hemdeaf.org

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…

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?