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.…
Tag: Deaf Culture
Way to Represent!
Countless deaf people tuned in last night to watch the finale of Celebrity Apprentice for one reason: to find out if Marlee Matlin won. Ah, Marlee. If she and the deaf community declared on Facebook that they were in a relationship, the status update would read, “and it’s complicated.” On one hand, she is our…
Deaf Education: Numbering Our Flaws
This is an article about numbers. It does not purport to be anything else. I will delineate numbers that varying researchers spent quite a bit of time gathering, and then I will discuss them briefly and draw connections to the potential political consequences of having the numbers listed define our reality. It is my personal…
On Reading Levels
Jon Henner posted a great article here and at Deaf Politics about deaf education and various relevant statistics. There are profound implications for the deficiency in reading level in our deaf and hard of hearing peers. Citizenship depends on reading level: the simplest newspaper, USA Today, is written at a fifth grade reading level, which is just barely…
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…
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…
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…
Teaching Hearing People Cued Speech…
…it’s not just about mechanics and understanding which “th” words are voiced and which are voiceless. (Yes, the “th” is different depending on the word!) It’s about collaboration, understanding, and communication. Oh, and motivation. Not mine. Theirs. But, first… a bit about me. I’m a native cuer. I’m also deaf—profoundly deaf. And I don’t exactly…
D-PAN Releases “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera in ASL
Anyone remember that ASL music video from last year, “Waiting on the World to Change”? D-PAN has done it again with Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.” According to their website, D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network), based in Detroit, “exists to bridge the existing gaps between the deaf/hard of hearing community, the entertainment industry, and the public at large.” After watching…
DeafHope Featured On CNN
DeafHope, a non-profit organization founded and run by Deaf women, will be featured on CNN on Tuesday, November 27 and again on Thursday, December 6. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, DeafHope’s mission is “to end domestic and sexual violence against Deaf women and children through empowerment, education and services.” Currently, DeafHope provides peer…