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.