Mansplaining has now become mainstream  – that phenomenon of an arrogant man explaining what he thinks he knows about a subject to a woman who knows more than he does about the subject. Or as writer Rebecca Solnit notes, the “intersection between overconfidence and cluelessness where some portion of (the male) gender gets stuck.” I’ve experienced my share of mansplaining, but in one of my lines of work, I get a different [...]

  My first name sign was given to me by a hearing person. The A handshape tapped squarely in the feminine area on my cheek. It weathered years in a mainstreamed classroom, and traveled with me to the deaf school in eighth grade. The deaf school was also my eye-opening immersion into Deaf culture and history. No longer shackled by the limitations of Signing Exact English, I was free to [...]

  I work in an environment where one’s intellect is often a proxy for self-worth. I’m not endorsing this view, mind you, but it is hard to escape it. Deaf and hard of hearing people have a special version of this: what I call the ‘smart for deaf’ version. That is, we acknowledge that there is just no way we’ll be able to get all of the information that hearing people [...]

  In a recent article, “The Distrust Runs Deep on Both Sides?” the author asserts: It’s not like these parents find out their child is deaf, go on the internet, discover a deaf community sharply divided between the oral and ASL-using camps, panic, and somehow decide they’ll embrace the oral camp while never trusting any single living ASL-using deaf person ever again. Doesn’t such a supposition seem ridiculous to you [...]

      Seattle, WA- The first Seattle Deaf Film Festival is coming soon! Deaf Spotlight, an organization that focuses on Deaf culture, cinema, performing arts and visual arts, is proud to present the Seattle Deaf Film Festival. The festival promises a full weekend of films on, about, and for Deaf community.  This three day event will begin on March 30, 2012 and will be held at Kane Hall on [...]

I was born in a small town.  And I live in a small town.  Oh those small communities.* Okay, so my town may not be Mayberry; we do actually have modern conveniences like electricity and cable TV.  But how do you find the best resources when the nearest deaf “person” is your neighbor’s 15-year-old dog? For my family, living in a rural area is great—lots of grass, plenty of cows, [...]

Many in the signing community feel strongly that the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) philosophy of focusing on auditory and oral approaches when teaching deaf and hard of children is wrong.  The auditory and oral approaches use the weakest point of a deaf or hard of hearing individual to teach language; which is ridiculous, especially when there’s a perfectly serviceable organ ready [...]

  Not too long ago I was backpacking in Central America, exploring the nomad’s life through three different countries. Having said this, I recall meeting a deaf dude at a cafe in Costa Rica. He expounded to me about a leadership program in Denmark infused with leaders. He said the leadership program consisted of an international group that would visit Ghana, Africa and would learn global deaf politics and so [...]

  Just as I’m flying to California State University Northridge to present at their Deaf College Student Leadership Conference, I was reading a copy of Newsweek. There was a story on the infectious appeal of the #Occupy Wall Street movement. One particular quote stood out to me: “In 2008 vast new numbers of Americans transformed the political process through social media and small-donor fundraising, electing a rank outsider, Obama, who [...]

  Ninety-five percent of deaf children have hearing parents. What does that mean? It means that many of us are used to being the only deaf person in the family, in the community, or in school unless we are at a deaf school. It means that our family is our first introduction to the ways that hearing people view deafness and deaf children, and the ways that they pass along [...]