Megan Malzkuhn is a wonderful advocate for the deaf and a staunch activist in opposing the AB 2072. She has vlogged on this issue several times. I am impressed with how she presented information in her vlogs.
My problem with Megan? I cam across this blog with a link to an article that Megan wrote and was published by a publication which apparently have afflictions with Nazi and Israeli Militancy?? This is not to say her article was under scrutiny... it was great, factual, well written, and informative. Why is it published in such a controversial news media?? Did she knowingly allowed it? Did she submit her article to that news media source? The topic of her article had little to do with Nazis or Israeli militants except they are anti-politicians in which Megan's article included - that Senator Mendoza is a sleazy politician with many special interest groups in his pockets. That much is obvious.
I am hoping she submitted it to that news media outlet in hope of other news medias picking up her article. I just wish it wasn't published in that one which people may come to associate deaf people with extremist groups like Nazi or Israeli militants. I realize some situations such as AB2072 call for dramatic measures but is publishing it in such news media a wise move?
I guess we will see....
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Why Was That Shocking? Moms Exerragate Children's Speaking Skills
Mike McConnell posted that he was bewildered about a mother's refusal to share email or phone contact for her son whose speaking-on-the-phone abilities were bragged to him upon which McConnell wondered whether she exaggerated and wanted to find out for himself. As many of us know, SOME profoundly deaf can speak on the phone that has the volume control feature and most often with familiar people such as family members or people they had spoken with before. This mother insisted her son could "gab" on phone with just anybody....and like McConnell, I also question that claim. But this is not what I am discussing about....
Why is this even surprising? Mothers are always bragging and exaggerating about their deaf children's abilities to speak, especially on the phone, even the deaf parents whose children are deaf. Parents have this tendency to desire to "normalize" and "hearize" their deaf children, and this is as old as time.
I especially liked one commenter who said a CI surgeon was puzzled as to why his patient was upset when he warned her that she may not be able to speak on the phone using CI because he read in her file on her hearing stats and in that range, she wouldn't be able to speak on the phone. He decided to inquire her family and found out she couldn't actually speak or hear on the phone - she only made calls to talk to the person on the other end what she wanted to say and hung up - unquoting this commenter - "like an answering machine." Apparently her parents labeled this as "ability to speak on phone," and gave her that impression.
Hearing parents are often the bane of the deaf's existences. They want so much for us to be like them and will go to lengths to do so. Some commenters said they are profoundly deaf and still could hear and speak on the phone (with volume control, they all emphasized upon) with most people, even strangers. I am still skeptical about that because often the hearing people will not tell truthfully whether they could understand them on the phone. They rather to give the impression they could understand them as to encourage them to continue using the phone. And many deaf also admit not hearing most of the dialogue and filling in the blanks, a skill they developed over time, depriving from life experiences.
The hearing people need to be more truthful as not to give the deaf a false sense of abilities they do not actually have. The ability to speak with family members and some familiar people on phone is already a skill in itself and why isn't that enough? This skill requires dedication and a lot of training. This accomplishment is to be commendable.
Why is this even surprising? Mothers are always bragging and exaggerating about their deaf children's abilities to speak, especially on the phone, even the deaf parents whose children are deaf. Parents have this tendency to desire to "normalize" and "hearize" their deaf children, and this is as old as time.
I especially liked one commenter who said a CI surgeon was puzzled as to why his patient was upset when he warned her that she may not be able to speak on the phone using CI because he read in her file on her hearing stats and in that range, she wouldn't be able to speak on the phone. He decided to inquire her family and found out she couldn't actually speak or hear on the phone - she only made calls to talk to the person on the other end what she wanted to say and hung up - unquoting this commenter - "like an answering machine." Apparently her parents labeled this as "ability to speak on phone," and gave her that impression.
Hearing parents are often the bane of the deaf's existences. They want so much for us to be like them and will go to lengths to do so. Some commenters said they are profoundly deaf and still could hear and speak on the phone (with volume control, they all emphasized upon) with most people, even strangers. I am still skeptical about that because often the hearing people will not tell truthfully whether they could understand them on the phone. They rather to give the impression they could understand them as to encourage them to continue using the phone. And many deaf also admit not hearing most of the dialogue and filling in the blanks, a skill they developed over time, depriving from life experiences.
The hearing people need to be more truthful as not to give the deaf a false sense of abilities they do not actually have. The ability to speak with family members and some familiar people on phone is already a skill in itself and why isn't that enough? This skill requires dedication and a lot of training. This accomplishment is to be commendable.
Monday, July 26, 2010
DeafNation World Expo: Thumb Down
I went to Las Vegas to attend the DeafNation World Expo thinking it would be an awesome experience. Thousands of deaf people converged to one place from all over the world. It'd be one huge party.
The reality:
The expo itself was just the same as all the local city expos that DeafNation travels to every year. There was nothing special about it with exception that Purple HOVRS had drawings to give away several netbooks. There was also a drawing to win Apple Iphones but that's by registration only without public drawings.
The main hotel was Treasure Island. The nightly social pool party was held in its pool. The guests were required to display either pink pool band or Expo band to get in at certain hours. The first night, I arrived to an insanely long line to enter the pool area. The hallway to the pool area was so congested one cannot navigate through. So I detoured to a bar off the hallway to wait out the line. It never moved. The capacity reached to its limit in the pool area so they closed the doors.
During one afternoon, the pool was open to the public, I walked in and was surprised to see a rather small pool area. What was DeafNation thinking using this pool area for nightly social party when they knew to expect THOUSANDS of us coming??
Granted, DeafNation selected Treasure Island as the headquarters hotel for its prime location and the connecting bridge to Venetian which also had a connecting building to Sands Convention Center where the Expo was held. HOWEVER, they should have had made VENETIAN the headquarter hotel because it had a bigger pool - three or four times the size of the pool at Treasure Island hotel. My guess is DeafNation did not select Venetian due to its pricey room rates. Despite that, they could have negotiated with Venetian to use its pool instead of Treasure Island by perhaps asking for room rate discounts for DeafNation guests to match the rates at Treasure Island.
Had they done that, most of us would be able to get into the pool party and have had a better time than standing and sweltering in a hot hallway in a line.
There were many special events which catered to a limited and certain people or by invitations only. Most workshops took place only in the first two or three days so those who arrived later in the week missed out on those. I think DeafNation could do better by scheduling the workshops throughout the week such as two times a week for one workshop, perhaps Tuesday and Thursday, so people who arrived later in the week could attend the Thursday workshop. I arrived on Wednesday, for instance. The keynote speakers also were scheduled to speak only an hour on one day of the week. Of course, I missed them all. They all were scheduled around 11 AM to noon. Many guests stayed up until wee hours of the morning and slept in late in the morning. They could do better by moving the keynote speakers to later in the day.
Many guests wanted to watch Blue Men performance. Guess what? There was no discount for the tickets. DeafNation could do better by negotiating with the concierge to give discounts for the DeafNation guests. They did for Cirque du Soliel's Mystere - 20% off which was not that much but indeed "better than nothing." I know Blue Men DO give discounts because I know as several of my friends who went to LV for a wedding got $12 tickets for Blue Men through the concierge. Cirque du Soliel is not everyone's cup of tea....more people would prefer Blue Men, so I wonder why DeafNation negotiated discounted tickets for Mystere and not Blue Men. Go figure.
There were also no discounts for Stratosphere and other featured tourism in LV.
So what most of the guests did? Of course, converge to Treasure Island and talk in their hallways and casinos. That was basically it. Guests walked into the bars to buy drinks and wandered through the hallways drunk. That was all they could do or afford to do. There were MANY underage young adults there who were DRUNK. Needlessly to say, they had their legit friends supply them with drinks. Ugh! How fun do you think it was to be in crowded hallways with drunken kids?
Many found the experience to be "fun" perhaps because they had never been to anyplace where the deaf was the majority as it was at Treasure Island. Everyone signed and monopolized nearly all the free space.
Hey, that'd sort be like being at Gallaudet. If anyone had gone to Gallaudet or NTID, they missed nothing at LV.
I did not attend the Deaf Universe Pageant as I don't care for it, however, I was told by those who attended that they were not impressed as they observed that the contestants did not appear prepared or composed to compete. Miss France won, by the way. I also did not attend the Friday social party at Mandalay Bay hotel of which I apparently did not miss out on as I was told it was too dark, crowded, and did not have enough tables for everyone - a waste of $20. Again, DeafNation missed the boat on the capacity.
While at a buffet, I passed a table seated by DeafNation people...they talked without signing. They were surrounded by mostly deaf and ASL users at that buffet. How rude was that? I learned that most of the DeafNation people were CODAs. No wonder they spoke, but they knew better. They should know it is taboo to speak without signing when in presence of deaf people - even in a public buffet.
So what did I enjoy at LV? Seeing some old friends, of course. I also missed MANY because of the sheer number of DeafNation guests. I saw pictures of those I missed seeing in pictures on Facebook. Sigh! Watching Mystere was an enjoyable 90-minute experience. But hey, I got to see it only once. The casinos were not nice to me - I lost money. But that's gambling for you. It was to be expected and I enjoyed the anticipation of winning money for a short while. I loved my hotel room - it was a double suite with its own mini kitchen, bathroom and TV - total privacy. Two complete suites for my friends and myself shared by a connecting kitchen and living room. It had a washing machine so I brought clean clothes home rather than the traditional smelly laundry bag. It had nice sofas for lounging which I did a bit due to excessive walking.
Overall, the Expo and its events earned a thumb-down from me. My hotel earned a thumb- up.
The reality:
The expo itself was just the same as all the local city expos that DeafNation travels to every year. There was nothing special about it with exception that Purple HOVRS had drawings to give away several netbooks. There was also a drawing to win Apple Iphones but that's by registration only without public drawings.
The main hotel was Treasure Island. The nightly social pool party was held in its pool. The guests were required to display either pink pool band or Expo band to get in at certain hours. The first night, I arrived to an insanely long line to enter the pool area. The hallway to the pool area was so congested one cannot navigate through. So I detoured to a bar off the hallway to wait out the line. It never moved. The capacity reached to its limit in the pool area so they closed the doors.
During one afternoon, the pool was open to the public, I walked in and was surprised to see a rather small pool area. What was DeafNation thinking using this pool area for nightly social party when they knew to expect THOUSANDS of us coming??
Granted, DeafNation selected Treasure Island as the headquarters hotel for its prime location and the connecting bridge to Venetian which also had a connecting building to Sands Convention Center where the Expo was held. HOWEVER, they should have had made VENETIAN the headquarter hotel because it had a bigger pool - three or four times the size of the pool at Treasure Island hotel. My guess is DeafNation did not select Venetian due to its pricey room rates. Despite that, they could have negotiated with Venetian to use its pool instead of Treasure Island by perhaps asking for room rate discounts for DeafNation guests to match the rates at Treasure Island.
Had they done that, most of us would be able to get into the pool party and have had a better time than standing and sweltering in a hot hallway in a line.
There were many special events which catered to a limited and certain people or by invitations only. Most workshops took place only in the first two or three days so those who arrived later in the week missed out on those. I think DeafNation could do better by scheduling the workshops throughout the week such as two times a week for one workshop, perhaps Tuesday and Thursday, so people who arrived later in the week could attend the Thursday workshop. I arrived on Wednesday, for instance. The keynote speakers also were scheduled to speak only an hour on one day of the week. Of course, I missed them all. They all were scheduled around 11 AM to noon. Many guests stayed up until wee hours of the morning and slept in late in the morning. They could do better by moving the keynote speakers to later in the day.
Many guests wanted to watch Blue Men performance. Guess what? There was no discount for the tickets. DeafNation could do better by negotiating with the concierge to give discounts for the DeafNation guests. They did for Cirque du Soliel's Mystere - 20% off which was not that much but indeed "better than nothing." I know Blue Men DO give discounts because I know as several of my friends who went to LV for a wedding got $12 tickets for Blue Men through the concierge. Cirque du Soliel is not everyone's cup of tea....more people would prefer Blue Men, so I wonder why DeafNation negotiated discounted tickets for Mystere and not Blue Men. Go figure.
There were also no discounts for Stratosphere and other featured tourism in LV.
So what most of the guests did? Of course, converge to Treasure Island and talk in their hallways and casinos. That was basically it. Guests walked into the bars to buy drinks and wandered through the hallways drunk. That was all they could do or afford to do. There were MANY underage young adults there who were DRUNK. Needlessly to say, they had their legit friends supply them with drinks. Ugh! How fun do you think it was to be in crowded hallways with drunken kids?
Many found the experience to be "fun" perhaps because they had never been to anyplace where the deaf was the majority as it was at Treasure Island. Everyone signed and monopolized nearly all the free space.
Hey, that'd sort be like being at Gallaudet. If anyone had gone to Gallaudet or NTID, they missed nothing at LV.
I did not attend the Deaf Universe Pageant as I don't care for it, however, I was told by those who attended that they were not impressed as they observed that the contestants did not appear prepared or composed to compete. Miss France won, by the way. I also did not attend the Friday social party at Mandalay Bay hotel of which I apparently did not miss out on as I was told it was too dark, crowded, and did not have enough tables for everyone - a waste of $20. Again, DeafNation missed the boat on the capacity.
While at a buffet, I passed a table seated by DeafNation people...they talked without signing. They were surrounded by mostly deaf and ASL users at that buffet. How rude was that? I learned that most of the DeafNation people were CODAs. No wonder they spoke, but they knew better. They should know it is taboo to speak without signing when in presence of deaf people - even in a public buffet.
So what did I enjoy at LV? Seeing some old friends, of course. I also missed MANY because of the sheer number of DeafNation guests. I saw pictures of those I missed seeing in pictures on Facebook. Sigh! Watching Mystere was an enjoyable 90-minute experience. But hey, I got to see it only once. The casinos were not nice to me - I lost money. But that's gambling for you. It was to be expected and I enjoyed the anticipation of winning money for a short while. I loved my hotel room - it was a double suite with its own mini kitchen, bathroom and TV - total privacy. Two complete suites for my friends and myself shared by a connecting kitchen and living room. It had a washing machine so I brought clean clothes home rather than the traditional smelly laundry bag. It had nice sofas for lounging which I did a bit due to excessive walking.
Overall, the Expo and its events earned a thumb-down from me. My hotel earned a thumb- up.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
My God. That's Going Too Far.
Mike McConnell posted an entry claiming that Deafhood is classified as an extremist group and lumped it with the likes of Church of Scientology according to Wikipedia, an internet source where anyone can enter a post on a topic or make revisions, hence often unreliable as a source.
Linda decided to play detective. Here is what she found:
Editing to "Extremist Groups" Wikipedia page was done under the IP address
Full-screen IP-Adresse: 206.169.206.91
Provider: Time Warner Telecom
Organisation: Valley Telephone Coop - Tucson
Region: Cochise (US)
Cochise, AZ, is the suburb of Tucson where Barry Sewell lives.
That is going too far, Barry. You entered this basely solely on your personal opinion on Deafhood. You are trying to spread misinformation to the general public. This is not based on fact. Wikipedia is supposed to be a factual (at least, as close as possible) source, not a personal opinion of a person hellbent on discrediting a certain group of people.
Barry IS entitled to his opinion that Deafhood is a cult, that it is full of nonsense, that people who support the ideology are extremists. In fact, it is perfectly okay. However, in this case, it is going too far. Barry even said "it was fun." Literally a confession.
One MUST respect the beliefs and opinions of others without going all-out to discredit or harm the reputations of others. Is this not a free country? Last I knew, it is. If Barry truly believes Deafhood is a cult, then he ought to stay out and keep out.
WHAT did Deafhood ever do to Barry or Mike McConnell for that matter? Oh yes, I forgot. Barry once upon a time supported DBC and was on the board. They removed him for political reason. Barry became bitter. Now he is doing his damnedest to discredit the people who rejected him from DBC.
It is time to move on. It's been 3 years now. It is a well known fact you loathe DBC. We get it. Ok?
As for Mike McConnell entering that post - one has to wonder if he was in the cahoots with Barry or did he swallow a big fish when he saw the entry on Wikipedia and excitedly published it? It is the best policy to check your sources or for facts before you do anything, Mike.
Profound thanks to Linda for her suspicious nature. She smelled a rat and dug it out.
Deafhood people can go into Wikipedia and revise the entry Barry made. Please do.
Linda decided to play detective. Here is what she found:
Editing to "Extremist Groups" Wikipedia page was done under the IP address
Full-screen IP-Adresse: 206.169.206.91
Provider: Time Warner Telecom
Organisation: Valley Telephone Coop - Tucson
Region: Cochise (US)
Cochise, AZ, is the suburb of Tucson where Barry Sewell lives.
That is going too far, Barry. You entered this basely solely on your personal opinion on Deafhood. You are trying to spread misinformation to the general public. This is not based on fact. Wikipedia is supposed to be a factual (at least, as close as possible) source, not a personal opinion of a person hellbent on discrediting a certain group of people.
Barry IS entitled to his opinion that Deafhood is a cult, that it is full of nonsense, that people who support the ideology are extremists. In fact, it is perfectly okay. However, in this case, it is going too far. Barry even said "it was fun." Literally a confession.
One MUST respect the beliefs and opinions of others without going all-out to discredit or harm the reputations of others. Is this not a free country? Last I knew, it is. If Barry truly believes Deafhood is a cult, then he ought to stay out and keep out.
WHAT did Deafhood ever do to Barry or Mike McConnell for that matter? Oh yes, I forgot. Barry once upon a time supported DBC and was on the board. They removed him for political reason. Barry became bitter. Now he is doing his damnedest to discredit the people who rejected him from DBC.
It is time to move on. It's been 3 years now. It is a well known fact you loathe DBC. We get it. Ok?
As for Mike McConnell entering that post - one has to wonder if he was in the cahoots with Barry or did he swallow a big fish when he saw the entry on Wikipedia and excitedly published it? It is the best policy to check your sources or for facts before you do anything, Mike.
Profound thanks to Linda for her suspicious nature. She smelled a rat and dug it out.
Deafhood people can go into Wikipedia and revise the entry Barry made. Please do.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Rogue Bloggers Backpedaling On AB2072
Sheesh! The rogue bloggers are trying hard to put wool over our eyes AGAIN. They claim that the opponents of AB2072 didn't win because they wanted the bill KILLED and that did not happen therefore there is no victory.
Any logic in this??
The opponents has always been about biases in this bill and the source of information being from audiologist. Senator Mendoza, THEIR hero, actually overthrew the original bill and REWROTE it. This new bill was presented to the Deaf group who was actively involved with AB2072 to review it. This group gave them 3 DEMANDS to be amended to the NEW bill. View David Eberwein and Ella Mae's vlogs for in-depth recaps. These 3 demands are what WE wanted.
1. Monitor system - who oversees the program?
2. ASL
3. No audiologist
Those 3 demands were ACCEPTED and amended to the bill.
We managed to get Mendoza to re-write the bill in our favor. Mendoza was the one who got the health committee to accept the 3 demands amended WITHOUT requesting for extension to discuss the amendments and immediately put AB2072 on floor for vote.
The table flipped against the rogue bloggers' favor, actually. Mendoza, their hero, did a 360 turnaround. Romero, who was OUR hero, voted against the bill on her own integrity of her own principle as a supporter of the deaf. I believe had she have the time to discuss with the deaf group, she would have voted in favor once she knew they were in favor of those 3 demands.
Ella was not exactly thrilled. Really, there is no bill that will fully satisfy everyone. There is always compromise and give/take situation when it comes to politics. I do wish Ella is content with what we can get.
So, rogue bloggers, enough already.
Any logic in this??
The opponents has always been about biases in this bill and the source of information being from audiologist. Senator Mendoza, THEIR hero, actually overthrew the original bill and REWROTE it. This new bill was presented to the Deaf group who was actively involved with AB2072 to review it. This group gave them 3 DEMANDS to be amended to the NEW bill. View David Eberwein and Ella Mae's vlogs for in-depth recaps. These 3 demands are what WE wanted.
1. Monitor system - who oversees the program?
2. ASL
3. No audiologist
Those 3 demands were ACCEPTED and amended to the bill.
We managed to get Mendoza to re-write the bill in our favor. Mendoza was the one who got the health committee to accept the 3 demands amended WITHOUT requesting for extension to discuss the amendments and immediately put AB2072 on floor for vote.
The table flipped against the rogue bloggers' favor, actually. Mendoza, their hero, did a 360 turnaround. Romero, who was OUR hero, voted against the bill on her own integrity of her own principle as a supporter of the deaf. I believe had she have the time to discuss with the deaf group, she would have voted in favor once she knew they were in favor of those 3 demands.
Ella was not exactly thrilled. Really, there is no bill that will fully satisfy everyone. There is always compromise and give/take situation when it comes to politics. I do wish Ella is content with what we can get.
So, rogue bloggers, enough already.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
AB2072: Clarification - It Passed for OUR Side.
The rogue group of bloggers who are celebrating prematurely on the passage of AB2072 in the committee is misinformed or is giving misleading information that they won against us.
Watch Karina Pederson, who gave a wonderful recap on today's hearing, in her vlog.
Yes, AB2072 passed, BUT the 3 demands were AMENDED! FOR US. Audiologist goes out as first source of information which is outstanding! What needs worked on is to recognize ASL as the ONLY visual language by re-defining the meaning of "language." Instead of CDNAIS, CDE will oversee the program. CDE is more focused on education and has strong background with the deaf.
A taskforce has been proceeded to begin working on the ASL part of the amendment. They will reconvene and proceed to tie up on this bill at a later time. The first and third demands are accepted as is which is OUR victory!
No, don't rest on your laurels! Work with the taskforce to monitor this bill to ensure it passes into law as accepted upon today without hidden revisions and such.
So, you rogue group, go ahead and celebrate if you think you've won just because this bill did not die on the floor as you thought we wanted for it to happen. We would if the senators had refused to accept those 3 demands, but they surprised us and accepted them as amendments to this bill which translated into a victory for us!
Watch Karina Pederson, who gave a wonderful recap on today's hearing, in her vlog.
Yes, AB2072 passed, BUT the 3 demands were AMENDED! FOR US. Audiologist goes out as first source of information which is outstanding! What needs worked on is to recognize ASL as the ONLY visual language by re-defining the meaning of "language." Instead of CDNAIS, CDE will oversee the program. CDE is more focused on education and has strong background with the deaf.
A taskforce has been proceeded to begin working on the ASL part of the amendment. They will reconvene and proceed to tie up on this bill at a later time. The first and third demands are accepted as is which is OUR victory!
No, don't rest on your laurels! Work with the taskforce to monitor this bill to ensure it passes into law as accepted upon today without hidden revisions and such.
So, you rogue group, go ahead and celebrate if you think you've won just because this bill did not die on the floor as you thought we wanted for it to happen. We would if the senators had refused to accept those 3 demands, but they surprised us and accepted them as amendments to this bill which translated into a victory for us!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
PAH! Candy Identified??
Blogger Candy's true identity always has been a mystery for the past several years. Nobody seems to know who she is. She claims to be from deaf family and an advocate of the deaf and ASL, but yet her actions show the opposite. She has been quite baffling for many of us. It did not make sense that she claims to be a DOD and supporter but is on the bandwagon with McConnell and Barry Sewell who are anti-Deaf, including Deafhood, DBC, supporters of assimilation, AB2072...you get the picture. She is the epitome of contradictions.
Ridor, as everyone knows, loves to dig up dirt on people, especially on those who wronged him or the deaf community, as Candy has, apparently found the true identity of this so-called Candy. His vlog showed an old picture of Candy, presumably, as the picture was black and white, from when she was young. The way she writes, she sounds older - in her thirties or forties, at least. She is identified as Gina Sutton, a resident of Wisconsin.
SO, anyone knows Gina Sutton?? Anyone who knows her background?? Any truth to her claims as a DOD?? Ridor's commentor claims she works for ZVRS??
Ridor's vlog is a little long as he spent most of his vlog on NAD but wait for the end.
Ridor, as everyone knows, loves to dig up dirt on people, especially on those who wronged him or the deaf community, as Candy has, apparently found the true identity of this so-called Candy. His vlog showed an old picture of Candy, presumably, as the picture was black and white, from when she was young. The way she writes, she sounds older - in her thirties or forties, at least. She is identified as Gina Sutton, a resident of Wisconsin.
SO, anyone knows Gina Sutton?? Anyone who knows her background?? Any truth to her claims as a DOD?? Ridor's commentor claims she works for ZVRS??
Ridor's vlog is a little long as he spent most of his vlog on NAD but wait for the end.
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