Not A Leader?

Hmmm... I decided to v/blog on this subject. One of a known leader abruptly made a declaration that she is not a leader but a follower instead. Let's take a deep look at why she said it. The timing of her statement is so essential. She's the one that brought deafhood to America and developed an American version of deafhood by trying to interpret deaf journey for us with hope that we'd all agree with her journey. And apply them into our journey. That's where she went wrong and she realized it just now. Instead of owning up her own mistakes as a leader she sidestepped and said she was only following others. Shameful. Solid leaders do not do that. Solid leaders apologize for misleading their people. This one didn't.

ASL Reductionists!

Before you roll your eyes and spit out nasty words for me, take a deep breath and hear me out for few minutes.

Thanks to reductionists who manage to minimize ASL (American Sign Language) every time they tried to retrieve it. These are the same people that are constantly trying to discredit PSE and English with hope to give ASL the boost it desperately need.

Take a peek at this video done by David, known as deafchipmunk. He's one of the latest example of world class reductionist. In this particular video he struggled with himself, trying his hardest to belittle and degrade PSE with hope to promote ASL.

The irony is he also used PSE in that video. You see, he desperately tried to shoot down PSE as a lowly and filthy sign language that we should be ashamed of and yet in the same breath he used PSE in that video.

Oh, don't be confused as to why he's doing it. Many deaf professors and deaf-related service workers like him are doing the same thing because they seem to think that their career and employment would be jeopardized if ASL does not survive. They seem to feel the urge and need to promote ASL because they believe that without it they would be unemployed. They're doing it solely for economy reasons. This is something we could understand but lying about it isn't cool. It's even worse when they try to deceive others into believing that we all are signing in ASL, strictly ASL, without resorting to some of the values that are offered by PSE and English.

I've reached an important conclusion here. The role and theory of Holism and Reductionism have never been more important. If you claim to use ASL, strictly that then you are a reductionist. If you claim to use PSE, strictly that then you are a reductionist as well. If you claim to use Sign Exact English then you're a reductionist as well. However, if you embrace all of the above and use them freely then you're using what's known as holistic approach. My hat's off to those who embrace all the above, for their lives surely will becomes richer because of it.

My sincere sympathies goes to those reductionists who choose to limit themselves to one form of sign language. They seem to prefer an isolated world, that of closed society. It certainly is within their rights to choose that kind of life but it certainly is not for me and millions of other deaf people on the face of this earth.

Helping A Drowning Society

I've been doing some serious thinking for the past several weeks about the society that seem to be making the desperate gasping sound of a drowning community. One thing came to my mind, that of helping a drowning society and the dire consequences behind the noble effort to rescue them.

And why it's happening.

Many of you know I've been v/blogging on various topics for several years covering controversial topics that were important to the signing community. No doubt about it. My unique insights on different topics helped many people. And yet it also produced some enemies who simply hate the notion of being helped. They cry foul when they see a floating life saver tube being thrown their way because it was wrong for us to think or believe that they were incapable of swimming. The noble effort seem to insult them. Some gladly accepted the help and some simply refused, out of pride even if they were drowning.

Or perhaps it's a classic case of a sinking titanic ship whereas there were not enough emergency boats and life jackets for everybody? Where are the leaders when the society needed them? Are they in the hiding because they were ill-prepared when they built a deaf community (a titanic ship) without providing them with adequate safety and security measures (life jackets and boats)?

Surely, numerous deaf leaders back in the 1900's meant well when they envisioned and engineered a plan and called it a world of our own. Back then it sounded good to everybody. In the 1900's they started building this Titanic D Ship and gave it a name, that of ASL! The effort continued well into the 1980's before this renowned ice berg (technology and information age) floated into the course and caught the ship by surprise. The collision course delivered a huge dent and penetrated this Titanic D Ship and delivered large amount of gushing water into the ship until it could no longer stay afloat. Not a pretty sight. You know the rest of the story so I won't go there and paint the rest of the story for you.

The leaders led the society to believe that the Titanic D Ship was unsinkable and unbreakable. The people were led to believe that ASL was the key to their future and that they would receive the best of education and the best possible life if we solicited strictly in ASL and by attending deaf school establishments. Today we know better. Today we're seeing numerous deaf schools going down the tube. Medical technologies are making rapid progress these days and bringing forth great promises, some of which have been delivered. Because of that people started to wonder about this "dreamy" and "ideal" world they were promised by numerous deaf leaders.

This reminds me of a quote I created some time ago, "Disappointment is a result of unrealistic expectation".

Once you develop an unrealistic expectation over something you're in it for a huge disappointment. This is what happened to the deaf signing community when their leaders allowed for unrealistic expectations of what our world was going to be like in the future as if they posed some kind of supernatural power to know what the future would bring. It sure was a humbling experience for many of us who realized that we can not and will never be able to stop progress.

I've been around long enough to remember how highly visible and accessible numerous deaf leaders were. They were highly recognized for their work. It seem to be the opposite today. Many current deaf leaders are hiding in their offices, their homes and even garages, producing "busy" noises with hope to lead us to believe that they are very busy and occupied with something else that were very important.

The recent resignation at Deaf Bilingual Coalition is one of many examples. Occasionally these self proclaimed leaders would take a peek at the "Drowning Society" and each time they did they could not stomach the desperate gasping sounds and sights of a drowning community. They'd close their curtains again and try to keep their minds occupied with something else with hope that the problem would disappear on its own.

One other thing to discuss here. The technique and tactic of helping a drowning victim is not an easy task. It's generally know that when you try and help a drowning victim you're likely going to be drowned as well. The drowning victim has the tendency to panic and grab your body with all of his/her weight and pull you down. You simply would not have the necessary strength to carry the load and swim both parties out of the water.

I say this because each time we tried to help the victims that are drowning into the system we would receive some kind of hammer treatment by these extremists (deafhood)leaders. These are the same corrupted leaders who make a living selling Grand Tour tickets to this Titanic D Ship called ASL. This Titanic D Ship is so majestic that it even contain ASL courses in name of numerous Colleges / Universities / Schools, provides Deafhood Workshops, and recruit sponsor for this Deafhood Foundation, and wears the mask of Deaf Bilingual Coalition, and such.

These are the same group of leaders that control California Association of the Deaf and changed their by-laws to reflect deafhood instead of deaf. They also hold great amount of leverage and influence over deaf professionals who work for the State at these deaf schools. These people are currently trying to infiltrate Gallaudet University and National Association of the Deaf. To a degree they've been fairly successful at it. It would not surprise me if both entities fell victim to this Titanic D Ship in matter of time.

And ultimately, it's all done in the name of Deafhood Foundation. The longer we allow them to sell the tickets to this supposedly unsinkable and unbreakable D ship the more destructive it is going to be.

You can't say you've not been warned.

Sleeping Mode

Even though you are physically awake there is a high possibility that you are still in your sleeping mode. Here are some of the examples for you to consider. I've captioned the video so I do not need to elaborate my thoughts in writing. Enjoy this one and improve accordingly.

Update on Convo Relay & ASLRucks.net

I v/blogged on the subject recently therefore I felt the obligation to provide my viewers and readers with an update. As of today, November 15th, 2010 Convo Relay has decided to terminate their relationship with ASLRucks.net.

I know that certain people from ASLRucks.net are going to assume that I'm excited about the news. It's far from the truth. The truth is I'm saddened by the fact that ASLRocks.net did not and could not seem to step up to the plate and clean their house. The matter was beyond Convo Relay's control. I wrote to the CEO of Convo Relay and told him that I thought that ASLRucks.net would be worse off if it was not for Convo Relay. In short, I appreciated Convo Relay's presence in ASLRucks.net because it was the only incentive for them to get their act together and do everything they could to stop cyber-bullying. And because they could not deliver their relationship with Convo Relay has been severed.

I also know that certain people are going to blame me and several other individual for it but the hard reality is they only have themselves to blame. Convo Relay gave them plenty of opportunities to get their act together. I know Convo Relay meant well and they did everything in their power to try and correct the problem. Unfortunately it did not seem to work. The cyber-bullying continued to take place in face of all the warning signs. My greatest fear is being realized this morning. ASLrucks.net is going to be worse off. I hope I'm going to be wrong about it but ASLRucks.net is probably going to become worse than what it was previously. The incentive to behave and vlog responsibly is no longer there.

And I'd like to say something else about Convo Relay. I've spoken to numerous individuals who used Convo Relay in the past. They all had favorable and positive message about Convo Relay. I did not hear a single negative comment about their service. It was one reason why I've tried to preserve their reputation and strike a delicate balance in separating them from being part of cyber-bullying that took place at ASLRocks.net without damaging Convo Relay and the wonderful service they seem to provide. I have yet to check Convo Relay's service and will check them out soon, as a way of thanking them for their prompt action on this matter.

Thank you,
Barry Sewell

Deaf, World Class Whiners

Just wanted to point out the obvious for you.

Numerous so-called culturally and linguistically "D" deaf people are world class whiners.

Thanks to long historic line of Deaf Whiners, the deaf community is known as the society of world class whiners.

Mind you, whining is as contagious as our laughter and smile. When you laugh there is almost certain somebody nearby that's going to laugh as well for absolutely no reason at all. When you smile you will generate smiles on the faces of people that surrounds you. It's no different when you whine. It's so contagious.

There is also a famous saying that goes something like this... who you are depends on who you hang around with. One does not need to look very far to see this proof.

Thinking back and reflecting on my life experience in the deaf community I realized how often I have had to sit down and listen to all the whining done by the capital "D" society through the years. There is always a reason to whine about something. Or is there, really? Or is it a habit forming behavior where people feel the need to whine regardless of the good things that are happening?

I would like to cite a recent event. Amazingly some culturally and linguistically Deaf people found a reason to whine about The Extreme Makeover event at Oregon School for the Deaf. I thought it was a beautiful project that would enlighten our deaf education program but yet there were some of you who managed to find reasons to whine about it! Some of you lodged your complaints at facebook and whined about the promotion of hearing aids by this Extreme Makeover group.

Here it comes again, the same old tiresome sound of waaahhh waaahhh waaahhh. Did I say anything about it? No, not yet. I ignored the whining once more. I sort of expected it and asked myself, so what's new?

And finally yesterday my wife posted a video in her facebook. The video was done by Jubilee Project. She told me about it because she thought it was a beautiful story that promoted ASL. I took few minutes to watch it and smiled afterwards. I liked it and saw the bright side to it. I was never fooled by the notion that the actress might be deaf. As soon as the lady spelled 'deaf' in ASL I knew she was not deaf. But I didn't see a problem with that simply because the underlying message was more important than the details. They were promoting ASL at no cost to us.

And yet, did somebody whine about it? Unbelievably Yes!

By evening hours I saw the return of this whining society who found a reason to whine about the video. There was a blog done by Amy known as Deaf World As Eye See It.

I left a comment under her blog and stated my thoughts;

I could not help it but think about how our deaf community are perceived by this world as world class whiners after producing series of complaints.

FYI, acting means exactly that, a job of acting like somebody that you are not. Acting means pretty much anybody could try and act like somebody else that they are not. Otherwise it defeats the purpose of acting.

End quote.

This well known Deaf Whiner named Shel had this to say to me;

Barry, quit putting down the Deaf community and assuming how Hearing people would perceive us as Deaf people.

Would you have said Blacks were world class whiners when they went on the Civil Rights Movement? When Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus? Was she a world class whiner when she protested racism?

Were women world class whiners when they protested sexism and the prohibition against women voting?

Would you even dare call GLBT community world class whiners when they protest against heterosexism and homophobia?

Nosireebob, you would not, Barry! So kindly cut it out with us, the Deaf community, when it comes to audism!

Amy, pardon me for flaming Barry, but I have had it with his putting down the Deaf community.

End quote.

I responded;

Funny how you saw my comment as putting down the deaf community. I saw it as a form of encouragement for the deaf community to learn how to see bright side to everything. I saw that video and thought it was awesome because it had a bright side to it only to learn that there are people whining about it. Some people like yourself, perhaps, love to bring out the negativity in everything they touch or see. It’s a reflection of sad mentality. I’ve always saw bright side to everything that hearing people do therefore I’ve always thrived where ever I go. And because I see things differently you categorize it as putting deaf people down.

Would I have said blacks were world class whiners when they whined? Yes, if I was a black person I certainly would. Would I have called women world class whiners when they whined? Yes I would if I was a woman. Would I call GLBT community a world class whiners? Yes I would if I was gay. But I’m not black, woman and gay so I’ve not made such claim but if I was that then yes I would because I know there is bright side to everything and there are ways to educate people on these subjects in a positive way, something you seem to struggle with.

End quote.

My message to this so-called "D" society. Kindly remind yourself of how contagious whining is before you whine again. And more importantly, remind yourself of how ugly your "D" society would look every time you let out this waaahhh waaahhh waaahhh whine of yours.

A Special Inventor

This video is captioned so I won't write anything here. In the event you wish to leave a video comment please Click Here.