The Deaf Edge

[ASL Version]

Barbara DiGiovanni, who’s known as Barb DiGi, left a video comment (at the bottom of this blog post) over on DVTV that literally made my jaw drop open. It takes a lot to make that happen. I have absolutely no idea what brought this on, but I am appalled at this behavior.

Barb DiGi is a teacher at the Rochester School of the Deaf, and one of the core leaders of Deaf Bilingual Coalition [DBC]. If, and really it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, one of her students sees this video comment she made, I wonder what she’ll do if the student decides to mimic her behavior? Because hey, if the teacher can do it, then why can’t students?

Are you frigging kidding me? If a student did what Barb DiGi did, even if s/he was off campus, and not during school hours, that student would be suspended so fast, nobody would know which way is up! Why are we holding our students to a higher standard of conduct than the teachers?

Not only that, but as a leader of a national organization like DBC, Barb DiGi is a public figure. She is a role model to literally thousands of people in the United States and abroad. One of the prices you pay as a public figure, is that there’s no downtime. She may not have made this video comment as a leader of DBC, but it doesn’t alter the fact that this does reflect on DBC, just like it does with the school she teaches at.

Imagine if Nancy Bloch, the CEO of NAD did this? Bobbie Beth Scoggins, the president of NAD? Robert Davila, president of Gallaudet University? Or, hell . . . Alexander T. Graham, the CEO of AG Bell?

Would the Deaf Community stand aside, and merely watch if Alexander T. Graham or the others did what Barb DiGi did?

I am absolutely disgusted and appalled. And I am ashamed to be part of a community that tolerates this kind of conduct. I wonder if her conduct fits the The New York Teachers’ Code of Ethics or the definition of moral character?

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

EDIT: Barb’s video comment has been taken down, due to the intense furor.

This is about a protest I was at, but did not participate in.

A while ago, I was visiting Ben*, a good friend of mine. He told me that Eric, one of his friends, called and was asking about me. He suggested that I get into touch with Eric and mentioned that he had one heck of a story to tell me. So, I called Eric and it turned out that we knew each other from way back.

He told me that he didn’t realize that he actually knew me. But the reason he wanted to find out who I was because Eric’s a member at large at one of the deaf clubs and one member, Cain told several others that if I joined the club, he would quit.

I kid you not. Cain and I knew each other through my advocacy efforts, and well… Needless to say, he was not happy with what I did. That’s an entire novel unto itself.

Anyway, after I finished laughing at this, Eric then asked me if I would join the club. I laughed again but realized that he was quite serious. Apparently, Cain was causing trouble for the officers of the club over their lack of by-laws and how the president, Leigh was running things. So they thought me joining would solve the problem.

I refused, because I had enough on my hands and was tired of tangling with Cain and his friends. Our arguments had just ended recently, and I didn’t see the need to prolong our arguments, especially over a such trivial matter.

Nevertheless, Eric and I remained in contact and became good friends and through him, I also became friends with Leigh. She and I would joke often that we had to thank Cain for introducing us.

One day, I checked my videophone, and there were nine calls from Eric! Something had to be wrong, so I returned Eric’s call, and it turned out that Cain was threatening that he would do something at the next meeting. Eric wanted me there, so Cain would quit for once and all.

I told Eric that I did not believe Cain would quit when he saw me and that he was just blowing hot air, trying to drag me into another argument with him. Eric pleaded with me to think about it. So, I discussed it with Ben, asking him what he thought about the whole thing. Ben said he went to the last club meeting, and it wasn’t too bad.

He also assured me that I would not go to the meeting alone. That still wasn’t enough for me, so I asked Gabe, a friend who was also a former high school football player and wrestler to join me. Gabe was all for it and declared jokingly that he was now my personal bodyguard.

We showed up at the meeting, and Gabe was made sergeant at arms, just in case. The rest of us sat in the back. To this day, I still remember vividly when Cain and his friends walked in. They were holding signs to their chest, and Cain greeted everyone in the club, except for me. He didn’t recognize me at first because I was dressed differently and had a baseball cap pulled down low. When he finally recognized me, his only reaction was a flinch.

The meeting was then called to order and that’s when Cain seized the moment. He stormed up front with a couple of his groupies tagging along, carrying the signs. We all stared at him quizzically and his only response was a bright, fake smile. He then asked Leigh, “Did you call the time of the meeting?”

Leigh replied, “I just did when I called the meeting to order. Now please sit down.”

Cain said, “No, you didn’t call the time!” then grabbed Leigh’s chair (which happened to be a folding chair) and stood on it. His head groupie handed him a sign and he held it aloft. We were finally able to see what was written on the signs:

“No Bylaws? No Deaf Club!”

I thought to myself, “This is going to be a classic story to tell!”

The groupies surrounded Leigh, holding similar signs and blocked the meeting from proceeding any further. Things were quickly heating up by the minute. Gabe attempted to remove Cain from the chair, but he screamed at Gabe, “Don’t you dare touch me! I have the right to protest!”

Several other members who opposed Cain started to surround him and his groupies, demanding an explanation. Terry, who was approximately 6′5″, 300+ pounds approached Cain and said, “Cain, please sit down and just let the meeting go on.”

Cain laughed, “C’mon Terry! I dare you to touch me! I dare you!”

Don’t ask me why he said the exact opposite thing to Terry, because only Cain and God knows why…

Leigh’s daughter Saige, who was hearing, was sitting in front of me, watching the whole thing. I shouted at her, trying to get her attention but failed miserably. So I stood up, roughly pushing away my chair then grabbed my half full water bottle.

I lifted the water bottle high above my head and brought it down as hard as I could.

Ker-thunk! Ker-thunk! Ker-thunk! Three times on the rickety folding wooden table. Saige whirled around, staring at me. I said, “Call 911!”

Nothing but a wide-eyed stare from Saige.

So I both signed and screamed, “Call 911, damnit! 911! Now!” then banged the bottle again on the table. Saige finally snapped out of it and used her cell phone to call 911.

As soon she hung up, Terry approached closer and stupid as he was, Cain kept daring him.

So Terry accepted the dare and pushed him off the chair.

The folding chair folded up and Cain dramatically half jumped/fell off, flailing like a rag doll. He landed solidly on the floor on his feet, then whirled around in shock, screaming, “You touched me!”

At that point, Cain rushed Terry and fists started swinging in the air. Nobody could aim properly, except for Gabe, and he was pushing, not punching. Half of the members swarmed Cain and Terry, trying to restrain them.

While this was happening, I grabbed Saige’s attention and told her to call 911 again and explain that there was a physical fight going on now. She quickly called 911 again and explained the situation. While she was on the phone, Cain and Terry were successfully restrained.

One of his groupies said, “Cain, they really did call 911! We better get out of here!”

Cain looked astounded and just about ready to break down in tears. He took a look around the room, then he fled with his groupies tagging along as usual. Saige said, “Oh, I think the cops are here! I better go outside!”

Saige told us later on that when she walked outside, Cain and his friends were standing in the parking lot, plotting their next move when two police cars screeched into the parking lot with lights and sirens blaring, blocking the exits.

The cops got out of their cars and demanded to know who called, so Saige stepped up and explained the situation to them. When it came to Cain’s turn, he was stupid enough to fully admit what happened, and even showed the signs to them. “I have the right to protest!” he declared. (One of his friends’ wife, who was hard of hearing, interpreted for Cain.)

The cops stared incredulously at Cain. “Sir, you have the right to protest. But only outside!”

Cain had the nerve to try arguing with the police, “But… but!”

“No buts! No protests inside the building. That is disturbing the peace! Do you understand?”

They all nodded in assent, then the cops asked all of them, “Now, do you think you all can go back inside and behave yourselves?”

Cain said, “Oh yes! No problem, officer,” but the rest of his group screamed, “No!”

Brilliant! Just brilliant! But needless to say, Cain never came back to the deaf club afterwards, and Leigh, Eric and I all remain good friends to this day.

*All names have been changed to protect their privacy.

I’ll be out for the long holiday weekend, so I am closing comments until next week.

Meanwhile have a GREAT

To IamMine, you wanted me to make a vlog, so here is one!

Several things to add to my previous post here. First, Jill Bradbury left a comment mentioning that if it was not for Academic Technology, the webcast would not have been possible.

So, to Academic Technology, thank you as well! (Cindy King, Earl Parks, Jim Dellon, and many others!)

Secondly, it was clarified that Dr. Moore is deaf, and most likely he was referring to the provost office as whole when he was discussing the VP situation. I should’ve thought of that in the first place. Oops. Like everyone else, I hope that everyone at Gallaudet receives a VP as soon as possible! That definitely will improve in opening up the lines of communication further.

There were some comments made at the conference that I forgot to write about also. Chris Heuer asked about libel, and whether it was libel to falsely accuse a group, and Shane answered that it was not technically libel.

I would like to add to what Shane said. I’m not an attorney, but yeah, it’s not libel. It’s stereotyping. You see it all the time with other minorities. For instance take this statement: ‘Black people all are uneducated thieves.’

Obviously, that is untrue. Black people are not uneducated thieves.

But what is different between the deaf community and other minorities is that usually an organization like the NAACP will send out a press release denouncing that kind of remarks. You also see various community leaders remarking to the media that those statements are wholly unappropriate and discriminatory.

That is where NAD and all of us need to step up. NAD needs to send out press releases denouncing those remarks every time it happens. And we need our leaders to write an op-ed denouncing it. We need the community members to send in letters to the editor denouncing it. We need the bloggers denouncing it.

It is my hope to see that happen from now on.

A couple of ideas that I would like to mention here: I agree with various people’s remarks that we need a source of unbiased, neutral information regarding significant issues that impact the community. I’m glad to see there is finally discourse on impartiality and ethics on presenting information to the community. This was one of my main gripes since May. The information I often received was not impartial.

So, I suggest that we have an aggregate mass media feeder that will display every and single article with the word deaf mentioned in it. That way, we can stay on top of things. We can read the article and judge for ourselves whether it’s worth responding to or not.

Secondly, I would like to see a central, moderated forum where we all can come together to discuss those ideas. The blogs are scattered all over the blogosphere.

Imagine one forum where we had A-list bloggers such as Jamie Berke, Mike McConnell, Shane Feldman, Allison and Chris Kaftan, David Evans, and so many others on it? Imagine how powerful we could become from coming all together and sharing our ideas about a particular issue. Imagine how many people would learn from those people’s input.

Because like it was said at the conference, basically, the world is watching us. They’re not just watching Gallaudet. They’re watching us.

I could not attend the conference because I’m a broke college student who has no job. So, I settled for watching the conference over the webcast, and I must say that I found myself wanting to be there in person so I could make comments and respond to some of the questions! It didn’t feel like I was sitting there for hours on end while I was watching.

Before I go further, I would like to make a couple of suggestions for the next conference if there will be one. (This is a pet peeve of mine – I majored in television production at Gallaudet.) For those who got up on stage and made presentations, asked questions or made comments, please follow the interpreters’ rule of attire. White people wearing white or bold, clashing colored shirts on camera did not look good and I had to squint to catch everything that was said by the person. So next time, please wear a solid colored shirt that contrasts with your skin tone.

And for the conference organizers, it would be nice if it was arranged to have a blue background so everyone could be seen clearly, regardless of his or her skin tone. That’s why you see so many press conferences with a blue background.

Now, onto the conference itself! In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed watching so many bloggers and commenters I know from DeafDC.com stand on stage and talk about what we all have been discussing on that blogsite. Some people were not what I pictured to be, and some were. Of a particular interest to me were people’s mannerisms and affect.

Take Wildstarryskies for instance – her comments on DeafDC.com are full of passion and intensity, and she talks exactly the same way! So it was interesting to me to notice that for the most part, people’s mannerisms and affect were the same on-line and off-line.

The topics covered at the conference in general were: communication, technology, being proactive, education, and outreach to hearing parents, mass media and the general public as a whole. It was heartening for me to see that despite such a diverse panel, everyone was almost in universal agreement on what needs to be improved. There were quibbles on the fine details, but the big picture was agreed upon.

A point I would like to make regarding about how blogs and vlogs impact the deaf community and the general public. I would like to note that blogs are accessible to literate deaf and hearing. Vlogs are accessible to all deaf and hearing who know ASL. That distinction is very important to me, because you have to keep in mind of who your target audience is.

If you caption your vlog that does help reach those who do not know sign, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll stick around long enough to notice the vlog’s captioned when they see the hands fly. We tend to be scared of something that we don’t know anything about. So, when someone writes a blog or does a vlog, I think it’s very important to keep in mind of who your target audience is. That completely ties in what the panelists said time and time again.

During the first panel, when Interim Provost Moore responded to them, he made a comment that completely took me aback. He told us about the story about him requesting to have a videophone in his office and I was just astounded for two reasons: I had him at Gallaudet for my chemistry class and I never realized that he was hearing! Ha!

Secondly, the attitudes of the people installing the videophone were appalling! I knew there were problems at Gallaudet – I was a student there and I witnessed a lot of antics that were inappropriate from both faculty, staff and students, but I never realized how systematic it was, and I’m glad Provost Moore set them straight! They chose the right man for interim Provost and I sincerely hope the next Provost continues Dr. Moore’s good work.

There were a few things that were said, that I wish people would’ve elaborated or responded more about, such as Alok’s point about knowing English is a social and economic power, and having a solid foundation in English does not have an adverse impact on Deaf identity. He remarked that we need to become more aware of the corporate world, so we can become more of a power, because the rules of the corporate world is how people gain sociopolitical and economic power. Perhaps he was a bit too intellectual for many, but I thought he made solid points. Of course, I have to admit my bias here; I’m flattered that he quoted me in his presentation! *grins*

And how come nobody really answered Ella Mae Lentz’s question? I thought it was a great question! It was a very deep, philosophical question based on John Rawl’s ‘Veil of Ignorance’ and ‘Original Position’. Maybe I’ll write a separate blog entry about Ella Mae Lentz’s question later on since nobody didn’t really seem to answer it.

I hope this conference will happen again, and when it does, that I will be able to attend in person! I also hope that this conference spurs people to implement some ideas that were put forth, and also spur more encompassing dialogue in the deaf community and allies.

Thank you for allowing thousands of us deaf from all over the world to watch this conference for free, Jill. You’ve definitely made a positive mark on the community and a historic one at that. Not very many people can truly say that. Bravo!

I read Allen Neece’s guest blog on DeafDC.com about the LA Times article.

It reminded me of an essay that I wrote several years ago, and I think this is apropos.

I am stone-cold Deaf. I do not consider myself to be disabled. I can read and write far better than the average person at my age. I can do anything just as well as any average hearing person. The difficulties I have with being Deaf is how people judge and treat me.

I have been asked if I could read and write. My hearing friends have been questioned about my mental capacity from strangers who have never met me. My friends and I receive dirty looks when we use ASL to converse in public. People have approached me, only to blanch and leave when they realize I am Deaf. One woman, jealous of my writing skills, submitted me to public humiliation by standing up in class and accusing me of turning in a paper written by my mother in order to receive an “A”.

My Deaf friends have been abused sexually, physically, emotionally, and mentally, simply because they were Deaf. Furthermore, they cannot get justice for these inhumane acts, because just by being Deaf, their credibility is in question.

Hearing educators, arrogant in their assumptions, have integrated Deaf people into hearing classes. Most Deaf students go through school without a bilingual education, therefore forcing them into a system about which they are unaware. Through social promotion, they are advanced without learning anything. The highest level that my Deaf classmates ever attained was a sixth grade education.

People keep decrying, “How do the Deaf know when they are in danger?”

Being Deaf is not dangerous. We have ample warning if we are in danger through pagers, phones, television, strobe lights, and our own eyes.

People then ask, “How can the Deaf really experience music?”

One need only experience a small portion of the songs and poetry in ASL to realize that they are some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Our hands are our voice. Our faces convey our emotions. Some things expressed in ASL can never be properly translated.

One needs only stand still and feel the rhythm, to feel the vibrations course through one’s body, to realize how we hear music that hearing people create.

To hear the rain drops patter down, we simply just have to place our hands on the windows. To hear the thunderous applause from an audience, we just have to look at the hands applauding.

We hold a baby, and see it’s laughter on it’s face. A toothless grin. To hear how people feel, a simple glance is only needed.

I can sit in the middle of a forest, and enjoy it. I see the birds and squirrels flit from tree to tree. I smell the freshness of the earth. I feel the gentle, warm breeze that carries wafts of various scents.

I can see a rainbow. I can see the pure white snow. I can see the beauty that is here on the earth. I can feel, smell, and taste it.

With a swish and twist of my fingers and hands, I can tell a joke that will cause a room full of people to burst out in laughter. With my hands, and my eyes, and my body, I can tell a story that will move people to tears. I don’t need a voice or ears to do it.

I can even sit anywhere, with people or alone, and simply enjoy the so-called silent world I am in.

I cannot properly convey the full beauty and depth of Deaf culture with words, because there are no words to describe it. As Deaf people, we cannot fully grasp hearing culture, and hearing people cannot fully grasp Deaf culture, even when one is immersed in the other. Therefore, all we can do is wonder how the other side truly experiences life and try to accept each other.

©Jeannette Johnson/Deaf Pundit

TDI has released a quicktime video explaining about FCC approving approximately 300 requests for television shows not to provide closed captions.

>http://www.tdi-online.org/FCC/FCC-CC100406_OC%2BAD.mov

For more information on FCC and how they regulate closed captions, and how you can contact FCC to complain about this go to: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html

Edited to add:

I just sent an email to the FCC and this is what I said:

Dear Mr. Chairman:

It has been brought to my attention that the FCC is now granting permanent waivers for television programs to be exempt from closed captioning.

There are approximately thirty million hard of hearing and deaf individuals in the United States. I must ask why is the FCC encouraging unequal access to thirty million citizens?

It is unfair that the FCC has approved three hundred requests for television shows not to be captioned, therefore, denying thirty million hard of hearing and deaf citizens the equality of watching whatever television shows as hearing citizens do.

If your child, parent, relative or friend were deaf, wouldn’t you want to sit down with them and watch and enjoy a show together? But now, thirty million of us cannot do that, due to the FCC decision. Very few television programs cannot afford to close caption their programs. I strongly urge you to reconsider this decision.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely Yours,

Jeannette Johnson

I strongly encourage all of you to call, mail or e-mail the FCC to let them know how you feel about this. Feel free to copy my e-mail, if you can’t think of what to say to them.

Silent Cacophony, a deaf advocacy blog has been set up at wordpress.com.

The blog is maintained by deaf and hard of hearing bloggers blogging about deaf advocacy issues, such as equal access, education, and cultural issues. We intend to bring awareness to the deaf community and to the general public about those issues.

Leave a comment on Silent Cacophony if you want to become a blogger or want a particular issue blogged about!

I will be setting up an e-mail address later so people can e-mail the bloggers tips, questions or concerns.

~ Deaf Pundit

After some consideration and discussion with others, I’ve decided that perhaps the best way to start this grassroots movement is to do what anonymous commented on my first post: Please don’t give up on this idea! Try, try again.

Maybe coordinate with NAD (since they do already have some limited “action alerts” on their web site already) and deaf advocates like Jamie Berke and other bloggers.

So, I will be contacting Jamie Berke and some other bloggers to see if we can coordinate this. I think it’s an excellent idea. There are so many issues, but only a few issues that are of interest to me, so I’m hoping that there will be enough bloggers who are interested in this, to be able to cover all of the advocacy issues out there that affect the deaf community.

As for NAD, I’m sorry, but what they put out in the community is just too cut and dried. I understand NAD wants to look impartial, and avoid inflammatory language in their alerts, but they could do better on elaborating on why we should speak up on a particular issue. What they put out is just not interesting to me, and to borrow David Evan’s phrase, I’m a political animal.

Hopefully, if there’s enough interest, there will be more posts here on this topic.

Thanks for your comments!

~ Deaf Pundit

©Jeannette Johnson
All Rights Reserved. 2007