NZSL deaf studies

So the trade-off is still the same? nil hearing loss awareness, cultural indoctrination, sign lessons for hearing,  and social modelling?  The real courses needed are deaf and HoH awareness ones, which the deaf seem determined to ignore, but inclusion won't happen without it, and we all know the cultural deaf views on inclusion are mostly negative or relative (In the USA and UK at least).  

Inclusion absolutely needs to be explained to deaf people, it doesn't mean existing solely in a deaf community and using sign language but included in access working and living alongside mainstream peers on a daily basis, not occasional visits to offer lectures and what they have to do for YOU, with no onus on them to do likewise.  As regards to deaf culture, 9 out of 10 deaf have people have no links, hereditary or otherwise,  to previous deaf generations it is difficult to see how then, that Deaf History' applies relatively to them, other than someone in the 19thc signed as well.

Deaf sign language and cultural gigs are usually a smokescreen that hides the fact they have no deaf history themselves.  Indeed ASL and BSL are the basis of NZSL, Maori sign is pretty recent... and regional, and BSL had neither dictionary or course until mid 20thc.  The 'Bristol University Deaf History Project' in the UK folded when they ran out of histories to record and were posting cut and paste from records that did not actually note deaf had any sort of culture, or that hearing clerics developed sign language not the deaf.

As the person stated deaf in NZ were not interested in deaf history and assumed it was a hearing thing.  This mirrors the UK situation where ONLY Hearing attends lip-reading or sign classes and few if any required to qualify, in own 'language'.

Policy Win!

Deaf young people who use BSL won't have to pass GCSE English for the new T-level qualification. They'll need Level 2 BSL certification instead. This is good news as many deaf people have been held back in the past for not having GCSE English. [NDCS].

We are wondering how many employers are going to accept an alternative to English as a job qualification? or those taking further education or Uni courses?  It is rather a conundrum deaf students are unqualified in their own 'language' mostly.  

We wonder how many will want to ditch English in BSL favour, given this means issues advancing academically where all coursework is in English and NO academic coursework exists in BSL?  More support, more reliances, more.... is there no end to it? It also wrongly suggests employers are going to provide BSL support which isn't currently the case.  Why are purists so determined to ensure deaf can fail?

BIGnote

Deaf people aren't rude!

Some are, the reality is locked away in their own deaf worlds, they have no awareness of tact, discretion, or hearing norms and etiquette. Anyone going online to their various sites will find not only really rude deaf people, but openly hostile ones, to suggest only hearing are that way is a fudge.  

A lot of deaf are rude because along with responses to others they don't hide 'angry' face patterns, such patterns are simply seen as deaf saying one thing but meaning another, being 'rude' in fact.  The deaf need to pay more attention their facial backups to sign, hearing aren't deaf and won't see the real meaning or context, and because context is still a very real problem for deaf people itself.

Signing can look 'aggressive' too when over-animated.

iPhone accessibility

Access to Work support

Is it the right way to help deaf get jobs?  Two trains of thought, 

(1) Deaf don't get the benefits of it, but their support does.

(2) It doesn't it suggest access or empowerment at all.

We are all different. I tend to look to the long term and it is an established DWP fact the deaf A2W scheme is the most expensive allowance to any disabled person in the UK. Some working in the deaf artistic areas were said to be claiming up to £900s worth of support. They would never get any job with that wage. 

Deaf students in a University studying law got £250+ a week and still fail to qualify.  A lot only accepted by virtue of deaf rights, and not via an academic qualification.

Is A2W is the right way to empower deaf to get a job? when they would be far more empowered with better communication skills etc. At what point e.g. does the cost of support outweigh its benefits to deaf people? 

Deaf claim support because of communication issues, would not the money be better spent on improving their options? I'm not against support, it is not for me, but having had the experience of job hunting I never got past any front door if I said I needed support to work. I was told 'you are no use to man or beast to us like that...'  While a rights lawyer would have a heyday making the most of that discrimination, the deaf job seeker would be avoided like the plague by other employers if the balloon went up.

Empowerment, is surely relative in those respects? and who chooses the job the deaf would be able to advance with?  There must be some maxim to A2W eligibility?  Why don't the DWP insist deaf have to show appropriate communication skills and a fair ability and suitable mind-set to work independently before A2W is given?  this would pressurise demand for far better approaches to educating deaf people, who as adults apparently do not feel any skill needs honing or adaptation, not even their own communication approaches employers can't accommodate, or their own acknowledged learning difficulties, whilst hearing job seekers MUST adapt or simply not work and lose ALL benefits.

Would deaf gain useful employment if welfare subsidies did not pick up the bill? and, what does this say about A2W?  Rather than address poor training and poor education they are paying out to endorse reliance instead. one comment is that conflict of social and medical modelling is at the root...

I don't think the social model comes into it, it is communication and suitability for the job applied for, which is the same rule applied to every job-seeker. 

I've no doubt those otherwise who would not be considered for a job are happy A2W helps them, I am just wondering how that actually plays out in real and actual access terms. Too many deaf have few academic qualifications and the reality is communication is a barrier. 

Again employers are NOT enabling you, the DWP (Welfare state), is, so no cost or actual demand is being made FOR access and inclusion by employers, who have already stated they won't pick up support costs, so you have a job under pretence really as regards to inclusion..

Deaf Got religion

I've got religion, well, I've had deafness, and we all need a change... this rant/blog should be accessible in sign language, but I can't be a.r.s.e.d. Some of the jokes/asides (insults) require a degree in deaf awareness, but send me a quid I'll qualify you, It will still be £249 cheaper from the pointless c.r.a.p. the BDA would send you, and I won't pester you for life or demand 50% in your will, after.

But first the Deaf hymn.....

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 speaking 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 Songs Of Praise comes today from the pretty little church of St Dug on the Mount in Looky likely, near Yorkshire, which is celebrating it's centenary this year.  The congregation is made up of over 16 deaf club memberships from in and around the North of England and random learners dragged in off the street.  We are gathered here today not only to celebrate the centenary 30 years early, but to pay homage to our patron saint St Dug, and his four deaf disciples, who lived in nearby Alrek-on-the Marsh, up north, and after whom the church is named, who was himself deaf, he certainly had difficulty listening to what he was told.

The service today is led by the recently re-instated Bishop Meldrew, DSO, MBE and Baaaaah (How was I to know my signing was signed English?).

"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 long!''.  let us thank the Lord whoever he may be to you, for being here today, my sermon text for this year concerns humour and how it helps us all to reflect, that life isn't all misery, boring relations, endless helpings of Brussel sprouts, and being so out of spirit, you consider Eastenders the highlight of the TV Xmas day viewing, and a few horrific deaths 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 daughter was about three I put her to bed and asked what she would like  to pray about.  Promptly she answered: "onions."  We prayed about onions and the next morning I asked why she wanted to pray about onions?  "Because you said in your sermon that we should pray for things we don't like, I don't like bananas either....", so it is the simplicity of the child that makes for innocence lost.

Once  I was invited to preach at a day centre for a Christmas Service as a young layman starting out in the world. I pondered How long should a good sermon be?  I decided it should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the essentials but short enough to keep you interested.  So don't get too comfortable....

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....".  

First the good news, and then the 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, the bad news is the money is still in your pocket.

I recall last year I was called away for an emergency, but not wanting to leave the confessional unattended, I called this rabbi friend from the synagogue across the street and asked him if he could kindly 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.  After 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.'  '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?' '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 a 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.'

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.

Lord, we thank thee for the signs we use, the clubs we attend, the miracle of digital aids, cochlear implantation, culture, our complete obsession with the letter D, and for the gift of having a laff no matter how often the BDA tries to spoil it all for us... we also pray for the hearing aid battery makers, that they develop a really long-lasting one...  

That they find a way to recycle ear wax, and Paddy Ladd finds out finally, where the barbershop is located before he trips over himself.  That Deaf activism discovers their own front door, so they can discover things happen outside as well.  We also earnestly pray that God learns to sign properly and stops trying to cure us all...

AMEN.

NOTE: Those who enjoyed this blog and want to read more of the same and still allowed out on their own can read more HERE (Or even There.)  Be aware a lot will really annoy and contains the stuff of heresy, apalling bad language and the deaf cure. I am told it may be viewed offensive so don't come whinging tone after... you been told.

The Wiki guide to deafies

The current online page is unofficial and unvalidated, (As is most of wiki).  As with any online site please chack content is from a  reliable source.

Is Wikipedia a reliable source?

Wikipedia can be edited by anyone at any time. This means that any information it contains at any particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong. However, because Wikipedia is a volunteer-run project, it cannot monitor every contribution all the time. ...

 So anyone can post anything?

Initially, THIS wiki site states:

British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK. There are 125,000[4] deaf adults in the UK who use BSL, plus an estimated 20,000 children. In 2011, 15,000 people living in England and Wales reported themselves using BSL as their main language.[5] The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face, and head. Many thousands of people who are not deaf also use BSL, as hearing relatives of deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British deaf community.

Note the term 'some', and the immediate reference after of a statistic of 125,000, none of whom are validated anywhere in the systems of clinical records as using BSL, either as a first or assistive means of following speech, neither does it identify what level of proficiency any of them have.  The 15,000 statistics of England and Wales has also not been validated, as well as being challenged by the deaf campaigners who demanded the question entry, because it failed to validate their claims of over 95,000.

[With deference to the NDCS, 20,000 deaf children doesn't mean 20,000 deaf BSL-using children, it's a clinical fact, sign isn't a prime medium or immersive type of deaf education tuition at present].  The people that entered the 'data' designed it to look vague and biased towards the use of sign language, and its cultural aspirations.  Obviously, on the basis you say something often enough it is taken as fact even if it isn't. The NDCS however, hasn't officially endorsed this (Or indeed aspects of any BSL curriculum)..

The census simply notes 15,000 have claimed its usage, again where used and to what degree is not noted either, those questions were never asked as they would violate the data protection acts, and require validation via assessment.  The basic question 'Are you actually deaf?' was never asked either because there are contended definitions and too many personal perceptions of what deafness is.  Profound no longer seems to apply.  Where the other 105,000 (!) BSL deaf come from, is anyone's guess, but neither N Ireland or Scotland has those extra people despite Scotland claiming 350,000 deaf there and N. Ireland another 200,000,  (An apparent secret pandemic in those two areas of the UK!). NO validated stat exists as to their preferred or actual primary communication approaches in those areas either.  Each is quoting CLINICAL definitions, not cultural or sign-based truisims or recorded fact.

Wiki also states it has its own grammar which is still in contention as too many aspects of the host language and Grammar (English), Are the basis for BSL.  The reference citing 'The Deaf Pub' does not seem to provide academic credibility to the wiki entry either.  The entire BSL issue is based on hearsay and charitable claims, none of which can be validated because there is no legal avenue of determining facts from individuals.  

There ARE clinical validations that state degrees of deafness and hearing loss, but NO records on what means they are using to communicate really exist, (apart from the take up of BSL interpreter support which is nowhere near 15,000), but again, the systems that pay for, and provide that support, do not keep accurate records or, include Hard of Hearing 'support' as BSL support too because sensory loss support is 'inclusive' for the sake of record-keeping.  There is no effective records kept if deaf support IS BSL, or some other means used to follow.  Many systems record deaf people as disabled etc which usually means stats are repeated for each category that is used to record deafness.

E.G. Welsh governmental sites cited no less than 11 different categories where deaf people were listed as being a part of.    The onset of cultural demands and the 'language' rights issue meant that governmental agencies adopted culture and BSL to all 11 areas as part of its access and inclusion process, hence the highly inflated claims of BSL users and it's usage.  Deaf equals culture and language rules and editing to identify aren't done, such sites reflect current 'belief' and not current accurate data. 

Requests for government sites to cease multiple listings of the deaf to avoid confusion has been ignored, indeed site owners say impossible. The requests for more clarity, and to stop applying the D/d reference to everyone deaf to more clearly identify who is actually a cultural deaf person and monoglot user of BSL has also been deemed impossible.

Local Authority sites who keep lists of deaf seeking social service help and support, don't keep accurate records either, some listed 300 deaf who were no longer alive or had moved elsewhere.  Others not updated in 11 years. It would appear issues with inclusion and rights is blocking statistical accuracy and it is a free for all at present, not helped by deaf sign charities contributing their unvalidated claims there too.  In essence 'think of a number' is the rule of a very long thumb.  At present these deaf charities are deemed the sole reference point for all 'fact' by the state too.

The references appear to emanate solely from one UK deaf sign language based charity, who has no realistic deaf membership, which is countered by the UK's largest Hard of Hearing charity who have own stats on hearing loss citing no less than 10-12m.  

We note research into 'famous' BSL people is a project being currently aired, obviously, this is NOT about deaf people par se, but singular BSL users.  Which is nothing to do with inclusion as we can see.

Asking the deaf the real questions?

Of course, they don't, the questions are pre-determined at the start and about 'access' or rather their view of it. It is pretty amazing as a deaf person and observer of the deaf over many years, we note that NOTHING has changed from the deaf view at all in 30 years except we mistakenly approved of their chosen isolation approaches as a right of some kind.

Yes we need more access etc, but the issue of inclusion demands compromise and a change of communication emphasis at day one.  The assumption if hearing provides interpreters as and when, make people more aware of sign and the 'Deaf Way' then inclusion will follow, is a false premise and statement, of course, it won't.

Deaf travellers sought out other deaf not hearing. It does seem the politics of blame is a cover-up for promoting the Deaf way little else.  She didn't ask the questions WE are asking other deaf and mostly, because they cannot respond effectively so tend to ignore and block and yes, 'Blame' you for asking the questions, it's less a community out there more a battle waged over selective silence, and uniting for the 'Deaf' good.

Inclusion, as seen by one student of it, was far from clear the technical and legal bits of inclusion simples, but again 'My peers don't understand me..' (The hearing ones), don't get it etc, but again missed the point the student was operating from behind 'cultural/Language cover' and not at the business end of hearing deaf interaction was the usual norm.  It just seems they want to maintain demands for paid support ad Infinium, the propagation of it, and even hearing to adapt to them unconditionally with no compromise by them at all.

Of course, inclusion has nil chance of working that way and as we know for those deaf more than happy to socialise with own peers who see no advantage in getting stressed making more effort with hearing.  Sadly this mindset endorses an education that promotes more of the same.  Rights/equality laws are 'read' quite differently depending on what area you are sent to, and we all know the 'Deaf' have crated 100s of alternatives to the interpretation of those.

Few in the video appreciated the issue was sign language, and the lack of impetus for any hearing to adopt it, and why bother? when the deaf are not asking for it in real terms, but demanding 3rd parties to assist who kill socialising dead.  Their demands for teaching hearing to sign is purely a commercial issue, those entrenched in the 'Deaf' ways are not going to change.

Their access messages in retrospect are a blind and is entirely relative to maintaining their own status quo.  Access may well up their poor education approaches, but won't enhance inclusion.  Social is all, nothing else matters.