What language do deaf think in ?

If a deaf person is born deaf in what language do they think!? This question and a whole plethora of amusing and some downright ignorance I read online today. Personally I think our deaf command of English and spelling far superior to what I am reading here too !

Chojboco: Deafenese.

Prettyboi Floyd: Some are born death some become death and there language is sign language.

Mommy of 2: Don't be silly. There is no such thing as being deaf. It is all just a mere lie made up by people who want attention.

xxnight.: Well, obviously they don't think in a language. I would imagine they think of words, not there sounds, but there spellings.

Mommy of 2-You aren't serious, right ?

Fail Whale: Good question. I've never thought of it like that.
Usually people become more intelligent as their vocabulary increases. The more words you have at your disposal, the more you can think... I assume that a deaf person who was born deaf would think in sign, as they would have nothing to associate with sound.

LMF_Eddi... You just blew my mind o.o

Ann: sometimes they are born deaf but sometimes it happens later in life. They speak sign language but I don't what they think. Probably just think what they are going to sign.

Vera Gabriele: If they are born deaf, then their parents have to learn sign language. When they are old enough they can go to a school for the deaf and they can read books, so they can learn as many languages as they want.. it does not affect their intelligence.. once they can read they can think in the languages which they are able to read... sign language is international, so that all deaf people understand each other if they speak in signs.

I am sure it's not that difficult. Parents would learn it, after all they want to understand their child. They can also ''talk through body language and once the child understands words, a deaf person can write them down instead of talking... There are experts everywhere who speak sign language. A parent of a child that is born deaf would take classes and learn sign language...How do little kids dream before their words make sense? I am sure they still dream... a deaf person can see and think in pictures...the can go by all their other senses to think.. How does this smell, what shape is it, what colour is it.Probably easier than when a person is born blind and they learn to talk as their hearing is good and their sense of smell and orientation, and they read in Braille.

Marley Kidd: Not always. They don't think of a language, they think of images.


“Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion” Robert Burns...

The X_Factor deaf- wise.

Forget X-Factor and the relenteless parade of untalented idiots queuing up to be aunt sally in the TV stocks, and fuelling dubious egos of even more obscure 'celebrities'. This is a real and unique chance for the deaf in the UK to see who will step up to the plate to be ID'd as cultural deaf leadership material in the United Kingdom. We have waited 10 years for a campaign to start, which rather suggests we have no leaders at present, and with little online presence of deaf issues apart from individuals, and those appalling charities that don't even HAVE deaf people in it, I am surprised this 'Leadership' parade hasn't attracted a lot more attention than it deserves.

Will we see these potential leaders going live and streamed to the net so we can discuss the merits or otherwise of their leadership potential ? Background ? ability to represent and include all areas ? It appears to eminate from DaDa, which is more widely known for its rather quaint obessions and ideas of what constitutes deaf arts (Which is mostly things with hands in it, and a penchant for plays about transvestism), but I don't want to knock the chance of seeing who the future (Or even the PRESENT to be honest), deaf representation is, will they need an ability to juggle things ? or paint landscapes ? because the Brit deaf are rather shy at blowing their own trumpets on ability, but ever-ready to shoot down anyone else that does. Makes you proud to be a Brit.

I think DaDa has lost a real opportunity here to present potential 'leaders' of the deaf community, to the actual and real deaf population (Last seen talking complete cobblers on FB or Twitter or something). Is it some 1990s corporate thing where they climb hills and shoot paintballs at each other ? Terry Riley is a bit old for that, now if it is zimmers at 20 paces.... lol....

Deaf Cultural Leaders Project *

"We are inviting Deaf Creative & Cultural Leaders to apply for a unique and exciting opportunity. Working within Direct Communication principles, a Cultural Leadership Project is being established to bring together 20 Deaf leaders for a programme of three leadership development days, peer mentoring and online networking over the next six months. The programme is most suited to mid-career leaders who have experience of leading others, formally or informally and wish to develop their leadership potential further.
Learn, share and be inspired by top leaders and speakers from within the Deaf community both in the UK and abroad. "

Abroad ? Will Marlee turn up you think ? (Hope she brings an interpreter with her, and promises NOT to talk about children of a lesser god for at LEAST 5 minutes).

One CI, two working ears ?

A woman has become the first person in the UK to undergo surgery to fit a single cochlear implant capable of giving sound in both ears.

It is hoped the device will give the patient, from the Isle of Wight, improved bilateral hearing by running two stimulator wires from the implant. An implant is usually fitted to one ear which can lead to problems with noise. The four-hour operation, which started earlier, is being carried out at Southampton General Hospital.

It is being carried out by Mike Pringle, consultant otolaryngologist based at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. Although about 40 of the devices have been implanted in patients in Europe, this is the first of its kind in the UK.

'Considerable cheaper' The device uses small electrical currents to stimulate the hearing nerve, which then sends signals to the brain where they are interpreted as sound. The procedure has been developed at the South of England Cochlear Implant Centre (SOECIC), based at Southampton university.

Joint head of the centre Julie Brinton said:



"Some adults and children have already received two implants, with one in each ear. "The difference with the device being used today is that, although information is delivered to each ear, there is only one implant.

"This type of device has an internal receiver/stimulator with two wires. "One will go directly into one inner ear and the other will go over the top of the head, under the scalp, to reach the other inner ear. "There will be a microphone on each ear collecting sounds from both sides. "Having two ears working makes it easier to hear in noisy backgrounds and also helps with localisation, or hearing where sounds are coming from."

Because there is only one processor and one internal receiver stimulator the centre said it made the device significantly cheaper than two separate implants. The patient will wait up to six weeks before the device is turned on and will receive auditory rehabilitation to encourage her listening.

Link

UN to move on Disability rights

Not before time given there are worrying signs (No pun intended), that the British DDA is not working effectively enough for the deaf or disabled. It also draws a line between gay-ethnic rights and deaf-disabled ones, this will enable deaf people to more make the point of 'deaf hate 'and discriminations, none of which are being met at present in the United Kingdom, despite deaf families being forced out of their homes for being deaf, and disabled parents killing themselves and their children in some cases because the relative acts were not enforced, or the wording prohibited cases being brought to court.

What a pity no-one takes any notice of UN dictats....

The Brit Answer to Marlee..

Well, reputed to be funnier anyway.... unencumbered by excess hair, has never done a film (Much to his credit), and doesn't waste his time doing the celeb circuit relating past glories (Mostly because there aren't any), but, has a real message. (Free copy of Understanding deafhood IF you can tell us what it is, the silver crosses are not working with mine, )... The part of Mr Bean is played by John Smith, the UK's only deaf comedian. The interpreter insists on being complete anonymous (And who can blame her ?).

Mendoza Surpised....

LINK: Deaf activists oppose brochure for parents

It's strong language to accuse a state assemblyman of pushing a "eugenics" bill that could threaten deaf people. But in an emotionally charged fight, California deaf activists have invoked the word as they battle a bill that could pass the state Legislature within a week.

Tony Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, said he has been surprised at how vehement deaf opposition is to his Assembly Bill 2072. The proposal's intent, he said, is to create a 13-person panel to develop an informational brochure to be given to every deaf newborn's parents. Right now, Mendoza said, the distribution of information is "very haphazard."

Parents have complained to him, he said, that they were not briefed on various options to try to help their child develop speech during the critical years up to age 5. The brochure would explain a range of options, Mendoza said, including cochlear implants – high-tech devices surgically implanted and also worn outside the ear that allow the brain, with training, to hear degrees of sound.

Mendoza said he realizes that his bill has touched a raw nerve within the deaf culture – a community that rejects deafness as a defect and embraces American Sign Language as a full language best learned starting at infancy. "There is no cure for deafness. Accept that, please," said Sheri Farinha, chief executive officer of NorCal Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Farinha and others say that deaf groups were not consulted during the bill's drafting. And they're upset that the 13-member panel includes only two specific spots for deaf people. Mendoza said that he has reached out to activists, but he feels "they've chosen not to be at the table."

Against:

Farinha and activists with the California Association of the Deaf, which also opposes the bill, said they're suspicious that the bill's real aim is to promote implants.

They object to the inclusion of medical specialists on the panel who they suspect will promote the devices heavily. They point to a private foundation's brochure for parents of newborns that was considered a possible model for California's own pamphlet. It features implants prominently and includes only three sentences on sign language. Activists say the emphasis on the importance of trying to get children to hear – by implanting devices – is, for them, an echo of a bitter past.

They're reminded, they say, of a time when followers of eugenics – a discredited movement that favored "improving" humans through selective breeding – advocated against disabled people having children. Implant manufacturers "exploit grieving parents," Farinha also said, as she spoke through an interpreter.

She thinks implants offer parents "false hope" that their children will hear and speak fluent English and won't need sign language. She knows frustrated teens, she said, who want to learn sign language late because implants didn't help them communicate as well as they expected.

FOR:

Licia King, a supporter of Mendoza's bill, has a different story. The Orangevale parent of 6-year-old deaf twin girls said it was a family friend – not health professionals – who first told her about implants. She said the twins each had their first implant done at age 1, and last year, after years of training in a special school, they exceeded state academic standards in a regular kindergarten. "It is a miracle," King said. She said that, so far, the girls are very verbal, and one of them is interested in music.

King said she appreciates the concerns of deaf activists who want to protect sign language, but she believes parents have a right to choose. "I would have been one very angry, angry, angry parent," she said, "had I found this out too late." Mendoza said he's trying to work on amendments to the bill to reach consensus before it goes to the Senate floor for a vote. The Assembly has approved it.

Marlee Matlin FCC/Broadband (II)

Social Inclusion for Beginners...

More a comment on the commercial main streaming of inclusion, and what I disagree with. First, What it is about....."what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low income, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown” or deaf and disabled. What can we do about it ?" (Sorry about the Wiki definition but it is as daft as any I could find).

I can't be bothered to find out really, like we need a bunch of mean-wells with limited funding, and a shed-load of quangoes bleating like sheep at endless meetings, advising how to speak, sit, stand, or fall over with minimum disruption and still maintain complete empathy with all the deaf minorities on the planet. A big society that looks after itself so the state doesn't have to cough up for anything.

Suddenly it's martha's vineyard meets shangri-la the movie. All 'advising' us how to be the same as everyone else, everyone cares about each other no-one is excluded from anything (And you thought Hans Anderson was dead ?). Mostly it is to save the state having to pay compensation for the institutional discrimination that rattles on and on, and the almost complete apathy of everyone without an hearing issue. We WILL include you whether you like it or not, all you have to do is hear and talk, it's easy.... Funny, I was reading another blog about the Hitler years where an identical policy was mooted, except they didn't want us to hear, they just wanted us gone. We've moved on since then the UK just wants us invisible instead.

There is believe it or not a WHOLE industry geared to advising on awareness without a deafie in sight, telling everyone and their cat, but mostly business and commerce, how to make deaf people your friend, (easy really, just put money in my hand, and exclude me from taxation), basically the business people pay these 'social advisers' for the advice and the business continues to ignore, but hey it's creating jobs for someone, just not us. Deaf awareness has proven a real money-spinner for hearing, it's so good they don't even need to see a deaf person, ever.

All you have to do is say some are deaf with a big D (They are bragging mostly), and there are deaf with a little 'd' (There's no shame in that, size is relative). And if you face them and talk S L O W L Y and not resemble a goldfish stranded out of water, that's it basically. Thanks very much, £250, and we send you free stickers with "I Luv Deafies" on them. (Available in Pink or blue, at no extra cost)...

The other side is social inclusion in mainstream, a little less of a goer really, because no-one on the street is going to pay to be aware, sh*t they are in minority overload already, and there are another 6 billion to go..... Some organise a 'Let's meet and help a deafie for a day..." outing, or a car boot sale or raffle or something, and it usually deteriorates in 5 minutes to two opposing groups unable to talk to each and with nothing in common, you never see two of these events ever happening. They have taken to using children and animals again as the Brits are 50-50 on taking an interest in those, providing (A) The child is too young to be a bluddy nuisance (none over 6 months old or incapable), , or (B) The animals are dogs/cats, then joe public can ignore people altogether and pat them into submission instead.

Do you want inclusion ? on what terms ? As access is a right, why do I need inclusion policies ? They are going to buss disabled or deaf to centres together (NOT with mainstream), so like can be 'included' with like, erm I see a flaw, a veritable great bluddy fly stuck in the ointment really, we are all trying to get the hell away from that. We don't have an issue communicating together, the issue is dare I suggest, elsewhere ? I think I preferred it when I was really excluded, I knew where I was then.

The Faceless Deaf...

Making the point that increasingly there are sectors of deaf and others who are trying to influence the deaf persona, image, and culture online to suit their own views of it, and to keep influential commentators out. Seems even the sign user has its puritanical hard-core.




Is there anyone with a strident or radical view here who hasn't yet been banned ? You can't be doing it right unless you have..... Free speech seems to get harder every day.... I can recall one site removing a commentator so effectively there was no trace in 2 years contribution activity, they ever existed, even non-contentious input, now that, is scary... their addy, their every comment, erased from every topic and every response to other topics, the word goes out, zap the person and addy from involvment. even Hitler didn't manage that effectively.

Is there a Deaf-finder General lol.... a deaf version of the star chamber meeting in secret to line up the next victim of their collective paranoia ? Who are these 'faceless Deaf' who operate censorships throught the deaf areas online ? Narrow memberships down to those who agree only ? Use social media's to ostracise or denigrate others ? These 'cliques of cultural/moral and ethical righteousness ?' Making conformity their new religion. Who have abused sites to validate their own abuses of freedoms of expression ?

Dering, To take court action for unpaid fees.

LEGAL ACTION: Stephen Dering blames the Shaw Trust charity for his company having to enter administration. A SPECIALIST recruitment agency for deaf people is to take legal action against a leading charity for "suffocating" the company into administration.

Dering Employment Services, which has helped thousands of deaf or hard of hearing people find and retain work, claims it is owed £100,000 by the Shaw Trust. Stephen Dering, 33, chief executive of the firm based in Park Lane, Croydon, accuses the charity of being responsible for "90 per cent" of his company's financial woes.

He said that due to the specialist expertise of his company, it was subcontracted by the Shaw Trust to deliver services other companies cannot. Mr Dering said: "Shaw Trust has not paid up for service fees, job outcomes and sustained outcomes for several months.

"Some fees date back over a year." Shaw Trust is the UK's largest provider of employment services for disabled people and a Government-backed charity. It should have paid Dering a monthly service fee, whenever someone who used the company found work and if they kept that job for six months or more.



Mr Dering claims that, on numerous occasions, Shaw Trust failed to pay these fees.

LINK

It's getting Worse, MUCH worse...

THE number of people who are both deaf and blind in Wales is expected to grow by 57% in just 20 years.

A report by deafblind charity Sense said people over 70 will be most affected with a 87% increase by 2030.

It is estimated 18,850 people in Wales are currently affected by both visual and hearing impairments. Richard Brook, chief executive of Sense, said: “The results of this research are startling.



“We are all living with a ticking timebomb as the number of deafblind individuals in Wales and the UK has been substantially underestimated and is set to rise dramatically over the next 20 years.


“It is essential the Commission on Long Term Social Care recognise and protect the needs of deafblind people and take action now to plan for the longer term.

“Local authorities and health professionals need to play their part in identifying and supporting deafblind people.

“The difficulties of deafblindness in older people are often exacerbated by a lack of understanding about the issue within parts of the medical and local authority community.

“Too often visual and hearing impairment is dismissed as part of getting old.

“Many people do not regard themselves as having a disability even if their vision and hearing has reduced to such an extent that it severely limits their ability to communicate, access information and get about.”

Link.

Clean Feeders are right...

For once I agree with this vblogger, a number of us are fed up with the digs, jibes, and veiled attacks on bloggers personally and using comment slots to attack other. Although outright bans are an issue as this encourages those dubious 'No clean feed' people, you know the ones professing we are all government agents trying to prevent them voicing truth ! In reality google and any ISP can zero you any time it likes, and can zero an entire country's access to the net too, CIA are the least to worry about..... Are these no clean feed people really targeting the right areas ? or just taking the easy route, which allows the net nasties their head ?

We know as bloggers most are the same people using no clean feed views to bully and undermine people, the very people undermining free speech in reality, especially those with a strong, earnest belief, who are fair game to them. You complain ? Can't take the heat, you remove comments ? you are disrupting debate and alternative views. They got all the answers haven't they, well so do we, butt out....

Clean feeders are rabid censors, we wanna say what we like, erm, you can't do that anywhere for long if people take offence.. Always lurking at the lowest level trying to make their case, be it pornography, legal drinking at 10, or whatever... but mostly to undermine others who are determined to ignore them. These people obviously ignore respect or the family too....There is no crime in censorship if it is applied to genuinely prevent known stirrers from getting a platform of hate on your blog, bullies are bullies are bullies. No crime either to expect in differing a viewpoint, you keep a civil tongue in your head either. You don't have a right to swear on my blog, nor a right to disparage others unfairly.

Deaf.read has control over what blogs go in, they don't control what happens after, or reluctant to try, that is down to you, although I would like to see deaf.read more pro-active regarding blogs that are centres of disruption, and veiled hate messages, using comment spots as a back door.

So 3 cheers for this deaf vblogger using his onus to edit out these things. We are all aware of differences between entrenched views and facts, but there is a right way of responding, and readers can soon tell who is just editing out anyone who disagrees, as opposed to editing out those who wind people up for the hell of it, and stalk them relentlessly. My blog shows that since last week I have removed 17 comments, these comments were removed because (A) They ignored the main blog topic, (B) Attacked me personally, and (C) Used my blog comment spot to attack other commentators, a few tried to use it as an advertising spot, and one or two posted gibberish, not on. That's 17 posts you won't have to read, nor I.

I encourage feedback, I won't take abuse from anyone. My blog, My right.

Praise Be....

I've got religion, well, I've had deafness, so needed to downsize...

"Who would true signing see,
Let him come hither;
BSL will our constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There's no discouragement
Shall make the BDA relent
It's first avowed intent
To be Signs leader.

Who so beset us round
With sign English stories
Do but themselves confound;
BSL the more is.
No orals can us fright,
We'll sign with giants might,
We will all have a right
To be a signer.

Lip reading nor oralist fiend
Can daunt our spirit,
We know we at the end
Shall sign inherit.
When fancies fly away,
We'll care not what they say,
We'll labour night and day
To be a signer."

Today's Sermon comes today from the pretty little church of St Dug on the Mount in Never likely, near Berkshire, which is celebrating it's centenary this year. The congregation is made up of over 16 deaf club memberships from in and around middle England. They are gathered here today not only to celebrate the centenary, which was 36 years ago, but to pay homage to their patron saint St Dug, who lived in nearby Alrek-on-the Marsh, and after whom the church is named, who was himself deaf, and martyred in the 11thc via a very dubious voting system of XCIII-Factotum...

Father MM a recently deaf man who has answered the call (After being asked 30 times), is to officiate today, Take it away Father)...:

"A very good evening to you..... I'm going to start by telling you the same thing Elizabeth Taylor told all her husbands. And that is - I won't keep you keep you long!''. So let us thank the Lord whoever he may be to you, Deaf, deaf hearing or in the shadows whining away, for being here today, my sermon text for today concerns humour and how it helps us all to reflect, that life isn't all misery, boring relations, endless helpings of Unreality TV, and being so out of spirit, you consider SEE HEAR the highlight of the week's viewing, and a few deaths on Eastenders the icing on the cake.

Was it not our very own St Dug who said "Eeeh but owt tis nowt..." Consider for instance, When my son was about three I put him to bed and asked what he would like to pray about. Promptly he answered: "The RNID" We prayed about the RNID and the next morning I asked why he wanted to pray about the RNID ? he replied, "Because you said in your sermon that we should pray for things we don't like", it is the simplicity of the child that makes for innocence lost, and we should all not lose this.

I recall once I was invited to preach at a day centre for an Easter Service as a young layman starting out in the world. Seeing that it was very crowded and sensitive to the time issue, I asked the proprietor, 'How long do I have for the sermon?". He replied, You can preach for about an hour". I was pondering how I could stretch my meagre manuscript, which was "you are deaf just get on with it for God's sake", I soon found out that I was not the only preacher, and the preacher before me preached for an hour, apparently they had run out of sedatives, and daytime TV was off due to a power cut...

How long should a good sermon be? It should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to keep you interested. I recall an elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!"(Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus so that your sins may be forgiven.) The burglar stopped dead in his tracks.

The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you." "Scripture?" replied the burglar. It was the axe and two dobermans she had with her....

From children comes real enlightenment, one asked me, father, how long is a million years to God? I replied "it is but a second to God", "How much is a million pounds to God ?", I replied "it is but a penny to him...", the boy then asked, "can I have a penny ?", I replied " Of course, just a second....". I have first good news and bad news. The good news is we now have enough money to retire the mortgage on the church, and repair the stained glass window at last," (A sigh of relief went through the congregation). The bad news is the money is still in your pocket."

I recall last year I was called away for an emergency. Not wanting to leave the confessional unattended, I called this rabbi friend from across the street and asked him to cover for me. He told me he wouldn't know what to say, but I told him to come on over and I'd stay with him for a little bit and show him what to do. My rabbi friend comes, and he and I are in the confessional. A few minutes, a woman comes in and says, 'Father, forgive me for I have sinned.' so I ask, 'What did you do?' The woman says, 'I committed adultery.' so I said, 'How many times?' And the woman replies, 'Three.' I replied, 'Say two Hail Mary’s, put £5 in the box, and go, sin no more.'

A few minutes later a man enters the confessional. He says, 'Father forgive me for I have sinned.' So again I asked 'What did you do?' ‘I committed adultery.' 'How many times?' he replied, 'Three times.' So I said, 'Say two Hail Mary’s, put £5 in the box and go ! sin no more.' My rabbi friend tells me, "OK, I think I've got it", so I leave him to it. A few minutes later another woman enters and says, 'Father, forgive me for I have sinned.' The rabbi says, 'What did you do?' The woman replies, 'I committed adultery.' The rabbi, getting it off pat, says, 'How many times?' The woman replies, 'Once.' The rabbi said, 'Go and do it two more times, We have a special this week, three for £5.'

Before our final Hymn, Four ladies are having coffee together. The first one tells her friends, "My son is a priest. When he walks into a room, everyone calls him 'Father'." The second woman chirps, "My son is a Bishop. Whenever he walks into a room, people say, 'Your Grace'." The third woman says smugly, "My son is a Cardinal. Whenever he walks into a room, people say, 'Your Eminence'." The fourth woman sips her coffee in silence. The first three women give her this subtle "Well.....?" She replies, "My son is a gorgeous, 6'2" fireman, and part-time hard bodied stripper. When he walks into a room, people say, 'Oh my God...'."

A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds of change whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble, tossed and torn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A rosy hue settles all around
You've got the feel you're on solid ground
For a spell or two, no-one seems forlorn
This comes to pass when a child is born

And all of this happens because the world is waiting
Waiting for one child
Black, white, yellow, no-one knows
But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbour
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten, forever

It's all a dream, an illusion now
It must come true, sometime soon somehow
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

We thank thee lord, for the signs we use, the clubs we attend, the miracle of digital aids, the culture, and for the gift of having a laff no matter how silly it seems... we also pray for the hearing aid battery makers, that they develop a really long lasting one.... Paddy Ladd finds out finally, where the Barber shop is located before he trips over himself, and that followers of cultural activism, find the front door, so they can discover things happen outside as well. Finally, that SEE HEAR stops pinching MM's best ideas then re-releasing them months later as their own. For the Net without which, people would have to think for themselves. Last but not least for those who nod sagely at MM's meanderings, you have 5 minutes before they lock the door and the lights are put out.

The Deaf Man Cometh

The Coconut syndrome (Return to Hearinghood).

Listed as a term for people who are half-caste or not quite one thing or another, the term coconut assumes a derogatory and even offensive meaning, it divides people by image and divides families and worse. Most people with deafness or hearing loss are 'coconuts', and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, but only as an metaphorical example description of what most are.

In the absence of an real identity or image, the majority are desperately trying to adopt some culture of deafness, or desperate to hide the fact they are deaf at all. We have been seduced by the culture of deafness as an answer to our own issue, deaf culture is not free therapy. I read deaf.read and many comments about deaf culture, hearing etc and between the lines it is clearly some search as to understand why we are deaf, and why we need some identity re-established, deafness and mainstream has robbed us of. It's not deafhood (God forbid !), that was created by the Deaf to tell us in no uncertain terms, we, are not them, OK its a fairy tale but THEY believe it, and they need to see a line drawn, as do we.

What I read over recent years is many who have lost or losing hearing, are trying to adopt 'Deaf' ways and means of communications and lifestyles, but still trying to regain their hearing status ID with inevitable conflict. Deaf look at us in disdain, as well they might, culture isn't some lifestyle choice to them born that way, it is some natural event, something we can never accept. From the moment our hearing starts to wane, the advice is sign-language, deaf community, all these alien things that let's fess up, we totally ignored up until the time our loss forced us to think about it. We yearn to hear again, the Deaf do not.

We are faced then with a deaf system that bears no relation whatever to your need. It was after all designed for those born that way or have been deaf long enough to never know any differently, it works for them they don't want it adapted or fixed thank you. Our first reaction is rejection, approach the Lip-reading aspects, which is then found to be horrendously difficult a skill to require, and with an 78% failure rate at stage one, most walk after 8 lessons, and as you are at low ebb coping, you simply may not have the energy to stick with it and the classes are pretty dire mostly and stocked with people not really deaf at all, and you end up if your hearing is dire, sidelined even by them, or a tutor who cannot cope with you... see attending sign classes and add ditto.... they are all hearing, the chances of meeting another deaf person, even a deaf teacher is 1000 to 1. Deaf don't need to learn sign they now it already.

To ask for advice is huge step, and the advice is total crap mostly about sign language learning and deaf clubs and social workers and culture, and.. usually by hearing people who need to categorise and label, because there is no room for real difference, they don't seem aware either the focus on social interaction is no longer in the clubs or similar areas, and the question of culture is rattled around as a norm to adopt, just learn sign there you go, you are now like them....you could go online but interaction is not quite the same, they could be hearing or whatever, fine so long as you don't have to try communicating face to face.

Many years ago when we read of people having imaginary friends, we were told that's OK if you are a child, and can grow out of it, but you would need treatment if an adult, facebook appears to have validated talking to yourself is the norm... Which is enough to frighten anyone away for good. At no point are you recognised as the individual you are, or your status given any foundation, you are on some diminished decibel loss journey to somewhere you'd rather not go, and all that goes with it you don't want.

Since none will enable you to return to your hearing status quo. We get the ID wars, as deaf reject us as not like them or, we have to adapt to them to get any sort of acceptance, which basically annoys the hell out of us, because we have to make all the running, so you change emphasis and this annoys cultural deaf even more, all the time you are struggling with getting back to your own hearing ID, what we need is a coconut culture of our own, and to be proud of it, if we aren't A or B, then sod it, we are C. We are not AB or BA, or a swedish pop group ! and we need stand alone services that reject the Hard of Hearing and the deaf, two-step blinkered approach.

Why are trying to be what we aren't ? Born deaf do not try to be hearing, so why do we try to be born again deaf ? and fail to be true to ourselves ?

Why has it taken 2 years to reply ?

First sent April 2008.. From the Executive Director of Charity Services.

Re: The Royal National Institute for Deaf People — Registered Charity 20772

Thank you for your letter and enclosing an email from your constituent MM, I am sorry that MM was dissatisfied with the Commission's response.

I understand from his latest email that MMs concerns are that:

• there is a lack of stakeholder involvement in decision making at RNID, with the exception of paid up members MM needs to understand that this is allowed by the Charity Commission's guidelines, but he believes that the Commission should help to give the 9 million people with a hearing loss a voice with charities;

• RNID has offered work to ex-government officials, and that this may create a conflict of interest;
• charities take government contracts; and
• the information provided to him by the Charity Commission did not address the needs of someone who uses sign language.

I will consider these points in turn.

Lack of stakeholder involvement at RNID

The Charity Commission welcomes user involvement in charities as a way of helping a charity to achieve its aims more effectively. Such involvement might include consulting users about the charity's services or having a trustee body that includes users. However, the extent to which a charity engages in such user involvement and how it does so is a matter for the trustees. Anw: www.charitycommission.gov.uk e: enquiries(@.charitycomm issioncisimov.uk General Enquiries: 0845 300 0218 (Voice) 0845 300 0219 (Minicom) effective trustee body will include a variety of people with a range of skills, interests, views and perspectives.

This suggests that users of RNID services can be ignored because they don't pay the RNID as members. I insisted a right was there via the DDA and Human rights, and using our voices as end users was an inalienable right, not determined by a fee. Consultation is not a right to vote on services given. Consultations never took actual place.


According to its last published annual report and financial statements, the RNID has over 38,000 members. Membership is open to anyone who wishes to support the charity and they can play an active part in its administration. Members are invited to attend the charity's Annual General Meeting where they can vote on any proposed changes to its governing document and the members also elect 8 of the charity's 12 trustees.


Fact: AGM's were only held in London this prevented near all members outside London with no means to attend. Suggestions they held AGM's regionally to give RNID paying members access was refused, and again non-paying members but active users of services denied that access. Trustees can ONLY be approved by the current RNID executive regardless what members vote for.


Members who are resident in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland elect representatives to sit on advisory groups which advise the trustees on local priorities and issues. The intention is that at least half of the representatives will be deaf or hard of hearing.

The flaw here is members can only advize and still not be able to change the charities approaches. This disabled membership from participation and influence, and reduced them to mere magazine subscribers. It is a deliberate image of active participation that doesn't take place.

Membership of the charity also gives access to a magazine and a website forum where they are encouraged to share tips, advice and problems. Members also have the opportunity to become involved in the charity's campaigns and wider work. I understand that MM is concerned about the cost of membership but it is open to charities to charge for membership in order to meet the costs of, for example, sending out the regular magazine. According to RNID's website, there is a range of membership fees according to individual circumstances, starting at £12.50 per year.

My objection was the cost didn't entitle you to a real vote. It just gave you a magazine, and the RNID an address to target for funds..

The charity should be able to advise MM whether there are any other opportunities for him to participate in any informal discussions, consultation groups or service surveys. The charity's accounts also state that RNID seeks to encourage deaf and hard of hearing employees to play an active role in developing both the charity and themselves and arranges training courses to meet this need. At the end of the financial year 18% of the charity's staff had a disability or a hearing loss.

This is non-proven, they used the Data protection Act to prevent me knowing the details. I maintain less than 8% are really deaf staff at all.

RNID also has a process for dealing with complaints for service users. This is accessible from the charity's website using the following link:
http://www.rnid.org.uk/Content.aspx?id=84929&clid=300375

False, it is NOT accessible to anyone that signs, and they removed the feedback forum.


MM suggests that the Charity Commission might make representations on behalf of deaf and hard of hearing people. The Commission is the regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales, and our aim is to provide the best possible regulation of these charities in order to increase charities' efficiency and effectiveness and public confidence and trust in them. However, it is not our role, as an independent regulator, to lobby on behalf of any particular charity or its beneficiaries.

This is complete rubbish by the Charity Commission, on one hand it 'supports' inclusion of the deaf, on the other accepted the RNID has a right to ignore them. I asked the Charity Commission to make their muscle felt in insisting the RNID honours deaf inclusion, because I felt the RNID was blocking representation by deaf and actively preventing feedback, and manipulating comment going on.


RNID offering work to ex government officials. If MM has any evidence that any staff at RNID were recruited by anything other than a fair and open recruitment process and that there are conflicts of interest within the charity then we would consider this.

Staff are hired from discreet corporate agencies, agencies not readily accessible to deaf people and have lists of ex-government staff on them..

Charities and government contracts

There is no general or legal prohibition on charities delivering public services under a funding agreement with a public authority. If the trustees of a charity are satisfied that the right way to carry out its purposes is by entering into a contract with the government or a local authority then it is open to them to do so. Public service delivery presents both opportunities and risks for charities, including financial risks and the risk of compromising the charity's independence. Any charity considering entering into a public service delivery contract needs to weigh up the risks and benefits and ensure that the risks are appropriately shared between the charity and the public authority.

Again the CC in complete ignorance of the RNID. They just declared they are not in the business of public service delivery, then put in tenders. The charity is there to provide services NOT usually provided by public service bodies, not to take them over, I accused the CC of acting in collusion with the state in off-loading deaf services to cheap charity provision, which offers deaf reduced service provision by amateurs, and leaves deaf at the mercy of tin-rattling charities....
.
Unsuitable information sent by the Charity Commission

The Commission actively promotes diversity issues wherever possible and is aware of the need to make reasonable adjustments for a customer with a disability. I agree that we should have considered whether someone asking about the beneficiaries of RNID was a sign language user, and provided him with a clearer and more tailored reply to his queries rather than simply referring him to our published guidance. We are sorry for this oversight and hope that this letter is more helpful to MM.

They couldn't provide proper access to the deaf., and were sending out responses deaf couldn't follow, bloody pages and pages of crap bumpf..


We have not contacted RNID before preparing this reply and I assume that the charity will reply to you separately. We would usually contact a charity only where a complainant has raised concerns that are of regulatory interest to the Commission and, on the basis on the information provided to date, this is not the case in this instance.

I hope that RNID is able to provide a satisfactory response to MM's concerns but if he remains dissatisfied then I would suggest that he follows the charity's complaints procedure which I mentioned on the previous page. I hope this information is useful.

2 years on, the RNID still has failed to respond CC, who gives a shit what deaf think ? and when are you going to get off your backside and sort the RNID out ? You didn't even forward the complaint or response TO the RNID which I asked for as they wouldn't reply to me...

Sincerely
Executive Director of Charity Services
David.locke(@charitvcommission.qsi.qov.,uk

How Deaf review Deaf acting storylines..

I found this review about a deaf play called 'Soundproof' from an old deaf magazine...

"So much was expected of this 'inclusive' play about a deaf sign user being suspected of murder. We had thrills, spills, and gratuitious sex to take our minds off the fact, the sign was in Arabic or something, and the camerman in desperate attempts to cover up the poor signing, just omitted covering the hands.

We discovered in the end it just doesn't pay to mess about with someone's hearing aid. Hearing aid users may push you off a high building, assuming they can communicate with you well enough to get you up there. The message being if you are going to hide the batteries or hearing aids of your friends, make sure you are standing well away from a tower block.

The primary actor was HI and what sign made the screen, looked decidely iffy, what do we care ? we had subtitles, perhaps this was a subtle message born deaf do signing best ? The repeated effort on the BBC's sign zone (?), was a complete mess I gather, the interpreter signing when the screen actor does it was horrific and it looked like a punch up at a deaf rave.... Stereophonic BSL is still in its infancy... my money is still on mono..

Is inclusive TV possible for deaf actors ? will there always be a message from them ? The message presumably is stick to cultural influenced deaf portrayals, and the 'in crowd' that follows 'deaf stuff' in some god-forsaken end of the pier theatre in a London Back street, or worse, Sheffield. We saw little or no inclusion of deaf people. It is said the producer was doing a ground-breaking play about deaf, but we waited vainly to actually see any, Labels would have helped.

We saw the UK's ONLY police station that had not one, but TWO in-house terps too, it would have helped if the BBC had given out the address of this police station so next time we all end up in a police situation we get sent there, the ones we get distinctly lack the 'sex factor', and usually we get old trouts. The terp we saw, was rather erm... free with her sexual favours to deaf people, who achieved stud status Warren Beatty would envy, so ladies feel free to be a notch on our bedpost. One proviso, a stage II BSL attainment would help when things get steamy... you don't want to go when you're suppose to be doing the opposite do you ?

Contact your local BDA/RNID office for the nearest class, and the BSL Kama Sutra CD-ROM for the guidelines. A terp who abused every rule in the book and then some, not that most deaf would complain but. We hear on the grape vine, the RNID are going to hold a wet t-shirt compeition for terps soon, so feel free to forward your fave terp for inclusion. Oh well there's always SWITCH, who I gather are going to do some ground-breaking of their own, with the very first inclusion of real hearing people....... are deaf ready for this ? maybe not yet...."

Dering in Receivership

With the charities backing out of supporting deaf into work, the state abdicating responsibilities for helping deaf find it, it is sad news a deaf-run business is now in serious trouble too. The question is, where do British deaf go from here ? They are already unemployed to 63% and face considerable discriminations from British employers as it is, this, combined with disability allowances due to be drastically curtailed and removed in some deaf cases, and this including a means test that denies deaf people allowances if they speak. Anyone for a petition to dispose of the British Disability Discrimination Act ? What's the bloody point of it ?

Link

Dering Calls in the Administrators
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010.

Dering Employment Services has reported that it has called in the administrators. The Croydon based company, founded by Stephen Dering in 2006, specialised in delivering employability programmes for deaf, hard of hearing and deaf/blind people and positioned itself as the only deaf-owned and deaf-run company supporting people to get jobs. The company’s reputation had grown rapidly after securing multiple subcontracting agreements across the UK through DWP programmes such as Pathways to Work and the Flexible New Deal.

All of Dering’s employees were notified of the situation last Friday, and placed on garden leave, with a redundancy consultation period now underway. DWP and other providers for whom Dering is a subcontractor have also been notified.

The company has claimed that the reasons for its failure stem from alleged non-payment of invoices and breach of contract on the part of one of the largest prime contractors with whom it works, and it is understood that Dering are considering legal action.

Stephen Dering told us:



“The current circumstances have been very difficult for us, and we are bitterly disappointed that we have had to call in the administrators at this time. We are very proud of what we have achieved, and my first thoughts are for the loyal and talented staff who have been instrumental to our journey and who now face a very uncertain future. Equally, the situation means that we can no longer take forward the valuable work that we do in supporting the needs of long term unemployed people who are deaf or hard of hearing. We will be working pro-actively with our industry partners."

Little Voices...

A deaf actor who starred in Four Weddings and a Funeral is to take the lead in a film written and produced by students at a Welsh university.

Little Voices, is the story of an isolated deaf man struggling to cope with the loss of his partner. Wrexham-born David Bower, who played David in Four Weddings, said many movie scripts tackling deafness and disability were "well meaning pap", but he said the student film was "unsentimental and uncompromising".

Bower added: "To me it is a strong metaphorical description of the semantic divide between deaf and hearing people and explores an interesting area of human perception and communication. "The script is edgy, punky and gritty, and from an acting point of view should be fun to do."

Little Voices is the product of careful research into pre-linguistic deafness by three postgraduate film students, from the University of Glamorgan, which is a lead partner in Screen Academy Wales.

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