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.

Dismissal & Imposing by "D" Extremists

Greetings readers. It's been a long while since I've blogged on a subject. Two reasons. 1) The editors at DeafRead.com have been rejecting my blogs. Instead of publishing it on their main page they'd hide it in the extra page. I suspect that their editors do not like me and the views I bring to the table. It's becoming a waste of time for me to try and understand what they want to hear and what they don't. 2) My interest in blogging has faded considerably because I think that most people understand where I stand on various matters. No need to repeat myself senselessly.

However I ran into a friend's facebook post recently and saw this video by a man named Dean. I never saw this man before. Never heard of him either. I liked some of his basic points but then I noticed something typical about him. I thought I'd try and have some kind of discussion with him so I did. And I was right about him. Such character is so predictable! They are known as big "D" extremist who only knew how to do one thing.... and that is to dismiss others who saw things differently. They would go even further to impose their belief & philosophy upon others who saw things differently. In their ever so isolated world it's a one way street. I'm going to offer an actual example here.

Be sure to watch this video first if you have not already. And then read what was discussed in a friend's Facebook wall. This video is captioned for non-signers.

---- Dean quoted ----

Dean wrote to Karen (owner of the facebook post) - you have every rights to vent. I am right behind you. I was there... but today we are under a tough situation. And, AM is just moving us away from the goal. I feel that she was aiming to do that. And, she succeed. It makes ZERO sense to me why she would attack little things when things are close to schedule.

For example, AFA protect happened. AM attacked Dave, ESAD Page and me. I lost focus on that. At the same time, the new board and recent developemnt of Regional Representatives were created. When A deaf agency hired a hearing person. She attacked those not infavor of the hearing person. She attacked that. The goal and focus was lost and all the sour things happened.

When 4201 Protect started, she attacked the President. All focus was lost in our community. Leaders ignored her and let her just attack. This happens over and over and over... we almost lost 4201 but I'm glad the leaders include myself put that aside.

That is my owly concerns... she always shows up and divides our people and we lose focus. But, I do know the feeling that she was wrong. There is little to do about opinon vs opinion without valid facts. It seems to me she just wants us to bark up the wrong trees and lose our focus. That is what happens ALL the times when she attacks.

----- end quote ----

I saw Dean's message as an effort to encourage us to work together. And then I noticed how he'd see those who don't work together as some kind of traitor. Huh? I asked myself if he also meant those who saw things differently?

I left a comment for Karen.

----- I quoted ----

Hi Karen. This is what I posted under Dean's vlog; Hi Dean. It's nice meeting you. I totally agree with your statement here. Very important to work together, especially when we are being confronted by adversaries such as bullying. However you'll understand that not every deaf people would agree on everything. Like me, I don't necessarily agree with many things that are being promoted by radical & extremists big D deaf people. I honestly do have different views on many things but I've been called many nasty things by big D deaf people. In short, they are saying it is not okay to think differently. They want to turn our community into some kind of mass-conformists who will cease from becoming independent thinkers. To think for ourselves is turning into some kind of sin. This type of oppression is not helping your cause. I, for one love deaf schools but I've refrained from supporting this cause because I do not want to be seen around the extremists. And I know many others who felt the same thing. Instead of pointing fingers at specific individuals and blaming them for the distractions, this group of radical extremists ought to take a hard and long look at their own behaviors. They're actually driving prominent & potential leaders away. Take me as an example. I have extensive experience in politics but I'm determined not to work with the the extremists. Thanks for hearing me out.

---- end quote -----

Much to my delight, Dean came in and made a decision to talk to me.

---- Dean quoted ----

Barry, I saw the posting today. It's ok to agree to disagree. There are many levels of social justice in a system advocacy. I will like to share some but I borrowed it from technology world. lol.

1. Innovators
2. Neutral
3. Laggers

An innovator would want to focus on changing the world. the Laggers will rather stay behind in the old ways. Innovation can be good or bad. Those who are in middle are neutral.

There is nothing wrong with where you want to be as long as you are neutral. This is America. We live in a democrat society where the people run the system. One person can not run the whole system so that is why we have many people working together.

In this 3 group of voter in each election. Please keep in mind, not all people vote. Currently 48% of the people are voters.

1. New Idea
2. Neutral
3. Old Idea

Sometimes, new ideas do not help the people, and people fight to keep the old idea. Those two group try go grow up. They are not always radical & extremists. Most of the times, we need to listen to both sides and do what we think is best for our people and country. This is not a sin. The sin is when people lie to get what they want. We all need to figure the best for ourselves.

If we want to think that disagreeing is radical & extremists, then we need to think about these people Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B Anthony, Frederick Douglas, and many more people... do you really think they had a bad cause? At those times, when they were fighting for changes people actually were either against, supporting or neutral. This happens in our everyday life.

These people made the changes that we live today. But, there are also many changes that affect our lives in bad way too by other people in history. Thomas Jefferson supported slavery but he said that in 7 years they need to be freed. Even Adolf Hitler made changes that was in a bad way. Even IBM lost their whole name by letting Microsoft create a software for their computer and so on.

There are good and bad radical & extremists. We need all people working together. Those who are neutral are example of our former President James Monroe who was known as the great compromiser. He compromised what the Federalist (Alexander Hamilton and George Washinton) and the Democrats (Thomas Jefferson) were fighting over.

So, please don't become negative on either sides but listen and figure out what is good and needed. The future depends on all these things. Right now, deaf schools have 20% of the population. Mainstream is 80% of the population. And, I am seeing more and more deaf children with CI, hearing aids and etc... that can not speak and are left in a system without integration to communications. They go to school and home without any communication and they have no friends or learning opporunities in a fully integrated environment of communication.

I hope you will think of these children who need deaf schools but are stuck in an environment that segregated them from access to communication in mainstream schools. Seriously... i am seeing more and more of this.

---- end quote ----

Whew... that was quite a lengthy statement coming from him. I took it as an invitation to have a frank and open discussion with him so I gladly wrote back and accepted the invitation. I addressed the points he made in his comment.

---- I quoted ----

Dean, thanks for the lengthy response. Based on what little you just wrote, I'd like to say that I do agree with you on some fronts and I also disagree on some fronts. I appreciate your outline, that of innovators, neutral, laggers as well as new idea, neutral and old idea. However it’s not that simple as you made it sound.

Just because one is an innovator it does not mean they are right. It does not mean they have a proven theory. It does not mean we have to follow them or support them. And because one does not support or follow an innovator it does not mean they are neutral group of people. It does not mean they are laggers either. You see…. You just labeled them as ‘neutral’ and ‘laggers’ because they are not conformists… because they do not agree with you. I think you know better than to do something like this but yet for some reason you tried to dismiss those who actually have different view on things. Labeling them as neutral or laggers (and you might even consider them traitors) is not fair.

And again, an innovator is just that… nothing more. There is such thing as unsuccessful innovator. There are numerous factors and reasons why they do fail. I won’t go there since it’s going to generate an entirely new chapter. However, lack of insights from multiple points is one main reason.

An innovator does not always want to change the world. An innovator may try and create ways to maintain the old ways. I mean, look at yourself and the radical / extremists. What are they fighting for? They’re fighting to keep the deaf schools (old schools, mind you) and their language (our language isn’t new, mind you). So, you see, an innovator does not always want to change the world. Oftentimes they want to keep the old ways. You spoke of CI, and all the new technological changes… that’s changing the world and you’re fighting against it BECAUSE you are afraid of changes.

Don’t know if you know me as a vlogger but most people do. Everybody knows me as a controversial vlogger if not the most controversial one that is out there. And yet you gave an indication that I was on the neutral side. That statement was laughable. I know myself and I’m far from the neutral camp. Many will tell you that I’m not neutral on anything and I think I agree with them. And I most definitely am not a lagger. So what does that make me? An non-conformist. That’s what I am but yet you didn’t bother to mention this in your lengthy response. How come? You know we exist and yet you didn’t want to mention us.

Moving onto 3 group of voters in each election. You mentioned;
1. New Idea
2. Neutral
3. Old Idea

Surely you ought to know that new ideas oftentimes include old ideas but because old ideas might be unpopular they would come up with a new term and new image of something new which’s actually an old idea. This is done all the time. Most people don’t realize it but many things are being repeated. The history is repeating itself. So, don’t be fooled by new ideas. Secondly, neutral does not mean it lacks new idea or old idea. Oftentimes neutral is an action of promoting new idea or old idea. People don’t realize this but it happens all the time. People choose their neutral position as a way of re-positioning policies. Didn’t you know that? Old ideas are oftentimes new ideas. Sometimes policy makers know how unpopular new ideas are so they would try and paint the policy as the old policy when it actually changes most everything. Our government does this all the time but yet most people don’t realize this.

In essence, how we might vote depends largely on how we interpret old ideas and new ideas. Your view of new idea might be old to me. Your view of old idea might be new to me. Who are you to say that we all share the same view on old and new ideas? Who are you to decide what’s best for our people and our country? Who am I to decide what’s best for our people and our country? I mean, we simply can not possibly make ourselves larger than we really are. We can speak for ourselves but we can’t possibly speak for others. And that is what you and some of the extremists have been trying to do…. Imposing is what you all seem to do best. Imposing isn’t cool.

I find it quite comical when some of you tried to compare your cause with people like Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B Anthony, Frederick Douglas, and such. These people didn’t fight against medical innovations. These people didn’t fight against new ideas. They actually fought for new ideas and new changes. It’s the opposite of what you guys are doing. You guys are fighting to maintain the old world. The old world belonged to the Kings and Queens of Europe. The old world belonged to white supremacists who wanted to enslave black people. The old world belonged to men who wanted to keep women under theiur control. The list goes on and on. You can’t just compare your cause to theirs.

And lastly, I thought it was quite interesting when you asked me not to become negative on either side but listen and figure out what’s good and needed. Hmmm… does it not occur to you that what might be good and needed to you might not be good and needed to me and others? You spoke of the future, which depends on all these things. FYI, your view on future is not the same as mine. You see a worrisome future and I see a bright future. I am not concerned about having only 20% of the deaf children population at the deaf schools. I think it’s a reflection of healthy dosage of innovations. I think that 80% population of deaf children found in mainstreaming schools is a reflection of healthy dosage of innovations. I am not concerned when I see more and more deaf children with CI. Not concerned about them using hearing aids either. I think it’s great. It actually mean we still have our freedom to choose our options. You made a claim on how some of them would go to school and home without any communication… lacking friends or lacking learning opportunities. I agree that it’s happening but the factors are numerous. It’s not because of lack of ASL or lack of deaf school services. Mental health is the largest contributor to the problem here. Family value is one other main cause. Community ineffectiveness is one. I mean, the list goes on and on. Blaming the problem squarely on lack of ASL and deaf schools is not going to fly. The policy makers are not stupid. They have a complete team of researchers who compound all possible data together and make policy decisions. I mean, broaden up your horizon and learn accordingly.

And lastly, some of you seem to have selective hearings... (only a saying) choosing to ignore bullying when it was targeted towards deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people you didn't care for. And when an inside hit was made then I hear this outcry. I mean, how do you think it made you and others look? Take Aidan Mack as an example. She bullied many deaf, HH and hearing people but yet you never spoke out. And then, all of suddenly you spoke out as soon as she attacked your camp. What made you think we’re going to sympathize with you? I hope you understand what I’m seeing here.

---- end quote ----

And boy... he sounded as if he was pissed off, forgetting who initiated (started) the discussion between the two of us.

---- Dean quoted ----

I'm not going to spend hours debating your thoughts. You are entitled to your own opinion. But, I will like to discuss your accusation.

My respond was, "I am seeing more and more deaf children with CI, hearing aids and etc... that can not speak and are left in a system without integration to communications."

And your respond to my respond:

"changing the world and you’re fighting against it BECAUSE you are afraid of changes."

No where I said anything that where I stand in the issue. I gave a very surface answer. You gave an answer that you are confident that I am afraid of change. Bottom line, my answer does not even match your assumption. Therefore you gave a lie as in sin. That was not a very nice assumption.

To assume means to make an ass out of you and me. I do not want to do that to you. However, I am not insulting. I just want you to see how a bully works. My advise for you is that before you go against me about changes. Be sure you know where I actually stand. Focusing on ASL, is about changes too. No one wants to use ASL anymore. More and more hearing people want to use ASL today than before. That is a change. Focusing on speaking is about changes. Focusing on hearing is about changes. But, I can tell you one thing. The change that we all should be fighting is not about that. It's about respect. No where CI, Oralism, Hearing and etc is helping deaf respect eachother. The only place the respect will land is at ASL. Think about how many deaf people today use ASL and were raised to be oral. The percent always decreases as they go back to signing. But, their skills are very weak. They can not communicate effectively in ANY WAY! I am always embarrassed how my oral friends speak to hearing people. Including myself, I struggle on signing clearly because I was raised without ASL and thinking that ASL was a bad thing. Some people still carry that. I gave in a long time ago and realized that ASL is a language we should fight for a change for all of us then all other things will come in well.

People are going to become deaf whenever they get CI or not. They will still depend on ASL whenever they get CI or not. They still will lose their hearing whenever they get CI or not. These changes still lead many people to need ASL. And, taking away ASL from these children is not helping them integrate in the community.

Those who want to change are taking away ASL. And, seriously... tell me any people with CI who are hearing well with CI. I am friends with many CI users... who do not use ASL. They still misunderstand more than a deaf person with an interpreter. We should not ignore those facts that an interpreter is still needed.

Bottom line, my point still stands... we need ASL as foundation of our deaf education.

---- end quote ----

Apparently he had more to say so he made other comment following the earlier comment.

---- Dean quoted ----

But, I want to focus on the senate of Indiana right now... there is about 2 hours to go! This debate should not take place right now. I am not even in Indiana to help them... the hope and support needs to go to those leaders not between you and me.

I hope you can see what I mean here Bruce. Nice talking with you and hopefully we can see eye to eye somewhere. And, thank you for being a little more respectful than the other bullies out there.

---- end quote ----

I had to chuckle because he sounded so typical. I responded;

---- I quoted ----

LOL @ Dean. I don't see a Bruce in this thread. The name is Barry. Talking about being respectful, eh? Regardless, that was a nice effort on your part, to try and turn the table on me. FYI, it is quite typical coming from extremist big "D" people. You assumed a lot of things in your initial comment towards me and I didn't complain. I gladly discussed the points you made. And yet you didn't want to discuss the points I made? Instead, you resorted to what I'd call typical response by extremist big 'D" deaf people. Rather than discussing my points you resorted to mere excuses, labeling my points as assumptions... as if you didn't assume anything in your comment. This is comical (chuckling here on my end) but then it does not surprise me. This happens all the time. People like you run away from the table whenever I bring valid points to the table. Apparently you're no different.

---- end quote ----

I knew it right off the bat when I saw his video. I liked some of his message but yet I knew he was this typical radical extremist big "D" character who only knows how to dismiss those who see things differently. And then they LOVE to impose their own ideologies upon others who see things differently. They hate non-conformist people like myself. They hate people who think independently and differently. They are so predictable. What further proof do you need?

The Drive For Economic Power. Really?

It is high time I v/blogged on this subject. Earlier in 2011 I had the itch to respond to Ryan Comerson's video known as "VRS Our Economic Power?" but apparently the itch was not strong enough for me to respond until now. I've been observing recent developments such as 1) Sentences that were given to Yeh brothers. 2) The cheering of some people who were glad to see that the justice has been served for the Yehs. 3) Blame game that went into every imaginable directions. 4) Noticeable behavioral changes in VRS industries. 5) VRS Employees and VRS loyalists (users) are going out of their way to defend their employers and VRS service providers by trashing other VRS companies. 6) Conspiracies and accusations flew around the rooms through out the nation about the possibility of profiling and oppression against deaf VRS owners while hearing VRS owners got away with mere financial penalties.

The list goes on and on. And it is rapidly spiraling out of control. Out of control? You bet it is. I have read some of the latest blogs out there and saw some of the devastating trends. Some of the anonymous comments went so far to spill out somebody personal name and information and asked "what about this person who has done the same crime but has not been caught". Ugh, I said to myself. Well, if this person knows something about a specific person committing a crime then why has not it been reported to the FBI already? Why wait until now and spill the information in somebody's personal blog site? Does not this person realize that it's against the law, as in an accomplice, to be aware of a crime that was committed but yet did not report it?

And then I realized something recently. The Yeh brothers were one of the first people that were caught. And then the investigators along with the prosecutors eventually learned that it was not an isolated case. They learned about numerous other people and VRS industries who were doing the same thing. So, what did they do? Did they go after everybody and prosecuted them as criminals? No, they didn't. They made a strategic decision to turn Yeh brothers and their company along with sub-contractors and employees into a model of what will happen to you if you committed the same crime against FCC. They gave Yeh Brothers severe punishments and turned them into models of what will happen to you if you committed the same crime. The other way to put it is they have become scapegoats.

The Viable fiasco was picture-perfect for FBI, FCC and the Judicial system because numerous Viable's deaf employees were not savvy people. They were not business savvy people. They were not financial savvy people. Numerous of their employees have below than average English literacy skill. Many of them could not read and understand FCC regulations well enough to follow the rules, let alone defend themselves. That is why I said ASL failed and disintegrates in one of my older v/blog seen here at this link. I'll say this again for those who did not see my v/blog on this subject. ASL is convenient, faster and easier to use. That's true however it also has dire consequences. People become lazy and too comfortable with ASL and do not push themselves to excel secondary and primary language, that of English. This much is evident every where. Don't mark my words. Better yet, go out look for signing deaf people and make an effort to communicate with them. The more you meet the more you will realize how poorly they understand English language. Getting back to the point I was trying to make here... Viable was no different. The CEO was an immigrant from Taiwan. ASL was his second language and English became his third language. I know for a fact that John has never excelled English language to a level whereas he would be able to read and understand these FCC regulations. Neither did numerous of his employees who he depended on for ideas and advice.

Having said that, numerous Viable employees left behind hard evidences, for instance, paper notes, videos, email, and texts. It happened because they were their only source of communication. It was how they communicated. Now compare that with VRS companies run by hearing executives and employees. Do you think they would use the same communication techniques when they cheated the FCC? Evidently not. Some of them were caught with excessive billings but they had nobody to pin these evidences onto. So, about all FCC could do about it is to impose penalties and make these VRS companies pay the money back. Is that fair? You decide.

What is clear here is hearing executives and employees with different VRS companies got away, scot-free. The deaf executives and and employees did not. The reason is clear. They both use different method of communication. One method was detectable and the other was not.

I remember receiving a Christmas card from John Yeh from many years ago after he sold his older company and while he served as Trustee of Gallaudet University. In his Christmas card he wrote, 'How is you?'. I sat down, in great disbelief because he was a truly remarkable and successful man but yet his English was far from perfect. It told me one important thing that made all the difference for me. It told me that America was the land of free and the land of opportunities. But yet, such language deficiency is why he got into trouble with the law. I was going to make this point in my characteristic letter for Yeh brothers but I was told that I should not question the court's intelligence. About all I could tell the court was how great of a man he was and what he's done for me and the deaf community. Thinking back I wondered if it would have made any difference if the Judge understood the factors behind linguistic deficiencies. Would it have made any difference if the Judge realized why deaf executives and employees were caught, red-handed, and why the hearing executives and employees got away, for all the same crime that was done? I have to wonder.

I'd like to move onto the main topic of this v/blog, that of "VRS Our Economic Power" by Ryan Comerson, who made an excellent presentation. With respect to Mr. Ryan Comerson, I have never met him or spoken to him. I've never heard of him until he surfaced into vlog-sphere. He raised numerous valid points in his video however I respectfully disagreed with some of them. Is VRS industry the answer to our quest for economic power? The honest answer would be no. Look at Viable and numerous other VRS industries. They're struggling, financially and strategically to a point where nearly every one of them stooped down to an unimaginable level and cheated on FCC. If the economy power was really there then none of them would be using some kind of 'cheating tactics'. The cheating tactics did not have much to do with people's greed. It had more to do with keeping their companies afloat instead of sinking into red (bad debts). The Yeh brothers made it abundantly clear, numerous times, on how much money they actually made from Viable. They made less money than their interpreters did. They did not rake profits and took them home. Instead they reinvested into research and development. They reinvested into new technologies because they had to maintain competitive edge over other VRS companies who were probably cheating as well. And then some of them were caught. The differences were; Deaf executives and employees are going to prison because they depended on visual communication methods, which were highly detectable and collected as evidences while hearing executives and employees used invisible communication methods, that of oral communications via phones. Thus no hard evidences of personal wrong doings against hearing people.

And no, I'm not questioning the court's intelligence. I'm only sharing some really important factors here.

Is VRS our economic power? Unfortunately it didn't really exist in the first place. It was only an illusion. People hit the calculator and calculate the potentials and said wow... let's get into VRS industry and make our fortune. Everybody got into this dark room in search for several pans of delicious pies. Guess what? Only few found it and hung onto them. The rest of them stumbled upon each other and got hurt. And there was some cheating going on. Somebody pulled out a flashlight and caught a glimpse of who had the pies. And when everybody saw the spotlight they all went into the same direction. That's why you see people attacking Sorenson Communication. They wanted a piece of the pie too but the trouble is everybody want a piece of pie too. But if we think about it, there are not enough pies for everybody. So what do you do? Get out of the room for your own safety! The demographics of signing deaf population is very small and that's a fact.

Furthermore this so-called VRS economic power has become smaller and smaller in the recent years. FCC made some recent moves and cut the budget for VRS industry. In short, there are fewer pies and they're also smaller pies than what were originally out there in this dark room full of pioneers who didn't know what they were getting into.

Bottom line, do you really believe that these VRS industries would go to the trouble of cheating FCC if the economic power was really there. The answer is no. They cheated because they 'financially' had to. The cheated because the economic power was not there and because they were already financially committed. It's not something they could just walk away from and say, we can't afford it. To do so would be equivalent to financial suicide. In theory, do you accept death when you could no longer earn enough money to feed yourself? Have you ever experienced it? What if the field was full of hungry people competing for the same batch of food? Do you sit back and say 'dang it' and accept death or do you grab and pull something out to eat in order to survive, with hope that others will understand your desire to survive? Many business people have the same mentality when they committed a lot of time and money into a project only to realize that there are not enough pies for everybody. I know that it still does not make things right but that is what happens out there in this business and financial world. They are no different from a hungry man with a driving desire to live.

On a final note, I'd like to share something, a mere common senses, with you. So, where is our economic power, you ask? The answer lies within outside of your confines. By this I mean it's not uncommon to find deaf people trying to sell something, whether it be goods or services, to other deaf people. In essence they're circulating old money. Think about it. The same dollar probably passes around from one deaf person to another so many times. How do you expect to build economic power this way? You just can't. One does not build economic power by becoming employees either, due to nasty tax brackets. Instead we build economic power by building companies and making solid investment decisions. And more importantly, we build economic power by marketing our goods and services to the public at large. Forget deaf people. They carry same old money that you don't want. Forget VRS industry. It's a very competitive field and it's heavily regulated by FCC. Spell FCC and red-tapes in the same breath and you'll get the gist of it. Forget deaf education because nobody becomes rich from it. Forget ASL courses because you're making the colleges / universities richer. Both fields will not help and build economic power for our community. So what do you do?

Start thinking about developing technologies, services and goods for hearing consumers. That is when you'll begin to build economic power for deaf people and their communities. I, for one have never made a single pretty penny from deaf customer. I've never sold any kind of deaf-related goods or services to deaf people. The reason is simple. Their economy base is way too small. They carry old money. I don't want anything to do with their money because it won't get you very far in this world. I see all the same stuff at some being sold at these deaf expos, which is why I don't attend any more.

The point here is, people like Ryan Comerson are why some deaf people went into this dark room in search for several pans of pies and got hurt. They actually believed that VRS industry was our opportunity to build economic power. It never occurred to these people that there simply were not enough pies for everybody. I've had my fair share of opportunities to get into VRS industry and when an opportunity came up I declined because I knew there was not going to be enough room for everybody. Something also smelled funny. I figured it was going to evolve into a competitive cutthroat industry where only few giants would be able to survive. And I was right about that. But I never thought I would see it all come down to this nasty outcome.

Ryan, I appreciate the work that you've put forth into your presentation. They were sound presentation and quite logistic. However what it lacked was experience and expertise in business world and economics and marketing that goes with the territory. It was just not there. Business and marketing is clearly not your field and I meant no disrespect when I said it. I know you have much to offer and I look forward to your further videos in the future.

Our Embattled Leader, John TC Yeh

I've been meaning to v/blog on this subject for a while now but didn't until I was absolutely sure that the hearing date was set on the stone. Now that we're nearing upcoming sentence hearing for our embattled leader, John TC Yeh and his brother Joseph Yeh I decided to v/blog about it, to talk about my lifelong friend and mentor. Here's a story on how I met him 25 years ago and became friends. He was a personal friend as well as a mentor in the business field.

I've written a letter to the Judge asking for leniency if it was at all possible. I explained why and what he's done for me and the deaf community. It is also my hope that the deaf community will offer support for this embattled leader who is going through a difficult period. In this video I also shared my personal message for John. The video is done in sign language and subtitled for all to enjoy. Thank you for watching.