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Hi. My blood is up and I'm riled which means y'all get a thread.
I've mentioned this school before and I'm furious all over again. https://twitter.com/guccixhrry/status/1294226552440287235
I've mentioned this school before and I'm furious all over again. https://twitter.com/guccixhrry/status/1294226552440287235
Deaf children deprived of language. Deaf children deprived of lipreading. Deaf children being treated as something broken to be fixed.
This school wants deaf children to "listen with their ears". A SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF WANTS THEM TO LISTEN. WITH. THEIR. EARS. THE DEAF KIDS. EARS.
This school wants deaf children to "listen with their ears". A SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF WANTS THEM TO LISTEN. WITH. THEIR. EARS. THE DEAF KIDS. EARS.
There is an excellent play by Nina Raine called Tribes that I often cite as a great example of how much this exact thing can screw someone up later in life. Venturing into some spoilers for the play but I promise, they will not ruin the reading or viewing experience.
In Tribes, the character Billy is deaf and has been deprived of sign his entire life. He falls in love with a woman who is fluent and becomes part of Deaf culture, and eventually tells his family he will not speak until they learn to sign. It's a breathtaking scene.
The father in particular pushes back. "No one gets special treatment" is one line that cut me to the bone when I read it. This not-unusual situation, Billy's lifelong deprivation and isolation, caused by a family's misguided attempts to force him to be "normal".
I've tried many times over the last few years to teach myself sign. I'm trying again currently. I wasn't born hard of hearing, so this isn't something I had to deal with as a child. I do, however, know something about how lonely it can feel when you're the only one trying.
How different would my life be right now if everyone made the effort to learn even just basic sign? How much more included would I feel, how much more cared about? To know I can catch up if I fall behind in a conversation, to be greeted from across a room and understand?
I get it. It's a big ask. It's a language, languages are hard, and sign doesn't come easily to everyone. Believe me, I get all that.
I'm still deaf, though. And you know what doesn't come easily to ME?
Hearing.
I'm still deaf, though. And you know what doesn't come easily to ME?
Hearing.
Stop sending deaf children the message that they are not worth the bare minimum. Stop forcing them to fit into the mold that hearing people made. Stop depriving them of connection.
Give. Deaf. Children. Their. Language.
Give. Deaf. Children. Their. Language.
