Tuesday

Deaf Bilingual Coalition, not welcomed at EHDI

I'm soon off to Chicago where EHDI - early hearing detection and intervention- folk are having a conference, discussing how to cure deafness. I, and many other people who advocate for visual language for visual babies as the obvious way to give deaf babies equal access, submitted a paper abstract. My abstract, and many others advocating Sign or bilingualism, was rejected. The hundreds of medical professionals attending believe they are doing the right thing. They believe speech is language, and hearing even a tiny bit or a garbled signal is better than being deaf. Their good intentions, unfortunately, are destroying many babies' chances for a better relationship with their parents and families, for education, and for a connection to the human community.

I need any help you can give: How does one show a doctor, audiologist, teacher or parent that by concentrating on ears and mouth only, they risk losing the human child. Waiting months or a year for intensive brain surgery, then years of training at the expense of language is inhumane. If you were a mother and believed you were doing the right thing by not signing to your deaf baby, what could I say or do to help you open your mind to questioning the wisdom of your action? Any suggestions I will carry to my first meeting in Chicago, with the bilingual coaliton.

Monday

The Great Great Lakes Tour

This last week was so full I didn't have a chance to post. I was busy studying, enjoying and wondering about James Castle's work being exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum. All the commentators are hearing. Many are in the art world and/or academia. Some are family members. Only one old man was Deaf and had a tiny segment of a film where he tried to educate hearing people on what the young James Castle probably experienced as a deaf boy one hundred years ago in a school for the deaf.

James Castle lived 78 years without language.

I want to tell you all about what I learned from another man who had no language whom I interviewed last week, but first I have to pack.

I hope to finish this before I leave for Chicago and Michgan in a few days.

Tuesday

empathy, humor and language

February 2 - the eve of the anniversary of my dead brother's birthday

Philip W Schaller died young, many years ago, and still I grieve deeply for him this time of year. Philip was amazingly humorous - always surprising me with his wit and creativity. What I loved most about Philip was his empathy. Even though he had a macho exterior and had two older brothers ready to pounce at even the smell of any vulnerability, Philip took in and stood up for underdogs, played with babies, and talked to his younger sisters as if they were legitimate human beings.

Empathy and humor have a common denominator: imagination. If I want to emulate Philip's empathy, I must expand my imagination. To teach or encourage empathy -raise awareness that we all are together - I must write and speak so as to nurture the growth of imagination.

Were I to care more about money or prestige or power, I would not be advocating for languageless deaf people and for Deaf language rights. A few years ago, when pressured by a relative to get a "real" job, I did some soul-searching, asking myself why I cared so much about promoting visual language to visual babies. I saw that it helped me to become more human, that is, more aware that I am connected to all humans. I, individually, could not stop torture, war, or the greedy hubris of a few rich corporations. I could, however, tell my story of how I met an unimagined visual culture, and how Deaf people introduced me to myself - my face, my hands - and made me more fully human.

The best way I can keep Philip's unique contributions alive is to remember how he tried to see and understand other points of view, to feel for and with another person no matter how different from him. The best way I can show my appreciation for the gifts he gave me is to give them to others. It is extremely difficult, for a hearing person, to imagine profound deafness before language. That is why it is so important to think of ways to grow that imagination, so that every parent, doctor, teacher and the whole village works at giving visual gifts to our fellow humans, our deaf babies.

In memory of Philip who would now have added some great comic relief which you will just have to imagine,

susan of www.susanschaller.com