Monday, October 3, 2011
The Damage Has Been Done!
Sometime ago I v/blogged on the subject of Closed Society and how I thought it would be defeated by the Open Society, every time, due to information age that we all live in. Some time passed before I found an excellent example of the earlier point I made.
Somebody in the facebook posted this video seen here at;
I watched it and thought it was a simple inspirational story but no... it was more than that. This story has gotten bigger than life.
The video showed a 29 years old severely deaf lady who's been deaf since birth. With the assistance of new technology she heard her own voice for the first time in 29 years. Within the first day of video release at youtube it attracted over 400,000 (four hundreds thousand) unique viewers and so many comments, some of which were ugly coming from the culturally big "D" deaf community. I left an encouraging comment and told her that I was happy for her and that she was my newest hero. I told her that I was carrying the 7th generation of deafness label in the family with my son carrying the 8th label. And then I sat back and observed the massive traffic the video was attracting in so little time. It was an awe and shock moment. And then I remembered something and thought it was a classic example of what an open society will do to a closed society, every time.
Several days passed before I found this story again. This time around it was on MSBNBC.com front page!
She was interviewed by Matt Lauer on TODAY Monday. Upon reading this article I decided to check and see how much traffic this video had on youtube. The answer was mind-boggling 4,431,443 unique hits, over 18,000 comments, 43,818 likes and 618 dislikes. All that in only SIX days! And it's still counting.
What started out as a personal and amateur youtube video evolved into an international media shock wave, favoring the makers of hearing aids, cochlear implants, implanted hearing aids (in this case), the users as well their communities. Just like that. At that time it was not even promoted by an audiologist or a representative from companies that make and develop such technologies. It was just a raw and amateur video coming from the patient herself who had only release one amateur video prior to this one.
Not only that but the groaning and moaning sound coming from the culturally big "D" deaf community were also exposed to at least 4 million viewers in six short days. Millions more viewers are sure to check this video in the coming days. Meaning? The ignorance coming from culturally big "D" deaf people are going to be exposed even more, giving hearing parents even more reasons to steer away from culturally big "D" deaf community. Pretty soon there is going to be an international song called "Go For The Fix" because the ugly side of culturally big 'D' deaf people have been exposed.
Some of the ugly comments contained terrible English. I'm not saying it's a shame. I'm saying that they were even more damaging. It told the whole world that deaf education, as we know it, have failed many of us. Thus, greater numbers of deaf school closures coming up? It would not surprise me. I mean, they have no choice but to reflect on what they see out there, especially with the poor English comments found in this video's comment thread.
Many of the angry comments also targeted her for her ability to speak so well. Many did not believe that she was born deaf and remained deaf all of her life because she spoke very well. It goes to show how ignorant and uneducated culturally big "D" deaf people were. For your information, it is not uncommon and impossible for a deaf person to learn how to speak fluently and better yet, fool you for a hearing person. Those culturally big "D" deaf people didn't want to believe that. It could be due to their ever-so isolated world, in which they have only been exposed to deaf people who signed but do not speak. Those who speak well are able to disappear into the thin air and co-existed with the rest of the world. Therefore they've become invisible to our bare eyes. Furthermore, they've proved our lifelong point for us.... our deafness is invisible... I might add, unless we choose to sign. And that's a hard fact we all will have to live with.
Anyway, this "amateur video" incident is one big example of how a closed society will be destroyed or defeated by an open society, every time. This video could be the paradigm shift many of you have been afraid of. I've warned many of you against making stupid and ignorant comments towards those who choose to exercise their personal rights to choose however they see fit. Yet, many of you would not listen. Unfortunately the damage has been done, I am afraid but you can't say you've not been warned.
For more details of the interview, go to this link; http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44756127/ns/today-good_news/
Take note of MSNBC editor's choice of word for the link. Good_news. They categorized the story as 'good news'. Now, don't be upset over it because what might be good news to others might not be good news to you. Once again it boils down to personal preferences and personal choices. Get it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Few hours passed since I posted this blog and the viewing count has already gone up 114,466 more, bringing the total to 4,545,909 hits as of 3:30 p.m. PST. I also noticed that the dislike went down to 618 instead of what was 647 so perhaps this blog worked slightly. The comments shot up to 19,451 and I'm still seeing nasty comments coming from the big "D" deaf people. There are heated arguments seen between certain group of people. In short, the big "D" waged a battle a long time ago but lost enormously this week.
ReplyDeleteYou are right.. I watched that one lady on Today's show.. Her hearing is hard of hearing.. I understand that they are obessive on Barry's vlog in the past. Get their comment are TRASHED!..
ReplyDeleteHer hearing just simple loss of hearing. when she was young I watched the show. The name of hearing implant is not the same as C.I. it is called Esteem implant without magnet. Her choice to wear Esteem is better than C.I. I still do not like to try that. Her decision is her own body and hear and taste. I do not really like the deaf behavior or bully is not accepted what they still boycott and butthead.
I think They are childless behavior!
Barry, "D" seem are still ruded. Do not worry about them.
Hi Deaf Pixie. Thank you for your comment. The interview with Today's Show said that she was born severally deaf. Not hard of hearing.
ReplyDeleteI saw that video when I was rested at the cabin after 4 hours difficult level of hiking on Blood Mountain in Chattahoochee National Forest last week . I read few nasty comments from "D" then ignore rest of negatives comments. I love hilarious comment someone posted , "Burn all the Justin Bieber CD" It laugh me so hard. Go Girl.
ReplyDeletelavender16 aka known defunct bgmaron8
If the young woman was not able to hear her own voice for the first 29 years of her life, it is because she has a severe to profound hearing loss like mine. Hearing aids with earmolds produce a good amount of occlusion in the ears (a form of blockage, like the earplugs hearing ppl wear to block out snoring or extremely loud noise), making it difficult to hear one's own voice clearly. But the hearing aids she wore before the Esteem didn't prevent her from being able to hear other sounds and possibly others' speech, and speech therapy as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's possible to pick up an accent and sound like any other hearing person, with enough diligent speech therapy and lipreading at an early age, even though she can't hear her own voice. I know, I did.
Golly, an implanted hearing aid without that friggin' earmold feel. Must feel great...and sound a helluva lot better because she can finally hear her own voice.
Oh, and good for Sarah for what she believed to be a good choice for HERSELF.
Ann_C
It's a middle ear implant and gives more natural hearing than a CI.
ReplyDeleteYea, pretty astounding to see the video go viral. It shows that society sees hearing as one of the critical senses. Like Helen Keller said, Blindness separates us from things but deafness separates us from people.
There's no question that many deaf are happy with who they are, they would rather be deaf since it is all they know. However, respecting others wish to gain hearing via devices is lacking among the extreme D folks.
Cool and you can take a shower or bath with it on, too, and not worry.
ReplyDeleteCandy, true. It's one thing knowing what sound sounds like than not ever hear what sound sounds like. It's all they know. Haters gonna hate no matter what. Kudos to Sarah and her successful Esteem implantable hearing aid.
Very touche. I am just enjoy watching individually who inspired me. It has nothing to do being Deaf or Hard of Hearing. It's the person who desired to improvement themselves. I am independent person who doesn't involves in big 'D' or Deafhood organization. I clap this girl who share her experience with us. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteJust made it to CNN now
ReplyDeleteCNN Story
ReplyDeleteFirst, I loved this woman's expression of emotion and gratitude to be able to hear for the first time! I can imagine how overwhelming it must have been for her. I wish her all the best! Such a wonderful and brave soul!
ReplyDeleteRegarding your vlog, you made many valid points, and I agree totally! However, I noticed a lot of the negative comments towards this woman are also by hearing people; they just can't believe that a deaf woman can speak that well. I see more of those comments than those from Deaf people. I did post something addressing that; I personally know about 2 or 3 severely deaf people who speak perfectly; you'd never know they were deaf. I speak well myself, but have a slight accent/imperfection. You raised some really valid points, and I hope Deaf people take your words to heart and think about this; being negative and disrespectful towards another person's choices will not win them brownie points and more "Deaf Recruits" to exclusive club of the Deaf Community. BTW, I'm deaf, wear a hearing aid and CI, speak well and use ASL. I'm also a deaf ed teacher in a deaf school, and a strong supporter of bilingualism.
If the video shows anything, it shows us all that mainstream believes deafness is not preferable to hearing, and here we saw an prime example of someone deaf near all her life rejoicing in some hearing.
ReplyDeleteBad news for the deaf purists who have obviously and totally failed in the awareness areas. You don't have to read between any lines to realise there are next to no people who think deafness is all that positive. This I think is the real reason why the video has received much support, it means pro-deaf lobbies are up against it and not getting their messages through even with law backing.
It is what people THINK and they think, great... one less deafie... inaccurate as that belief is.