Canada might get a deaf college of its own - unless the popularity of cochlear implants makes it unfeasible. That is the gist of this article in the Toronto Star, "School Plan for the deaf sparks outcry: Milton proposal reignites debate over sign language versus ear implants." (TheStar.com, August 9, 2007).
A few notable quotes from the article:
"Yet some wonder who would use it. So many deaf students now have surgical implants to help them hear that enrolment at sign language public schools is dropping."
"Since Ontario began screening all babies for hearing loss in 2001, more than 800 have been identified and about 94 per cent have chosen to have cochlear implants."
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
We Need the Baby Signers
Last night, I had a thought: Could a tactic used in the past help in the battle to get more bilingualism for deaf babies? What is this tactic? It is the tactic of targeting a certain community and getting it to support the deaf community. This is done because experience has shown me that the deaf community usually does not get what it wants without the support of hearing people. Hearing people's support is needed to win battles! I used this tactic successfully long ago when I was one of the leaders of Caption Action, the movement to get closed captions on home video long before we had DVDs.
Using This Tactic to Get Closed Captions
Long ago, after the deaf community had unsuccessfully been complaining to Republic Pictures Home Video about not having captions on their videos (and even petitioning) especially the Little Rascals which I was a fan of, I was able to get Republic to caption. I went beyond letters and petitions. I actively sought the support of the Little Rascals and Laurel and Hardy fan community. What swung things in our favor was a letter I wrote to the late Spanky McFarland, who passed away shortly after that letter. Spanky McFarland was moved enough by my plea for captions on the Little Rascals videos that he contacted Republic Pictures Home Video. Next thing I knew, I got a personal letter from an executive at Republic Pictures stating that Spanky had written to them and they were going to caption their videos, especially the Little Rascals!
Shortly after word about my victory with Republic got out in the deaf community I began getting letters and e-mails from all over the United States with the same message: Please, Jamie! Can you help us get captions on Star Trek videos? I wasn't even a fan of Star Trek! After getting plea after plea, I gave in and launched a campaign to get Paramount video to closed caption Star Trek. I won that battle too!
How did I do it? I enlisted the support of the hearing Star Trek fan community! I wrote to leaders in the Star Trek fan community, posted messages on bulletin boards discussing Star Trek, and contacted managers of Star Trek discussion lists. After awhile, hearing people in the Star Trek fan community began contacting Paramount on behalf of the deaf community. As the word of lack of captions on Star Trek videos spread, the pressure built on Paramount, and Paramount gave in. I don't remember for sure, but I think I got a letter from an executive at Paramount Home Video informing me they were going to caption Star Trek.
I applied the "fan community" tactic one last time, with Pax Television when they first started. The law allows new networks a certain number of years - I think four - before they are required to begin closed captioning. Law or no law, I wasn't going to tolerate that long a delay! I decided to make Pax Television an example to other new broadcasters. Once again, I enlisted hearing people, such as fans of the "Dr. Quinn" show that had begun airing in repeats on the new Pax. I repeatedly posted complaints on Pax's own message board online. The discussion and arguments about closed captioning on Pax became so heated that Pax had to take down its message board. But it worked! Soon I was told that Pax had decided to start captioning sooner rather than later.
Using This Tactic to Get Support for Bilingualism
How can we apply this tactic successfully to the goal of increasing bilingualism for deaf babies? By enlisting the support of the baby signing community! I believe that the parents of hearing babies who use sign language would be surprised to learn about auditory verbal therapy denying the use of sign language. The developers of baby signing products and classes, too. Even Marlee Matlin's support could be sought - she made a Baby Einstein baby sign languge DVD.
How are we going to get the word out to the baby signing community aka the Caption Action days? Start by contacting the producers of the baby sign products and classes to get their support. Then start tapping into the power of a community called the Mommyblogger community.
In the Mommyblogger community, parents of young babies post blogs about their babies growing up. Often these blogs will mention that the parents are using baby sign language. I read one blog where a mother wrote that even when she was expecting, she was looking forward to using sign language with her baby. We have to seek out those Mommyblogs, and post messages on their blogs saying that it is wonderful that their babies are learning sign language but there are deaf babies who can not learn sign language....
I am betting that the Mommyblogger community and number of hearing parents using baby sign language far outnumbers the number of hearing parents of deaf babies. Hopefully, as the word got out to the baby signing community, maybe some of them would begin contacting AG Bell Academy on the deaf community's behalf to strongly suggest that they permit the use of sign language in addition to auditory verbal therapy. Maybe some of them would even blog about it! Even if AG Bell does not agree to allow sign language while babies are in auditory verbal therapy, by increasing awareness in the mommyblogger community, we can build a "critical mass" of awareness of the "greatest irony" in the hearing world.
Here is another mommyblog, where a mommy writes about her discovery that baby sign language actually works: Sign Me Up - Fussbucket. She even mentions that she researched and learned that baby sign language does not prevent speech development and may even promote it.
Oh, and don't forget all the folks who post cute videos of their hearing babies using sign language on Google Video. Get their support too.
Shall we do it? Shall we work to get the baby signing community to support bilingualism for deaf babies? Based on my past experience, reaching out to a targeted community works much better than protest.
Using This Tactic to Get Closed Captions
Long ago, after the deaf community had unsuccessfully been complaining to Republic Pictures Home Video about not having captions on their videos (and even petitioning) especially the Little Rascals which I was a fan of, I was able to get Republic to caption. I went beyond letters and petitions. I actively sought the support of the Little Rascals and Laurel and Hardy fan community. What swung things in our favor was a letter I wrote to the late Spanky McFarland, who passed away shortly after that letter. Spanky McFarland was moved enough by my plea for captions on the Little Rascals videos that he contacted Republic Pictures Home Video. Next thing I knew, I got a personal letter from an executive at Republic Pictures stating that Spanky had written to them and they were going to caption their videos, especially the Little Rascals!
Shortly after word about my victory with Republic got out in the deaf community I began getting letters and e-mails from all over the United States with the same message: Please, Jamie! Can you help us get captions on Star Trek videos? I wasn't even a fan of Star Trek! After getting plea after plea, I gave in and launched a campaign to get Paramount video to closed caption Star Trek. I won that battle too!
How did I do it? I enlisted the support of the hearing Star Trek fan community! I wrote to leaders in the Star Trek fan community, posted messages on bulletin boards discussing Star Trek, and contacted managers of Star Trek discussion lists. After awhile, hearing people in the Star Trek fan community began contacting Paramount on behalf of the deaf community. As the word of lack of captions on Star Trek videos spread, the pressure built on Paramount, and Paramount gave in. I don't remember for sure, but I think I got a letter from an executive at Paramount Home Video informing me they were going to caption Star Trek.
I applied the "fan community" tactic one last time, with Pax Television when they first started. The law allows new networks a certain number of years - I think four - before they are required to begin closed captioning. Law or no law, I wasn't going to tolerate that long a delay! I decided to make Pax Television an example to other new broadcasters. Once again, I enlisted hearing people, such as fans of the "Dr. Quinn" show that had begun airing in repeats on the new Pax. I repeatedly posted complaints on Pax's own message board online. The discussion and arguments about closed captioning on Pax became so heated that Pax had to take down its message board. But it worked! Soon I was told that Pax had decided to start captioning sooner rather than later.
Using This Tactic to Get Support for Bilingualism
How can we apply this tactic successfully to the goal of increasing bilingualism for deaf babies? By enlisting the support of the baby signing community! I believe that the parents of hearing babies who use sign language would be surprised to learn about auditory verbal therapy denying the use of sign language. The developers of baby signing products and classes, too. Even Marlee Matlin's support could be sought - she made a Baby Einstein baby sign languge DVD.
How are we going to get the word out to the baby signing community aka the Caption Action days? Start by contacting the producers of the baby sign products and classes to get their support. Then start tapping into the power of a community called the Mommyblogger community.
In the Mommyblogger community, parents of young babies post blogs about their babies growing up. Often these blogs will mention that the parents are using baby sign language. I read one blog where a mother wrote that even when she was expecting, she was looking forward to using sign language with her baby. We have to seek out those Mommyblogs, and post messages on their blogs saying that it is wonderful that their babies are learning sign language but there are deaf babies who can not learn sign language....
I am betting that the Mommyblogger community and number of hearing parents using baby sign language far outnumbers the number of hearing parents of deaf babies. Hopefully, as the word got out to the baby signing community, maybe some of them would begin contacting AG Bell Academy on the deaf community's behalf to strongly suggest that they permit the use of sign language in addition to auditory verbal therapy. Maybe some of them would even blog about it! Even if AG Bell does not agree to allow sign language while babies are in auditory verbal therapy, by increasing awareness in the mommyblogger community, we can build a "critical mass" of awareness of the "greatest irony" in the hearing world.
Here is another mommyblog, where a mommy writes about her discovery that baby sign language actually works: Sign Me Up - Fussbucket. She even mentions that she researched and learned that baby sign language does not prevent speech development and may even promote it.
Oh, and don't forget all the folks who post cute videos of their hearing babies using sign language on Google Video. Get their support too.
Shall we do it? Shall we work to get the baby signing community to support bilingualism for deaf babies? Based on my past experience, reaching out to a targeted community works much better than protest.
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