Dr/DVTV ADM: AFA Boycotting...

Greetings everyone,

Audism Free America is committed to confronting audism peacefully and directly. Since DeafRead and DeafVideo.TV (DVTV) administration have sided with individual rights to engage in audism and linguicism (as well as other adverse ”-isms”) and because it refuses to add a prohibition against audism / linguicism in its guidelines. We AFA are boycotting DeafRead and DVTV effective today October 28, 2009 and we encourage others to join us in taking a stand against audism.

Audism: Attitudes and practices based on the assumption that behaving in the ways of those who speak and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of privilege, thus resulting in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in overt or covert ways—against Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf people of all walks of life. (http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com/) This term was originated by Dr. Tom Humphries as “the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears.”

Linguicism: Ideologies, structures, and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, regulate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language (Skutnabb-Kangas 1988). (http://www.terralingua.org/2/Definitions/DLinguicism.htm)

Dysconscious audism: a form of audism, that manifests itself in Deaf peoples actions or lack of actions that communicates an acceptance and support for dominant culture’s norms, values and privileges. See Dr. Genie Gertz article in Open Your Eyes: Deaf Studies Talking. “We cannot ignore actions by our own community members that would be called audism and intolerable if done by those of the dominant culture. Our goal is to decry audism anywhere and we wish to have a healthy Deaf community including an online community that is free of audism.”

AFA opposes audism and lingucism as well as racism, sexism, heterosexualism, ageism, antisemitism, extremism, exclusivism, etc

AFA supports the recognition and protection of human diversity on this planet.

AFA looks forward to when DeafRead and DVTV add audism and linguicism to their guidelines.

If you want to leave comments, please go to youtube or send an email to AudismFreeAmerica@gmail.com

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http://www.youtube.com/user/AudismFreeAmerica
http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com/

Let Freedom Roll
AFA