hemdeaf.org

You may have read the news about Wisconsin lawmakers passing a bill which would require insurance companies to cover the cost of cochlear implants and hearing aids:

Wisconsin Radio Network:
http://www.wrn.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=D5071979-5056-B82A-37C40DF6270D4E96

National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103425932

Green Bay Press Gazette: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090423/GPG0101/90423094

It’s a hotly contested issue - and rightly so, although my reason for being unhappy with it is not the same as as been published in the above linked articles and elsewhere.

The whole issue of insurance coverage for cochlear implants and hearing aids COMPLETELY MISSES A CRUCIAL POINT.

Nowhere did I see anything that said there would be any benefit for a Deaf child’s cognitive, emotional, or social development.  Absolutely nothing.  There was nothing about early exposure to a fully accessible, natural language that is freely available.  There was nothing about what is best for the DEAF CHILD.  All I saw is how parents can finally get coverage to make cochlear implants affordable for their Deaf children, so they can be taught to hear and speak.

That speaks to the hearing family’s “need” to have a child that speaks and hears, like them.  Unfortunately, their child will never hear like them, although their child may speak like them.

What about their Deaf child’s need?  The need for a fully accessible means to access information?  The need for intellectual, social, cognitive, and emotional development through early visual language acquisition? Think about it. You don’t educate a Deaf person through his/her mouth or ears.  Education, thinking, reasoning - they all happen in the brain, through the eyes.  A hearing child absorbs information through his ears and expresses himself through his mouth, because that’s a natural mode for the child that is available to him from birth.  A Deaf child is a visual being; he absorbs information through his eyes.

So, what are we missing?  Early acquisition of language in a visual, 100% accessible form: American Sign Language (ASL).  With access to ASL, a Deaf child can achieve socially, academically and emotionally on par with his hearing peers.

Moreover, I advocate that ASL be taught to ALL babies, but ESPECIALLY to Deaf babies.  I’m deeply disappointed this isn’t happening on a wider scale.  I cannot believe that parents are still being told to deny their Deaf kids access to their own language.  It’s so obvious to me that this is WRONG.

Once a Deaf child acquires ASL, there is no limit to what he can achieve.  With ASL, he can learn English and he will do it at the same rate - even better - as his hearing peers.  He’ll read and write English fluently.  He may even speak.

In conclusion, while the Wisconsin bill does make it easier to get cochlear implants and hearing aids, that’s really not as critical to a Deaf child as the importance of acquiring a fully accessible and natural language that acts as a catalyst for the child’s capability to learn and achieve in life.  Cochlear implant? Hearing aid? That’s a decision that should be very well informed and carefully weighed by parents - sure, they’ve been informed by their audiologist or doctors - but they also should have consulted with people who KNOW and have direct, first-person experience of the impact of such a decision - Deaf people.  They’ll ask you this: You’re willing to commit to years of working with the child to acquire whatever level of hearing he can, and whatever level of speech he can - but are you also willing to commit to empowering your Deaf child, too, by giving him access to his own language, from the start? If your answer to that question is “yes,” your child will thank you in years to come.

I’m hoping for good news from the local high school - we’d like to set up a spring event for the younger Deaf kids in the area, with the help of the D/HH kids at the high school. I haven’t heard back yet if they can help us out - crossing my fingers!

Update: Heard back - need to raise some $$ to rent the space at the high school.  Checking into it…

Well, as it turns out, the d/hh kids at the high school (see my last post) felt they weren’t quite ready to do a presentation this year. They asked if I would be willing to do it this time, so I did, despite my pleading with them to do it.

I agreed to do so, and since this was a Global Awareness Week event, decided to do a Global DEAF Awareness presentation. I used video clips of Deaf leaders around the world - France, Sweden, Germany, etc. to demonstrate that the Deaf community around the world is alive and well and comprised of Deaf and hard of hearing people of all ages and backgrounds. They’re standing up for their rights, for their education, and for their future and the future of upcoming generations. While some of these D/HH individuals face frightening risks in doing so, they do it in the hope that they will be seen and not ignored. I applaud them with an enthusiastic wave of hands.

My presentation showed that language is happening, and people can communicate. It showed that natural, visual language has the ability to be understood and to empower. It showed that Deaf culture includes the full range of human experience with a visual orientation. Natural, visual language has common components that reflect the common experience of Deaf people wherever they are. Expression, body movement, the use of vertical, horizontal and 3D space in signs are similar across languages. While individual signs may be different, understanding still happens because visual language communicates meaning, not words.

The main point of the presentation is that there are Deaf people all over the world, all working, living, and communicating.

The presentation opened a lot of eyes and was apparently well received.

About two weeks ago, I received an email from a D/HH teacher at a local high school.  He said “his kids” were getting ready to participate in the annual Global Awareness Week during the early part of March, and wanted to know if I could meet with them and help in some way.

So, I met with him and the kids this week.  What a great bunch of kids!  They were 15-17 years old, Deaf with and without CI, hard of hearing, one hard of hearing with low vision; some oral and some signing.  It was just a bit of a challenge to communicate, but we found ways and the oral kids actually participated just as much as the ASL kids.  When we each introduced ourselves, I could see the oral kids being somewhat defensive, but as the meeting went on, they saw that I was sincerely interested in their input just as much as the Deaf kids.

Now, during this meeting, I observed some things about the kids.  Today I want to talk about two boys in particular.  They are brothers.  They are also two different entities, like the sun and the moon.  One is outgoing, social, active, and seems to be doing well with the CI, but also signs - not fluently, but he can communicate.  His brother clearly does not have language.  He doesn’t speak well, doesn’t sign well.  He is not showing the same outgoing, motivated, go-getter attitude of his brother.  He doesn’t have any real dreams for his future.  I’d like to spend more time with him, see if there is a spark we can light in him, and give him the natural, visual language he deserves.  His post-high school plans are just to go to the local tech, and find work somewhere.  He doesn’t have the grades to go to NTID or Gally, where he could thrive in a visual learning environment.  His teacher wanted a job coach for this boy - perhaps if he could be exposed to different jobs that Deaf people do, he might get fired up about his own future and be motivated to achieve more in school.  His brother hasn’t decided what he will do yet, but he doesn’t show the same malaise about life; he’s checking things out and thinking, just hasn’t decided yet.

It was so clear to me.  Language is everything.  It doesn’t just give meaning to words or ideas.  It gives meaning to life, and without it there can be no sharing, no growth, no FUTURE.  Not having language is so isolating.  This kid I met - his parents must care about both boys.  They were willing to spend thousands to give them cochlear implants, but clearly that’s not enough.  Deaf kids don’t need to hear and speak so much as they need to communicate, which can’t happen in the absence of the chance for cognitive development and access to natural, visual language like American Sign Language.  I experienced that in my early years and I see this in the kids I met at the high school this week.  Some of them seem to be doing okay, but really, they’re just doing what is expected of them by the people around them, and they are capable of so much more…

Got to wake ‘em up!

I’m involved with an agency that serves Deaf and hard of hearing people in Wisconsin.  This past weekend, we had a “Breakfast with Santa” and while only a few kids came, they were new to our area, and the parents were looking for a resource to connect with other parents with Deaf kids.  Their daughter was able to interact with the signing Santa for the first time in her life in her own language, and while she was incredibly shy, it was clear she enjoyed meeting him.  We had a wonderful breakfast together, the kids got to visit with Deaf Santa, and each received a gift from and his trusty Elf, then the grownups received door prizes.  We even had a woman “walk in” off the street with her granddaughter.  They were not Deaf, but they were warmly welcomed.  It was amazing how quickly she struck up a friendship with one of the Deaf kids and went right into playing with them.  The parents met the Deaf adults, and an ASL storyteller read favorite holiday stories with the children.  It was such fun.  Even the caterer joined in for a brief while after packing up.  The hearing parents asked if we will have another family activity soon - such encouraging feedback!  We’ve already begun plans for an Easter family activity…

It’s these times, when the families get together and the parents can watch the kids meeting each other and the Deaf adults, and the adults, both Deaf and hearing can talk with each other, that I see hope.

The trend of mainstreaming the kids has gone on for well over 30 years, and while some may claim that mainstreaming works, I can see clearly that it does not.  I’m living proof, and so are millions of other Deaf and hard of hearing adults, because of the trend of isolating the Deaf and hard of hearing children from the Deaf and hard of hearing adults who are their best role models for negotiating through life in this world.  By preventing the kids from knowing their true identity, their community and their language, they cannot develop a “3-D” life.  Giving them sound and speech does not give them the critical tools they need to develop their minds.  It lets them hear stuff and learn to talk; the cognition and development of logic ability is neglected and even missed.

Don’t get me wrong.  While I don’t object to hearing aids or cochlear implants or speech training, I don’t recommend them either.  What I object to is keeping the child away from first having access to his/her own language, and to visual learning that will benefit her so much more, and empower her to learn and develop her mind.  The child can put together the things that are learned in a visual framework and then connect them to the world in ways that make sense and help expand that child’s awareness of the world around her.

So, when a child is identified as being Deaf or hard of hearing, do that a child a favor.  Give her the gift of a true visual language: American Sign Language (ASL).  Learn it with your child.  Find a Deaf mentor.  Then give her exposure to the visual world, and help her make the connections to the rest of the world by developing cognitive skills.  Take her to events where other Deaf and hard of hearing children will be, with their parents, and let them interact with their peers both child and adult.  If at a later time the child is given a hearing aid, cochlear implant or speech training, she will be far better equipped to make the connections in the world around her, having first been exposed to it in a rich, visual language that communicates meaning.  Learning to speak later isn’t the travesty you think it is.  It’s never quite learning how to develop thinking that is a crying shame for a Deaf child.  With the visual roots of ASL and visual access to learning, anything else she receives later will give her the wings to fly.

Note: While I refer to the child with a female gender, please understand I am actually talking about a child of either gender.  It’s just easier to type…

I grew up oral, during a time when conventional “wisdom” dictated that deaf kids should not be permitted contact with other deaf people, because once exposed to sign language, the child would stop talking. Looking back, we think, how ridiculous, right? Would you believe there are still people who think that idea is valid?

Look, it’s common knowledge that over 95% of deaf kids are born into hearing families. If taught to speak, the child will likely to use her verbal skills with the hearing people around her. But why deny her natural language? Why take away from her the right to use a natural approach to learning - a visual approach? It’s true that a deaf child will naturally prefer visual communication, but that is because the meaning that comes with visual communication is so much richer than the mere words that she reads on the lips of others. She not only gets the word, she gets the meaning (the conceptually accurate sign for the meaning of the word), the emotion (facial expression) and that indefinable third element that communicates intent (subtle body or hand movements). American Sign Language is a 3-D language that packs a full range of meaning into communication. Watch a small child at play, and you’ll see how the child is constantly absorbing and assimilating the things she sees and touches. This is natural.

So, why is it so hard for people to imagine that children do what is natural for them?  Isn’t it written somewhere that “… a little child shall lead them”? Deaf children can lead the way for their parents to enter a brand-new and wonderful world, where communication is natural and visual and so much more enriching and engaging. In this world, Deaf children are not merely ears and mouths, but whole, complete people with personalities, talents, minds, and limitless potential.

Parents, I urge you to empower your children from birth - give them opportunities to communicate and learn naturally and visually, using American Sign Language. This is the best first gift deaf children can get from the people who love them: the first tool empowering them go forward and develop into whole and complete human beings.

If given a choice between words or meaning, the better option is obvious, don’t you think?