Ella's Flashlight

(6:05) This is made from the “discarded” footage when making my latest vlog “DIE: arresting our rush to judgement”. From a few comments in that vlog and in other blogs, I thought it may be helpful for some of you to see how I interpret Deaf Culture and how all Deaf people can relate to that culture. There is most definitely so much more literature and thoughts on Deaf culture that is not covered here. I hope this imperfect “essay” contributes in a small way to better communication, insights, and understanding among the varied Deaf people involved in Deaf Blogland…that prayerfullty can lead to what “unity” may look like from a Deaf center.

loose translation:

Yes, there IS a Deaf culture. Without language, there’s no culture and vice versa.

Deaf culture has been passed on from generation to generation of Deaf people from before 1880 and in spite of the Oralism “Dark Ages” (1900-1960). Not only is the culture passed through Deaf parents, but also through Deaf mentors, friends, neighbors, etc.

Deaf culture has history passed down through storytelling, in print and on film.

Deaf culture has values: visually oriented, appreciation of a visual-manual language, importance of “critical mass” or rather “immersion” with other Deaf people, promoting the attitude of “It’s great to be Deaf, and being Deaf is natural and nothing is wrong with that”. Those values are also passed down through generations.

Indeed, it’s no question that Deaf culture is a full-fledged human culture.

Now, some of us ask does JUST being Deaf mean one knows the culture and language of Deaf people?

No. Just like an American born and raised in America but is of an ancestry such as South African, French or Filipino, is not fully encultured in their culture. They may have experiences and glimpses of the culture, but do not have a complete cultural knowledge or consciousness. To do this, they need to go and live among those who speak the language and run affairs, argue, make love, make decisions based on the history, norms and values of the culture. Yet, they may not become 100% acculturated.

However, its the ATTITUDE that makes the person succeed in being warmly embraced by people of that culture. If the person is open and positive, willing to learn from the people, to take criticism and challenges, and is real…and appreciative whenever people welcome them, that would define a successful acculturation.

Just like it is with Deaf people.

Because of the current status quo system related to Deaf people (where Deaf babies are derailed from the natural acquisition of ASL and opportunities to interact in a large Deaf environment, from experiencing that being Deaf can be just natural and okay, from understanding there are differences among Deaf and hearing people, etc.), many Deaf people miss out on the complete Deaf cultural experience so they need to go through the acculturation process.

One thing we need to recognize…every Deaf person is Deaf. It doesn’t matter if they have hearing aids, cochlear implants, or hearing loss, they are still Deaf. Why? They do not interact with hearing world like hearing people do. Deaf people may succeed in making do and making it as closely as possible. Well, if they feel satisfied with their level of interactions with hearing people. That’s fine. They have that choice. There’s no need for us to feel we need to deal with that.

However, if they feel they are ready to learn what it means to be Deaf, they need to be ready inside to learn. How do they get that “attitude”? We don’t know. There are many different ways to get reach that level of readiness.

Now, because there are a large number of Deaf people who are acculturating into the Deaf culture, it is expected to have some “conflicts or misunderstandings” common in “CROSS CULTURE interactions”, mostly due to different values.

The Deaf people who grew up among hearing people because they do not access English like hearing people do, they probably don’t have a complete understanding or access to the culture of the hearing people around them. Surely, they may have various levels of access and understanding of the hearing culture, but not a complete one. Writing or using interpreters only is NOT enough. They do not provide everyday cultural nuances that are solely and directly in the spoken language.

However, for the Deaf people, the culture can be HOME. You are welcome to come home or run away from home. Again, it s your choice.

I hope this helps us to unite more, understand each other more, be more open and more appreciative of our Deaf culture and be committed to pass it on for our future Deaf children.

(5:24) In response to the recent debates involving the concept of deficit thinking, I share my understanding of what deficit thinking is and that having rights means increased accountability…especially Deaf bloggers who exhibit deficit thinking in discussing Deaf issues using language that is NOT helping elevate Deafhood discussion.

Basically, my understanding of deficit thinking is that because it is believed that a group of people are missing something, in our situation, “hearing”, deficit thinkers produce NEGATIVE reactions, thinking, analysis and actions against that group …RATHER than having a productive and constructive dialogue on various levels exhibiting deep respect for ourselves and our creations, i.e natural Sign Languages (ASL for example)

IT’s time for bloggers (and yes vloggers too) to take accountability in how we use language to critically examine our Deaf lives and to explore ways to push for a STOP to deficit thinking, and to push for CRITICAL EXAMINATION of the AUDISTIC SYSTEM we need to devote our energies and creativities to topple.

(4:27) In Paddy Ladd’s “Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood”, he examines the concept of “subaltern”–and describes elite subalterns as well as subaltern-elite.

Here I expand on them, giving some broad descriptions and tendencies.

Which are you?

“Choices” is a buzzword in Deaf-related debates.

We see these frequently: parents’ choices, communication choices, educational choices.

However, in considering the ideal framework to present Deaf people to the world, to decide the ideal for Deaf people, to determine the position to take a stand with…

we have two choices: deafness or Deafhood.
And under them, other and related choices:

deficit thinking or possibility thinking

unexamined or examined

Which should we choose?
deafness, deficit thinking and unexamined
or
Deafhood, possibility thinking and examined?

These are not compatible. Which would you choose?

(7:54) Wrapping up the fascinating and intense debate about the term “DeafMute”…I pray that at best people’s thinking has been stimulated and that no serious mess-ups or fights occured due to this discussion. In addition to what I said on the video, I want to mention that I have this STRONG conviction that the “public”, i.e. hearing media, hearing bosses, hearing doctors, etc, has NO BUSINESS AT ALL to use that term to describe any of us. ONLY us Deaf folks can use that term to discourse among ourselves. Also, for discussing general issues involving Deaf people, I would just use the blanket term of “Deaf” like many of you thought was the best.
(Aidan, I apologize for using the same boring transition style over and over. I guess I am stuck in that mode until I feel more confident with filming, editing and vlogging. Bear with me.)

(7:56) Why did i choose to label myself with this obsolete, presumedly negative, term “Deaf mute” in the banner introducing this v/blogsite? This vlog explains several reasons, but briefly in English:
Number one: a literal translation of the common sign for DEAF, the index finger covering the ear, then covering the mouth, is DEAF-MUTE…yes, that’s the root meaning, so literally many of us have been saying we are “Deaf mutes” proudly for a long time, smile.

Number two: For an oppressed group, it can be empowering to reclaim for themselves negative terms about that group. Queer and Dyke are degrading terms that have been reclaimed in empowering ways.

I have recently seen some other Deaf folks starting to reclaim the term “Deaf mute”…BUT only us can use that for ourselves. No no to the general public or media or professionals who continue not to understand us or look down on us…you do not yet know how to use “Deaf mute” properly.
So…watch with an open mind…and revisit our language (thus our way of thinking).

(Warning: this video clip is 8 mins long…tried to pare it down more…so I apologize for the length)

(aha! an English blog?! well, not exactly a blog posting, but a reprint of an article in the California Association of the Deaf newsletter. Nancy, the current Vice President of CAD, and I wrote that last year. I did develop a script draft to video this “article” performed in ASL, but never got a chance to film it. Maybe someday I will, or maybe one of you want to try? so here goes…Enjoy. I am coming out with another vlog soon about the term “Deaf mute”. Bear with me.)
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Deafhood: Who is it for? What does CAD have to do with it?
by Ella Mae Lentz and Nancy Mitchell-Carroll
(written January 2006)

You have probably seen other people talking about a new word “Deafhood” lately. If you were me, I’d probably start wondering why that new word. Throughout 2004 – 2005 Deafhood has been popping up in several places in California such as the JASK lecture series at CSUN, the DCARA Board Lecture Series and the CAD and Deaf Seniors of America conferences in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Why another word for Deaf people? What’s wrong with the terms such as “deafness” , or “deaf and hard of hearing”? Deafhood is a term created by Dr. Paddy Ladd, a Deaf scholar in the Deaf Studies Department at the University of Bristol in England. Deafhood is found in Ladd’s book “Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood” (2003).

Deafhood is described as a journey that each Deaf person undertakes to discover their true identity and purpose here on the Earth as a Deaf person among other people. This journey is for anybody who is what George Veditz calls “first and foremost, people of the eye”. These people are visually oriented in dealing with the environment. They feel most at ease using a signed language rather than a spoken language. If you fit that description, you have begun the search for Deafhood. The degree of your hearing or speaking ability does not matter. Each person’s search for Deafhood occurs on all levels: physical, linguistic, mental and spiritual. And through that, it links each person to the amazing collective experience called the Deaf community and culture.

However, the search is not without obstacles. Those obstacles are Oralism and Audism that peaked in the early 1900’s with eugenicists such as Alexander Graham Bell, and weakened when Sign Language made a comeback in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. Eugenics is the science of controlling the population by deleting certain characteristics that are considered negative through selective breeding, sterilization, and at its worse, genocide. Oralism and Audism have come back more ferocious and dangerous in the 2000’s with rampant mainstreaming, cochlear implants, and genetic engineering. Boudreault (2005 CAD Conference) categorizes those as “neo-eugenics” because when it comes to Deaf people, their ultimate goal is to eradicate the “deficit”, that “horrible isolating disability,” through technology and education. Oralism is the educational philosophy and practice that focuses on developing speech (and listening) skills and looks down on and accuses Sign Language of interfering with Deaf people’s focus on that training. Audism, a word that was first published in 1975 by Dr. Tom Humphries (a Deaf scholar currently working at University of California in San Diego), describes the behavior and/or attitude of an individual, professional, or institution that believes that being Hearing is superior to being Deaf.

At the 2005 CAD conference, members voted to replace the term “deaf and hard of hearing” with “Deafhood” or “Deaf” in the CAD ByLaws and other publications. The main reason that term seems to split the Deaf community as we try to label us one way or other. It has fostered unhealthy competition based on the differences. A result has been that we accuse one other of rejecting the other. This was the true success of Oralism that Deaf people are divided from other Deaf people as they are “brainwashed” in believing one with better hearing or speech is superior. This caused resentments to arise. The true success of Deafhood is when Deaf people feel “at home” with being Deaf and finds a commonality with other Deaf people in their use of Sign Language and their visual orientation. When we are secure with our own natural language and community, we can be healthier, more creative and more embracing of the diversity surrounding us.

As the new CAD board moves into its two-year term, we desire to unify those of us who seek our Deafhood into a political bloc to fight neo-eugenics, the oppression of oralism and the arrogance of audism. We begin by celebrating the many gifts springing out of our community, history and language. We vow not to fight against other Deaf people, but to support each other in our journeys towards Deafhood, and to challenge the influences of Oralism and Audism in our lives. We will fight against the systemic audism prevalent among our schools, jobs, and families. We will also fight against financial interests and remove the masks of benevolence of the Hearing companies or professionals that “think they know all about … the Deaf, but know nothing about their thoughts and souls, their feelings, desires, and needs.”

We acknowledge there are people who do not see the need to search for their Deafhood. Some of those people are ones who discovered they are Deaf in their later years, and feel they have no use for Sign Language or a Deaf identity. We understand that their primary language is spoken and their culture is Hearing and naturally they may desire to restore their old identity and abilities. We know there are other organizations catering to those people and we do wish them the most happiness possible. However, we declare that those people are welcome to initiate their journeys into Deafhood. To begin the journey, we encourage those people learn and use our vibrant and exciting Sign Language, and open themselves up to the challenges and possible new joys and friends among other Deaf people. We will challenge and encourage them, but we will never manipulate nor control their bodies, their minds, their souls as the Audists and Oralists have done to Deaf people for years.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome. This discourse is essential for Deaf people to participate in as we form the collaboration to protect our dignity as people, to protect our language and the right to have and use it, and to share our Deafhood with the future generations.