Recently, I donated for a fund-raiser, for the Deaf Bilingual Coaltion,a Polish poster of Children of a Lesser God and some old ILY (mother signing to a baby) postage stamps. As I looked around the room of almost hundred signing Deaf people, I wondered why it was so hard for hearing parents, doctors, and most of society to accept these people as equal to us. They have their own language, sports teams, churches, traditions and customs, and beautiful art and poetry. What is it that makes humans focus on differences rather than similarities, and worse, abuse minorities who are not "like us"?
This last Thursday, the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving, a holiday dedicated to gratitude. We are all grateful for diversity in nature - plants, animals, landscapes. Nature includes all the varieties of humans, making life much more interesting. I'm grateful for every word of every foreign language I've learned - it's the beginning of a window into a different culture and way of viewing the world. I'm especially grateful for meeting Deaf people and learning a 3-D language and a richer way of seeing.
Yours for language rights for all people, especially deaf babies,
susan schaller
www.susanschaller.com
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