I am very disturbed by the news that
the National Association of the Deaf has decided to ally with Audism Free America, a militant deaf organization
that has defaced private property belonging to the Alexander Graham Bell for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Audism Free America is a militant deaf organization that does not support the right of hearing parents to choose the right communication mode for their deaf children. They also do not support the rights of hearing parents to implant their deaf children.
They think hearing parents are so wholly uninformed about ASL , and that they believe that ASL is a natural language for ALL deaf children, and they want ALL deaf children to learn ASL regardless of the parents' wishes for their deaf child's education. They do not support parental choice to make the best decisions for their deaf child.
This is the kind of advocacy that Audism Free America does against organizations like the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, simply because AGBell favors the oral approach for deaf and hard of hearing children and is not against cochlear implants. I am not denying the history behind the eugenic approach of its founder, Alexander Graham Bell, but I am pointing out that this sort of militant approach in defacing private property and insisting that hearing parents should teach their children ASL only is the sort of approach that does them no favors in their mission of promoting ASL, and instead turns off hearing parents from wanting to learn about ASL.
This sort of militancy and anger towards hearing parents is what drove my mother away from the Deaf community. Here is
my earlier post which was a response to one of my Deaf friends for thinking that Jamaican skin bleaching was like cochlear implantation:
Those making those kind of arguments are the ones I find to be ignorant, fearful, and unaware of what really goes into a hearing parent's decision to implant their deaf child. To be sure, there are a few hearing parents that think it's a miracle cure and their deaf child won't need accommodations, but on the whole, these hearing parents, just like my mother, consulted extensively with doctors, went to schools for the deaf, and even approached the deaf community for advice.
My mother saw insularism, ignorance, and anger in the ASL Deaf community when she reached out for help. She didn't want to expose me to that kind of environment if I was implanted because she saw the discrimination against those who were orally deaf and wore implants. She wanted me to have all the tools available to succeed in what is a world that is made for and designed by hearing people. She knew just having the cochlear implant wasn't enough for me. I would need extensive speech therapy, and to have access to the best resources for me to succeed academically. She made sure of that with help from my grandparents while she worked through the aftermath of a very nasty divorce.
I want every deaf child to have the best access to resources, whether it be the cochlear implant, hearing aids, ASL, Total Communication, SEE, and oral speech. I want these parents, whether they are deaf or hearing, not to be ostracized for the choices they make. I don't think it's wrong to implant your deaf child as it is to address a medical condition---deafness. I don't think it's wrong for Deaf parents to refuse to implant their deaf children as long as these deaf children have access to hearing aids, ASL, speech, and other communication modes with a strong support system in place that helps them out academically.
Why bash those who wear cochlear implants, and prefer to speak orally, or use other communication methods? In using these sort of tactics against the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, the Deaf community, instead of gaining members, are losing potential members of the deaf community. It is rather insane to be angry with AGBell, whose stated mission is to promote oralism and cochlear implants, and to expect them to change that mission. Over the long term, the Deaf community is going to become obsolete if they keep using these tactics. Some groups, as I understand it, are beginning to understand this and are revising their tactics to talk up ASL and the benefits of bilingualism and the acceptance of those with CIs, whether they be adults or children, into the deaf community. Instead of attacking and protesting a rival organization, they should be promoting ASL and the benefits of bilingualism at the local, state, and national level, and asking for it to be included in ALL communication modes in legislation.
I hope more people in the Deaf community will come to understand this, and to save deaf culture, to positively promote ASL and acceptance of those who don't use ASL. It works to their benefit to have more supporters of ASL, whether they be hearing, oral, CI, deaf, even if many of those supporters don't use ASL.
And the National Association of the Deaf should be careful about who they ally with, like the founders of the Audism Free America, who see cochlear implants as evil and akin to genocide. Audism Free America is not a credible organization, and in supporting the protests of AGBell, NAD is damaging its own credibility as an organization that is supposed to be inclusive for all deaf and hard of hearing Americans. The founders and members of AFA forget that at the end of the day, when hearing aids and cochlear implants are turned off, we are all deaf, oral and ASL alike.
If you agree that the National Association for the Deaf should keep on being inclusive for all deaf and hard of hearing Americans, instead of allying with an anti-oralism, anti-cochlear implant organization, please contact the National Association for the Deaf here at @NADTweets.
Send a tweet to @NADTweets asking them to be inclusive of all deaf people, including oral deaf people, and not to ally with Audism Free America.