Individual sessions with deaf education therapists, who specialize in early intervention, help you understand the emotional and educational effects of your child’s hearing loss and teach you strategies to help your child develop spoken language without sign language through the auditory-oral method.
Tucker-Maxon School:
Students with hearing loss do not use sign language; instead, with the help of assistive technologies and trained professionals, they listen, talk and learn like their typical hearing peers.
These above illustrative examples are contemporary. Deaf hate speech begins with language intimidation and intolerance, both of which are not considered distinct in any substantial way from other acts of prejudice and discrimination against the Deaf. It is important to keep in mind that deaf hate speech has a long historical lineage. The contemporary dynamics of sign-language-hate-motivated prejudice and discrimination have their origins in historical conditions.
About 2,400 years ago, in ancient Greece, Aristotle, in his attempt to refute Socrates’ question, in Plato’s Cratylus (Reeve, 1998: 67), whether signs by the mutes be equal with spoken words, asserted that an inability of deaf people to repeat the same sounds implies that they are senseless and worthless of human intelligence. As expressions of deaf hate, such acts of sign language intimidation, “involve the assertion of selves over others constituted as Other”(Goldberg, 1995: 270), where the self is thought to constitute an ability “to listen and talk.” Even with a normal hearing listening is always probable and talking may be just babbling.
The burning question then, when one tries to understand the dynamics of deaf hate speech, Why is it so easy for individuals and institutes to dismiss sign language? Is ASL a human right? Is being deaf also a human right? Will ASL die?
A document prepared by the International PEN Club’s Translations and Linguistic Rights Committee and the Escarre International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations has presented and remarked:
The paradoxical situation is that languages will certainly die unless we do something; but, the reality is that they may also die even if we do something. Therefore, what do we do?
The top priority, it would appear, is to raise awareness to stop hate speech against the Deaf. Although ASL is at risk of being described in another language, it is plain from the above “no sign language” statements that ASL remains in the state of endangerment.
Many people are unaware of a language bigotry that needs to be dispelled, in order to foster the right climate for sign language maintenance. It has to do with teaching ASL to deaf children. There is a widespread belief, even in colleges and universities, that being deaf is an automatic qualification for being a good instructor. Another myth has to do with learning. Because ASL can be learned naturally, people readily assume that they can acquire ASL from the Internet.
All in all, it is by no means easy to help people see the consequences of negative attitudes towards ASL, or the consequence to eradicate ASL. To deny deaf children sign language is to exclude them from the history. Language denial and discrimination are therefore a social injustice.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Giving Goma a voice, words not needed
Giving Goma a voice, words not needed
Published on : 23 January 2013 - 10:30am | By RNW Africa Desk ((C) Gaïus Kowene)
More about:
Meschack Kadima’s aim is to give voice to the voiceless. It’s a real challenge for the young illustrator in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, living in a society he feels is too repressed to speak out about the troubling political situation.
By Gaïus Kowene, Goma
Kadima uses a pencil, ordinary and coloured, to put his thoughts down on paper. The war and the suppression of freedom of expression it has brought with it supply plenty of artistic fodder. And, when Kadima saw two deaf people using sign language, he realised he could reach out to the world with his art. Inspired by how the deaf communicated without using spoken words, he decided to try and express the collective emotions of people around him.
“I noticed that here, in the east where all sorts of crimes are committed, there are many mute people who cannot express what they feel,” the artist explains, referring to those who are silenced for political reasons. “As their brother, I decided to speak on their behalf.” Kadima tries to do just that through his drawings, which he publishes on Facebook and occasionally makes on commission.
Africa’s heart
Among Kadima’s signature drawings is that of a man’s head, accented in the colours of the DRC flag. His face is filled in with pencil and a red stream flows down its left side.
“It’s the face of an injured Congolese man who cries every day,” says the Goma-based artist. “He fears that speaking the truth will get him killed. That’s why the truth is written on his face – so anyone who sees him knows what’s going on in his country.”
The face symbolises the DRC. The left eye crying blood represents those who have died in the east of the country. The other eye, crying normal tears, represents those who mourn in its western region.
In another drawing, Kadima addresses the underdevelopment of the continent as a whole. The young artist turns the map of Africa into the head of a woman. Her eyes closed, she is contemplative, if not downtrodden. She wears the Congolese flag as a headscarf.
About this piece, Kadima says: “The Bible says that he who finds a wife finds happiness. But if a man finds a woman who has been raped, he will never be happy. And Africa will continue to cry because the DRC is its heart. As long as Congolese women continue to be raped, the DRC and Africa will not prosper.”
Waking up
Despite his sombre drawings, the artist remains optimistic about his country’s future. “We are still hopeful that in 20 years, there will be some change. The Congolese people are waking up. If we become more socially conscious, there will be no more conflict and the DRC will become the world’s El Dorado in 20 years,” he predicts.
Kadima encourages his peers to work and, in so doing, to be patriotic. “We inherited a country in ruins from our grandparents,” he says. “It is up to us to rebuild it. Let’s step up; let’s love our country and work for it.”
By Gaïus Kowene, Goma
Kadima uses a pencil, ordinary and coloured, to put his thoughts down on paper. The war and the suppression of freedom of expression it has brought with it supply plenty of artistic fodder. And, when Kadima saw two deaf people using sign language, he realised he could reach out to the world with his art. Inspired by how the deaf communicated without using spoken words, he decided to try and express the collective emotions of people around him.
“I noticed that here, in the east where all sorts of crimes are committed, there are many mute people who cannot express what they feel,” the artist explains, referring to those who are silenced for political reasons. “As their brother, I decided to speak on their behalf.” Kadima tries to do just that through his drawings, which he publishes on Facebook and occasionally makes on commission.
Africa’s heart
Among Kadima’s signature drawings is that of a man’s head, accented in the colours of the DRC flag. His face is filled in with pencil and a red stream flows down its left side.
“It’s the face of an injured Congolese man who cries every day,” says the Goma-based artist. “He fears that speaking the truth will get him killed. That’s why the truth is written on his face – so anyone who sees him knows what’s going on in his country.”
The face symbolises the DRC. The left eye crying blood represents those who have died in the east of the country. The other eye, crying normal tears, represents those who mourn in its western region.
In another drawing, Kadima addresses the underdevelopment of the continent as a whole. The young artist turns the map of Africa into the head of a woman. Her eyes closed, she is contemplative, if not downtrodden. She wears the Congolese flag as a headscarf.
About this piece, Kadima says: “The Bible says that he who finds a wife finds happiness. But if a man finds a woman who has been raped, he will never be happy. And Africa will continue to cry because the DRC is its heart. As long as Congolese women continue to be raped, the DRC and Africa will not prosper.”
Waking up
Despite his sombre drawings, the artist remains optimistic about his country’s future. “We are still hopeful that in 20 years, there will be some change. The Congolese people are waking up. If we become more socially conscious, there will be no more conflict and the DRC will become the world’s El Dorado in 20 years,” he predicts.
Kadima encourages his peers to work and, in so doing, to be patriotic. “We inherited a country in ruins from our grandparents,” he says. “It is up to us to rebuild it. Let’s step up; let’s love our country and work for it.”
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Today's Lecture: Deaf Hate Speech in Deaf Schools
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings,
whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex,
national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or
any other status. We are all equally entitled
to our human rights without discrimination.
These rights are all interrelated,
interdependent and indivisible.
—www.ohchr.org
When you lose your language,…
you exclude yourself from your past.
—Johan Van Hoorde, 1998,
Let Dutch Die?
Ignorance often leads to hate speech. People who are ignorant of the language and culture of the deaf think we shouldn’t care about American Sign Language (ASL). There is a widely held and popular—but nonetheless misconceived—belief that deaf children can be made “to listen and talk,” and that this anti-signing oppression is not a tragedy at all. The following are discriminatory language statements quoted from various institutes.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center:
CID (Central Institute for the Deaf) is a school where children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to listen, talk and read without using sign language.
DePaul School for Hearing and Speech:
We teach children from birth to age 14 to listen, to speak and to learn without using sign language.
Memphis Oral School for the Deaf:
…NO SIGN LANGUAGE is used, instead using speech and language therapies and audiological services in conjunction with our preschool classes to help profoundly deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages birth to six years old.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf:
Individual sessions with deaf education therapists, who specialize in early intervention, help you understand the emotional and educational effects of your child’s hearing loss and teach you strategies to help your child develop spoken language without sign language through the auditory-oral method.
Tucker-Maxon School:
Students with hearing loss do not use sign language; instead, with the help of assistive technologies and trained professionals, they listen, talk and learn like their typical hearing peers.
The burning question then, when one tries to understand the dynamics of deaf hate speech, Why is it so easy for individuals and institutes to dismiss sign language? Is ASL a human right? Is being deaf also a human right? Will ASL die?
A document prepared by the International PEN Club’s Translations and Linguistic Rights Committee and the Escarre International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations has presented and remarked:
The paradoxical situation is that languages will certainly die unless we do something; but, the reality is that they may also die even if we do something. Therefore, what do we do?
The top priority, it would appear, is to raise awareness stop hate speech against the Deaf. Although ASL is at risk of being described in another language, it is plain from the above “no sign language” statements that ASL remains in the state of endangerment.
Many people are unaware of a language bigotry that needs to be dispelled, in order to foster the right climate for sign language maintenance. It has to do with teaching ASL to deaf children. There is a widespread belief, even in colleges and universities, that being deaf is an automatic qualification for being a good instructor. Another myth has to do with learning. Because ASLcan be learned naturally, people readily assume that they can acquire ASL from the Internet.
All in all, it is by no means easy to help people see the consequences of negative attitudes towards ASL, or the consequence to eradicate ASL. To deny deaf children sign language is to exclude them from the history. Language denial is therefore a social injustice.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Hate Speech at Gallaudet University
Carl N. Schroeder
102 Tribbett Court
Dayton, Oregon 97114
cschroeder@clackamas.edu
January
14, 2013
The
Honorable Senator Ron Wyden
221
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington,
D.C. 20510
Re:
Hate Speech at Gallaudet University
Dear
Senator Wyden,
Deaf Hate Crime (DHC) is a grassroots watchdog group
that identifies hate speech, whether that hate speech be directed directly
against Deaf people, or designed to belittle the status of our language, which
is American Sign Language (ASL)—our form of speech—here in the United States. As a former Student Body Government President,
Student Congress Speaker, SBG Academic Affairs Director, and 1983 Thomas J.
Watson, Jr. Fellow, I am writing this letter with grave concerns about certain
incidents of hate speech that are occurring at my alma mater, Gallaudet
University, the nation’s only liberal arts university of, by, and for the Deaf
in Washington, D.C. As you know, most of
Gallaudet’s budget is provided for by a line-item in the Federal budget, being
annually appropriated by acts of Congress.
This letter also requests for a full investigation into the matter of
the abusive and oppressive atmosphere at Gallaudet created by the hate-oriented
speech.
“Sociology of Deafness and Deaf People” (SOC
225/255) is a course that was offered at Gallaudet University last fall that
was taught by Professor Thomas Horejes. One of the clear effects of the course
was the attempted inculcation and indoctrination of students toward a
philosophy that promulgates hate speech against deaf people. The course taught (1) that deaf people
typically marry with each other without love, (2) that deafness can be best “cured”
with cochlear implants, (3) that the statements “I-CANNOT-HEAR” and “I-CANNOT-TALK”
imply the nonexistence of American Sign Language, (4) that deaf people are
synonymously comparable to black people, and (5) that the students should be
labeled gay, bisexual or heterosexual not for reasons of psychological and
cultural identity, but instead due to students’ patterns of thought and thought
processes. The First Amendment rights to
free speech and expression notwithstanding, these aspects of the class were so unconstitutional,
nonacademic and inappropriate as to warrant an investigation: What do we, the
Deaf, to quote Barbara Perry in a Native American question, “define as
necessary to minimize the impact and the incidences of hate crime?”
Hate speech is a hideous injustice. Hate speech at Gallaudet University starts
with language, and its amelioration is always an uphill battle. The language
battle continues there, being waged both in ASL, as well as spoken English and its
counterpart, written English, the two-to-one prestige ratio of language
infighting. I am copying this letter to various individuals and organizations,
and it is our DHC group’s earnest hope that the investigation will result in
measures taken to promote mutual respect, a bias-free environment, as well as
academic integrity.
Thank you,
Carl
N. Schroeder
Deaf
Hate Crime Group
CC: Alan Hurwitz, President, Gallaudet
University
Sharon Barnartt, Sociology
Department Chair, Gallaudet University
Thomas
Horejes, Sociology Department Assistant Professor, Gallaudet University
Angela
McCaskill, Chief Diversity, Gallaudet University
Jane
Dillehay, University Faculty Chair, Gallaudet University
American
Civil Liberties Union
American
Sociological Association
Coalition
Against Hate Crime
Congress
Members
Deaf
Hate Crime Group
Gallaudet
University Alumni Association
Human
Rights Campaign
National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National
Association of the Deaf
National Black Deaf Advocates
Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf
Southern Poverty Law Center
Student
Body Government
The Buff & Blue Newspaper
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Washington Post
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