AFA's Demands. EHDI's Response.

One other letter was brought to my attention just now and due to the nature of recent debates on AFA (Audism Free America) and EHDI (Early Hearing Detection & Intervention) I thought I'd share this one with you. This one was written some time in Janyary 2012 and is older than the earlier one I posted. That is what makes it even more interesting. Before I published this one I asked Karl White for permission to share it with you and he did not have a problem with that.

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Dear AFA Representatives:

Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2012. We are happy to meet with you to discuss ways of improving Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs. The National EHDI Meeting is a busy time for the three of us and there is not a time on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday when all three of us are available for an hour. Therefore we invite you to meet with us on Saturday afternoon from 4-5 PM. Given that the pre-sessions for the Meeting start on Sunday morning and there are several affiliated meetings on Saturday, many people are planning on arriving at the hotel on Saturday afternoon, so we thought that might be a convenient time. If it would be better for you to meet later Saturday evening (perhaps from 7:30-8:30 PM), we could also do that.

To make the meeting as productive as possible, I thought it would be useful to provide some initial feedback to your demands.

First, it is important to clarify that EHDI is not an organization or program within any Federal agency. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are federal agencies with the US Department of Health and Human Services that administer competitively award grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. A small part of each agency’s work is to promote Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs. Competitive awards have been made in the past by each agency to departments of health, universities, associations, and others to assist with the development, operation, and improvement of EHDI programs. Every state and territory has organized one or more program(s) to assist with the provision of newborn hearing screening, diagnosis, intervention, family support, and health care programs. Some of these programs are assisted with federal money, but most of the financial resources for these programs come from other sources (e.g., school districts, hospitals, insurance proceeds, private pay, charitable gifts, etc.). The people who are providing services to children and families in all of these areas work under a variety of circumstances -- including state employees, private practitioners, school districts, private organizations, volunteers, etc. NCHAM is one of the grantees and receives funding from MCHB to serve as the National Technical Assistance Resource Center for EHDI Programs.

Now that you understand that EHDI is not an organization or agency that establishes requirements for how various activities are done, and that the vast majority of funding for EHDI programs come from non-federal sources, you can see that we are not in a position to comply with your demands. I will however, comment briefly on each one (quoted below from your letter) to begin a conversation of how we might be able to work cooperatively to continue to improve EHDI programs.

Demand #1: Equitable funding. AFA calls upon EHDI, CDC, NIH, and US Dept of Education to address the historical and contemporary inequality of funding by increasing funds for bilingual (ASL and English) materials, early educational programs, Deaf mentoring programs, and services to parents. AFA cannot condone funding of any oral/aural only program as in compliance with a Deaf child’s human right to sign language, and governmental bodies such as EHDI that have professed a mission of ‘appropriate’ intervention services have, in practice, promoted services which focus almost exclusively on speech, medical and audiological services. Equitable funding should be transparent. (Relates, in part, to EHDI goal #3. Please note also that nowhere in the 2012 Conference is there a presentation which has ASL in the title).

Funding administered by MCHB and CDC is competitively awarded based on federal procurement regulations and Congressional direction. All funding opportunities are announced in advance through established sources such as www.grants.gov. Proposals from AFA or any other organization that meets the eligibility requirements for the various funding programs and is interested in improving EHDI programs are accepted. All proposals are objectively evaluated by a panel of experts who affirm they do not have any conflict of interest with the applicant.. Please note that Congress limits the authority of CDC for funding agreements for State agencies. Almost all federal funding that has been focused on improving EHDI programs over the past 10 years has gone to State Departments of Health or Universities and I know of no grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts from the MCHB or CDC EHDI programs that have gone to support an "oral/aural-only program." With respect to your claim that there are no presentations at the 2012 National Meeting with ASL in the title, please note the following sessions:

Topical Session 4: Jeffersonian Room: 'Massachusetts Family Sign Language Program: A Model for Effective Family-Centered Sign Language Instruction'

Topical Session 6: Frisco Room, 'Spoken English and American Sign Language: The Best of Both Worlds.'

More importantly however, almost all of the break-out sessions are organized based on proposals for abstracts submitted by people who plan to attend the conference. If you think there should be more sessions about ASL in the future, it would be good for you to encourage people to submit such proposals. All proposals are reviewed by a committee of experts (including people from the Deaf community) and approximately 85% of submitted proposals were accepted this year.

Demand #2: Early Healthy Deaf Identification. AFA calls upon EHDI to shift its approach to Deaf infants and their families from a pathological/medical bias to a positive/culturally-additive model in identification. To ensure this, parents need to be informed at the time of identification that American Sign Language is a linguistic human right for a Deaf child and Deaf/ASL early service providers are trained to work with them. In addition, EHDI should implement the labeling/way of thinking that was published in EHDI's 2011 Resource book in the chapter on Partnerships with the Deaf Community. (Relates to EHDI’s overall mission as well as Goals #2 and #3).

As noted above, there is no central control of the EHDI programs that are operated by states and territories, nor of the hospitals, health care providers, and schools that provide services to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. MCHB, CDC, and NCHAM have all worked to encourage all programs and people involved in EHDI to ensure that families are provided with complete and objective information, that family choice is supported, and that all services are provided in a way that is culturally appropriate and respectful. I agree that every family with a child who is deaf or hard of hearing should know that ASL is an appropriate option for communicating with their child. EHDI programs have been and will continue to be encouraged to make such information available to families.

Dedmand #3: Stakeholders in Leadership Positions. AFA calls upon EHDI to hire Deaf people who use and support ASL/Deaf Culture in leadership roles at national and state levels. (Relates to EHDI’s National Goal #7)

I believe both MCHB and CDC will continue to encourage all programs who receive competitively awarded federal funding to make concerted efforts to hire qualified Deaf people who use and support ASL/Deaf Culture and others who have disabilities or who come from typically under-represented minorities. This has been the case in the past and will continue to be the case in the future.

Demand #4: Full Disclosure. Audiologists should be required to explain the four international documents and their positions on the language and cultural rights of Deaf people. Also, they need to explain the recalls (both voluntary and involuntary) and risks associated with cochlear implants and Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) programs. (Relates to EHDI’s National Goal #5)

Most audiologists who do diagnoses for infants and young children do not work for either the federal government or for state-based EHDI programs. Thus, it is impossible to mandate what they say or do not say to parents. I agree with you however, that all health-care providers who work with families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing should provide families with complete, objective, and relevant information that will help the family make informed decisions about the care and education of their child. State-based EHDI programs are in a position to educate health care providers and to encourage them to provide appropriate information. I hope your organization will work with state-based EHDI programs to help them understand what kind of information is needed by parents. Please understand that Federal agencies may not impose additional administrative requirements except those that have been codified in regulations published in the Federal Register or are provided in authorized Congressional language.

Demand #5: Confidential Information and Genetic Research. AFA calls upon EHDI to guarantee that information about Deaf children and their families will not be used for collecting genetic information beyond consults with the families. EHDI will not support financially nor in terms of information sharing any research related to genetic engineering. (Relates to EHDI’s National Goal #6).

To the best of my knowledge, the MCHB and CDC programs that are supporting EHDI initiatives have never collected genetic information about children who are deaf or hard of hearing. All grantees must comply with all federal and state laws and privacy regulations dictated by HIPAA, FERPA and IDEA.

It is possible that the proceeding information will make a face-to-face meeting unnecessary. But, if you would still like to meet, and can do so on Saturday afternoon or evening, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can secure a room and arrange for an interpreter. We hope you are planning to participate in the 2012 National EHDI meeting so we can all work together to continue to improve EHDI programs.

Sincerely,

Karl White

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Now this begs the question. Did AFA understand Karl's letter from January? If they did, why then did they stage a protest rally at EHDI's conference in St. Louis?

And since it happened I am left with no option but to wonder if these AFA leaders were scholarly intelligent enough to understand his letter. To be honest with you I have doubts about that and I meant no offense to anybody. However based on what Karl White tried to explain in that letter I just can not envision a protest rally happening afterwards.

There seem to be only two remaining possible explanations left. One, they didn't understand the letter so they rallied a protest anyway. Two, they understood the letter but did not know how else to contribute so they rallied a protest anyway.

Personally, I have known these AFA leaders for close to four years now. Each time I tried discuss various matters with them they would avoid it at all cost. They booted me out of DBC because I was a natural strategist and a critic. They walked out of DeafVideo.tv because they could not tolerate people who saw things differently. They walked out of DeafRead.com because they didn't like the openness of dialogues that took place there. Come to think of it, these AFA leaders has refused to debate directly with many of us. Instead they would run into their own blog sites, which gave them the desired control, allowing for statements that favored their view and blocking statements that didn't.

They're using the same tactics here with EHDI by protesting around the buildings and refusing to participate as a registered agent. The truth seem to boil down to their deficiencies in understanding and using academic languages rather than using their social language, that of protesting.

Think about it, people with academic language deficiencies relies heavily on their social language, that of protesting. Is it the reason why AFA leaders were afraid of participating in these EHDI meetings? Your thoughts on that?

Blacks, Gays, Women's Rights. Deaf Rights?

I have been observing some of the 'Deaf' rights movement for the past several years and I had to wonder if they really knew what they were doing. They kept comparing their movement with black movement, gay movement, women movement and such. Oftentimes they would make reference to civil rights leaders such as MLK Jr. and such.

Well, comparing us to the blacks, gays and women's civil movement is NOT a valid notion and I'll tell you why. People in this world will NEVER grasp the concept for wanting to stay 'disabled', especially in the light of modern technologies we have today. They can not turn a black guy into a white guy so they rallied for their rights. I don't agree with gay lifestyle and practices but apparently they could not undo a gay person and turn him into a straight person. So, naturally they rallied for their rights. They can't undo a woman and turn her into a male so they rallied for their rights. They could not turn Native Americans into White Europeans so they rallied for their rights. But what do we do now that they can help a deaf person hear sounds? Rally for our rights to stay disabled? That will NEVER make sense to the world no matter how hard the deafies fight them. They are waging a battle that simply can not be won.

Furthermore... these civil rights movement fought for new ideas and new changes. They wanted to rid themselves of old world and old theories. The movement to retain the old world and old theories belonged to the Kings and Queens. It belonged to white supremacist who wanted to enslave the blacks. It belonged to men who wanted to control women. It belonged to white Europeans who wanted to control the Native Americans. The list goes on and on.

Now, if you think about it... those who tried to cling onto the old world have ALWAYS failed. Exactly what is it that some of you were trying to do these days? Some of you are fighting to keep the old world and old theories. Some of you are fighting to keep your century old culture and language. Now, kindly tell me the truth. Which movement is actually fighting for new ideas and changes? You guessed it. Organizations like AG Bell, EHDI, Hands & Voices, and such. These movement are actually comparable to some of the prominent civil rights activists who sought after new world and new ideas. To fight for old world and old ideas parallels with the likes of Kings and Queens, white supremacists, and men who controlled their women. And YES! Deafies who wanted control over deaf children. Think about it.

Before you compare yourself with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the likes, you are going to have to constantly demonstrate new ideas and promote new changes. It will require you to move away from old world and old ideas. It's clearly not happening with the big "D" society. Movements that are pushing for new ideas and new changes are AG Bell, EHDI, Hands & Voices, and numerous others. It's okay if you don't want new ideas and new changes but it'll also mean a demise of your society. I don't have to remind you of what the history will teach you.

Oh Really? (for The Deaf Edge)

Instead of leaving a comment under your recent blog I thought I'd respond via my own blog. One reason is because I know you do not like me. This much is evident every where. For as long as I could remember you, dating back to at least four years ago, you have spoken ill of me numerous times. One source told me you had a healthy disdain for smart men. Go figure. Not long ago somebody shared a link with me showing your conversation with Ridor9th in a closed thread, whining about me and my presence in the v/blog sphere. You told him that I was nobody. If you really believed that I was nobody then why bother mentioning me every where?

The real reason you don't like me is because you are intimidated by my debating skills. Forgive me for saying so but it's been quite easy to read and detect your fears. You tried vlogging at DVTV but your vlogs could never seem to hold its own grounds. But then who gives? People saw you for who you were and that in itself spoke in volumes. If I was nobody, as you claimed then my v/blogs would not have amounted to anything. Mind you, credibility is not something you earn in a classroom setting where you seem to spend most of your time. Credibility is something you earn by being amongst the people. A classroom means exactly that, a confined room therefore only the people in that room will know who you are. You will only know what a classroom might have to teach you. Go figure.

The real purpose of this blog is to debunk some of the myths you managed to spew on EHDI and Karl White. Call it a bunker bomb if you like... the debunking of your myths.

First, I agree with you on strategic mistakes made by AFA when they appeared at a local CI clinic and two oral schools when the school children were still there. Thank you for acknowledging this much. You have the right to support AFA and their rally at EHDI conference. However you're turning a blind eyes on a couple of things here. Your blog clearly demonstrated denial on your part. Here is why I said that.

In your blog you gave Karl White way too much power and credit. You kept noting his vested interests and benefit as the ultimate sin. This is a laughable notion of yours. Everybody in the professional field has their own vested interest and hope to benefit from them. You are no different. You are one of these professionals who have vested interest in something and you hope to benefit from it as well. How are you any different than Karl White? The real reason you are disappointed with Karl White and EHDI is because you are envious of their demographic advantages. They represent a very large group of people who have vested interest on deafness. Being envious is probably the least of your sin but it does not give you the right to demean or belittle them and the larger deaf (non signing) community they represent.

It was quite lame for you to lay the blame on Karl White and EHDI because they were heavily supported by Federal funds. Who are you to talk about heavy Federal funds knowingly how much Federal funds we (deaf and signing community) received through the years. I do not need to remind you of a research that was presented at Wisconsin's legislative floor from several years when they disclosed how much the government spent on a single deaf/signing person in a lifetime. An average of one whopping million dollars per deaf person's lifetime. Talk about medical services, interpreting costs, deaf education (cost of these deaf school facilities, staff, resources) as well as vocational rehabilitation, Gallaudet University, post-education costs, social security income and/or Social Securuty Disability Income, medicaid and medicares, welfare programs. The list goes on and on. Try and calculate the total amount of money we (deafies) received from the government. Compare that with what the government has given EHDI to date.

Karl White did not refuse the "D" deaf people stakeholders' participation as you tried to put it. That was untrue. There are deaf stakeholders in EHDI. If you didn't know that then I'm going to have to ask you why you didn't know. I thought research was your specialty. However you got one thing right. You said "refusing the Deaf stakeholders' participation in the issue network fully. That's right. Nobody is entitled to participate 'fully' since nobody is everything. EHDI is filled with specialists who are limited to their own professions. That is the way it works. You are a specialist yourself so surely you know I would not trust you on everything. I'd only trust you based on what you know, as in a specialist because after all you went to school to become a specialist. EHDI is full of specialists like you. This does mean you're going to have to learn to trust other specialists who are professionals in their own rights. I mean, common sense prevails here. Full participation? My eye....

You kept on referring to Karl White and his oral extremists as the perpetrator of public and non-profit administration field. Kindly tell me how different it might be when we look at you as the radical big "D" militant extremists who perpetuates deaf schools and their respective outreach departments? If you think about it, you are no different than them. You all have vested interest in your fields, all the same. The goal is the same... to benefit from it.

You claimed that there were only seven (7) registered ASL/Deaf centered presentations at EHDI. Just yesterday Karl White sent me a hard copy of registered ASL/Bilingualism presenters. The number was twenty-seven (27). And then I noted your choice of word, referring to the ASL/Deaf centric presenters. You see the problem here. You were looking for Deaf centered presenters. You are cherry-picking here, dismissing the rest of the ASL/Bilingualism presenters who were not Deaf centered. Now whose problem is that? Ours? Or is it pretty much your own. You decide what your standards are just like the rest of us will decide what we want our standards to be. I am content with ASL/Bilingualism presenters as long as they promte ASL/Bilingualism. But you? No. You wanted them to be Deaf centered presenters. A tad bit more integrity coming from you would be appreciated. There were twenty-seven ASL/Bilingualism presenters at EHDI conference. Not seven. Twenty-seven presenters out of over 120 presenters is a darn good figure, especially after the fact that we (signing community) only amount to less than 1% of the deaf population in America.

Now, whatever happen to your sense of appreciation? Didn't your parent teach you to appreciate little things? I sure hope they did.

I'd suggest that you contact Karl White if you're interested in securing a hard copy of registered presenters. I have my own copy here in front of me on my desk. I am not sure you would have the courage to ask Karl especially after making numerous ill statements towards him. Good luck with that.

Furthermore, you were aware of Karl White's email dated on March 1st, 2012. The letter was addressed to over 9oo EHDI participants. The letter ended up in numerous Facebook walls including this closed 'Deaf Community Action' group, which I believe you are part of. In that letter Karl mentioned his desire to share EHDI's stakes with Deaf people as well as AFA and DBC. He was open to the idea but yet what did you and AFA do? You continued to spread the lie. You continued to mislead numerous deaf people who didn't have appropriate education to know whether you were telling the truth or not. I saw how these people were manipulated in some of the rallies. They did not know any better but yet AFA leaders manipulated them and turned them into a group of angry people so that there would be bodies to count at their rallies.

Let's talk about imbalances in EHDI. It is supposed to be imbalanced. It's a reflection of deaf people as whole. Most of the deaf people out there simply do not sign. Gallaudet University's very own research confirmed this. There are millions of deaf people in America but yet Gallaudet University could only lay their fingers on between 300,000 to 400,000 signers in America. EHDI's structure reflected exactly that. EHDI is being realistic here. You are not.

If you still really believe in staging a massive protest then kindly address the matter with the appropriate person. The person you really need to talk to is God, Himself. Tell Him you're unhappy with the fact that he did not turn every deaf people into profoundly deaf people. Tell Him you're disappointed with him for creating hard of hearing people as well as people with moderate hearing losses. Tell Him you are sorely disappointed with him for creating inventors who invented all these technologies. Tell Him you are unhappy with people's variable opinions and views. Tell Him you hate independent thinkers.

And lastly, you might find this interesting. Karl White corrected me on something I said in my recent blog. I'm going to copy and paste it here. It's going to prove how wrong you were.

----Karl quoted----

In fact, about the only thing I disagreed with on your blog was the statement that:

"If I was in charge of EHDI and if I was so tired and sick of these ranting protesters who didn't know how to register themselves into meetings, I'd let them continue what they were doing as long as they continue to frighten the parents of deaf children. This would only work to EHDI's advantage."

I think I know what you meant, and I agree with the intent of what I think you meant. The reason I disagree with what you said is that we really do need the help of everyone to improve EHDI programs. So, what would really "work to EHDI's advantage" is if the protesters would decide to work together with the state-based EHDI Programs in a respectful way to educate parents of newly identified deaf children about services and options, and then work respectfully to help parents get the best services possible for whatever they choose. By ranting, bullying, threatening and disturbing, they only interfere with the process and make it more difficult for EHDI programs to help parents. That is sad.

----end quote----

Now kindly tell me what part you didn't understand. Better yet, explain it to God. And I'll apologize in advance if you didn't believe in God. If you didn't then it might explain why you're without logic.

AFA = American Failures Association

It was brought to my attention that 'Aufism Free America' was in fact a hideous mask, to supposedly mean 'American Failures Association. In short, if you feel that you have failed as a deaf person then you are entitled to register with American Failures Association who will then assist you in staging anger-based rallies against those who they believe were responsible for your failures.

Contact AFA for more information

AFA Strengthens EHDI

After watching some of the recent videos released by AFA (Aufism Free America) seen here, it was not difficult to see how they actually helped EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) organization. The aggressive behaviors demonstrated in these videos will only drive parents of deaf children further away from the signing community. Don't mark my words. Watch these videos carefully and observe body languages of parents and professionals. You will notice how frightened they were by sudden and unexpected arrival of protesting group. Talk about lack of manners. This is embarrassing.

Speaking of deaf culture... is it culturally appropriate in the deaf community to drop in at specific places without making a formal appointment beforehand? Is it culturally appropriate in the deaf community to invite themselves to certain places where they were not initially invited to? Is it culturally appropriately for them to go about and gawk at other people's premises to see what worldly possession they might have? Is it because these people grew up poor, unprivileged and without manners? Without ethics? Are they envious and angry at wealthy and successful organizations out there because they have failed miserably with their own failing organizations?

The list goes on and on. I could write a book about why and how these people became angry and disoriented but I won't. These people are the living proof of what is wrong with the culturally big "D" signing community. Study them carefully and you'll understand why they are like that.

More importantly, these angry group of reckless people are in fact helping EHDI. Someone posted this embarrassing video on Facebook and that caught my attention. She said 'EHDI should slam AFA with restraining order to stay out'. I asked her why she thought EHDI would do something like that if these angry group of radical big "D" people were actually helping EHDI and their cause by driving parents of deaf children further away from the signing community? Why would EHDI even bother with that and try to hide the things that were so ridiculously stupid and embarrassing, in name of sign language? If I was in charge of EHDI and if I was so tired and sick of these ranting protesters who didn't know how to register themselves into meetings, I'd let them continue what they were doing as long as they continue to frighten the parents of deaf children. This would only work to EHDI's advantage.

And lastly, it's the signing community's own fault. Many of you tolerated AFA's behavior for way too long, thinking they were harmless rallies. Well, it's coming to a point where you just won't be able to reverse the destructive trends. By sitting back these AFA people are going to destroy what we all loved and treasured. The deaf community as we know it will never be the same, ever again. You just watch. This time around you can mark my words.

Turning A Blind Eye on Karl White's Letter

Call it stinky politics. I have here with me a piece of hard evidences (a smoking gun in fact!) showing that some of you knew of this nice letter prepared by Karl White in advance of the EHDI conference in St. Louis. This letter was circulated in a closed "Deaf Community Action" group on Facebook, which some of you (big "D" radical militants) belong to. But yet you decided to turn a blind eye on it. And worse yet, said nothing.

Why? Because you didn't want the world to know the ultimate truth. For the whole world to know it would have watered down the fire you've been building to date. You wanted to paint a ugly picture of EHDI and Karl White. You wanted to discredit them at all cost. You kept forgetting how the truth would always prevail like it has just now. Here goes.

----Letter posted in closed 'Deaf Community Action' group on Facebook----

From: NCHAM [mailto:xxxx@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 12:41 PM
Subject: Possibility of Demonstrations at St Louis EHDI Meeting

In just a couple of days we will all be meeting in St. Louis for the 11th Annual National EHDI Meeting. You may have heard that people from Audism Free America, the Deaf Bilingual Coalition, and Deaf Rally 2012 will be gathering near the St. Louis Union Station Marriott to protest what they don’t like about EHDI programs during the time we will be meeting to discuss how to improve EHDI programs. As long as they do not disrupt or interfere with the activities of the EDHI Meeting, what they are doing is completely legal and appropriate — and I think we should all support their right to do it. In fact EHDI will be improved if we know and understand their concerns. It would be even better if they would register for the Meeting and join the discussion, because EHDI will be stronger if we have all the stakeholders at the table and everyone is working together to make EHDI programs better. Even though they have chosen not to do that, it is important that we all treat one another respectfully. Everyone has valuable information to offer.

You should know that some of what has been posted on their websites, blogs, and Facebook pages has been angry and, as of late, even threatening. Because of those statements, some people who are registered for the EHDI Meeting have asked me if I think it will be safe to attend. My answer is that we are doing everything possible to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort. With assistance by experts on meeting security, the organizers have developed a detailed response plan for various potential disruptions. The plan has been finalized with input from the staff and security department at the Union Station Marriott and the St. Louis Police Department.

It is sad that we need to spend our time and efforts dealing with the possibility that a few people might act in ways that are disruptive and disrespectful. At the same time, we should always remember that it wasn’t very long ago, and in some cases is still true today, that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have not had equal access, equal opportunity, or equal consideration in so many different areas. EHDI programs have the opportunity to contribute to positive change in that area and everyone’s help is needed to accomplish that goal

The EHDI Meeting attendees will be the only group in the hotel from March 4-6. Because the hotel is private property, people who are not registered for the EHDI meeting will not be allowed in any of the hotel’s meeting space during this time. To help ensure the safety and well-being of all Meeting participants, please wear your name badge at all times. Please be responsive to and understanding of the extra hotel security staff and police who will be onsite during the meeting. Finally, if you notice anything that is suspicious or disruptive, please immediately inform one of the meeting staff members (who will be wearing black polo shirts with an EHDI Meeting logo and will have a name badge with a ribbon that says STAFF). Do not try to intervene yourself.

I am eagerly looking forward to the EHDI Meeting and believe it will be the best meeting we have ever had.

Best Wishes,
Karl White

----End Quote----

You see... Karl clearly said he does not mind if AFA & DBC wanted to protest as long as they do not disrupt or interfere with the activities of the EDHI meetings. He also said that what they were doing was completely legal and appropriate. He went even further and encouraged his people to support their right to do it. And he said these things in writing long before the protest in St. Louis took place.

In this letter Karl wanted to know and understand their concerns because he figured EHDI would be benefit if they understood their concerns. He was hoping that these protestors would register for the meeting and join the discussions. He spoke of sharing EHDI stakes with them. He recognized that they have chosen not to do that but yet he asked his people to treat one another respectfully.

It even gets better! In that letter Karl asked his people to recognize and always remember the fact that it was not very long ago, and in some cases is still true today, that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have not had equal access, equal opportunity, or equal consideration in so many different areas. He made one thing clear. Everybody's help is needed to accomplish the goal.

Surprised? Don't be. On several occasions I've had the privilege of talking with Karl White, personally. As I got to know him I saw him as one of the most generous and warm individual I've known in my time.

Instead, you ought to be surprised at those extremist big "D" militants for hiding this important letter. They actually hid the letter and kept it in the dark, away from the sign language community so that they are able to continue stirring the base with hope to build further anger. Does it remind you of something? It does for me. It reminded me of how deafhood people operated. It reminded me of how radical "D"eaf militants operated. They are more interested in stirring people's base and turning them into ineffective angry group of people who will accomplish nothing.

I have only few words for these angry "D" people. Shame on you.

EHDI Karl White's Position

So... what is Karl White's (Director of EHDI) position on the matter? According to this local St. Louis article seen here at StLToday.com Karl White made his position clear on where he stood. Read below.

----Quoted ----

Karl White, director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management at Utah State University, said EHDI participants recognize deafness as a culture that "doesn't need to be fixed." But he said EHDI programs make sure that parents of deaf children know their options, which might include cochlear implants.

----end quote----

You can't get any more simpler than that, I don't think.

Now, what part don't you understand? (asking the big "D" deaf militants) What were you rallying for? Help me understand something here. Don't tell me you're rallying because you believe that there is a conspiracy going on. You're going to have to do better than that.

Nano-sized "D" Movement Goes Undetected!

I turned on my radar system during the weekend, waiting to hear about this so-called rally / protest arranged by Deaf Bilingual Coalition / Aufism Free America / Deafhoodized people. The whole weekend I was waiting for a sign of life coming from this rally but saw absolutely nothing. Not a single blip! I nearly fell asleep because of the inactivity.

After the rally was over, a friend sent me a video link showing the rally / protest at EHDI's convention in St. Louis. Ahhh.... I said to myself, that explains! I thought I'd share it with you, seen here;

Take note of time slot 2:33 in the video. On the left side of the video you will see a classic demonstration of 'deaf power' gesture by a man in a yellow safety jacket. It appeared he was shouting while making the 'deaf power' gesture. It was clear that this hearing mother in a black jacket heard him. And he did so in public, on a public sidewalk. And yet the people around him thought it was a cool thing to do. Heck... such behavior is why parents of deaf children do not want their children to be around them or grow up to be like them, go around and holler in public with a hand on one ear and other hand in the air.

For those who made earlier claims that they were not going to shout at the rally. What do you have to say now? This video only covered 5 minutes of the rally and we already caught one classic example of senseless shouting. It makes you wonder how often they've been doing it all weekend long.

I could only count 49 people at the rally including the person that took this video. Oh all right... I'll throw in the Fox News guy and make it 50 for those unhappy campers. And then I had to ponder about it.

I looked back and remembered their first rally back in Milwaukee. These same people coordinated the rally, with my help, mind you. I was part of Deaf Bilingual Coalition because I supported bilingualism approach. However when I was part of their core team I saw what was rather radical militant deaf people (the so called pro-ASL power house extremists) wearing bilingualism mask. They were hijacking bilingualism with deep secrets to promote ASL as the preferred choice. They also had hidden agenda, that of promoting deafhood theory. It was shameful. Many of you remembered it. Anyway, this particular rally in Milwaukee attracted some where between 700 to 800 protesters. Upon seeing how many people were fooled by this bilingualism mask I started to blog about it and I did so frequently until everybody realized what kind of fakes they were.

And then these same people held a rally in Indiana shortly some time afterwards. Only 13 people showed up. It was a total embarrassment. These same people realized that their masks were no longer working. They had no choice but to restore transparency. They switched back to their true colors, that of pro-ASL and ASL powerhouse, in which they would promote ASL as the best option. Their original rally for bilingualism seem to have disappeared, if not entirely.

Having transparency in its rightful place it's not difficult to see why people no longer support their cause. Only 50 people showed up for this rally in 2012 compared to 700-800 they had four years ago. These same people continue to humiliate themselves in front of AG Bell and EHDI conventions. These people also rallied against various legislative bills in different States and they were unsuccessful. Unsuccessful because they didn't really understand the bills. They didn't know a good thing when they saw it. Unfortunately, the humiliation continues.

I hear these same people comparing their ASL movement with the likes of M.L King, Tea Party, George Washington, and such. This comparison notion is laugahable because these historic figures fought for something new. They stood up for new ideas. They stood up for innovations. They didn't fight for old ideas and old world. The old ideas and old worlds belonged to the Kings and Queens who wanted to control the people. The old ideas and old world belonged to the white extremists who wanted to enslave the blacks. The old ideas and old world belonged to the men who wanted to control women. The list goes on and on. These pro-ASL and ASL powerhouse extremists wanted to retain the old idea and hang into their old world by rejecting new ideas, new approaches and new technologies. Now kindly ask yourself the question. Which movement is comparable to historic M.L. King, George Washington and the likes? And which group of people are actually clinging onto old ideas and their old world? The sign language they use is not new. The deaf world they dwell in is not new. Go figure.

Who Is Being Delusional? Eh?

Greetings. I stumbled into Mishka's recent blog seen here. I had to chuckle at some of the hilarious and misleading statements and comments that were made under her blog. I meant no offense to anybody but kindly understand the irony here. Mishka along with some people accused Hear Indiana and AGBADHH for being delusional. However if you read carefully it's not difficult to see who is actually being delusional.

In Mishka's blog she quoted Noami Horton saying ‘When the kids don’t consider themselves deaf, the magic begins’. I don't know Noami Horton but according to Mishka she is a director of Hear Indiana.

And then Mishka bolted a damning question asking what Noami and others might be teaching the oral deaf children. I thought it was rather a hilarious question because it's not about teaching. It's about building a child’s confidence level and self esteem. It's all about making them confident about their own abilities regardless of their hearing losses.

When Noami Horton said “When the kids don’t consider themselves deaf, the magic begins” it does not necessarily mean the kids would actually believe that they were not medically deaf. Any parent in their right mind would never believe that either. Hearing parents do understand the difference between 'medically deaf' and 'considered deaf'. The real question here is why can't the big 'D' society seem to understand the difference? Noami did not say that the children would believe that they were no longer medically deaf. She only said 'when the kids no longer consider themselves deaf...'. The term 'CONSIDER' is the big word here.

To consider something is a personal right. It's a personal choice we all make for ourselves. What one might wish to consider himself or herself to be is none of people's business. One could consider anything regardless of their actual medical status. Take my 'I'm Deafless' v/blog as an example. I have never denied my deafness (a medical term) but yet because my deafness DID NOT rank as significant to me I just do not introduce myself as a deaf person. That was exactly what I meant by my deafless v/blog. Now if you think about it, Noami was trying to say the same thing.

And to be candor about it... to gain such confidence and self-esteem is not a form of pretending as Mishka tried to put it.

As for Indiana's recent legislative bill known as HB 1367 I made a decision to stay out of it by not v/blogging about it. I did so for two reasons. 1) To see who actually understood the bill and who didn't. In the past people would just flock over to my side and say they agreed with me. I'd wonder if they've actually read the bill and understood them or if they were just running to my side because they trusted my views. 2) To see if I'd still be blamed for the passage of a bill if it passes. And I was! Someone made a vlog and accused me for the success of the bill because I did not state my opposition of this bill and because I did not voice my support for those who opposed the bill. It goes to show how ridiculous big "D" deaf people are.

In closing, I’m glad the Indiana bill passed. I supported this bill but I've refrained from saying it until after the bill passed. Unfortunately, as it has been with numerous previous legislative bills that I've v/blogged about, numerous big "D" deaf people continued to misread and misunderstand the purposes and values of these legislative bills. From the look of it they were still trying to figure how to broaden their horizons. The bill in Indiana amounted to nothing more than 'check and balance' policy, an essential 'separation of powers' policy, which we have always enjoyed in this nation. Go figure.