Hearing privilege is a concept that’s come up often in discussions in and around Deaf Echo posts that deserves to be called out and looked at in depth. I also find that it has personal relevance: some uncomfortable situations have come up with my family that made me think of this important concept. Let me…
Category: Language & Culture
Why Deaf Women Date Hearing Men (Or Don’t!)
As a confidante of several deaf and hearing girlfriends, I have been exposed to issues that come up when dating deaf and hearing men. I decided to enlist the help of my girlfriends and find out what it is like to date a hearing man. One of the things I was surprised by during my research…
25 ASL “It Gets Better” Videos
While the zeitgeist has long ago shifted to TSA pat-downs and now the interesting juxtaposition of renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula and the Wikileaks release of top-secret diplomatic cables, DeafEcho has managed to keep collecting It Gets Better videos in ASL. Now we have 25 videos–the latest by the Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf. When…
It Gets Better – In ASL
Teresa wrote a fantastic article discussing Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project on YouTube. There’s more than 100 videos by people who have experienced or seen others experienced bullying, harassment, or general bad experiences because of their sexual orientation. She also expressed the need for the Deaf and signing community to make similar videos for Deaf LGBT youth,…
It Gets Better. It Really Does.
Unless you’ve been under a rock this week, you’ve probably seen this week’s troubling stories about gay teens committing suicide. The deaths of Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown from a small town just outside Houston, Texas, and Seth Walsh in Tehachapi, California have haunted my thoughts this week. Watching Seth Walsh’s sister’s Youtube clip made before her brother…
What Makes an Interpreter Satisfactory or Acceptable?
So, I recently had a couple conversations with a pretty cool person, Robin*, who is just really starting to really dive into the field of sign language interpreting. We had some conversations about expectations of interpreters, etc. Robin admitted wanting to work on his/her [guess Robin’s gender!] interpreting skills so that one day I might…
Embracing Diversity in Communication
Communication is not just an exchange of ideas between two or more people. It is how we learn about each other. It is also a means of including people in or excluding people from a community. We are all aware of the difficulties we can face in communicating with hearing people. But what I want…
Deaf Identity, Interrupted
One gem emerged from the deaf blogosphere blitz which arose during the May 2006 protests at Gallaudet University. It is Genie Gertz’s video succinctly explaining the complex concept of Deafhood in just a few minutes. When I saw it for the first time, it totally clicked for me. I memorized it and repeated the video to all…
A Non-Gallaudetian Speaks Out
I was 10 years old during DPN. I have vague recollections of “the week the world heard Gallaudet.” I remember knowing that it was something important and something to be proud of, even though I didn’t fully understand what was happening. A deaf university president? Great! That’s a pretty nice “hero” to have when you…