Greetings after my long, reflective break.
After my speaking tour in Indiana and Ohio, I came back with a head of questions. On the practical level, I questioned all the air, bus and car travel in a time when I am striving to be kinder to the earth, growing some of my own food, walking ( I gave up by car, yesterday) and supporting local farmers. More appropriate to this blog, I wondered if my speaking was effective. Was I simply preaching to the choir: those already studying ASL, Deaf studies or Disability issues?
The question which surfaced again, and has been in my head for decades, is:
WHY DO WE TREAT DEAF BABIES SO BADLY?
Fear causes division. Hence the title above. Fear triggers blaming the victim, and the subsequent effort to "fix" the person different from us. Oralism - the Alexander Graham Bell philosophy (as well as most of society's) which discriminates againstsigning and ignores the visual nature of Deaf people - like racism or any "-ism" sees the difference as the problem. If Deaf people simply acted hearing, they would be successful. This is equivalent to "if African-Americans just acted more white, they would be more successful." The burden is placed on the person with the difference, so if he or she fails to be hearing or white, that person is at fault. The hearing parent, hearing doctor, or the hearing or white society is never examined or seen as the problem. A reaction based on fear and blindness becomes the convention. Any who speak out against this unfair system is seen as unreasonable.
My musings of the last month leave me wondering what I and we should do. The opposite of fear is love. The opposite of highlighting differences is to recognize our similarities. Recognizing our commonalities is embracing all humans as if we were all together instead of separate. No person is an island. We are tribal beings which would and should lead all of us to immediately see that a deaf baby needs normal and natural language and socialization: visual communication and language for visual creatures. And if we can see, then we can use our vision to connect with our visual babies.
Who should I be talking to, writing to, or working with, to help point to this obvious truth? Is it bigger than deafness and deaf babies? How can we all become more human and recognize each other as part of ourselves? Like Voltaire, after raving about the world's craziness, I see the wisdom in joining community and cultivating our garden. In other words, words may be a waste of time; growing, loving, touching, being, locally and in community, may be how I should live.
Philosophically yours,
susan of www.susanschaller.com
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