March 07, 2010

Opinionated Deaf People Turned Workshop Into A Madhouse

Reading some posts online about angry deaf people and people leaving culturally strong deaf communities for personal reasons reminded me of a situation I had a few months ago.

I attended a workshop with some co-workers. The workshop was about how to prepare for the deaf education certification test (for educators and professionals who want to work in the education system with deaf and hard of hearing individuals). Many signing d/Deaf people attended the workshop. It went pretty well in the beginning, as we learned about the test format and how to best prepare for it.

Suddenly it turned into a pro-Deaf rally. People were bringing up completely irrelevant and touchy subjects for no reason. Some stood up on a table and signed furiously in the air. There were some shouts and a lot of cheering. The presenter looked frightened, and the idiot let them take over.

It was no longer a workshop, it became a madhouse.

A lot of people ranted and raved. Random questions and statements were thrown around: "Why can't this deaf person be allowed to drive the truck for this certain company?" "We must protest this institution, this store, this library, etc., etc." "This test is biased!" "Deaf people have no rights!" "I am hungry, where should we eat after this?"

Some complained about how the test only focuses on mainstreaming, speech, and aural rehabilitation. This is so not true, I took the test recently and it covered everything, from ASL to cued speech. That's the reality of deaf education, everyone is different, we are not all learning ASL or raised the same as everyone.

They were so wrapped up in their ideals that they could not stop to realize that this is not the time and place for this.

At times the presenter left the room. The other people who were hearing or deaf but did not sign, looked uncomfortable and irritated. A woman near me said, "I thought this was about how to take this test."

It was a total waste of time. I was pissed that I spent a beautiful Saturday listening to a bunch of irrational whining babies.

(e

11 comments:

  1. Just wanted to drop a note and say how much I really enjoyed this blog. I feel you and I understand where you're coming from. The first thing that came to my mind when I read the "shouting and whining match" part was... what ever happened to ethics?

    Thanks for sharing!
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  2. Oh man! This is almost to the point of total embarrassment. Sorry, you had to waste your time with such nonsense. I second Barry on the ethics part. Where was the professionalism? They are educators, for shame's sake.

    Anyway, thanks for sharing and I hear you.
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  3. That story is INSANE! If I hadn't witnessed a Deaf rally myself, I probably wouldn't believe you. Were all of the Deaf extremists there together, as a planned protest? Or were they there with the intention of finding out information about the test too? Were they all actually educators?

    You are so right about the extremists scaring people off. It seems that applies for both side- the oral extremists as well as the Deaf culture extremists. When will we ever just learn to get along?!

    Thanks for sharing this.
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  4. Thanks, everyone. Glad you understand where I am coming from.

    PinkLAM - I don't think it was planned. Their emotions just got the best of them. Some of them were not educators, but were perhaps planning on working for the education system.

    (e
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  5. It's sad. What this tells me is that these extremists have to be treated as if they are children. Someone has to EXPLAIN to them in the very beginning what this is for. "We are here to talk about this test and NOTHING more" and so on...ahh, I know what you're saying. I have been part of the deaf culture for so long and there have been times where I had to be the "parent" and tell these "children" to knock it off. Like I said, it's sad. But, this is not typically what happens when people get together socially. I guess a few bad apples ruins the whole bunch. I admire those that advocate and are assertive. Sometimes some things are better saved for the right time and the right place.
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  6. Where did this take place? I've not seen anything like this in Minnesota. Maybe you would be interested in moving here? :)
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  7. Anonymous,

    LOL. No I am happy here. I like the excitement, I guess.
    However, this does not happen all of the time. The people involved in the signing deaf communities here, as a whole, are friendly and fun to be with--as long as you know who to avoid. It just happened that a lot of hyper-sensitive and emotional people decided to attend this workshop.
    This actually took place at a school for the deaf on a Saturday.

    (e
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  8. *Smirky*

    I'd be surprised if no one filed complaint against the presenter.

    You know the presenter wasn't familiar with the code of ethics. That's a common problem. At this point, you'll never know if the presenter was not neither a professor nor teacher nor else.

    I agree with Barry about the code of ethics.

    White Ghost
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  9. oopps please delete "not" in the third paragraph...

    Thanks,

    White Ghost
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  10. White Ghost- I got what you were trying to say. ;)

    I remember that the presenter held a doctorate degree and she was very smart and well informed of Deaf Education. I think she was just intimidated and did not know what to do when all hell broke loose. At first she was interested in what they had to say, so she did add fuel to the fire by asking, "Huh, that's interesting. Anyone else feel this way?"

    (e
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  11. I see both sides. On the one hand there are quite a few issues that need to be addressed and Deaf people are standing up for themselves. On the other hand setting up a firing squad at every hearing gathering is not going to be very effective.

    We have something similar in Black culture. Black people grow tired of being marginalized and stereotyped. I grow tired of it too. However, I still get annoyed when people get all oversensitive and PC over every use of the word "black".

    I suppose I can use Kanye West as an example. He is known for saying things like "Bush don't care about Black people" at a Hurricane Katrina benefit or cutting off Taylor Swift's MTV Award acceptance speech to say "Taylor I'm happy for you and I'll let you finish, but Beyonce had the best video of all time." He was able to draw a lot of attention... but it did not draw positive attention in the end.

    It's sticky. It's evident that oppression needs to come to an end but how do we bring about change? I see both sides. There are legitimate reasons for whining, but if the whining is not in the form of the valid complaints people will simply view Deaf as stubborn, militant, and simpleminded.
    ReplyDelete

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