Kalalau's Korner

19.09.2011

2011-09-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

ASL DRAGON: Some See, Some Don't ....

2011-04-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

ASL DRAGON: SOOKET on "The Resemblance of Two Oak Leaves"

2011-02-22T01:06:00.001-08:00

ASL DRAGON: SOOKET on "The Resemblance of Two Oak Leaves"

2011-02-22T01:06:00.000-08:00

ASL DRAGON'S TREASURE CHEST

2011-02-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

THE LORE OF THE ASL DRAGON: A New Introduction

2011-02-22T01:04:00.000-08:00

Third Kind of Tolerance in Deaf Hate Crime

2010-12-21T21:26:00.006-08:00

The meaning of tolerance is to be able to put up with somebody or something. Basically, you do not like this person or thing, but you will deal with him or it. In the other words, you can tolerate him or it. Some people can tolerate someone joking about “flying monkeys (see the December 9th hate speech text below),” while others can hardly tolerate an “odd balls” joke. But they all can’t tolerate a death or "no balls" joke.

ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง
Damn -- I find the 'ism overrated. The 'ism has gone overboard just like those horde of flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz.

December 9 at 5:20pm · · Comment

Diane Squires, Barb DiGi, Deaf Red Bear and 3 others like this.
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck What happened?
  December 9 at 5:58pm ·
- Gato Gordo There were flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz?
  December 9 at 6:42pm ·
- ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง
  Michelle -- I posted a video via youtube.com. That would answer your question, amongst others who were... accusing me of practising "-ism" which is so full of bull manure. :)
  
  btw, the link is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tsUlsP8OF4...See More
  December 9 at 6:45pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck All right.....checking it out.
  December 9 at 6:46pm ·
- ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง Yep, Gato -- you might want to have your eye sights checked. :)
  December 9 at 6:48pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Ahhh, that! I saw those several videes he made.....no bother with 'em. Yeah, he has some tendency to overuse any word to go with 'ism'.
  December 9 at 6:48pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Gato, I happen to be one of flying monkeys. *smirk*
  December 9 at 6:49pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck And would grab your tail, Gato, as well. Of course, gato is cat in El Spanish. Ole!
  December 9 at 6:50pm ·
- Barb DiGi amongs others...so sad really...what's going on here is McCarlism..
  December 9 at 7:00pm ·
- Barb DiGi err..I meant to type amongst not amongs...
  December 9 at 7:17pm ·
- Barb DiGi and I meant McCarlism not McCarthyism in case you'd wondered...
  December 9 at 7:18pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Hahaha, I already knew what you mean, Barb...when I read McCarlism, I knew you meant McCarthyism because it was used in some references that I'm trying to remember, LOL.
  December 9 at 7:25pm ·
- Barb DiGi Err I didn't mean McCarthyism smiles It's McCarlism but yeah the meaning behind it is McCarthyism LOL!
  December 9 at 7:34pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Trying to mess with my head? :P LOL But I hear you anyway....
  December 9 at 7:48pm ·
- Barb DiGi I am in a really sarcastic mood tonight..oh so now you can hear me?? be careful not to go audistic here (duck!)
  December 9 at 7:59pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Oh hell....I "heer" you. *smirk*
  December 9 at 8:09pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Or rather *hee* ye.
  December 9 at 8:09pm ·
- Diane Squires ‎*pointed to ear* What is it?
  December 9 at 8:41pm ·
- Barb DiGi Aye, let's talk medieval, shall we? Hark now, methinks I do hear the sounds of the duelists preparing for combat upon the green! Can you hear me Diane? Fare thee well!
  December 9 at 9:08pm ·
- Michelle InsaneMisha Passeck Hear ye, hear ye! Shalt thoust proceed 'tis duelin', m'lady? *slaps ye face and throws down her glove*
  December 9 at 9:12pm ·
- Diane Squires LOL I caught Lee's sign *pointing to his ear* so what is it? Sorry if I am not cl'hear' at first
  December 9 at 9:16pm ·
- ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง Oh, Diane, that means "hearing" in International Sign Language. Barb says she knows it is actually used in South American Sign Language.
  December 9 at 9:20pm via Facebook Mobile ·
- Diane Squires I hear ya!
  December 9 at 9:23pm ·
- James Patrick Petrusich Haha, ya haven"t changed a bit bro. Go listen to John Lennon songs for awhile will ya! Wink!
  December 9 at 9:28pm ·
- ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง Err I meant south African. Yo, jimbo! Nah, I'll take bob marley. :D
  December 9 at 9:32pm ·
- Karen Westphal Mayes Just checked your vlog out...
  
  o-KAY.
  
  Hope it's over now... that the spell you cast works.
  December 10 at 4:05am ·
- Karen Westphal Mayes Oh.
  
  I see it has not worked. Oh boy. It's ridiclous... so your ASL sux. Therefore you should be removed? My my. My ASL SUX a big time sooo... haha. I am just a Muggle.
  December 10 at 4:32am ·
- Karen Westphal Mayes
  Hmm... I can think of some people who did a lot of wordplay with languages... especially ONE person.
  
  Shakespeare.
  
  Paotie always has a way of playing with words.
  ...See More
  December 10 at 5:03am ·
- ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง Funny thing -- based on what you said, I feel like I'm a muggle, too.
  December 10 at 9:23am ·

Springwater Doesn't Have Fish

2010-11-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Earliest Video of ASL DRAGON (11/14/2006)

2010-10-24T10:02:00.003-07:00

I developed the very first video of ASL Dragon. Click: http://carl-schroeder.blogspot.com/2006/11/asl-dragon-on-video.html. It's very difficult to decipher and requires numerous interpretations.

Thinking Syntactically in American Sign Language

2010-10-13T08:08:00.005-07:00

The title of this blog is Thinking Syntactically in American Sign Language (ASL). As the title suggests, the focus of this blog is on "thinking about ASL." ASL syntax is the component of linguistics that concerned with the way signs are used to form ASL sentences. This blog illustrates one way of thinking about ASL sentence formation.

Since 1960's, especially after the publication of William C. Stokoe's first Dictionary of American Sign Language based on linguistic principles, many types of linguistic theories have been developed in an attempt to explain how ASL is used and formed. An approach that has given rise to a lot of exciting discoveries is the one initiated by Bob Johnson and Scott Liddell which is known as "hold-movement models." One of the properties of hold-movement models which I think makes ASL particularly attractive is that it uses a methodology modeled on what is used in the natural sciences.

When we examine ASL, we "think about ASL" in a scientific way: we elaborate our analyses using a scientific methodology, a hunt for order, explanation and regularity. To clarify the notion "order" let us look at the parameters: hand configurations, palm orientations, onset-coda locations, non-manual morphemes, and modifier movements. We refer to these parameters as "grammar": a sign is stood in a syntactically subordinate relation to another sign with descriptive, limiting or particularizing "explanation." In ASL, we unconsciously apply linguistic rules, which are systematic patterns--"regularity."

ASL is not a spectator sport, where we sit on the sidelines and watch others perform. Rather, we get involved to enter the world of the Deaf and the mindset of the Deaf.

:-)

Deafhood: Arguments We Live By

2010-10-10T13:27:00.006-07:00

Argument is for most people a language war, a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary poetic rhetoric. Moreover, Deaf people's argument is typically viewed as characteristic of American Sign Language (ASL) alone, a matter of concept rather than thought or action.

The concept that governs our argument is just the matter of ASL, the language and culture of the Deaf. It also governs our everyday conversation. Our concept of Deafhood, for example, structures what we perceive, how we get around in the Deaf community, and how we the Deaf relate to each other. Our conceptual system plays a central role in arguing our reality as Deaf people, Deaf community, Deaf world. If we are right in suggesting that our argument is largely conceptual, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much the matter of ASL.

We have seen that ASL pervades our normal conceptual system. Because so many of the concepts that are important to Deafhood are either abstract or not clearly delineated in our Deaf experience, we need to argue that we need to conceptualize our experience and the way we use ASL. We do often find that arguments allow us to understand one domain of Deaf experience in terms of another. Our understanding of Deafhood takes place in terms of entire domains of Deaf experience and not in terms of isolated concepts. The fact that we have been led to hypothesize an argument like DEAFHOOD IS A JOURNEY.

This argument raises a fundamental question: What constitutes a "basic domain of Deaf experience"? I dare to argue that Deaf experience has to come from ASL. That's my language war story.

:-)

A True Blogger's Boring Truth

2010-10-09T12:06:00.008-07:00

In the collective mind

the intellectual aptitudes

of the individuals,

and in consequence

their individuality,

are weakened.

--Gustav Le Bon,

La Pscychologie des Foules,

1895

To be truthful, I wasn't terribly excited about my assignment for this blog. Perhaps that's because it was just that: a blogorrhea, the term coined by a Deaf blogger. My esteemed self requested a story about true-false argments. Given my history with such linguistics, I was not optimistic about the completion of this blog.

Nothing is more natural to vlogs (video-logs) that Deaf people make in American Sign Language (ASL) than argument. We try to convince anyone we are arguing with that we are right, that our conclusion is truth and therefore better for them to accept and follow. It would be no good if we could not tell if our truth followed from another. What is often passed off in vlogs as a truth that does not fit the bill. There's a saying that goes like this: "There is nothing to link the truth of the conclusion to the truth of the supporting claims."

Studying ASL is what makes logic unique and exceptional. It is the study of truth-preserving arguments. William C. Stokoe first gave us the idea of a language as a tool to claim convincingly that ASL is another way of thinking. This study of ASL should include grammar (parameters: hand shapes, palm positions, onset-coda locations, non-manual expressions, and modifier movements), rhetoric and, more importantly, a theory of interpretation.

The truth of ASL has an effect on the truth of interpretation. Gottfried Liebniz (1646-1716) came up with an argument tool: "reductio ad absurdum." What follows constitutes a boring paragraph:

We can divide interpretations by this argument tool into two categories, those which argue against a theory by viewing ASL as something extremely absurd, and those which derive a formal interpretation from the theory, for example by showing that an ethical theory recommends supporting ASL in the same situation. Obviously the first kind of interpretation is much a weaker counter-argument because even an absurd thing can be true. Thus a carefully crafted philosophical theory that explains ASL could not be rejected just because it makes an unintuitive claim. (Not all Deaf people around the world use ASL.) There are, however, two kinds of philosophical interpretations that such a reductio is absurd, boring and confusing.

Back to my first paragraph, I told myself, "It's all about getting my readers into a boring social cognition by experiencing a blogorrhea. It's also about getting truth nerds into a real argument--something this blogger is still trying not to be truthfully bored.

Evolution and Revolution in Deaf Community: An Intellectual Piece of Thought

2010-10-08T18:25:00.006-07:00

Siddhartha, 563-483 B.C.

Plato and the Prophets are

the most important

sources of modern culture.

--HERMAN COHEN (1924)

If culture is socially and linguistically created, then we can intellectually examine evolution and revolution in Deaf culture.

Beginning in 1864 with the inception of what is known today as Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., Deaf people could entertain the cultural evolution of higher learning and teaching in such a language they know the best, American Sign Language (ASL), which is, in the broadest sense, the linguistic revolution. Both the evolution and revolution are a progression in which Deaf people construe their experience and then change it to make "all the difference."

Of course anyone uses a variety of "forms of communication" in construing different areas of his or her experience, but the validity of Deaf experience needs ASL to support and address what we the Deaf know, value, and be responsible for our own intellectualism. Our knowledge as Deaf people is chiefly derived from pure reason, which is the final principle of reality. Our being Deaf is real and true without any consideration for emotions.

Higher learning and teaching has awakened reasoning in Deaf mind and our search for knowing (ancient Greece), our desire for wholeness (Jerusalem), and our enlightenment of this vast universe (Buddhism) are but the fabric woven in these strands for many centuries, from Socrates and his colleagues in Plato's Cratylus to Deaf people in the 18th century A.D. Paris Deaf School to graduates from Gallaudet University.

Socrates brings the philosophy of Athens to a sharp focus; Jesus does the same for Jerusalem; Siddhartha does the enlightenment of the universe. These three people are known to be in the pursuit of arete, in Greek meaning reaching the highest human potential, even at the cost of their own life.

Can we say that Laurent Clerc, Deaf French intellectual and educator, brings the language and culture of the Deaf to America?

End Deaf Bias Now

2010-07-22T00:02:00.009-07:00

Hate Crimes in the Deaf Community

presented to

Coalitions Against Hate Crimes

and

City of Portland Office of Human Relations

July 22, 2010

Carl Schroeder, M.Ed., Portland State University

The media image of the Deaf has never been depicted through images of Deaf people. After twenty-four centuries of Plato’s writing Cratylus about deaf people’s sign language, our world society has little idea that we the Deaf still use American Sign Language. We have been effectively stereotyped through different forms of media as lip readers, users of cochlear implants, or pitiful burdens of our society.

We the Deaf are in constant danger of being defined by those who can hear and speak in language other than American Sign Language (ASL). I would like to talk to you about how we the Deaf interpret our public image and how we view the criminal justice system. There is a research report at the University of North Carolina, School of Social Work published in 2004 that reads:

Deaf culture attempts to prevent reports of child maltreatment from being shared with hearing service providers.

Central to my lecture about hate crime in the deaf community is whether the system of police, courts, and corrections operates in a linguistically discriminatory manner.

The language known to us as ASL is the sight-oriented language of the Deaf and the third most commonly used language in North America, after English and Spanish. ASL belongs, along with Nederlandse Gebarentaal (Dutch Sign Language), British Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language and all other sign languages around the world, to the so-called ‘visual-gestural’ group of languages. ASL has had a long and interesting development with its origin in the speech community of the peoples inhabiting the 17^th-20^th century Martha’s Vineyard Island, when this speech was simply a mass of local dialects, ranging between militia and marketplace. It is worthwhile to note two facts about sign language spoken there: (1) Deaf and hearing people took up responsibility to maintain the same language for information, knowledge and communication, and (2) there is never evidence that this speech has merged with English, the sound-oriented language.

In 1817, two educators, The Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and his French deaf colleague Laurent Clerc, established the first American Deaf School in Hartford, Connecticut. For nearly 50 years, the school trained numerous deaf students to become educators of the Deaf in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Oregon.

In 1864, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter to establish the National Deaf-Mute College in Washington, D.C., which became Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts school exclusive for the Deaf. Gallaudet University is where ASL flourished as the language of academic discourse.

In 1880, however, the educators of the Deaf from all around the world gathered together in Milano, Italy for the second International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED).They voted on resolutions banning sign language in education and employment. The Congress was taken the place in a school for the Deaf in Milano, Italy, that was under the auspices of the Roman Catholic church. The church requires that deaf children be trained for an auricular confession—the disclosure by word spoken of sins into the auris, or ear, of a priest. Abbe Balestra of Italy wrote:

“It is necessary for Catholic priests that deaf-mutes be able to speak, because we have a confessional, and the priest will wholly misunderstand what the poor deaf-mute says to him by signs.”

The United States delegates were the only people who opposed the Milan resolutions, but these resolutions were sent to all governments and educational agencies.

The 1880 Milan resolution begat hate speech against the language and culture of the Deaf. Language aversion, bigotry and cruelty launched. Today, none of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Oregon are taught ASL formally and academically. For 130 years, we the Deaf are still struggling to make good claims of our language and culture.

Deafness, whether total or only partial, erects many barriers to information, knowledge and communication. The sound /f/ in the term deaf shares the same fricative—the force of the breath through a constricted or partially obstructed passage in the vocal tract—with the sound /th/ in the term death.

Let me now tell you the anatomy of hate. Hate is an emotion that is greatly influenced by parts of the brain buried deep inside the lobes of each hemisphere. This region is called amygdale, which is also associated with fear and pleasure. Before we look at what the amygdale does to the brain, let me tell you a short story that will help illustrate some of the points I will try to make here. Then we can return to the hate lecture at the end of this short story.

The mother, after the first labor, is resting in her bed. She is waiting for her firstborn to arrive from the mandatory hearing screening. The doctor comes in with the baby and announces to the mother that the baby has failed the tests. The mother asks what it means. The doctor says, “He’s deaf.” The mother is shocked.

The story I just gave here illustrates the emotional brain at work in the intense dynamic of the emotion of the mother. As we will see, the amygdale plays its part in this shock. It inactivates the mother’s brain; her amygdale says, “This could mean death in language and culture.” It is taking care to be sure that the mother reacts to bad developments. Audiologists and educators of the Deaf today are completely trained under the irreversible influence of the 1880 Milan resolutions banning sign language. It was the genocide to the Deaf mind; it was the hate crime of all time.

Today, there is no ASL expert in the state government of Oregon and in the school districts. Throughout the state of Oregon, none of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, k-12, are taught ASL. Last year there were 1,250 deaf and hard-of-hearing children mainstreamed in public schools in Oregon. As required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), through the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) procedures, each deaf child is assigned an interpreter in school. It means that 1,250 deaf and hard-of-hearing children are given an interpreter. There must be 1,250 interpreters all together. In reality, on the other hand, we do not have enough interpreters even available to 6,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Oregon.

Let me now tell you about supply and demand. Supply refers to how many of interpreting services are available for deaf and hard of hearing people; demand means how many deaf and hard-of-hearing people wish to have interpreting services. The Oregon Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ORID) only has the roster of 152 “certified” or “qualified” members. It is now obvious that supply and demand traces the educational bankruptcy of all deaf and hard-of-hearing children and the quality bankruptcy of all the Deaf in Oregon.

In 2004, there was an important presentation made at the University of North Carolina, School of Social Work. Entitled, Child Abuse Investigation and Treatment for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children: Ethical Practice and Policy, it was based on the work of Emilie Edwards, Jeanine Vaughn, and Karen Smith Rotabi who gave the overview of their thesis:

Deaf children are more susceptible than other children to abuse. Because many helping professionals are unaware of deaf children’s vulnerabilities and needs, the effectiveness of their services to that population is limited. Human service agencies rely on inadequate means of communication in child abuse investigations despite laws and ethical standards mandating that they communicate using methods that deaf clients can understand. Ineffective intervention practices fail to protect this vulnerable population.

This research thesis begs for greater development in using ASL. Most deaf children live with their families that do not use ASL for information, knowledge and communication. Due to poor communication at home, most abuse of deaf children occurs there.

The study in the presentation found:

· 50% of deaf children are sexually abused.

· 41% of deaf children are physically abused.

· 26% of deaf children are neglected.

Abuse investigators, service providers and social workers know very little about ASL. No professional would conduct investigation with a Spanish speaking client without a translator. Yet, the investigation into deaf child abuse investigation is done without employing ASL.

ADA, on the other hand, requires that reasonable accommodations be made for the Deaf and lists several possibilities for communication:

· Lip reading.

· Writing notes.

· Using a “qualified” interpreter.

Lip reading is chancy. Only 30% of English is visible on lips. The emotional effects of the amygdale would inactivate lip reading. It’s unfair.

Writing does not help. Literacy among the general population, deaf and hearing alike, is not high enough to tackle many of the classic problems of abuse, to be sensitive to the metaphysical and epistemological implications of child’s abused experience. It’s impossible.

Not all victimized deaf children understand how to use interpreters—to fire them, to replace them, to check on them for comprehension or certification. With only 152 members in the ORID, are we to tell deaf children to settle for less than optional communication about abuse? It’s unethical.

There is a little common ground merging between the “discrimination” and “no discrimination” position for the Deaf in our government because there is little agreement about what constitutes a linguistic bias in the social justice system. For example, it is not okay for deaf people to be not clear in writing, but it is okay (and understandable) for hearing people to be not clear in using ASL.

Self-Hate and Deafhood

I could tell you about counseling the Deaf for alcoholics and substance abuse. With this hate of ASL, there are a great many deaf people—36% of the deaf population compared to 13% of general population in the United States—who are vulnerable to alcohol abuse. Dr. Betty G. Miller, a certified, deaf alcoholism counselor, says:

Loneliness, depression, social alienation, a low self-esteem—all these elements are heightened with a deaf person.

There are only four cities that offer Alcohol Anonymous 12 Step Meetings for the Deaf. However, deaf alcohols would need to request for an available interpreter who is well-honed in facilitating communication through these 12 step meetings. Dr. Frank Lala, Jr., writes in his book, Counseling the Deaf Substance Abuser:

Communicating this concept throughout the deaf community might relieve the strong stigma and sense of shame related to identifying oneself as in need of help.

Dr. Barbara Kannapell writes:

The trust-mistrust phenomenon among deaf people is evident, and in an instance a perceived difference in language power between the deaf person and the service professional is involved.

Many counselors are not deaf and therefore inept in using ASL. Dr. Steven K. Chough says:

If a counselor is to be perceived as wise and trustworthy, he/she should not be a dupe, any more than he/she should be paternalistic.”

It is not my intention to represent a complete picture of alcoholism and self hate in the deaf community. It is merely an introduction, an overview in outline, of what my lecture is all about. It is presented as an instructive tool to inform the city of Portland on this important issue. It can be useful to clarify how far we the Deaf have come and what has to be done about ASL in education and employment.

Before I conclude my talk, I would like to talk a little bit about Deafhood—a state of being deaf. Such a thought of describing the state of being deaf, especially in ASL, would have been unthinkable five years ago. Yet today the Deafhood movement is very strong. A number of pro-Deafhood groups are meeting regularly, planning, working out details, and educating not only the Deaf, but also the world. One group has established the 501(c)3 Deafhood Foundation in California and has solicited moral and financial supports. Visit www.deafhoodfoundation.org/

Deaf people are people of sign language. Those seeking Deafhood are the people (1) to whom the world introduced audism—a racism suggesting that it is better to hear and speak than not, (2) whose ASL coerced into diverse modes of communication, and (3) who lost their identities when the world offers cochlear implant—a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a deaf or hard-of-hearing person—to perpetuate in a "listening and speaking" hoax. Those seeking reasonable accommodation in ADA have also profited from this hoax. Those seeking Deafhood are deaf people "dispossessed" of ASL, the language and culture of the Deaf.

There is a need for deaf people to take up specific, clearly defined models of Deafhood, to live with them, and to flush out the deficiencies of biases against the Deaf, especially language aversion, bigotry and cruelty through public presentations and debates. It is also time for the Deaf to begin viewing ASL as their "supreme" language.

Thank you.

References

Chough, S.. (1983) The trust vs mistrust phenomenon among deaf persons. American Deafness & Rehabilitation Association. 7, 17-19.

Edwards, E., et al. (2004) Child abuse investigation and treatment for deaf and hard-of-hearing children: Ethical practice and policy. The Social Policy Journal, 4(3/4), 53-67.

Kannapell, B. (1983) The Trust-Mistrust Syndrome. In Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Deafness. Silver Spring, MD: American Deafness and Rehabilitation, 20-22.

Ladd, P. (2003) Understanding deaf culture: In search of deafhood. Buffalo: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Lala, F. (1995) Counseling the Deaf Substance Abuser. Chicago: Adams Press.

Lane, H. (1999) The mask of benevolence: Disabling the deaf community. New York: Dawn Sign Press.

Mertens, D. (1996) Breaking the silence about sexual abuse of deaf youth. American Annals of the Deaf, 141(5), 352-258.

Miller, B. (1989) Empowerment: Treatment approaches for the deaf and chemically addicted. The Counselor, 7(3), 24-25.

Plato. (2006) Cratylus. Translated by Jowett, B. Middlesex: The Echo Library.

Deafhood: "Your Baby Is Deaf!"

2010-06-30T20:19:00.003-07:00

“Your baby is deaf!” reports the physician to the mother exhausted from her first labor.

“The baby is deaf!” repeats the father to the mother resting in her bed.

“The baby is deaf!” says the mother.

Those dramas of the deaf baby may differ in many respects, but the significance of the word “deaf” remains the same … for the rest of the baby’s life. It immediately defines status and lays down expectations. What may appear to be a simple and straightforward word that defines the baby is the most important word told about a healthy newborn--deaf.

What lies ahead for deaf babies is what is called Deafhood. To better understand Deafhood, we can think of the state of being deaf as unfolding on two different but related levels: the public level and the private level.

The public level of Deafhood contains all of the prescriptions and proscriptions, the sanctions and stereotypes. In other words, the public level takes in all of the social expectations and bias that people in general expect of the Deaf.

The private level, on the other hand, can only be inferred because it depends chiefly on the acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL), the language and culture of the Deaf. The private level begins to develop when a young deaf child begins to use ASL. In the other words, once a deaf child begins to use ASL, then he is developing a linguistic and cultural identity.

There is no way to define Deafhood without falling prey to the arch-enemy of truth itself, the generalization. To say that our society expects and demands that deaf children forget they’re deaf would be utterly preposterous. Being deaf is a permanent condition.

Most historians suggest that the 1880 Milan Resolution to ban signed language did more to affect the Deaf than almost any other social change in Deaf History. The movement from signing to speaking drastically changed the way the Deaf defined themselves, their status, and their abilities. Throughout the 20^th century, deaf people were expected to prove their worth as citizens by their ability to listen and speak. It robbed most deaf people of their sense of purpose and creativity.

The 1988 and 2006 revolutions at Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts university exclusively for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. replaced the “listen and speak” mechanism with the circle of Deafhood. This blog has noted how Deafhood can be interpreted as having public and private levels.

Daily Deaf Adult Literacy Program (DDALP)

2010-06-30T10:54:00.001-07:00

Daily Deaf Adult Literacy Program

(DDALP)

Prepared by

Carl Schroeder for Living Access, Inc., Chicago, Illinois

The Concept

Do a little bit of literacy every day! The Deaf Adult Literacy Program (DDALP) approach is designed for deaf adults to succeed in possession of lifelong education. What is important is that deaf adults spend a little time every day on their education.

The literacy process is fun. There is no set speed or time limit. Deaf adults set their own pace. If they are enjoying what they are learning, they shouldn’t be stopped even if they have been working for an hour.

DDALP wishes deaf adults all the success in the world in developing their literacy.

Can Deaf Adults Write Their Name?

If deaf adults can write their names, then they can learn to develop literacy. They will be able to easily read the newspapers, look up in the dictionary, or anything they wish. With their best skills, they can read and write.

The Purpose

The purpose of this DDALP is to give deaf adults an immediate learning skill. Using the “every day” methodology, they will acquire a large working vocabulary that will suit their needs, and they will acquire it almost automatically. To aid them, DDALP offers a unique and easy system of literacy.

The Dictionary Skills

A good, visual dictionary provides deaf adults a comprehensive vocabulary resource. The Oxford Picture Dictionary includes the 140 key topics to cover home and family, the workplace, the community, health care, and academic skills. The words are defined and presented in a meaningful context.

The Word Bank

Deaf adults will develop their own word bank with index cards. They will learn how to put the words in the alphabet order, categorize the words under nouns, adjectives, prepositions, verbs, and adverbs.

The Newspaper Challenge

Deaf adults will find at least ten new words from the newspaper. They will look up in the dictionary for definition. They will be encouraged to write their own sentences using new words.

The Daily Writing Exercise

Peter Elbow argues that the first and most basic step to improved writing is freewriting. “Freewriting means simply that for ten (10) minutes you write without stopping. The idea isn't to produce a polished (or even ‘good’) piece of writing, but to simply get in the habit of writing without censoring and editing. In freewriting, ‘[n]ever stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing.’ The only rule to follow in freewriting is to simply not stop writing.”

Copying to Creating

Deaf adults will be given a short one-paragraph story to copy in writing. They will be encouraged to review for accuracy in uppercase and lowercase letters, punctuations, subject-verb agreements. They then are encouraged to rewrite without looking at it to see how much they could remember the words in the copying assignment. If they can, they can create their own words to tell about the assigned paragraph.

The Number Work

Deaf adults will be encouraged to write or spell (fingerspelling) out the numbers. 1243 will be written or spelled out "one thousand two hundred forty three." They can also be challenged to tell how many ways can be used with the three numbers: 1, 5, 9 (.159, 159, 1.59, 15.9, .519, 519, 5.19, 51.9, .915, 915, 9.15, 91.5, .591, 591, 5.19, 51.9, .951, 951, 9.51, 95.1) 20 of them!

Deafhood Needs the Civility in the Age of the Net

2010-06-29T22:00:00.005-07:00

The professing of Deafhood rests on the firm foundation of the use of American Sign Language (ASL). Most Deaf people grant us respect and sometimes deference.

Whatever the discussion of Deafhood, we sometimes feel stung by rudeness in the Deaf blogsphere-vlogsphere. We try to make Deafhood interesting and relevant, and we care about ourselves as Deaf people living on this precious planet. However, more and more, I think the culture of incivility is a larger impediment to some bloggers and vloggers than anything they might need to learn about Deafhood. We need to understand what we can get from discussion that we would not from blogging or vlogging in front of a digital screen.

For quite some time, we have observed on the net that the disengaged, disrespectful, and unruly behavior that should be confined to high schools has reached the Deaf world. In blogs and vlogs, for example, unfamiliarity with Deafhood is routine. Virtually no academic term or reference goes by in which we find blogs and vlogs that are inappropriately informal, unreasonably demanding, or both. The arsenal of the disgruntled includes hate and prejudice against Deafhood. It may not be widely known, but we the Deaf are also bullied.

If we want to slow down the continuing decline of civil interaction on the net, we must train ourselves, too. We know that the net plays a major role in the shaping of tomorow of all the Deaf, but how many of us have a strategy in place to cope with the challenge that this poses to the Deaf community? We must not use juvenile jargon for effect, and only occasionally will we use an informal expression picked from the realm of "popular culture" if we see an advantage in doing so. Non-disruptive behavior reinforces discovery and vice versa.

The notion of Deafhood is woven together with those of value and difference. Recognizing and acquiring Deafhood is the premise of our civil community. This is the virtual circle we want to put in place on the net that defines a job well-done.

Deaf Hate Crime: Language Aversion

2010-06-21T23:17:00.004-07:00

[Deaf people are] civilized men on the outside,

barbaric and ignorant as a savage on the inside;

indeed, the savage is superior if he has

a spoken language, however limited.

—Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, Chief Physician,

National Institution forDeaf Mutes, Paris

The twenty-first century opened with sprees of hate speech against the Deaf, also known as a language aversion of American Sign Language (ASL). The 2006 videotaped ridiculing rampage of Jane K. Fernandes, then president-designate of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., asserting her exceptional skills in combining signs within the English word order, the 2008 Super Bowl TV commercial satirizing deaf experience getting harshly criticized as “isolated from the rest of society” by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and a public and official apology for the 1880 Milan Resolution demanded from the International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED) in its 2010 Vancouver Conference all stand as reminders that the language belittlement and bigotry are much more than an unfortunate chapter in the deaf history. Language belittlement and bigotry persist as mechanisms of language oppression around the world of the Deaf. It is a sad commentary on the cultural and social life of deaf people that an opening chapter such as this becomes necessary. The dramatic cases cited above are but extreme illustrations of widespread, daily acts of aggression directed toward both deaf people and signed language. I use the term signed language purposefully here, since these acts against signed language are worldwide and heinous. Hate speech is, in fact, an assault against signed language and all deaf people who are well-honed in it. We the Deaf are always in danger of being defined by another language, that is, spoken language.

Most people today believe that ASL should be kept out of the school. Even a teacher of the Deaf who consciously attempts to be linguistically “neutral” makes hundreds of linguistic choices—from the hand shapes in signs to attitudes toward deaf people. It’s not only a case of what the teacher does, but what the teacher doesn’t do. Even if a teacher could ever decide to use ASL exclusively, the subtle yet clear message is that ASL is not worthy of study, let alone something that deaf children should master another language—a spoken language—period. It also disequips deaf children from understanding that deaf people do make a difference in language and culture they know best, signed language.

The most difficult dilemma arises not in studying ASL, or Netherlands Gebarentaal (NGT), the language into which I was born, but also in encouraging all deaf children to be proficient in signed language. The feat is that if teachers promote ASL, they are indoctrinating these deaf children and promoting a “Pied-Piper” syndrome. But in our American society that professes democratic ideals, one of the key purposes of education is to foster ASL as a form of speech that is constitutionally inalienable and unabridged in The First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Further, not to take a deliberate stance against language belittlement is in actuality another deliberate stance of indifference that helps perpetuate language bigotry.

So what does this mean in life of all the Deaf?

There’s not a quick answer, and when we approach the definition of deafness, we are confronted by an incredibly vast body of work coming out of hundreds of pathological and emotional speculations. We often think we must avoid judgments of emotions because, after all, those are matters of subjective opinions. But it’s the areas of disagreement that are the most important. However, people who are not deaf sometimes either push the limits so far that they alienate deaf people, or they’re so afraid that they tone down what they really think of deaf people. We all need to take risks but the problem is how to minimize those emotional risks. As saying goes around: Emotions, not logic, rule.

Perhaps the best way to explain is to go through a particular unit on deafness I have done for more than 24 years of college teaching as part of a deaf culture block. As is true for many ASL instructors throughout the country, I am not free to completely mold my own curriculum. The deafness unit was given to us as part of a decision by non-deaf or non-signer administrators. As an ASL teacher, I am not overly concerned about teaching cultural factors of the Deaf. Instead, I tend to teach thematically. I find this strategy works with ASL students. The timelines and facts of Deaf education, for example, are not particularly important to me. What sticks in my head are dramatic events, issues that tap into emotions of deaf people that make a lot of sense to me personally and professionally.

Deaf people get discriminated against all of the time because of their being deaf and signed language. Sometimes it’s just some name-calling or teasing. Other times it can be as bad as isolation or oblivion. I can remember once I was completely lost in a meeting where everybody forgot that I was there. By forcing myself to lipread someone, I must have been verbally assaulted a number of times because I must rely on ASL.

The scientific/technological advanced of the age are mocked by the stasis in our ability to use ASL to understand and solve these societal problems. Even a relatively isolated experience can expose the inner structure of a language-belittlement-and-bigotry phenomenon. I received a clear insight of the nature of hate speech many years ago when I was young. I was in the classroom in The Netherlands—the country of my birth—and was made to stand in front of my classmates. Our teacher—Juffrouw Kitty Latooij—made them to tell me orally—without signed language:

“Ik vind het spijt dat uw ouders doof zijn.”

(I regret that your parents are deaf.)

At this point it was clear that Juffrouw Latooij’s hostility toward my being deaf and signed language was rising, that she was getting out of control. I was then way too young to really comprehend her behavior which was hurtful to me. I believe today that it showed, in bold relief, several facets of language belittlement and bigotry. Why did Juffrouw Latooij take my being deaf and signed language as a personal affront, as though my presence was in some way outcompeting her in the classroom? What struck me—and was obvious—was the egocentricity of her reaction: she interpreted signed language I used as diminished her in some way. Her exaggerated self-focus set the stage for her anger and her desire to attack my being deaf and signed language. She was impelled to make an invidious comparison between the two of us, and in accord with her egocentric perspective, she presumed that my classmates would consider her spoken language less important than signed language, perhaps less worthy.

The hatred of deaf people and signed language appalls us but continues to take its toll today. It reigns in our community, that is, deaf world community, and there seem to be no limits to the misery people inflict on our language and culture. Prejudice, discrimination, and audism—a racism that indicates it’s better to hear than to be deaf—continue to isolate deaf people from a social mainstream. Why projects the hatred of signed language? After all, I was not doing anything to Juffrouw Latooij. Yet she perceived an injustice in the proceedings: I was no more educated and knowledgeable than she was. Therefore, since she was wronged, she was entitled to feel angry. But Juffrouw Latooij carried this further. The indoctrination of her statement, “Ik vind het spijt dat uw ouders doof zijn,” among my fellow deaf classmates showed the degree to which she personalized our classroom interaction. She imagined what our view of herself would be, and then projected it into us, as if she knew what we would be thinking. In essence Juffrouw Latooij was using (actually overusing) frequent and mostly adaptive devices: language belittlement and language bigotry—a crucial adaptive mechanism of language/culture oppression.

Unless we can judge other people’s attitudes and intentions toward signed language, for example, we are constantly vulnerable, stumbling blindly though life. Some people have noted a deficiency in this capability in “oral” deaf children, who are generally oblivious to signed language. In contrast, Juffrouw Latooij’s interpersonal sensitivity was distorted. Her projected social image became a reality for her, and with no evidence at all, she believed that she knew what we said in signed language that did not agree with her image. She felt a pressure to retaliate against not only us, but also signed language because, according to her logic, we had wronged her, we were the enemy.

The egocentric monitoring of social events, as demonstrated by Juffrouw Latooij, is discernible throughout the animal kingdom and is apparently embedded in our genes. Self-protection and self-promotion are crucial to our survival, both acts help us to detect transgressions and take appropriate defensive actions. Egocentricity is a problem that arouses the teacher to fight in an ordinary dispute; all of her senses are focused on the enemy, creating language belittlement and bigotry.

What triggers language belittlement and bigotry? The language aversion may impinge at a very early—unconscious—stage of information processing. For example, parents of deaf newborns interpret a hearing-screening report as a failure; a second later they are generally advised by professionals who believe that their entitlements and rights override those of the Deaf. As the United States operates under the “eminent domain” slogan, viewing opposition by the outsiders as interfering with its legitimate goals, they begin to show the same kind of biased thinking that they bring up against deaf people and their signed language. Aversion—whether experienced by a group or an individual—stems from the same principles: seeing signed language as wrong or bad, and spoken language as right and good, seeing deaf people as outsiders and themselves as insiders. In either case, the aggressors show the same “deficit thinking”: construing the facts in their favor, exaggerating signed language as the language and culture transgression and deaf people as the enemy.

In psychology, our information-processing system plays a decisive role in determining parental behavior toward deaf babies. The parents interpret and misinterpret signals from others according to how they view their values, rules, and beliefs. When they think about the significance of personal success, they easily slip into the trap of regarding signed language as less worthy than spoken language. Dubbed as “primitive mechanisms for processing information,” the parents quickly learn to prejudice their judgments about deaf people whose signed language differs from them. Cognitive biases may also lead them to indiscriminately attribute malice to anyone whose signed language conflict with their own language. As the vise of their cognitive apparatus tightens, they tend to squeeze deaf people into the enemy category: the dumb.

The predilection to view signed language as the other may be understood in terms of this deficit thinking. The patterns are deficit not only in the sense of being basic but also because they probably originate in primordial times, when they would have been useful to our ancestors in dealing with problems with the enemy. The language aversion thus proceeds from the interpretation of a transgression to language confusion and then to hatred of signed language. There exists a bias against people who use signed language and who do not understand spoken language. Deaf people who are taught to hold signed language, for example, sacred know how to overcome those who have made them feel that what they’ve said in signed language is not clear, doesn’t make sense, or sounds stupid. Creating a climate of respect for signed language and deaf people is easy to talk about and hard to practice but oppressing signed language and deaf people is easy to practice and hard to talk about. Issues of language belittlement and bigotry between signed language and its counterpart, spoken language, are usually considered too sensitive to be dealt with directly in our world society. In a few cases where they are addressed as a social problem, there has to be a happy ending, however limited.

Pig Adopts Dogs

2010-02-13T09:24:00.001-08:00

Amazing gymnast

2010-01-24T23:43:00.001-08:00

莊子說 / Zhuangzi Speaks

2009-12-28T16:04:00.001-08:00

Hate Crime and the Deaf

2009-12-14T15:13:00.001-08:00

Carl Schroeder discusses that hate crime is not an event but a process that is very dynamic. It is in a state of constant victimization. For example, there is a group of certain people who subscribe the formula: DEAF + COCHLEAR IMPLANTS = HARD of HEARING. The announcement of death threats for certain deaf people was made without police contact information and reward for arrest. The allegation of Deafhood people as a gang is very much part of this process of hate crime.

accident during the Olympic

2009-12-12T11:35:00.001-08:00

Gymnastics Accident

2009-12-12T11:31:00.001-08:00

Aankondigde DbiB 26 november

2009-11-19T15:45:00.001-08:00

suicide monkey

2009-11-18T08:13:00.001-08:00

World Most Amazing Videos - Bull attack

2009-11-18T08:08:00.001-08:00

Bull bison battle

2009-11-17T21:35:00.001-08:00

Horseplay in Snow!

2009-11-14T09:33:00.001-08:00

ABC song/ASL alphabet - American version

2009-11-13T07:06:00.001-08:00

Funny but Sad Incident

2009-11-10T18:15:00.001-08:00

GodTube com - Amazing Dance - You Will Cry

2009-11-01T19:14:00.001-08:00

16th WFD World Congress Sudáfrica 2011

2009-11-01T07:56:00.001-08:00

Terrible Elephant Accident

2009-10-31T20:10:00.001-07:00

Marine dragon

2009-10-29T20:25:00.001-07:00

Deaf dancers find fame in China

2009-10-29T20:16:00.001-07:00

Why Do We Demand a Letter of Apology from the ICED?

2009-10-26T16:00:00.001-07:00

2009-10-18T21:50:00.006-07:00

Gloss: CHANGE

My Presentation
at
the October 18, 2009 Meeting
of
Northwest Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf
(NWRAD)

McMenamins Kennedy School
Portland, Oregon

Loosely translated from American Sign Language
by
Carl Schroeder, OAD President

Good morning, President.

My name is Carl Schroeder. Yes, I'm Deaf. Our general society expects that if I am different, I must tell about it. I'm different because I am first Deaf, anything beyond my being Deaf is of little import.

Two weeks ago I was elected president of the Oregon Association of the Deaf (OAD), an organization founded in 1921. During my term, I have committed to building a working relationship with various agencies and organization serving the Deaf. I have viewed my election as a call for change within OAD. John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the U.S., once said: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. As OAD president, I am here to reflect this change for the future of the Deaf in Oregon.

I believe firmly that OAD and NWRAD do have four aspects in common: cultural, political, legal, and philosophical. I would like to elaborate each of them here.

Cultural aspect:

American Sign Language (ASL) is what actually draws us together. We are gathering together today to share information, knowledge and communication. Our culture is embedded in ASL, and vice versa.

Political aspect:

We have democratically elected officers. Casey Rider is your elected officer; I am the elected officer of OAD. Our votes mean voice that represents our communities. I represent Deaf Oregon. Casey represents deaf gay and lesbians in the Northwest. We are all part of the whole.

Legal aspect:

Both OAD and NWRAD are 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations. We are organized for not only elimination of prejudice and discrimination and defense of human and civil rights secured by law, but also for publicly-supported charities. People can donate money to our organizations, and we can write for grants from different foundations.

Philosophical aspect:

The term philosophy means more than guiding values or ideals. I want to try to work out the many ways in which our organizations are related. I believe that philosophical practice can be of service to our communities but the nature of philosophy needs to be understood first. I am going to learn everything there is about NWRAD. I shall try to give an outline account of OAD philosophy as I perceived thus far.

This philosophy will enable me to see the possible points of building a working relationship with your organization. My account of the OAD philosophy will be very sketchy and directed rather to get rid of misconceptions than to give any positive information.

When I represent OAD, I find that much of my time is taken up with getting acquainted with the opinions of the past about Deaf people. This seems surprising to me because high technologies like video messaging seem only of incidental interest. The use of ASL through video technologies does not arise from the fact that Laurent Clerc or William C. Stokoe first stated and proved the existence of our language at a certain stage in the history of the Deaf. By questioning or denying ASL, we suffer deficit thinking. This skeptical attitude results from misunderstanding the significance of the use of ASL, the first stage of a language revolution that is still in progress.

Our general society needs to understand that ASL is as precious as a priceless blown glass vase. For Deaf people, both using ASL and giving shape to the vase take many years to learn, and lots of practice is required to create some amazing results. OAD and NWRAD can work together to preserve and promote ASL.

We can make a difference. Our communities may be a big challenge, but there are many agencies and organization serving the Deaf we can meet and make friends. If we try, most of us can use ASL or an interpreter to make a difference. As we have learned, our use of ASL actually makes the Earth Deaf-friendly. The same truth is for our world to become gay-friendly if and only if we are proactive in our activities.

OAD needs your help. For the next few months I plan to visit different cities in Oregon to meet Deaf people of all walks of life. I would like to enlist your assistance and support. I really enjoyed talking to you and appreciated all attention you gave to me this morning.

Thank you.

Funny Horse Video

2009-10-17T10:45:00.001-07:00

Oregon Association of the Deaf President's First Message

2009-10-06T20:34:00.012-07:00

As the new president of the Oregon Association of the Deaf (OAD), I can think of no words to describe the great honor to have inherited the OAD torch with flame that has been burning since 1921. I need first to thank Margi Morgan and her OAD administration for leadership during very difficult social and economic changes. I need also to address an aura of optimism among ourselves who see the possibility of making American Sign Language (ASL) a more dynamic force in communication and instruction for all the Deaf.

The unfolding of history of the Deaf points to nothing more clearly than the vast ignorance of our language and culture, ASL and deafness. In 1880, for example, educators of the Deaf from all over the world convened in Milano, Italy, and drew up a resolution, hence the 1880 Milan Resolution, to ban the use of sign language in communication and instruction for the Deaf worldwide. Whether total or only partial deaf, we are thoroughly aware that numerous barriers to access and development occurred. Deafness is a biological condition that calls for a different channel, that is, sight, through which information, knowledge and communication are conveyed. ASL is therefore a vehicle that articulates and facilitates all subject matters in education and all other responsibilities in life. ASL is the lifeblood of the Deaf community and culture.

While I am fully aware that my message, be it factual or philosophical, must be evaluated in terms of history as the uninterrupted welling of our community in a multitude of currents and countercurrents formed by our ever-changing society. My belief is that our community might be renovated through the principles of happiness, that are deeply rooted in the American doctrine--life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ASL is our happiness. To those who doubt ASL it is necessary to point out that his or her skepticism or ignorance reveals a blending of audism (the term coined in 1970s to define the belief that the ability to hear and speak is better than being Deaf) and deficit thinking.

By denying or doubting ASL is deficit, inciting the mind to language bigotry and prejudice. If it finds some people unaware, in idle and false security, it captures their mind with secret contrivances of audism. Deficit thinking is, therefore, far from pure "tabula rasa"--we do not exist in the vaccuum. We the Deaf do have language and culture heritage. "It is our hope," as George Veditz says in the 1913 film, The Preservation of the Sign Language, "...we all will love and guard our sign language as the noblest gift God has given to deaf people."

The truth of ASL shall set us free to philosophize. ASL should not be missed as a sense of language, as a living subject--as part of human life. ASL can lift us up and take us anywhere in this vast universe and beyond. Nothing can hold us back from ASL. Now, this message is as a tough read as the English translation of Jean-Paul Sartre in his book, Being and Nothingness: "The being by which nothingness arrives in the world must nihilate nothingness in its being, and even so it still runs the risk of establishing nothingness as a transcendent in the very heart of immanence unless it nihilates nothingness in its being in connection with its own being. The being by which nothingness arrives in the world is a being such that in its being the nothingness of its being is in question." Follow it? No, not me! Yes, it is as confusing as nihilating our being Deaf. Many of the issues in philosophy of ASL are really issues in philosophy of being Deaf.

But it is each person's right to know what being Deaf means. We also need to know where it comes from as well as the activities and attitudes which it describes. If we do not know, with confidence, our part in the whole and our place in a history, we can become frustrated by what we have to do. If we know what being Deaf means, our self-esteem and self-determination would be much surer.

Let me know introduce myself briefly to you. Until 1963 my life revolved around the Dutch culture. I was born Deaf in The Hague, The Netherlands. When I was ten years old, my parents, both Deaf, decided to move to the United States, and I went to Maryland School for the Deaf. After the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at Gallaudet University was opened in 1969, I transferred there and graduated as a class valedictorian in 1971. I enrolled in Gallaudet University, and during my senior year, I became the Thomas J. Watson Fellow (top academic honor) and received the stipend to travel and study abroad. In 1984, I was appointed to work at Gallaudet University, first in public relations and then English Department. In 1994, I was hired to spearhead a new academic program focusing on ASL at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. In 2005, I had an opportunity to teach on Maui, the beautiful, rural island in Hawaii. In 2007, I moved to Oregon where I taught in various colleges and university. In 2008, I accepted the tenure-line position at Western Oregon University where I coordinate the ASL Studies program. I have two adult children, and I live in Dallas, Oregon.

In the next OAD board meeting in November, I plan to propose my leadership agenda for deliberation and assessment. I would like hereby to outline my two year plans to solicit your feedback and support.

The OAD Membership Drive

The OAD is to develop aggressive strategies for membership recruitment and retention efforts. By doing this, I propose that the top OAD officers visit various places throughout Oregon to meet and talk with Deaf people of all walks of life about the OAD. We need to listen and cater to them. We need to bring them to our mini-conference in summer 2010 and state-conference in 2011. We need to make OAD a fun and positive organization to belong.

Bend Mini-Conference Redo

The OAD is to return to Bend to establish a working relationship with Central Oregon Community College (CoCC) to coordinate a mini-conference to be held on its beautiful residential campus next summer. I would like that the conference to focus on the theme (We the Deaf Oregonians) to celebrate our diverse population by promoting and propagandizing talents and interests. Tentative Bend mini-conference schedule: Friday will be for mini-workshops by various interest Deaf groups from all Oregon. Saturday will focus on "In Search of Deafhood" with Ella Mae Lentz, Genie "GG" Gertz, and David "DE" Eberwein.

The Statue of William Stephen Smith Project

The OAD is to make contacts with various organizations and agencies specializing in historical preservation and archives to talk about sculpting a statue to honor William Stephen Smith, a Deaf educator who founded the Oregon School for the Deaf in Salem. The Statue of William Stephen Smith (SWSS) Project will be a long undertaking but I would like to have the statue put on the lawn outside the State Capitol. The general public will be made aware of our Deaf heritage in Oregon.

The OAD Invitational Golf Tournament

The OAD is to create a planning committee for a "customized" invitational golf tournament, the opportunity to generate enthusiasm and interest in the OAD. When playing golf is a pleasure, life is a joy. When playing golf is a duty, life is slavery. The goal of the OAD Invitational Golf Tournament is to provide awareness opportunities to the community, and in the process, to support the OAD both financially and conceptually. I believe that the phenomenal success of the OAD Invitationa Golf Tournament is due to my "funology" philosophy that I created when my Special Education division at Western Oregon University voted me to maintain "fun at work" last year. We need to encourage our members and supporters to have fun by playing golf in this "customized" tournament.

The OAD Youth Movement

When I was young, I was very active. I went to Youth Leadership Camp in Pengilly, Minnesota in 1970. It was when I met Lauren Simms and we became life friends. I was the president of the Junior Natinal Association of the Deaf (JrNAD) chapter at MSSD. At Gallaudet University, I was elected as the Student Body Government president. What I did in my youth is still within my heart. Raisa Grobachev, a Soviet philosophy professor, said, "Youth is, after all, just a moment, but it is the moment, the spark, that you always carry in your heart." The OAD is to set up a planning committee for a state-wide conference for young adults (18-35+) whose purpose is to renew and re-energize talents and interests for networking and social interaction within the OAD.

The 44th OAD Conference (2011 in Salem)

The OAD is to meet and make friends with all groups and programs serving and supporting the Deaf. They are to be invited to participate in the 44th OAD Conference. I would like to reserve both the river front and the convention center for that purpose. I wish to create an environment in the 44th OAD Conference that allows for a little silliness and playfulness in the conference. Hosting a waterfront conference might be a great way to take a break from the typical political meetings. I believe rather firmly that creativity is allowing ourselves to make mistakes; our art is knowing which ones to keep. Friday and Saturday nights during the Conference will be something spectacular. I would like OAD to underwrite "Romeo and Juliet in American Sign Language," and be open to the public.

Please feel free to contact OAD if you have any suggestions and questions. Join us and work hard for the betterment of all the Deaf in Oregon!

Carl Schroeder

Comment to Carl S. about Language levels ASL and English

2009-09-29T23:39:00.001-07:00

Plains Indian Sign Language Conference 1930, Browning

2009-09-27T20:44:00.001-07:00

Labrador vs Lion

2009-09-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

Sweet!

World's Loudest Homemade Air Horn!

2009-09-21T07:40:00.001-07:00

This is interesting!

The Chair

2009-09-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

The day I got switched on.

Een Open Brief naar Dove Mensen

2009-09-07T12:38:00.002-07:00

Dag allemaal!

Dit is een open brief naar Dove mensen en hun collega's in Nederland. Wij zijn Carl Schroeder en James Kittell en wij vertegenwoordigen ASL Media, een privezaken in de Verenigde Staten van Amerika. Wij denken dat wij iets laten opwekken met u te delen.

Hetr doel van onze reis naar uw land is te ontmoeten en te sluiten vriendschap met u en overonze ideeen met u te praten. Wij zouden houden van te Amerikaanse gebarentaalvitrine nabij u volgend jaar intvangen. Het zal ateliers, mini-les, technologiedemonstratie en talentvertoning omvatten. Wij zijn bewust dat dit een laatst miniem bericht is, maar wij zoeken uw tijd voor ons. Wij moet plannen nu maken.

De ateliers zullen zijn over taalkunde van ASL, Dove mensen in de Verenigde Staten, interpreterene diesten voor het Dove en logiv van ASLophilia (liefde van ASL). Mini-les zullen vijf taalcomponenten bedekken: fotologie, semantisch, syntaxis, gesprek en pragmatisch. Technologieen zullen zich concentreren op gebruik en bevorderen gebarentaal ondertekent. Talentvertoning zal "101-richtings vermaken" om plezier met tekens te hebben en een dynamische, plezier-gevulde ASL omgeving te creeren.

Wij zouden van te ontmoeten u houden om ons project te bespreken. Voel alsublieft vrij ons aan schroedc@wou.edu te contacteren en wij zullen u weet verhuren waar to ontmoeten ons in w=uw land.

Ook, alsubielft voorwaarts deze brief naar uw vrienden en collega's. Bedankt!

The Frank Turk Imposter

2009-08-30T08:05:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: I love this video!

A Visit to VIABLE

2009-08-29T22:51:00.001-07:00

An announcement vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about his recent visit to John Yeh, CEO of VIABLE last week Thursday. He summarizes talks by Frank Turk and Jeff Rosen who were there, too.

Normalcy in Deaf America

2009-08-23T21:10:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses how our American society makes everyone normal under any circumstance whatsoever. The U.S. President John F. Kennedy made it possible for my Deaf parents to move to the U.S. within 6 months so that we could have a normal life. We came to live in the U.S. on September 21, 1963, just two months before JFK's assissination.

Three Cups of Tea: Recommended Reading

2009-08-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

An book review vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses concisely the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is an inspiring book that brings us into the "friendly yet different" world of Muslims. Visit www.threecupsoftea.com

ASL Enquirer: Myth Issue

2009-08-22T09:08:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder makes some satirical statements in this myth issue of American Sign Language Enquirer.

Deaf Syllogism

2009-08-21T20:06:00.001-07:00

A philosophy vlog: Carl Schroeder asks who lives in a doghouse after discussing this syllogism.

Premise A: Deafness is not normal.
Premise B: Ken is deaf.
Conclusion: Ken is not normal.

True of False? You be the judge!

American Sign Language in 1965

2009-08-21T13:35:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder shows how ASL was written with lowercase in 1965. The English language does change, too!

CI War Stories: Vulgarity Is For Losers

2009-08-21T11:12:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder compares CI vulgarity to President Richard Nixon's vulgarity. Vulgarity is for losers, neither more nor less.

Guest Vlogger: My Son Is Deaf, Finally!

2009-08-20T16:03:00.001-07:00

Four years later after a hearing son of deaf parents was born, the time was right. His parents felt ready to explore the option and made the decision to go ahead with surgery for him in Brazil. Last week, he had his hearing inactivated indefinitely b...y removing both cochleae from the ears. He became profoundly deaf like his parents. They have been immensely blessed with the choice they made.

The Second Commandment and the Deaf

2009-08-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses whether Deaf babies are endowed within the image of God. Although he is not very religious, he has been appalled by people who attempted to create the image of God in DVTV. The creation of any image of anything at all, whether divine or mundane, that makes Deaf babies hear is already a no-no!

I Am an I.D. Theft Victim for 12 Years

2009-08-19T08:46:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses his being an I.D. theft victim since 8/25/1997 when he was arrested and charged for bulgary, breaking in a warehouse, looting various stuff, and pawning the stolen items. Although his case was dismissed and expunged, the FBI flagged him for criminal. FBI doesn't have the court information. Carl's painful experience was recalled during his process of purchasing a log cabin this week.

A Contract with Interpreter: The Cheapest Bid

2009-08-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains his experience with an interpreter who had a contract with the Maryland courthouse. Something must be wrong!

Lessons Learned from Silent Weekend

2009-08-18T14:27:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains some feedbacks from last weekend's retreat for interpreters and ASL instructors. Numerous participants want to hear stories "we tell ourselves about ourselves."

Is God Human?

2009-08-17T17:21:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder presents two premises to support his statement that God is human. Premise A: People are human. Premise B: Jesus (is) human. Conclusion: God is human.

What If God Uses Sign Language

2009-08-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder recalls Senator Robert Kennedy's speech in South Africa in 1960s when he asked what if God is black. Now Carl asks: what if God uses sign language.

Let's Teach Each Other ASL Academically

2009-08-16T10:53:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder reacts to InsameMisha's vlog and supports academic ASL discussed by Nancy, Nikki and Mike. ASL grammar can help Deaf children learn English. In ASL pragmatics, we can offer each other critiques.

Two Pictures from my Past

2009-08-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

A show-and-tell vlog: Carl Schroeder shares his picturesthat he used for his introduction in the workshop at Western Oregon University yesterday.

Deaf People Think Differently ...

2009-08-14T16:37:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder thinks that hearing people think deaf people think differently!

The Crabbiest Moment: High Functioning

2009-08-13T22:24:00.001-07:00

A satire vlog: Carl Schroeder is Gisba the Clown, joking and mocking in American Sign Language (ASL) those who are high functioning.

ASLeCLUB.com

2009-08-12T18:34:00.001-07:00

An announcement vlog: Carl Schroeder announces a new electronic club. Visit www.asleclub.com and watch his video about five language components of American Sign Language.

ASL: From Deep Structure to Surface Structure

2009-08-12T10:23:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about an upcoming workshop he is preparing. He discusses briefly how important the cervical bones and nervous system are to using American Sign Language.

Open Video Letter to the RID: Bright Blue Ribbon and Star of David

2009-08-10T15:56:00.001-07:00

An open letter vlog: Carl Schroeder challenges the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) for issuing bright blue ribbons to the Deaf attending its Philadelphia conference last week. Were these bright blue ribbons similar to the yellow Star of David issued to the Jews during the past century? A full explanation is expected.

Kill All the Linguists

2009-08-10T09:58:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder offers some linguistic explanations for a different hand configuration in one of his pictures.

A Hearing Friend from my Childhood

2009-08-09T23:24:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains that his linguistics informant made him realize how his childhood friend who can hear sounded, which was unbeknown to Carl for many years.

One Weekend of a Lifetime

2009-08-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder shares his personal experience of one weekend he spent with his schoolmate Tom. Communication was completely minimal (if not minimized).

ASL is ... Deaf-Centered, Deaf-Controlled, Deaf-Oriented

2009-08-08T11:26:00.008-07:00

One role is to convince hearing people

of the value of ASL and Deaf culture.

The other is to pull in deaf people

to a particular brand of ASL

and practice of Deaf culture

from other ways of being deaf.

--Jane Fernandes and Shirley Shultz Myers

(to be published in the Journal of Deaf Studies

and Deaf Education, 2009)

Today we are living in a culture that is fascinated with American Sign Language (ASL), the language and culture of the Deaf in the United States and most of Canada. In 1965, William C. Stokoe published the Dictionary of American Sign Language, the book that changed our world, our way of thinking.

As a born-Deaf individual myself, I am most impressed by Stokoe's knowledge of a language and culture that is not his own. By publishing his thesis that Deaf people have ASL and, therefore, are not languageless, Stokoe was obviously blessed with a keen intellect and extraordinary insights.

When I went to live in the United States at age 10, in 1963, one of the first things I learned about ASL was that I would acquire a new culture that is completely different from Gebarentaal, the language and culture of the Deaf in The Netherlands where I was born, and, as a result, I would never know what I didn't know. ASL provides many, many tools for my personal journey, the most important journey of all. That is the journey Paddy Ladd describes as being toward Deafhood. ASL is, above all, Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented. ASL is coming to home to the power within me ... and many Deaf people.

Once that realization of this language power, I was not exactly surprised to discover that there exists an uphill battle against ASL simply because it is Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented. Deaf people who know about this battle are keeping mum, safeguarding this precious knowledge from being taught to those who are not ready to learn the language and culture of the Deaf. And other people studying or using ASL haven't discovered it yet.

I have had a deep conflict for many years now about whether this Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented information--which has been so carefully preserved and deliberately kept hidden--should be displayed at all. Yet I am convinced now is the right time. The expansion of ASL has had some positive consequences for the rest of my journey.

The sacred bond formed between ASL and the Deaf is perpetuated in every new generation by the stories we tell about ourselves as Deaf people. We are caught between two worlds: the one "we" perceived and the one that "they" have created around us. Paddy Ladd writes: Every word from every Deaf informant or conversationalist, and most of the quotations from Deaf people of past centuries too, is likewise suffused by a sense of one or both of those realities (... global citizenship and the scale of the damage wreaked upon it). Today I know that the time has come to impart to the world that our own account of Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented language and culture is not too far deviated.

But this is the modern myth that the story of my life disproves; ASL is not so characterized by language deviation that we shouldn't use it. There is even a suggestion about a language hybrid, the offspring of ASL and English through human manipulation, through language hegemony, through culture bigotry. Neither ASL nor English can be compromised, for it would be academically and intellectually absurd.

My ancestors, especially my parents, believed it to be their duty to preserve the Deaf-centered, Deaf-controlled, Deaf-oriented nature, a duty passed down to me ... my children ... and all of you!

;-) Carl Schroeder, 8/8/2009

A Badly Translated "Mother Goose" Book

2009-08-06T14:12:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses how ASL is destroyed and bastardized in the book "Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose told in Signed English" by Harry Bornstein and Karen Saulnier and published by Gallaudet University Press. Signs are completely and intentionally distorted, and there are absolutely no "ASL hand shape" rhymes in this book. This book is probably a symbol of the saddest of all chapters in Deaf history.

ASL Enquirer: I Am Deafmore

2009-07-28T07:30:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder edits the special edition of AE (ASL Enquirer) that focuses on a hot topic: I Am Deafmore.

Brainless, Loveless and ... Deafless (?)

2009-07-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder questions the term, deafless, that is coined by Barry Sewell.

Away On Vacation

2009-07-21T06:37:00.001-07:00

An announcement vlog: Carl Schroeder announces that he will be away on vacation till August 13th.

Shakespeare and Ridor

2009-07-20T19:01:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder uses William Shakespeare to distinguish between what is funny and what is not.

D2D on DVTV's R-List

2009-07-20T12:18:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains the damage-to-data (D2D) clause on the R-List and seeks to cease cyber-hypocrisy within DVTV.

Twisting and Twisted in DVTV

2009-07-20T08:40:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses e-graffiti (reframing a public vlog or video-comment) in the DVTV sphere.

5 P's: The Personal, the Political, the Professional, the Pedagogical, and the Philosophical

2009-07-19T22:50:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses 5 P's as the introduction to the second chapter of his dissertation which focuses on methodology.

ASL Enquirer: Summer Issue

2009-07-18T17:58:00.001-07:00

An entertainment vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about the moon being visited by a deaf peddler long before the astronauts did.

Post-American Revolution War Movement: Adult and Higher Learning

2009-07-17T16:38:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains that we the Deaf can start learning about our language and culture, American Sign Langauge, by modeling on the post American Revolution War learning movement.

Moon Landing Naysayers and Deaf-Related Conspiracies

2009-07-17T14:05:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder recalls one early morning 40 years ago when he was awakened to watch TV about the moon landing. He compares the moon landing naywayers with today's Deaf-related conspiracies.

A Deaf Naysayer's Confession

2009-07-17T09:12:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder confesses that he is a naysayer when it comes to the term DEAF. He very much prefers to talk about American Sign Language (ASL).

The Earliest American Naysayer: A Lesson for The Deaf

2009-07-16T19:20:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains that we the Deaf will always have a group of naysayers. He points out that Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was the earliest American naysayer who favored the British culture in the Colonial America.

DBC, AFA and the U.S. Government

2009-07-16T07:06:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains that our United States government didn't have the Constitution right away. It took 11 years to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787. There were numerous ad hoc groups rebelling against the British,and Carl tells about a story from St.Mary, Maryland. They are lessons we could learn to support DBC and AFA.

My Video Letter to The Honorable Senator Ron Wyden

2009-07-14T00:07:00.001-07:00

A letter vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses that since American Sign Language is a natural resource of the Deaf for information, kowledge and communication, he urges Senator Ron Wyden to become one of 51 co-sponsors of Senator Jack Reed's April 22nd proposal, the No Child Left Inside Act of 2009. Carl's video letter can serve as a sample letter for others, and it has been emailed to Senator Wyden's office and the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services (OCAS). Google for the email addresses of your Senators and the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services (OCAS) and then wire your video letters to them!

Matter + Form = Substance

2009-07-13T07:51:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder explains Aristotle's metaphysics by asserting that deafness implies American Sign Language for substance for meaning making in language and culture.

Open Video Letter to DeafRead Editors

2009-07-11T23:15:00.001-07:00

An open letter vlog: Carl Schroeder claims that there exists a dishonest description of his "vlog" published in DeafRead with a special link to his comment made in DeafTV. The title "The Video of Your VP Calls Might Be Recorded" is not Carl's and it's completely inexcusable for the DeafRead editors to authorize the publication of such a false title. It's a professional vandalism to Carl.

My Video Letter of Application Landed Me a Job!

2009-07-11T15:31:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder shares his experience with the video letter of application he made in 2006 and he got hired in his current tenure-line position at Western Oregon University last year summer. BE INNOVATIVE!

Economics and Politics of ASL: A Lesson for the NAD

2009-07-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder suggests that all state associations demand that all communications from the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) be in video letters for economical and political reasons. Any video letter in Congress, for example, would necessitate top notch interpreters and native signers to consult the representatives or senators. Video letters shall be done in American Sign Language (ASL) and the truth will prevail.

Teach American Sign Language to the Blind

2009-07-08T18:36:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder proposes a new type of leadership by teaching American Sign Language (ASL) to the Blind. Several states across the nation are considering combining Deaf and Blind schools, and it is therefore a wonderful time for us--Deaf people--to demand that blind children and their teachers learn ASL so they could communicate with the Deaf on the school premise. Carl bets that blind children and their parents and teachers will be enthusiastic about learning a new language.

Two Foundations of ASL: The Mental and the Social

2009-07-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder talks about approaching the centennial of George Veditz's film appeal of preserving American Sign Language (ASL).

ASL Door for Me

2009-07-07T14:35:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses his reasons why he chooses to open ASL Door. He was born into the Deaf world, and he doesn't know otherwise. ASL is what draws him for information, knowledge and communication.

Workshop Notes: Signs Have Parts ... and Much More!

2009-07-03T00:49:00.009-07:00

Signs Have Parts … and Much More!

by:

Carl Schroeder

Coordinator

American Sign Language Studies Program

to be presented at
Silent Weekend

Western Oregon University

August 14-16, 2009

Abstract: American Sign Language (ASL) is a rule-governed language which can be said to be broken into five language components: phonology, semantics, syntax, discourse, and pragmatics. This workshop shall focus on linguistic networks of all components of ASL, starting with the underlying structure--the lexicon--undergoing linguistic regulations and applications before arriving at the surface structure--the utterance. Participants will examine each language component and then synthesize the linguistic procedures of all components in good, clear ASL.

In the other words: During this workshop, we will have noted that users of ASL know tens of thousands of signs, most of which they can locate in a fraction of a second. Such huge numbers, and such efficiency in finding those required, suggest that these signs are carefully organized, not just stacked in random heaps. This workshop will discuss the five language components retrieving signs from the mental dictionary (lexicon) to the surface structure (utterance). The workshop participants shall witness the results of a normal ASL retrieval process.

ASL Phonology: The structure of signs (hand shapes, palm orientations, locations, non-manual expressions and modifier movements).

Participants shall examine marked and unmarked hand configurations, identify the articulatory bundles, and apply the H-deletions in sign productions.

ASL Semantics: The meanings of signs and classifiers, and the networks of meanings among them.

Participants shall analyze two basic systems of signs used in ASL: arbitrary and descriptive. They shall identify the basic distinction between signs and classifiers.

ASL Syntax: The way signs are strung together to convey thoughts and ideas; the spherical patterns of sentence construction.

Participants shall do grammar by employing insights from contemporary linguistic theories and building them into a practical and coherent system that stays within ASL models.

ASL Discourse: The structure of stories, explanations, descriptions, and other signing constructions longer than sentences.

Participants shall analyze discourse and realize that ASL, action and knowledge are interdependent. They will study how ASL is used in social interaction by examining shared knowledge and assumptions between signers and signees.

ASL Pragmatics: The variations in the use according to the context and purpose.

Participants shall examine three fundamental aspects of human experience involving ASL: what Deaf people do, what Deaf people know, and the things Deaf people make and use.

Silent Weekend at Western Oregon University

2009-07-03T00:37:00.002-07:00

On behalf of the ASL/English Interpreting Program at Western Oregon University, the Oregon Department of Education’s Educational Interpreter Subcommittee, the Regional Resource Center on Deafness, the Oregon Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and the Western Region Interpreter Education Center, we would like to invite you to join us for Western Oregon University’s Silent Weekend, August 14-16, 2009 in Monmouth, Oregon. This weekend is for Deaf and hearing students, interpreters, interpreter educators, and ASL instructors. Visit www.wou.edu

Saturday, August 15th, 9:00am-12:00pm

Expanding Your Balloon: ASL Strategies - Brenda Aron

This workshop will provide participants an opportunity to learn 7 American Sign Language contextualizing and expansion strategies that are commonly used in American Sign Language and will provide clear messages for ASL signers. Participants will have the opportunity to observe, analyze ASL signers and then apply the concepts from pictures and English texts to ASL, utilizing expansion techniques.

Pay Yourself First: How to Establish Yourself as a Freelance Interpreter - Jill Baker
This workshop will explore the implications of being incorporated vs. working as a self-employed interpreter. Examine ways to save for retirement. Explore the tax benefits of Deferred Compensation, retirement plans, 503(b) accounts, and Roth IRA’s.

Discourse Mapping in Educational Settings - Elisa Maroney

Discourse features and discourse mapping will be reviewed, demonstrated, and practiced. Educational discourse in ASL and English will be analyzed using discourse mapping techniques for preparation and hypothesis testing, and application to production issues related to spatial organization.

English Idioms and Conceptual Accuracy - Kathryn Montoya

Participants will analyze several commonly (and some not so commonly) used idioms and decide the best and most accurate way to convey the meaning of the idiom in ASL. Participants will learn why conceptual accuracy is extremely important and without it the meaning can be completely lost.

Interpreting Pronouns: ASL to English - Tamara Moxham

This workshop examines interpreting techniques addressing the function of pronoun use in ASL and English, focusing on word choices in English when the gender is not clear in ASL.

Interpreting Foreign Language Instruction - Steve Nail

This professional development workshop identifies the unique demands and challenges inherent in interpreting foreign language classroom instruction and discusses the skills needed to meet these demands and challenges. The workshop emphasizes understanding the goals of the student and the teacher in order to customize the interpreting approach to support these goals. Using the philosophies of Popular Education, Andragogy and The Collaborative Learning Environment, this learner-driven, facilitated workshop focuses on transferring skills the interpreter already has to new content areas and identifying knowledge gaps that need to be filled before undertaking these unique and challenging assignments

Signs Have Parts….and Much More! - Carl Schroeder

American Sign Language (ASL) is a rule-governed language which can be said to be broken into five language components: phonology, semantics, syntax, discourse, and pragmatics. This workshop shall focus on linguistic networks of all components of ASL, starting with the underlying structure--the lexicon--undergoing linguistic regulations and applications before arriving at the surface structure--the utterance. Participants will examine each language component and then synthesize the linguistic procedures of all components in good, clear ASL.

Saturday, August 15th, 1:30-4:30pm

Disability Paradigms 101 for Interpreters - Steve Nail

This workshop/professional discussion (previously titled “Interpreter Plus: A Discussion of the Issues Facing Interpreters with Disabilities”) defines the differences between the Medical/Rehabilitative view of disability and the Socio-Ecological Model of (capitol D) Disability. Through interactive group discussion with interpreters, Deaf and hearing stakeholders, and Disability Studies scholars, this workshop seeks to illuminate the influences that the hegemonic Medical/Rehabilitative paradigm has on the profession of interpreting and how such influences affect our work, and also seeks to create more physical, attitudinal, and cultural access for Disabled interpreters in our field by recognizing Disability as a social identity and defining the need for culturally appropriate representation in the interpreter population.

Fingerspelling & Numbers: Improve your Accuracy - Kathryn Montoya

Participants will gain an understanding as to the extreme importance of accurate fingerspelling. The Fingerspelling/Numbers Workbook will be used to teach techniques to improve both receptive and expressive fingerspelling skills. Participants will also learn techniques to allow students to use numbers in every situation accurately and effectively, both receptively and expressively.

British Sign Language: Posh or Rubbish? - Brad Houck

BSL is one of many sign languages throughout the world. Learning another foreign sign language augments the awareness of our own sign language and how it compares or differs with other languages, particularly in countries where English is the dominant language. Approximately 100-150 signs, along with fingerspelling and numbers, will be taught in this 3 hour course along with exercises in basic communication in a challenging and fun manner. Historical and cultural developments of BSL will also be examined. Posh or rubbish? You decide!!

Prosodic Features in ASL Discourse - Elisa Maroney

In this workshop, participants will investigate prosody, its definition and prosodic features in American Sign Language and in spoken English. Specifically, participants will identify prosodic features in child ASL and teacher’s English. Participants will practice ASL to English from child ASL source material and English to ASL with teacher talk as the source. They will discuss the application of prosody to the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA).

Sign What You Mean, Mean What You Sign - Brenda Aron

ASL is a conceptual language. The translation of English phrases such as “My nose is running”, “There is a run in my stocking”, “He is running at the mouth” do not all use the same signs. This workshop is designed for those who wish to learn how to apply correct ASL concepts in translating from English into ASL. This workshop will consist of a selected list of 12 most commonly used multiple meaning words.

Interpreting K-12 Math - Paul Glaser

This workshop will help interpreters interpret mathematics signs and practice with signs in number systems, basic math, algebra, graphs, geometry, statistics, calculus, and math symbols

Sunday, August 16th, 9:00-11am

What Are Those X@!$%& Signs? - Brenda Aron

There are a great many ASL expressions that do not always have equivalent English words in translation however these are frequently used expressions by ASL signers. This workshop introduces participants to those expressions, their meaning and how these are used in context. This workshop covers 55 ASL expressions.

Developing Your Tool Box: Prepping for that Gig - Susie Friberg and Jill Baker

Various strategies and hands-on practice will be taught to assist beginning interpreters in prepping for an assignment in the community and post-secondary settings. Interpreters will be presented with various scenarios to practice finding information for an assignment. This will allow students to ascertain information for an actual assignment.

Preparing for the EIPA Performance Test - Elisa Maroney

This workshop will provide participants with resources on preparing for the EIPA performance test.

Fingerspelling & Numbers: Workbook Curriculum - Kathryn Montoya

Participants will gain an understanding as to the extreme importance of accurate fingerspelling. The Workbook will be demonstrated and used to show instructors how to work with their students to improve both their receptive and expressive fingerspelling skills. Participants will also learn techniques to allow students to use numbers in every situation accurately and effectively both receptively and expressively.

Introduction to Demand-Control Schema - Amanda Smith

This workshop will focus on introducing the demand-control schema constructs to working interpreters and pre-professionals. Once establishing the basics, the participants will be led through various activities that will apply the schema to their everyday work whether that be interpreting, developing interpreting skills, or mentoring.

Ebonics and ASL Are Here to Stay

2009-07-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeer explains how African-American people denied the Oakland School Board's decision to recognize Ebonics as a valid linguistic system in 1996. Ebonics was not in a dictionary, they said. There exists striking similarities between rejecting Ebonics and denying American Sign Language: hostile criticism, misinformation, and avoidance.

A Big Question for Children with Cochlear Implants

2009-06-30T23:57:00.001-07:00

A discussion/question vlog: Carl Schroeder wonders if the intriguing connections between music and cognitive development in children with CI. Research shows that music can help children (hearing) with other disabilities (dyslexia, learning difficulties, etc.) listen and learn. Can children with CI benefit from the connections between music and education?

From ASL to Audism

2009-06-30T18:08:00.001-07:00

A discussion vlog: Carl Schroeder discusses how people in the past said no to ASL and today they say no to audism.

ASL Literature Conference by Deafmom3ASL

2009-06-30T07:23:00.001-07:00

A guest vlog. See what was found here! In 1991, I was a co-presenter with Rachel Crain. Our topic was about poetic aspects in American Sign Language. We should rekindle this type of conference.

Kalalau's Korner

19.09.2011

ASL DRAGON: Some See, Some Don't ....

ASL DRAGON: SOOKET on "The Resemblance of Two Oak Leaves"

ASL DRAGON: SOOKET on "The Resemblance of Two Oak Leaves"

ASL DRAGON'S TREASURE CHEST

THE LORE OF THE ASL DRAGON: A New Introduction

Third Kind of Tolerance in Deaf Hate Crime

ลี ปีกนกทุ่งDamn -- I find the 'ism overrated. The 'ism has gone overboard just like those horde of flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz.

Springwater Doesn't Have Fish

The Earliest Video of ASL DRAGON (11/14/2006)

Thinking Syntactically in American Sign Language

Deafhood: Arguments We Live By

A True Blogger's Boring Truth

Evolution and Revolution in Deaf Community: An Intellectual Piece of Thought

End Deaf Bias Now

Deafhood: "Your Baby Is Deaf!"

Daily Deaf Adult Literacy Program (DDALP)

Deafhood Needs the Civility in the Age of the Net

Deaf Hate Crime: Language Aversion

Pig Adopts Dogs

Amazing gymnast

莊子說 / Zhuangzi Speaks

Hate Crime and the Deaf

accident during the Olympic

Gymnastics Accident

Aankondigde DbiB 26 november

suicide monkey

World Most Amazing Videos - Bull attack

Bull bison battle

Horseplay in Snow!

ABC song/ASL alphabet - American version

Funny but Sad Incident

GodTube com - Amazing Dance - You Will Cry

16th WFD World Congress Sudáfrica 2011

Terrible Elephant Accident

Marine dragon

Deaf dancers find fame in China

Why Do We Demand a Letter of Apology from the ICED?

Funny Horse Video

Oregon Association of the Deaf President's First Message

Comment to Carl S. about Language levels ASL and English

Plains Indian Sign Language Conference 1930, Browning

Labrador vs Lion

World's Loudest Homemade Air Horn!

The Chair

Een Open Brief naar Dove Mensen

The Frank Turk Imposter

A Visit to VIABLE

Normalcy in Deaf America

Three Cups of Tea: Recommended Reading

ASL Enquirer: Myth Issue

Deaf Syllogism

American Sign Language in 1965

CI War Stories: Vulgarity Is For Losers

Guest Vlogger: My Son Is Deaf, Finally!

The Second Commandment and the Deaf

I Am an I.D. Theft Victim for 12 Years

A Contract with Interpreter: The Cheapest Bid

Lessons Learned from Silent Weekend

Is God Human?

What If God Uses Sign Language

Let's Teach Each Other ASL Academically

Two Pictures from my Past

Deaf People Think Differently ...

The Crabbiest Moment: High Functioning

ASLeCLUB.com

ASL: From Deep Structure to Surface Structure

Open Video Letter to the RID: Bright Blue Ribbon and Star of David

Kill All the Linguists

A Hearing Friend from my Childhood

One Weekend of a Lifetime

ASL is ... Deaf-Centered, Deaf-Controlled, Deaf-Oriented

A Badly Translated "Mother Goose" Book

ASL Enquirer: I Am Deafmore

Brainless, Loveless and ... Deafless (?)

Away On Vacation

Shakespeare and Ridor

D2D on DVTV's R-List

Twisting and Twisted in DVTV

ลี ปีกนกทุ่ง
Damn -- I find the 'ism overrated. The 'ism has gone overboard just like those horde of flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz.