AFA Opposes the bill California AB 2072

AUDISM FREE AMERICA (AFA) OPPOSES THE BILL CALIFORNIA AB 2072

April 16, 2010

Dear Members of the Assembly Health Committee:

Audism Free America (AFA) is a grassroots Deaf activist group which advocates for our human rights, cultural rights, and seeks primarily to challenge the ideological foundations of audism in America. Audism is 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.

AB 2072 violates the human and linguistic rights of Deaf citizens. We, the Deaf community, urge you to reconsider support of this bill. Our human rights at its core, value the promotion and protection of our culture and the right to a fully accessible and natural language. We, Deaf people, should be guaranteed the inalienable right to a language we can acquire naturally and equally - this being American Sign Language (ASL) in the US. It is the 3rd most popular language in the US and we assert that all infants who are Deaf and Hearing are entitled to this language.

However, the AB 2072 bill promotes disinformation which will be shared with parents, educators, and specialists under the guise of "communication options." These communication options are provided by medical professionals and specialists often operating under audist principles. The specialists are audiologists, Audio/Verbal Therapists, Doctors, Cochlear Implant surgeons, Speech therapists, and Hearing professors/researchers and all promote methods, technology, and services that approach the Deaf child as broken and unfit. Many of them actively EXCLUDE American Sign Language as part of the “options” of services they offer. In addition, entrusting "specialists" who have vested monitory interest in pushing for the use of invasive technology to be the agents that instruct the parents on their options is reckless and biased.

All communication programs for Deaf and hard of hearing children should be required to provide BOTH ASL and English. We, Deaf people are automatically "People of the Eye" and our acquisition of language, information and equality comes via having a fully natural and accessible language. ASL has proven to be successful for communication and
language development of BOTH Hearing and Deaf babies. AB 2072 bill is not written in a way that shows mutual respect for ASL—it is written with respect for the multitude of other “communication options” which are all English-based and often actively prohibit the use of ASL. As the bill is currently written, it clearly promotes Audism and Linguicism
(the belief that one language is superior to another - in the bill's case
English over ASL).

If this bill is to pass then you will be sanctioning crimes against humanity by endorsing and institutionalizing severe language deprivation via the Oral / Aural only AVT "options" that actively exclude lipreading, gestures and sign language (see AVT guideline #3 via the AG Bell Academy which certifies "specialists" in this exclusionary practice.) We, AFA, urge you to respect our human rights and understand that the bill is an example of AUDISM. We urge you to decline the bill to prevent the genocide of our culture and language.

Let Freedom Roll,
AFA

AFA Urges NAD Wake Up Action!

Greetings NAD,

We, AFA, urge you (NAD) to wake up to the results of your actions. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

(VP Light Flash blinks)

The reason we are vying for your attention to our concerns is that we, as members of the Deaf Community, are disappointed in the weakness of your actions as they pertain to supporting ASL and the human rights of Deaf people.

I would like to begin by reminding you of the history of NAD and the roots upon which it was founded. Long ago, in 1880, during a conference in Milan Italy there was a vote to ban the use of sign language in Deaf education and to reject sign as the natural language of the Deaf. Since that time, for the last 130 years, NAD has been fighting to preserve and to protect our human rights and our right to communicate using sign language. NAD has been fighting for not only our rights, but our value as human beings and our linguistic culture. We have noticed that the size and power of the NAD has diminished and this mission has shifted. NAD has been focusing on the fight for captioning and other disability issues as if this were the purpose of the organization.

What has happened to you, NAD?!? What NAD has become has lost sight of the values that we need from you. Is that NAD's mission? The AG Bell Association states that they have been working with NAD closely. Closely!?! NAD is well-aware that the AG Bell group is a strong A-U-D-I-S-T organization. In fact, AG Bell completely rejects the use of sign language in the Deaf Community; they validate only oral methods of communication. How is it possible that NAD has a close relationship?! NAD allows AG Bell to disregard sign language; they allow them to attempt to eliminate ASL completely. This relationship is in direct contradiction to the founding principles of NAD.
AG Bell has a measly, single sheet position paper that recognized ASL and that was acceptable to NAD? AG Bell has not committed to endorse ASL with their actions in any way! We have noticed that NAD has been meeting with AG Bell on a regular basis, working hard on concessions and as a result, devaluing the rights and language that is supposed to be NAD's mission. All of their support is focused on English, captioning, etc. Do you realize that "support" is a mutual, two way process? A sharing of endorsement and support would require AG Bell to embrace ASL, to join in our celebration, to work to expand the linguistic and cultural right to use ASL. The relationship between AG Bell and NAD is not a sharing of values, there is nothing in this relationship that endorses the core mission of NAD- NOTHING!

THIS IS NOT THE VISION THAT NAD REPRESENTS!

We are very disappointed with you NAD! NAD touts that it values ASL as a language and as the center of our Community and Culture; that being DEAF is in fact a human right. NAD, your actions contradict everything you are supposed to support.

NAD has announced that the group supports the elimination of Audism. In fact, since 2006, NAD has made public their campaign to add the word "Audism" to the dictionary, and to give recognition to the oppression that it represents. However, it is now 2010, when will you act? When will Audism be included into the dictionary and given recognition??

NAD has stated that they have a committee to investigate the impact of Cochlear Implants and to publish the pros and cons of their use; including, the psychological, social, educational, family and medical ramifications. When will see ACTION on this commitment? Audism Free America (AFA) has many supporters, including, leaders, professors, authors, researchers, parents, friends, Deaf Community members and a variety of others that have signed almost 1,000 petition lines to endorse this investigation of Cochlear Implants. We did this to show NAD that they have our support, and yet, NAD does not supported us in return??

We as community are READY to give you all the evidence needed to call the FDA to action to formally investigate Cochlear Implants. Cochlear Implants are well-known not to be 100% successful; many deaf people that have tried them have removed them because they fail. Where are the rights of Deaf children, where are their rights to remove or not to use cochlear implants? They have no one to stand up for their rights and are being deeply oppressed. The core of who they are and the natural expression of that core is being held hostage. When will this be addressed?!

NAD, please WAKE UP and CHANGE YOUR ACTIONS related to the core of our Deaf Values, our human and linguistic rights. These rights include the endorsement of the education of our Deaf children. AFA has been getting e-mails from hearing parents who are struggling against the school system for not allowing their children to have ASL interpreters. They are looking for support at the Federal Level, support that NAD is supposed to provide! There are many issues like the ones I mentioned that have created this level of frustration with NAD's current activities. Where is NAD? Where is NAD?? Where???.....

We are very disappointed that NAD has chosen to focus on issues that do not support the identity of who we are as a Deaf Community and what we need from our organization. Don't you realize that if you neglect your roots, they die? The choices you have made to endorse AG Bell, for example, have grown the organization in finances, membership and power. AG Bell has only been around for 100 years, NAD was working to support ASL and Deaf Schools long before AG Bell even existed. And yet, their conference is attended by anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people. Where is the push for NAD? We feel like we are standing outside of a glass window looking in and waiting for NAD to take action; thus far NAD has refused to even let us in the room.

We, Deaf people, are READY to stand up and change for NAD and our Deaf Community; READY to stand up so that America includes ASL in education and recognizes our rights. With the current technological advances providing equal visual access to the phone, the use of Vlogs, blogs, video online, instant messaging, text messaging, etc. we have access to the hearing community and they have access to us. We do not need to be FIXED!

NAD, your organization has been asleep and we are distressed that this downward spiral has been going on too long! It is time to change this trend; it is TIME TO WAKE UP!!!!

We, AFA, urge NAD TO WAKE UP!!!

(VP Light flash blinks!)

AFA's message to Joey McIntyre's Family re: their Deaf infant

To the McIntyre Family:

Congratulations on the birth of your Deaf son Rhys and welcome to the Deaf community. While some people see being deaf as an affliction, many see it as a blessing - an opportunity to be bilingual and bicultural. Please do contact us if we can be of any support or assistance to you in your family's journey of discovering ASL, Deaf culture, bilingualism and biculturalism. Best wishes and again congratulations. Griffin and Rhys are both delightful boys.

Let Freedom Roll,
Audism Free America
audismfreeamerica(at)gmail.com

AFA message to ICED and BC Deaf Community re: apology

click link to see the video message in ASL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9iktItsNOs

Transcript of video message re: ICED
[AFA Logo]

Audism Free America (AFA) would like to let you know about the ICED (International Congress on the Education of the Deaf) historical event that took place back in 1880 in Milan, Italy that is where people debated which method was better for the future of Deaf education – speech or signing. The outcome was a vote to forbid sign language and to focus exclusively on oral / aural methods resulting in the destruction of our language rights via sign language and the eradication of our D E A F center for over 130 years.

So we along with the British Columbia (BC) Deaf grassroots people confront ICED and demand the overdue apology owed to us for the past injustices caused by the ICED 1880 Milan Congress. Today we make this demand.

We applaud and are impressed by the BC Deaf grassroots group and their efforts. Two thumbs up. In this group’s recent vlog they explained that when they presented the current ICED with their proposed resolutions for an apology, the ICED modified the resolutions to read as an “acknowledgement” only. Shall we yield to this – N O. N O. We Deaf people, including the BC Deaf community, must remain firm. We are owed an apology. Their thinking they can so easily alter this shows that they continue to believe they are superior and adopt a patronizing attitude to us by modifying the document to simply be an “acknowledgement.” No way. We the Deaf community are ready to take a stand on this and demand the apology that is owed to us and that the oralism (oral / aural only) mandate be rescinded.

The BC Deaf Community as you move forward, we do not have any desire to push you out of the way. We value you and thank you. We aim to join along side you for a collective push forward so that ICED will see how Deaf people have experienced oral / aural only methods (Oralism) throughout the years, 130 years to be exact. The result – has Oralism been a success? No.

Now you see the trees in the background here? What do these trees represent? Deaf people who also have their own root systems and depth, which allows them to find their center, grow tall and strong, and form unity and bonds that are universally D E A F. No matter where you may be – in America, Canada, Europe, here or there, you have experienced Oralism. We come together to move forward only to be told to wait. Our spirits will not be dampened. We are ready to continue to push forward to end Oralism.

We are ready to face ICED with you BC Deaf people. AFA is rolling up her sleeves ready to support you BC Deaf people. It’s time for this change. You know for the past 130 years NAD presidents, teachers, leaders, etc have politely approached different dominant groups and individuals like AG Bell, ICED committee, doctors and specialists etc. carefully and gently explaining why oral / aural only approaches have not worked and the value of ASL only to be told, “oh we see. Sorry you feel that way.” And that is all that is said as they continue to take over again and again and swell larger and larger. Meanwhile we are complacent and accepting. The time is DONE for that kind of conduct. Finish. They are WRONG. Oralism must be removed and natural signed languages must be returned to their rightful place in Deaf education.

We Deaf people are ready to take a stand and push, push, push forward to ensure that ICED wakes up and rescinds ICED 1880 Milan resolution. You owe us Deaf people from across the land an apology, an admission of your past error and commitment to removing the oral/aural only mandate. Presently the majority of people on ICED are Hearing. This needs to be rectified so that Deaf people are in the lead and the Hearing and Deaf members can work together recognize and advocate for Deaf people’s language rights and human rights, which includes developing their center just as these trees behind me are rooted and aid us in pushing forward.

It’s time to change things for our future for Deaf children – to allow signing back in the classroom now and forever. Again, to the BC Deaf community we want to confirm we have no desire to push you to the side – we want to affirm your work and express our gratitude and support your efforts. Stay firm as we confront them to demand change. Do not allow them to manipulate or control us. I know you are tough and have courage. You are right. It took courage to confront them and now they must find the courage to apologize and rescind the ICED 1880 Milan Congress resolutions of Oralism. We, AFA, believe in this change.

VA Deaf Education Report Card

Is Deaf Education Failing Deaf Students in VA?

http://www.hamptonschoolfacts.com/Hearing_Impairments.html