Loved every one bit of it…very true! Unity is the key of all times.

A job well done! In his book, Cratylus, Plato has Socrates question whether words be replaced by signs used by the Deaf. It is clear that both Socrates and Plato examined Deaf people of their days. It was too bad that Aristotle began bigotry for many centuries. Today, if we talk about philosophy, we must include these three thinkers.

Very enlightening presentation by Genie. A big thanks to all contributors for publishing these pearls! We need time to absorb the messages wholly. As we keep learning about Deafhood , as bonus, we also discover many things about ourselves. This is a great power and benefit of the movement.

I also would like to emphasize the collective consciousness dimension of Deafhood as Anna Marie did, that includes common thinking, shared feelings, a socially conscious collective mindset, etc. This dimension of collectivity is a greatest value of the Deaf community that will propel the need for more unity and collective engagement in action.

What struck me most was GG’s argument that most of our in-fighting is at the social identity level, not the cultural identity level. To me, that’s my “aha!” moment. We need to let go of perceived “elitism”, “clannish behavior”, etc. and simply view everybody under the cultural identity umbrella.

GG Fan, I’m not sure what you meant, but cautioning Joey to not steal GG’s spotlight seems harsh to me. Joey is doing a lot for the Deaf community, and if he forgot to explicitly mention GG’s name, it was by mistake- a mistake he will gladly rectify.

However, I do agree with everything you said about GG!

That was excellent work by GG. Really drove home the point of having an unified front for Deaf people in general.

my hat off to dr genie and dr ella…

heres a quote worthy of sharing with you and readers-
The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.–Assata Shakur,activist

And a big thank you to joey-

First of all, Joey owns this website and yet he included others on his blog and Vlog. He gives credit to others i.e. DE, Ella Lentz and now to GG. He could have used himself only but he did not so let us handwave to him and now to GG.

I would like to share my viewpoint here. Naturally we have multiple identities and our identities can be altered due to age, experience, physical appearance and etc. It is always important to analyze ourselves—our personal identity. If past or present issues are not solved then we need to examine and deal with them as best as we could so we can feel content with ourselves. It is vital to examine our “identities” constantly because this will guide us to have better unity in social identity. Otherwise we may subconsciously bring our own issues to social identity and then fighting, rejection, division can be ensued. It is always sensitive area to touch our own personal identities as we often wanted ignore or not to go “in there” or to acknowledge issues we are dealing. We need to be humble and examine ourselves continually. We can always seek Spiritual Advisor, Therapy or Self Help to guide us to examine ourselves. When we reach at level of assurance or self actualization then we can have better connection with our social and culture identities too. It is not an easy task. It is entirely up to each individual to examine themselves. Once we know our personal identities and feel comfortable with ourselves then we can easily ignore groups with shallow thinking and allow ourselves to build a stronger unity. As I get older, I find myself trying to be with people who are supportive and positive rather than to be trapped with those who do not accept for who I am.

GG, You are a multi-talented with beautiful job!! Thank you very much!!!Amazingly enough, we should tell the hearing world our experiences of social identity, suffering live, deprive our language,oppression, and discrimination. We should express from our experiences to make video tapes in the future to deaf children and it’s generation to generation.

Art- Audism is not a synonym for oralism (so anti-audism isn’t necessarily against it)… it is the discrimination against a deaf person due to his inability to “hear” or “speak”. It is an attitude that our world should be measured exclusively by hearing’s values instead of deaf ones. It describes the treatment of deaf people as result of this attitude.

Oralism is just a method of communication, and while it might seem like audism goes hand-in-hand with it… it doesn’t really discriminate against anyone. The method either works, or it doesn’t (or in other words, the life of a deaf person gets gambled whether it’s screwed or not). I don’t think anyone really cares if someone can use his larynx to speak.

It would be audism though, to insist that oralism is best for all the deaf people, or to say that they didn’t try “hard” enough if they’re unable to do it well.

Audism is NO good for anyone, whether they practice oralism or not.

I agree there needs to be more dialogue; however I still continue to see the huge divide between people from Deaf families/those who attended deaf residential schools and other deaf people despite awareness raised by the Deafhood message. So how can we expect to make progress when dialogue is limited within groups who only stay within their comfort level? People with different backgrounds need to start reaching out to each other and learning from each other to move forward in unity.

After following Genie her information about the tumults within DEAF culture gives light to the fact that anything or culture worth having is worth fighting for I watched 1 2 and 3 concurently thanks again for the info .
Lynnette from SRJC

I felt compelled to write a letter to BOT (Board of Trustees) because a chain of unraveling events has unfolded.
I fully supported the cause back in 1988 when the message was clear that the deaf can do anything but hear. Then a choice was made and we have had 18 years of presidency by a deaf person whom we have come to known as a friend.
When I heard I King Jordan’s plan to retire, my first thoughts were “who will we replace him with?” and “How will we find someone to fill his shoes?”
Then I saw the list of finalists, my immediate thought was “Didn’t we have more qualified candidates than those?” or “How did those names make the final selection?”
Right then, I had no doubt that Jane would get the job and she did.
Now protest sets in and it was like “Here we go again”. Then the more I learn about the facts, the more I understand why the protest took place.
While the Board’s action can not be condoned, I can understand the students’ plight.
However true that I do not agree with the tactics and the message earlier was not clear but as time went on, it has evolved into a stronger message shared by many.
I had hoped a resolution would be reached by now but that hope has diminished.
The tide has been set in and there’s no other option but to investigate on why and how the search process had come to this result that generated such protest.
In the following is a article written by an unknown author about the difference between the Boss and the Leader which I believe applies here:
(from Mercer University Center for Student Involvement and Leadership)

The boss drives the team, The Leader coaches them.
The boss depends on authority, The Leader depends on good will.
The boss inspires fear, The Leader inspires enthusiasm.
The boss says: “I”, The Leader says: “We”
The boss assignes the tasks, The Leader sets the pace
The boss says “Get here on time”, The Leader begins on time
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; The Leader fixes the breakdown.
The boss knows how it is done, The Leader shows how it is done
The boss makes work drudgery, The Leader makes it a game
The boss says: “Go”, The Leader says “Let’s go!”

Also a song from my idol – John Lennon “Imagine” as revised

Imagine there’s no bad leaders
It’s easy if you try.
No one to kill or die for
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the deaf people
Letting teachers teach in PEACE
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the school will be as one

Well, after all I tried to grasp the concept of what Deafhood means and examined . I find something is missing that is related to Deafhood and there are too vague idea of what Deafhood is all about is very basic, I can suggest Deafhood to rebuilt strenght arguement to support the concept of what Deafhood. I see very good beginning at the bottom . Need to study five tprinciples are to be first step – Epistemology: theory of knowledge, second is Metaphysics: study of reality, third is Ethics: rule and value. forth is Politic: theory of legal rights. fifith is Aesthetics: theory of the nature of art. All of these will support the concept of Deafhood that will be great strenght!

Good Well Done and I have been watch your dicussion about your explain What you teach us and i hope deaf people will understabd it. I learning alot that deaf culture Life and I understabd it clear
explained .I want say Thank you very much