Deaf Anthology question raised in London..

It's a rare occasion when Westminster in London acknowledges the deaf or American deaf at all, it is only since we got rid of Europe we have taken an interest in the Americas, and bleached Kentucky Chicken wings to be honest. We get all the drugs we need from the middle east and Russian mafioso now Marseille and Holland are non-persona grata.

ATR apologises for some caption speed issues, this is down to UK-USA issues and the UK being about 40 years behind everyone else, and I forgot to put the clocks back to BST.  You will need to play the video back at half speed which is the way the UK do it.  We would have included sign interpretation but unfortunately, there is a UK political negative on BSL (and ATR hasn't a clue what ASL is).  ATR, of course, is deeply obliged to the USA as the home of the refugee and safe home for migrant deaf fleeing from persecution and BSL forced indoctrination, for the opportunity to speak, God Bless the USA (Well bits of it anyway).

ATR extends its support for Mr Bidet, and trust it all doesn't go down the pan later.  ATR assures American readers he has no intention of accepting the Queen's pardon, I never liked England anyway. As regards to dissing the USA president, I claim the 5th (And any other amendment that stops me being impeached), and 74m also disagree so fair play....  

I did send a pardon request to Donald but it got there too late and he was off playing golf somewhere.  Maybe I'll try again when he comes back.

State of the Union

 

[A view from behind the UK barricade]

After watching what was a ridiculous inauguration of a senile (But nice) old bloke in Washington who brought the church and circus into town, a trans singer dressed like coco the clown, which was followed by an outbreak of silly grins, while the populace were banned from attending (because that is taking democracy too far), and instead were represented by a shed load of flags instead, he endorsed 20,000 armed to the teeth troops wandering around hoping to shoot a few protestors,  I think America has lost its Union frankly, and I'm half inclined to throw in my Lot with Vlad the Putin or that Chinese XPing or something. 

Sleepy Joe Biden (They are taking bets he won't last 18 months without stimulants already), then commenced allowing an illegal migrant-free for all (Texans will love that I'm sure, 6m illegals just aren't enough apparently), then he encouraged more Islamics to come (Because Trump stopped them coming citing that the USA has more crazies than it needs already). Obviously, Joe disagrees, democracy demands ALL crazies are welcome (And he can supply them with AK 47's and semtex at very reasonable prices).

His number two (No pun intended), was chosen via some lucky dip of names sent in by Jeremy Corbyn of the UK who is never short of stupid ideas and needed a job in between campaigning for Gay Whales, and London for the Ethnics only. They did have reserves of his including Lassie, and champion the wonder horse on account they carked it some years ago, and used for wood glue, but news travels slowly in Corbyn's UK.

The populace were banned from attending because they wanted to turn the Senate into something useful like a home for the down and out dossers, this was deemed an assault on democracy, you need a job and a few million dollars to sleep in the senate. People were represented by flags instead, (Arnold Finkle of Kansas is represented by the 8th flag 28th row, to the right near that lake, Hi Arnie!).

Boris in London has done a 180 degree and now insists Mr Trump was a bit, you know, OTT about things. Biden is bad news for Boris because he supports the IRA, and the EU, he was told the Irish were already in the EU and had suffered enough. Biden now wants to save the environment and to start putting troops on Russia's borders again, Detroit will lose jobs but... perhaps he will send a few jobless to NATO. Easy money, just turn up, vote nyet, and collect the wages, easy peasy. They will have to queue behind the unemployed European Union members from the UK 'though.

Nigel Farage will be sent back to the UK because Mr Trump has taken up golf again and Nige plans to launch a 'Let's boycott America', campaign, and 'put Joe in a rest home with the other vegetables.' Sources suggest this is yet another winner. Missus Trump did hire a circus tend to wear for the day which was quite colourful and looking forward to raiding the shops again. The consensus is Don timed his arrival in Miami to perfection so 2-0 to Don, leaving Biden looking a bit lost.

Joe has decided to start recognising Europe again (a mistake in our view but..), and is hoping his chickens dipped in domestos bleach will prove a real winner in Berlin or Paris, or even Krakow if he can find it because they have less taste than the British. 'A much better use for bleach then injecting it to stop covid,' he said, 'which didn't work as we hoped, I think it a winner personally..'. 'Any country that can wear silly leather shorts and stuff Saurkraut down their throat 24/7 isn't going to be fussy,' he said 'Or a country that shoots and eats swallows and eats snails.. bleached chicken in cow s.h.i.t. are surefire winners..'

Joe has decided to re-join the WHO set up so he can blame them for all the inactivity and USA balls ups over covid. Biden, also signed 15 reversal papers, (back to the future V or something and conclusive proof he CAN write), also adopted new changes to gender rights, religious, and sexual orientation rights and access, and other concerns, Trump said were just plain ridiculous, (So your guess is as good as mine as to who, or rather what gets legalised next). The good news is newt worship is now a legal right again.

About the only positive of the new ethnic rep at number two, is you are guaranteed a decent curry when you visit. In reality, she is so far left she meets herself half the time walking about and is losing the use of her right limb. 'Anyone can do and be anything in America..I'm an example!' She says, but 'isn't that the whole problem?'

ongoing.......

Do we need to de-prioritise BSL to Deaf children?

"We need deaf schools based on sign language as the prime teaching medium..."  

More arguments about switching to an immersive approach to a  sign based education for deaf children and claims this is a basic need being denied.  Should not inclusion be a priority?  This cannot be done by legislation alone.

This is nature versus nurture, nothing is written (Or signed until we do that). 

The thing about education is too much politics and not enough determination to offer deaf children a means of surviving and managing mainstream, cocooned as they are in specialist surroundings and a 'community' their sole alternative socially, means more of the same and nothing will change. 

Rather a pessimistic viewpoint!  The deaf community is all the deaf signer has, and it's their choice, not for you to say no...

'All they have and their choice..'?  Can you not see the irony behind your own statement?  They don't HAVE choices and that's the issue.

Inclusion in the mainstream means they need options to sign language it is a simple as that, I know this annoys certain areas, and they can yell discrimination till the cows come home but they need true bilingualism and alteratives to sign because it isn't what mainstream uses. You cannot demand they learn yours.  At best you can go half-way and hope others do the same.  Once you accept mainstream is not going to comply with demands then solutions become more realistic.

Pessimistically, showing deaf children that their future is one of reliance on others for life, a right even, and hearing are 'against' them, isn't much of an impetus to adapt at all. 

It's a base to launch deaf activism from, to blame everyone else, a base for a multitude of disassociated and disenfranchised people and focus groups to rant endlessly about, a breeding ground for extremes.

Deaf activism struggles in its own vacuum, it has turned deaf culture into a blame culture. There are no BSL schools, no BSL Deaf teachers, not enough interpreters, and no BSL curriculum to make it work. Political deaf views on opposition to our basic language acquirement, do them no favours either. It would take years to set a BSL system up and no guarantee parents would buy into or support it.   Who would train the BSL educational teachers up? and what bottom line on inclusion is there?  Or would it be 'cultural indoctrination on the 'Deaf Way' and children watching as endless campaigns come for others to sign too?  Where awareness is selective?

Mainstreaming must succeed we owe the deaf child that. Every child matters indeed, but they need choice and the Deaf community offers no choice at all, we have to convince people Isolation isn't inevitable, or what hope is there? Let us not bury realism beneath a layer of special need already hijacked by deaf activism whose bottom line is ignorance.

They need numbers to make waves, and there are less deaf now than there were, better approaches to hearing loss, CI's are better, Hearing aids are, and genetic advance will also address what wasn't addressable before.

Sign language is seductive, the idea that sign was a way in to other areas is never the reality, because once they sign at each other 24/7 what impetus is there to communicate any other way?  We need to prioritise bilingualism day one and actively ensure hearing and deaf peers work together, not, taught apart.

Of course, oral tuition started off very badly, but today we can make it work a lot easier and should be doing.  We need to bury deaf activists who call it cruelty, and intent on keeping deaf where they are, isolated so they can pontificate at them.

I find this conversation interesting as a look back to ye olde deaf ways, as they don't exist anymore, nobody wants it, and young deaf are getting out there and away from the restrictive lifestyles older deaf had no choice but to go with, let's be positive and make inclusion a reality, not another barrier created to keep the deaf out of it.  Deaf schools and clubs were a necessity in days gone past, they aren't now.

We need to prioritise ABILITY, not laud DISABILITY, simples.

White Favouritism?

The problem isn't white people or white privilege, but poor democracy and those who actually believe you can legislate equality and acceptance, and then label other people racists because it failed, it has never worked.  Attempts to replace 'white privilege' with ethnic preferential status and treatment for others is a recipe for angst as well.  To suggest White people don't have issues of discrimination or persecutions and are never poor etc is rubbish, of course, they do.

90% of real discrimination comes from two primary areas, Focus groups and biased campaigns based on blaming others, which make matters worse (Like BLM and Deaf culture e.g.), hijacked day one by vested interests and surprise surprise NOTHING has changed.  Unlike the USA, British police don't make a pastime of shooting black people, but still being blamed for it.

If like most you are fed up apologising for being who you are then this video is yet another hand-wringing, let us blame white people for everything vid.  Every ethnic/disabled/religious/political area has its own norms and such, some of these norms are probably not ones we want to go with, to assume they can insist we do is unrealistic.

I have a simple approach if people are fine with me, I am fine with them, but I reserve the right to say no to something I don't agree with and friends choose each other not have to ask a panel first.  To suggest  Black or ethnic areas don't discriminate is a lie plain and simple of course they do.  Black slavers existed and are documented. They know it, we are stopped from saying we know it too, because if we highlight it, then that is discrimination. Stop the world we all want off it.

Too many laws too many claiming discrimination, and too much democracy that ignores common sense.  When BLM took to the streets vandalism ensured, covid rules were ignored, and then we saw white people in media going out searching for black people as presenters and such, the BBC threw £100m at them to promote black history, which ended with Lenny Henry a black comedian who last had a hit in 1980, getting a TV program about Black classical music,  One London TV soap opera the game is to spot an actual white person or someone that hasn't a very real problem.  The point being 'white people' DON'T watch such programs because obviously, they won't relate to it.

As a point of awareness and inclusion can someone please explain how it all works? All the TV  presenters suddenly started having ethnic names and faces too. This suggests not inclusion but bowing to focus group and campaign pressures, and trying to look diverse which they apparently weren't the last 60 years and nobody complained then.  Sad, they believe it a success, but obviously unaware we can switch them off our TV sets, or change channels, and simply socialise with other white people regardless, and the black/ethnic rights can do the same, so social exclusion is a right already.  Now everyone has a goalpost to fire at.

Do we as 'white' people demand they cannot have that cake and stop us eating it too?   Do we object to ethnic only areas and systems etc which reinforce their chosen 'way of life'? as contributing to their own exclusion by choice? All black people together, all white people together, all deaf together, all disabled together?   This is how it is proceeding, people need to stop and smell the coffee and realise where it is all heading.

A multi-cultural set up where everyone does own thing and inclusion never happens.  As ever be careful what you wish for.