I have to say, I am really enjoying what your postings. It is exciting to see your level of respect, acceptance, understanding, empathy, and acknowledgement as grown. Amazing work, keep it up!
I would like to thank all of you that have posted so far. Your postings have been thought provoking, interesting, and insightful!
This week we here from Jared. Thank you Jared! He has brought a fascinating video for us to watch and has some questions that are worth pondering over. I can't wait to see what you discuss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-39ZcvLaes
(Please watch from the beginning to 3:45, the rest is unrelated)
The following video is a profile of Gary Malkowski, the first Deaf politician to be elected to Canadian Parliament.
Now, I know you're thinking, who cares about Canada anyway? You're better than this Jared, find something about a Deaf American politician so we can relate more easily to the subject.
Well, I tried. There has never been a Deaf person elected to a position of State Senator, State Rep., U.S. Senator, U.S. Congress, or the Cabinet that I could find. Ever.
What does the lack of direct representation for the Deaf in our government say about the state of our country concerning Deaf rights and the Deaf community? How does a politician like Gary Malkowski effect the movement towards Deaf equality? Also, why do you think Canada is apparently more apt to elect a Deaf person and this country is not? Does Canada finally have something that we don't? (Cause that's just not cool.)
I would like to add this to the discussion. We all know that Jared is a die hard Democrat and I thought this would be a nice addition to this posting.
ReplyDeleteHere it is
http://deafdemocrats.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/where-is-the-deaf-voice-in-politics/
I thought it was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wish I was more into governmental things, but overall I really enjoyed this video. I think that the lack of representation for the Deaf creates many problems. If we started having some Deaf representation in the government, I think many stereotypes would go away. They would be concerned with making schools more deaf friendly, educate society, and I feel so much more.
ReplyDeleteGary has an effect on movement towards deaf equality. He is showing his community that a Deaf person can do anything they set their mind to, he is creating more deaf friendly schools, and he is publicly advocating for the Deaf community.
~Monica's Video
ReplyDeleteNot exactly sure what is happening in this video, but I went back and read the dialogs. From what I understand, this fellow wants to have the Deaf Group to be noticed in the community. To do this though, the group needs to raise a million dollars to sponsor a politician so they will then spread news of the group. I feel this is really silly for groups of any kind to have to pay just to be noticed. Wouldn't you think if someone did it for free that they would get, if not all, at least a majority of that groups vote? Just saying.....
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed playing our game this past Friday. I really hope to continue this because I feel it is a great way to learn. You learn to use the language naturally this way and it is fun! I am enjoying not only having weekly lesson, but also use other methods of language teaching. If you have ideas, feel free to send them my way. I really want to make this class and beneficial as I can for all of you. I am enjoying this semester very much. It is time to make this a completely ASL targeted classroom. Please from the time you arrive until you leave be respectful of this. It needs to happen. I want you to get the full benefits of this class and by doing this, you will only enhance your language learning, YOO CAN DO IT!
Have a great weekend!
Monica
I think we need to play catch phrase in Storms more often! It's super fun, we learn new signs and we are exposing others to the language.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I don't know what to think about this although it does not surprise me that Canada is more accepting to the Deaf community than America is. I feel like America is stuck in the past, and it takes forever for people to except change. I don't think its impossible for our government to have a Deaf person in office, but i do think it will take a lot of time. We just now finally have our first African American president in history and that took much longer than it should have. It's hard to say how long it will take for America to accept the Deaf community as it's own culture, because so many people are so unaware of its importance.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very interesting. I really liked the idea of having the mentoring programs for the deaf. I think it helps the kids with their culture and know that other people are having struggles and not just them. Even though I know that the deaf community shouldn't be having struggles but they are. It isn't fair. But like halie said America is stuck it the past and people don't like change. I to think that only a matter of time a deaf person with be in our congress. I have not heard of any deaf even running for it but then again I'm not that big into politics.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed playing catch phrase in storms. Even though it can be distracting if you known people walking through. I agree with Amanda that it is a good way to expose more kids at the college to ASL and maybe strike up their interest in it and take it up.
Halie, Amanda, and Emily, gotta agree with you guys. I personally don't think a deaf person will ever make it into politician type positions in the U.S. its just like what Halie said, nobody is aware of their culture and sadly, nobody probably cares. How to change that? I have no idea, but either way will take a HUGE movement and lots of time because people I feel just simply don't care and want things to stay the same way as they are here in America.
ReplyDeleteAlong with what you guys got to say about the game. I liked it a lot. I also think its a good idea for us to play it in front of people and expose them to ASL. I think it'd be cool if more students would like to take ASL. Before I knew Monica, I never knew sign language was offered at CSS.
im going along with you guys, Americans are so mean. They may look at a deaf person as disabled or incapable which is sad. I agree with jeff that it will take a lot for change. Change is possible. FYI i am neutral in my political views. I feel as if when need a diverse population to lead our country.
ReplyDeletejeeze, I didn't even see this post. I looked but for some reason only seen the idiom post, prob because I clicked on that instead of going to the ASL in action blog. Well its a little late, but yet I agree with everyone. I think that having a deaf president in office would raise awareness about the deaf community and the language. I feel that Deaf culture is very obscure (if that is the right word); not a lot of people know about it. I think that this ignorance leads to stereotypes and fears (of the unknown). If people were more aware of the Deaf culture, I think that they would see Deaf people and the culture in a different light. I'm not so sure that we won't ever see a deaf political leader, it is true that america doesn't like change but times are changing with new generations and I wouldn't dismiss it. I am not into politics at all so this is all coming from a neutral standing and probably an uniformed opinion :)
ReplyDeleteAnd i also agree with everyone else... CATCH PHRASE WAS WAY FUN! and yes i think it would create more interest in ASL if we were to do it in storms or the student union. People are just curious by nature :)