Happy
Anniversary!!! Happy
Anniversary!!! Happy Anniversary!!!
Happy
Anniversary!!! Happy
Anniversary!!!
Audism Free America (AFA) celebrates 5 years. AFA is a grassroots Deaf
activist network in the US, which advocates for Deaf American rights, cultural
resurgence, and seeks primarily to challenge the ideological foundations of
audism in America.
5 Year Review:
YEAR ONE 2009
January AFA
was founded
March AFA’s mission statement in ASL and English released
AFA cards can be found at http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com/2009/03/afa-mission-post-card-print-and.html
April AFA’s
historic meeting with the CEO of the AG Bell Association in the Volta Bureau,
Alexander Graham and 4 other representatives of AG Bell Assoc.
– outcome of
the meeting: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2313634.htm
AFA’s 3 Demands to AG
Bell and current status
AFA Demand 1:
1. the AG Bell Association and Academy cease and desist from
denying Deaf infants, children, and their families the right to a natural and
fully accessible language.
Good News 1:
AG Bell removed Principle #3 from its Auditory-Verbal
Therapy (AVT ie LSL) guidelines
Principle #3. Guide and coach parents¹ to help their child
use hearing as the primary sensory modality in developing spoken language without the use of sign language or emphasis on lipreading.
Bad News 1:
many practioners of AVT / LSL still urge parents not to sign
with their Deaf children and AG Bell has not clearly stated that it accepts the
use of ASL and English as important parts of a Deaf child’s cognitive, social,
and emotional development.
AFA Demand 2:
2. the AG Bell Association cease and desist from
misinforming the public and the media about ASL Deaf people. The AG Bell
Association has not retracted its letter to Pepsi objecting to the commercial
featuring ASL in a positive light and continually paints ASL Deaf people as
unsuccessful and dependent.
Good news 2:
To our knowledge, since 2009 AG Bell Association has not
sent out anything to the public or media misrepresenting ASL.
Bad news 2:
AG Bell still has not retracted and apologized for its
highly offensive and unjust letter to Pepsi yet. Times a wasting:
AG Bell – do the right
thing and make amends.
AFA Demand 3:
the AG Bell Association cease and desist its incestuous
relationship with cochlear implant manufacturers and join AFA in calling for an
independent and impartial study of the physical, psychological, and social
impact of cochlear implants on infants, children and adolescents.
Good news 3:
AG Bell removed Advanced Bionics and Cochlear Americas from
their Circle Alliance Founding Partners.
Advanced Bionics and Cochlear Americas are cochlear implant corporations
that have had numerous lawsuits, fines, and recalls. It has also removed any ad banners from its website for
Advanced Bionics or House Ear Institute.
Bad news 3:
AG Bell continues to have Advanced Bionics and Cochlear Americas
sponsor their conferences and continues to promote their products for
them. AG Bell’s Volta Review
continues to propagate “studies” that are financed by cochlear implant
corporations with small Ns (numbers of participants) and selective information.
At the 2009 historic meeting to discuss our demands with AG
Bell Association CEO and other representatives, we had a sit-in at the end of
the meeting to gain assurance we would get a response.
During this weekend in April 2009, we also had a Blue Ribbon
Ceremony at Gallaudet University and a rally and demonstration at the Volta
Bureau: The AG Bell Association Headquarters.
Thank you to all the volunteers,
participants, support from afar and more who all made this possible.
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AFA Blue Ribbon Ceremony at Gallaudet University 2009
|
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AFA Rally in front of AG Bell Volta Bureau 2009 |
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| AFA’s Blue light Vigil at AG Bell’s Volta Bureau 2009 |
In addition to our April 2009 direct action work, there were other notable AFA activities
in 2009:
AFA videotaped
testimonies of Deaf people and Hearing parents’ experiences with audism and
lobbied for a clear understanding of the term “audism” and the harms that
discrimination against Deaf people causes to our world.
Good news: Audism – the term became better
understood and utilized
Thank you to everyone in the
community who has labored hard and long to get the term audism into the
dictionary and recognized and understood.
Bad news: Audism continues to be a pervasive experience of Deaf
people.
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AFA Advocated for the
International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) to rescind the ICED
1880 Milan Congress resolutions, which ushered in the dark ages of Oralism
(oral / aural only – ban on natural sign language in schools and homes across
the globe).
Good news: ICED
2010 Vancouver formally recognized the harms of the Milan 1880 Oral only
mandate, expressing remorse and issuing a New Era Accord for the Future.
Thank you to the British Columbia
Deaf community and the members of ICED as well as all the other advocates who
have worked throughout time to get the ICED Milan 1880 overturned.
Bad news: Much
of the New Era Accord, especially related to Deaf representation and education
in all Nations remains to be put into practice.
****************************************
AFA advocated that if
Wisconsin Bill 27/16 passed demanding that insurance companies automatically
cover cochlear implants ,then they should add to the bill that ASL development
and materials be automatically covered by insurance companies. We also demanded an apology from
Senator Cullen for his offensive remarks.
Mixed news:
the bill passed to require insurance companies to automatically require
coverage for digital hearing aids and cochlear implants but parents reported
problems with the system later.
Senator Cullen did apologize for his statement.
Thanks to all who wrote
letters and engaged in efforts to challenge the system.
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AFA
releases its petition calling for an independent and impartial investigation
into pediatric cochlear implantation. See http://www.petitiononline.com/AFA62509/petition.html
See ASL version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMW1LXxI78
Good news:
during a time when it was taboo to discuss cochlear implants within our community
as their was a campaign to sanitize, whitewash, and minimize any problems or
concerns with cochlear implants, AFA began to investigate the numerous recalls
and fines cochlear implant corporations have had and seen a clear pattern to
deceive the public. Since
taken a stand to seek the truth and facts about the impact of cochlear implants
on the whole child, the Deaf community has moved out from under the false claim
that cochlear implants are just fancy hearing aids and that cochlear implants
are no longer controversial. They are.
WE ARE still demanding answers.
Bad news: In addition to needing to
continue to push this investigation, the naïve public is continually exposed
only to those “miraculous moments” when implants are first activated.
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AFA
participated in rallies against the selection of an unqualified Hearing
director for Deaf Adult Services (DAS) in Buffalo, NY.
Good News:
Later the director stepped down and a Deaf director was hired.
Thanks to all those brave
Buffalo folks who stood tall with their demands.
Bad news:
Unqualified Hearing individuals
continue to apply for and be hired in positions where suitable Deaf candidates
are turned away.
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OTHER ACTIVITIES:
·
AFA promoted and participated in
International Day of Sign Language rally and march.
·
AFA wrote a letter to Gallaudet Board
of Trustees and PSAC on their 2009 search for a new president of Gallaudet
University. See http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com/2009/09/afas-letter-to-gallaudet-boft-and-psac.html
·
AFA boycotts Deafread and DVTV due to
their refusal to recognize Deaf people as a cultural and linguistic group in
their guidelines.
·
Announces the launch of the Deaf
Studies Digital Journal http://dsdj.gallaudet.edu/
which includes scholarly papers in ASL in addition to
videos, visual art, and commentaries about the Deaf experience.
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A Summary of AFA’s Year Two (2010) will follow in
the next post.
