the difference between you and me

Storytime

Yesterday, I was talking to a hearing student who works on campus. He told me that a customer (ignorantly) approached him, assumed he is deaf, and spoke to him with exaggerated lipping. He responded with sign, telling the customer he didn't understand. He says he chooses to not use his hearing ability on campus.

My two cents.

I totally disrespect the customer for his approach to the situation. He obviously has no idea what is going on. Or what he is doing. If he knew NO sign, I think, on a Deaf campus, writing the request is much more accepted. It eliminates the dependency on oral communication. I can imagine how the store clerk may be offended. I get it. But I DON'T respect the clerk's response. At all. The thing is is that he CAN hear. He can understand that request from the customer. He could respond using sign or writing it down (or writing down a request that the customer writes!).

And as I said, the customer is OBVIOUSLY ignorant. So what are you doing to fight that? To help him overcome his ignorance? To prevent him from offending others? Nothing. You are ignoring the situation. As a student on campus, driven to help the clear communication between hearing and deaf across the world, how can this situation be avoided? It's true, in my opinion, that both sides of the table handled it poorly. The blind leading the blind? heh. Maybe take the time to educate others?

I don't see how you can be offended by someone who is so ignorant - who maybe has no clue that he is being offensive - and not want to give him maybe some cultural capital. Cause he's got none. And I think that spreading the knowledge would truly help the acceptance and understanding of both perspectives.

Thoughts?

the deaf and hearing on campus

So as I may or may not have mentioned, Galladuet is a Deaf community. It is the hub of loads of Deaf advocates, activists, radicals, extremists, etc. I love 'em! This is what got me interested in Deaf culture. The balance and cooperation between the Hearing and Deaf worlds. How does this (invisible) minority -and others- make their way to gain what is called "functional equivalent" communication technology, how do they use their "voice" to maintain equal rights, how do they (in general) make their lives within a larger Hearing world.

But many of these Deaf rights and functional equivalencies are not relevant in the Deaf-majority community on Galladuet's campus. All the residents get a chance to lose that greater-society-implied label of "disability." Hearing is no longer an advantage. Sound is irrelevant. Campus is all about visual communication. Lights as doorbells, fire alarms; hitting the table let's your buddy feel the vibrations and can call his attention; glass windows, doors, and walls are no barrier at all for a brief chat with your partner before class starts.

No one is bothered by loud music at night, burping is less obnoxious (?), the TV can't be too loud, and no one is blabbering on their cell phones!!

But what about the hearing kids? Wait a second. Are they ever bothered by loud music at night? Do they find your burping obnoxious? Do they want the TV down while studying? And don't they talk on cell phones? What happened to equal rights?

Here is the deal.

As I was told week 1, no one should be talking on their cell phones on campus. If you have to, find a private place! Preferably indoors. Or in your own room. People might give you looks. Might (as I heard yesterday) though shit at you in the cafeteria! In fact, there is no talking on campus at all. Get those hands up! I've been told it's because of the limited access to communication when you are talking. I'm not which is more taboo- phone or talking- but I'd be interested to learn.

May it reminds these radicals of their "oppressed" lives off campus? Growing up? They can't use the phone the way hearing kids can? and ya know what, I totally respect that! It's like you visit a buddy's house and start speaking a foreign language on the phone during dinner. Just rude. How dare you come into MY house, MY territory. Where I can FINALLY be among people of similar experiences, similar views, similar language!!! And you walk in and bring in a piece of that outside world that tried so hard to change who I was and how I live.

My two cents.

But the thing is, people who react to phone conversations by throwing shit have a lot of growing up to do. Those hearing kids should have their rights, too. They wanna make a call? What's it to you? This ISN'T your house. It's a community. We all live together. Obviously that hearing student isn't ignorant about Deaf culture, the social experiences you may have been through, the norms people may have tried to force you into. That kid chose GALLAUDET to complete his study. I'm sure he has some idea about where he is. And why he is there.

People will always be talking on phones. Some people will always be hearing. It's not their fault, just like being Deaf is not your fault. Let it be his choice to fully immerse himself in Deaf life or to simply enjoy living in (and accepted by?) the Deaf community. Is it impossible? What do you think?

stupid freshmen

So we've all heard stories about Gallaudet freshmen. Most often discussed (to me) is that they are known for pulling false fire alarms at all hours of the night. This has been happening for YEARS. The freshmen classes are renown for that. There are signs posted next to each alarm warning suspension or expulsion from school for pulling a false fire alarm now. I wonder if the alarms bother hearing or deaf kids more... either way, you're woken up in the middle of the night and have to evacuate. Sucks if you got 8am class.

I've been told that these freshmen also know how to party. Or think they do? Getting drunk every night, party party party, making out, sleeping around, what do I know. I just hear stories, and the scene is definitely too cool for me.

Once (or twice?) a year, the freshmen also will dye their hair (men and women) and then shave it off (men and women). But everybody's doin' it, Mom!

I'm not exactly sure why. Why the alarms, the parties, the shaved heads- and probably many more things out of the ordinary that I am not allowed to know about (as a hearing kid, living off campus, graduate student?). I've asked around for others' opinions on the subject. What they tel me is that every year, the freshman class tries to "outdo" the previous class. Get more strikes against them, have badder parties, be more crazy, more often.

Apparently both last year and this year, someone smeared FECES on the buttons in one of the elevators in the dorm. SERIOUSLY? I think you all can guess my opinion here. What do you all think? Funny or freaky?

But why? Why is this so important to be more off-the-wall? What my buddies come up with is that this is the way freshmen rebel. I suppose they are rebelling against what society has expected of them, pressured them to become, forced them to stay out of, or grown to antagonize. And ya know what, I totally respect that. Kids get a chance to move out of their parents home, find other buddies that are just like them, who have similar experiences, similar habits, who understand them better than their own families. Of course they want to experiment with limits and boundaries, with obligations and labels. With sexuality and debauchery. But POO in the ELEVATOR? Really? Shit? From your ass? Is that worth it?

Honestly, I think that if you want to change how you look or act to be different than everyone else for the sake of finding your identity, totally cool with me. Do what you gotta do. BUT, if you go so far, and plan, and execute, a shitty idea that is so disrespectful to others??! FUCK YOU, I say. And I'm not the one who has to live in your dorm, use your elevator, clean up your shit. I can't imagine how they feel. Some prolly cheer for you, but others prolly hate you. Idiot.

Another buddy brought up a REALLY good point. A LOTTTT of Gallaudet students get a sweet financial aid package. And they depend on that to even go to classes. And the truth is, when something is handed to you for free, you treat it a lot differently than if you were paying for it. You'd want to get your money's worth. You would have more respect for the goods you paid for. You earned that cash and now you decided this route- you better take advantage of each day and not miss a class unless you are bleeding! Heh. So maybe they might not value the situation they are so generously placed into? They decide to go on to an institution of higher learning. Some will take the offer with open arms and enjoy it and graduate and LEARN something. Some will decide to go on because someone else told them they have to, to go get laid, to go get drunk, enjoy it and maybe graduate. Hmm. Curious. What do you think?

and we're back

Now that I have had a week break, I think I am back in a good mood. I've been sleeping about 9 hours a night and I am enjoying a life without SOAPs or lesson plans or children :-)

AND I've found a gold mine of cool ASL articles in the Sign Language Studies that Gallaudet publishes. Right now I am reading "Language and Literacy Acquisition through Parental Mediation in American Sign Language" (2009), but there are plenty more where that came from. [Email me if you want a copy... don't tell anyone where you got it!]

I was just thinking about how it can be a challenge to keep up with a conversation in a group of Deaf people. I mean, the conversation jumps so fast [::eyes move like you're watching a tennis match::]. It can be quite difficult to catch it all, and therefore difficult to stay in the conversation. I miss signs all the time (on top of the fact that I don't know all the signs), and it doesn't take much for me to get lost. And then today I found "Signs in Which Handshape and Hand Orientation Are Either Not Visible or Are Only Partially Visible: What Is the Consequence for Lexical Recognition?" (2009). Basically they found that handshape has the most salient information for comprehension of the message. Whoa, how awesome?

And I also saw, "Are You Getting the Message?: The Effects of SimCom on the Message Received by Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Students" (2010). It basically found that SimCom does not produce equivalent messages to hearing and deaf students (as we knew), and that students do not receive equivalent messages (good to know).

I any event, I want all these articles to be in a book that I can read on the metro. Not me printing out 8.5x11 copies of everything. yuck. I need a kindle??

And in my career-oriented-confusion, true these things excite me and educate me, but they don't encourage me (not yet) to join the forces. While I think these studies are awesome and they are answering some truly curious questions, I really don't think I would want to pilot such a study. I am content on reading them.

Now if someone would just do a study about the hearing students' experiences at Gallaudet, I'd be satisfied. Though they do have published works regarding the Deaf President Now stuff. I'll read that too and let you know if it might be similar...