'HELP' and 'WORK WITH'

It seems like I am posting thoughts for discussion and the like every year in February. I don't know what it is so special about February.

I recently went to a work session held by a local school board. The reason for my attending that work session was to provide support in keeping ASL (American Sign Language) as a foreign language course available for students at the High School. Of course as the economy is evidenced, everyone at all levels are going through some kind of crisis. Cuts need to be made in order to keep the schools open (Indiana is planning on a cut of $300 million to its education). As a result of this cut, options are considered and since ASL was introduced last into the foreign language department, it will be the first cut out (and the only one).

Several reasons mentioned at the work session to have the board reconsider eliminating ASL from the school's curriculum:

1. It is a language used locally after English and Spanish.
2. Job opportunities for students who are interested in working in their fields using ASL. It could mean that they would be teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, doctors who can communicate directly with their patients, a co-worker, or someone who uses a service/store. Knowing ASL doesn't mean that one automatically becomes an interpreter. (Anyone want a challenge interpreting for me?)
3. A few mentioned that taking the class allowed the students to become a family and be able to use the language pretty much daily.
   
4. Deaf and hard of hearing students at the high school will benefit from learning a language that is natural to them. Most deaf and hard of hearing children enter school at the age of 5 with little or no native language (even with extensive training as opposed to natural acquisition).
5. Deaf and hard of hearing ASL users will be able to communicate effectively with students who use ASL in the community; reducing the need for paper and pen and confusion in communication.
   
6. One recommendation was to eliminate one or more of the 5 languages offered at the high school (With Spanish and ASL, they offer German, French and Japanese) to be able to keep ASL. Other options were to reduce the number of teachers in one or more languages and keep ASL (only one teacher anyway for this language, while others have 2 to 3 teachers).

In all, there were tremendous support in keeping ASL at the high school. We will see what the results come from the cuts needed to keep the schools afloat. Keep in mind, people are losing jobs, losing houses and it is hard for everyone - every single person regardless of race, disability, language and etc.

I am sure you're wondering why I have strayed from the title of this blog. There were a few things mentioned at the work session that had gotten me (various adjectives). The first is the mention of deaf and hard of hearing people (I will use 'deaf' to apply to both from this point on)'s use of English or lack thereof. There is a demand for interpreters to 'help' deaf people because their English sucks.

SIGH....

Primary reason why deaf people (generally)'s English is not so good is because they did not have access to a natural native first language. That's a fact. It can't be disputed. Most deaf children enter school with the minimum language skills needed...sometimes even below the minimal language skills. The system is designed to satisfy the adults rather than focus on the needs of the children.

Ok, what's the point? HELP is the point. Help is a fantastic social tool where one can get assistance in doing something; but often, help is not used as a teaching tool. It can become a crutch, an attitude that says 'do it for me', and becoming dependent on others to do stuff for them. It can be intentional or not. Most often it is not intentional because again, lack of communication, lack of responsibility, lack of encouragement (or pushing) or a sense of pity (you can't, I'll do it; as if doing a service to meet your community service obligation).

I wonder why it is so hard to WORK WITH. Communication can be a primary barrier; however, if no one can do the work, then that would be the problem. WORKING WITH is an educational tool that encourages independence, skill development and sharing skills. We can help each other by sharing skills rather than being superior to the other (thus the HELPING attitude).

For me, let's use interpreters as an example, interpreters are there to WORK WITH me in providing communication access. They are not there to HELP me do my job, to take my classes, or to be a vocal person (when I'm not talking).

WORKING WITH someone reaps benefits for everyone. Skills in communication, job performance and interpersonal behavior develop to where the next time some one works with another person who is diverse from the person, the ease and ability to work with someone is achieved.

It is time efficient to work with someone rather than helping. Working with someone enables communication, comprehension and skill development. Helping enables repetition and aggravating frustration because someone is not learning, it also creates complacency. Initially it does take time to work with someone but as time goes, we all can work together fluidly rather than be jerky puppets repeating information or doing the same thing that helping enables.

It is natural for humans to be partway being closed or open minded about the world at large; however, the trend moves closer to being closed minded when it comes to helping. "They can't do it because they ....", you can fill in the blanks. Working with creates an open mind through education, mistakes, attitude changes and coming to terms with self-realization in the progress.

The world is richer for the ability to work with rather than helping. Helping is okay as long as it is in a WORKING WITH progress.

Endangered Species...

I'd like put in a commentary from the National Geography magazine - January 2009 Issue; Article 'Endangered Species'. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/endangered-species/klinkenborg-text

The very last paragraph of the article states....

'We have no way of guessing how long our own kind will survive, but one thing is certain. The better the chances of survival for the plants and animals and insects you see in the photographs - and for all their endangered kin - the better our own chances will be.'

You can read the rest of the article at above link, also the photo gallery as well.

When I read this, I agree wholeheartedly, because what we do to our world is what we pass on to our children. How we treat those who or what are different, we look at ourselves and wonder why we get treated the way we do.

For instance, 14 children by artificial means, serves what purpose? I'm not saying that those babies do not deserve to live; what kind of natural resources will these babies get when they get older? I'm not an atheist by nature, I do not think God would appreciate being looked up on as a excuse for a reason to have so many children. I love large families, but to who and what's expense?

What lesson are we teaching our children - it is ok to make the world do what humans want to do? How about just living in the balance of the world, traditional tribal beliefs (Native Americans, Aborigines, etc) acknowledges respect and 'trades' that provide balance in the area in which they live in.

Call me a traitor if you may, the American Dream has gotten unrealistic, too many new houses, cost prohibitive, land devoid of living (other than grass), when there are many houses looking for love and fixing up, lands that need tending to and these are familiar and old stomping grounds for animals. We can name many things that the American Dream emphasizes but haven't we gotten off the reason why there is an 'American Dream'? I'd like to give you an unAmerican example - the city Dubai in in the United Arab Emirates is creating man made islands, snow in a mall, and so on violating the very environment in which the folks, animals, etc live in...a desert next to the Persian Gulf.

The human and the societal views conflict on basis of behavior that neglect the reason why we are biologically dependent on the world itself. Society says we need to have money and it controls how we live our life, other than thinking that we're 'better' than what the world has offered us. Humans are as fragile as any other animal, insect or plant. The world does not bend to our whims, we do. We have survived over thousands of years by working with the environment and what is available.

Humans are animals, they belong to the Mammalian Class under the Animalia Kingdom. Our closest relatives are the chimpanzees and bonbons (those wild ones), our next closest is the apes and monkeys. Yes we are different, but how different? Different enough to consider ignoring our mortality? Let me give you some other comparisons - dogs and wolves, domestic cats and tigers/lions, grizzly bear and polar bear, frogs and toads...countless; how about this, dinosaurs and birds? The variety of trees and how even some survive the desert and the Artic cold....countless. How are we any different from them?

Societal views provide impact on how humans view themselves. Superior, smart (certainly not wiser), adaptive (not the only ones to do so) and you can name a few other types. Do you know why Africans are darker than Europeans? Why do Spaniards/Italians have darker skin than British and Laplanders? Why do the Irish have light colored eyes compared to the Greeks? Why do Asians eat more fish than Native Americans? Why are Africans more resistant to malaria than Europeans? Why were the Native Americans nearly decimated by smallpox then later forcibly removed from their lands? Why do we continue to think we are superior? We wage war upon ourselves and the envrionment in which we live in. Our pattern of behavior is the same as any dog that marks its territory or the howler monkeys who yell to keep marauders away from their territory...the difference here is that they walk with the pattern of the envrionment, not try to change it to meet their needs.

Because we need a fancy home on the Galapagos Islands means we don't care about the endemic species that live there. We need coffee beans so badly that we can't respect the natural environment in which it grows in, we got to mow down the rainforest to make room for coffee crops or in another case for medicine, when natural homegrown plants will do. We got to have something so irrelevantly important that we would endanger our world just to please our needs.

This is a physical world, a living ecosystem that is abused by majority of the human race over one insignificant piece of paper or coin - money, or it's basic definition - wealth. If nature dicates that an animal, plant, insect, bird needs to die in order for the others to survive, that's natural because the envrionment is a natural process...to be respected.

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." - Tribe Unknown. A fitting thought to this blog.

A few suggestions -

• A new house built? Plant trees!!! Plant flowers!!! Appreciate the wildlife.
• Have air conditioning? Turn it off for one day (I'd prefer a few days), fling wide open your doors and windows and enjoy the breeze. (If you have had trees already, you'd be already cooler than you think!)
• Plant vegetables and fruits, yes you will get annoyed by those wildlife stealing food but you know there are other plants that do prevent wildlife from eating those food you planted. That way you don't shoot the wildlife or set traps for them. They'll be fresh and it's a nice ice breaker for your neighbors and your friends may appreciate the extra food. Plus it doesn't cost that much.
• Show your children that there is more to life than just TV, Wii or other electronic/technological stuff. They'll be healthier for it and so will you.
• I'm sure y'all can come up with something....
  

Joanna's response to AG Bell's letter

February 3, 2008

To whom it concerns,

I congratulate PepsiCo's effort in including the Deaf community and its employees in the creation of this advertisement that celebrates the other aspect of the Deaf community which AGBell continues to deny children and adults these days. American Sign Language and Deaf people who do not produce 'sound' are a vital part of the human culture; it enriches our ability to incorporate into the mainstream of daily life.

AG Bell promotes sound and sound only. There are advertisements that are spoken - 99.99 percent - and yet you want to deny us our opportunity and right to place an advertisement that is uniquely different on basis of language use. It has nothing to do with us being Deaf; again, it has to do with our language. The language you have denied us because we simply must 'hear'. There are different ways to 'hear' and it does not constitute 'hearing' in terms of only in sound. We hear and listen to more than just sound; we incorporate our sight and tactile capabilities.

What about the Deaf people who speak American Sign Language and Spoken English? We chose to speak two languages because we simply want to bridge two subcultures (Deaf and hearing), the capability to speak two languages broadens our lives, or an attempt to understand why hearing people (in general) keep denying us our right and/or opportunity to obtain and utilize two languages. For those who utilize both languages, we are accepted in the Deaf Community more than AGBell's community is. I happen to be one of them.

Technology is only a tool. It does not make us hearing in equivalent terms as the hearing subculture. The illusion of hearing through technology is what is promoted and the Spoken English a requirement, which demeans the Deaf subculture. This continues to show society that AG Bell has yet to understand who we truly are as people. We continue to be perceived as 'deaf'. There is more to life than sound only.

Yes, we are Deaf, we do not have a problem with that nor do we have a problem with hearing people other than frequent culture misunderstanding. The true cohesion of both subcultures can be found on the YouTube videos in the production of the advertisement. It further proves that both subcultures can live together no matter what use of language.

In all, I congratulate PepsiCo's and its employees for putting a foot forward into expanding the understanding of the Deaf subculture which does include deaf people who use Spoken English solely as well as the Deaf people who use American Sign Language and Spoken English.

American Sign Language is a vital and vibrant language. Deaf people do have a Culture, PepsiCo has recognized that and for that they are allowed the freedom to choose what they want to do other than being 'suggested' to go to a conference to support the illusion of 'sound'.

Thank you,
Joanna T Witulski

Valiant and Vibrant Human who speaks both languages with profound hearing loss, wears a hearing aid, and the sole person with hearing loss within her family.

AG Bell Denys Reality - UPDATED with NAD's response letter (2-10)

AG Bell sent a letter to PepsiCo's organization abominating them for placing an advertisement in American Sign Language. AGB went further to invite PepsiCo to their 2008 conference in Wisconsin. AGB continues to deny the fact that ASL is a vibrant language and well documented to be a separate language with its own grammar and rules.

Congratulate PepsiCo by going to this link: http://www.pepsiusa.com/help/help.php?or

Respond to AGB via email at: info@agbell.org
Respond to NAD via email at: info@nad.org

Please read AGB's letter before responding to either PepsiCo or AGB: http://agbell.org/uploads/Pepsi3ltr.pdf

Please read NAD's letter to AGB:
NAD to AGB

I will post my response after this posting.

It has nothing to do with our being Deaf, but everything to do with 'sound' and American Sign Language.

Additional Information:
http://blog.deafread.com/mishkazena/2008/02/03/pepsi-ad-deaf-actor-oral-and-ci-user/
http://www.disaboom.com/Blogs/deafmom/archive/2008/02/03/deaf-commercial-kicks-up-a-storm.aspx
http://blog.deafread.com/mishkazena/2008/02/02/agb-asl-isolated-deaf-from-rest-of-society/
http://www.deafdc.com/blog/shane-feldman/2008-01-31/agbell-tackles-pepsico-superbowl-commerical/

The Art of "Listening"

This Friday November 30 and Saturday December 1, there will be a conference held at Purdue University in West Lafayette sponsored by Cochlear America and administered by HEAR Indiana, a state chapter of Alexander Graham Bell Association.

The theme of the conference is "Changing Face of Deafness" and "Why Listening is Important for Literacy". In the brochure received at work - it also talks about communication options; however, in their workshops, nothing is even mentioned about American Sign Language and its importance to various issues/topics.

AG Bell Association is well known for its support for oralism. What is Oralism, you may ask. Oralism is a method of communication that uses spoken language and lipreading (speechreading) as its primary communication mode. Most of the people involved do not support American Sign Language, much less any type of manual (signed) language. AGBA is also known for the perception of 'normalcy' - their children or any person with hearing loss is not normal, what's more is that if a person uses ASL or signs, that is a big no-no. Again, not every person who participates or is a member of AGBA believes or practices this. (I've stressed - information in any blog about specific group of people are general at best, no stereotyping).

Also this weekend, there will be a rally at the conference - Deaf Bilingual Coalition. Unfortunately, I cannot participate either at the conference or at the rally. Bilingual - what is that? As most will know, lingual means language used by a person or persons. Bi means two. Bilingual means two languages. For many deaf people (persons with hearing loss in general), we are automatically bilingual - we use ASL and write English. These two are two completely different languages (other than words used in language such as run, write, two and etc). The DBC rally's purpose is to bring awareness of ASL and its importance in deaf children's lives.

But I can participate in several ways, by providing support to those who are attending the conference and be in spirit with the DBC and its rally. Why would I want to, some parents or oral advocates may ask.

First point - listening. Society says 'listening' is hearing information. It is indicated in the Encarta's electronic dictionary and American Heritage College dictionary that 'to make an effort to hear something' or 'to pay attention to something and take it into account'.

The information conflicts with the biological perspective. Our five senses are listening tools - hearing, smell, taste, touch and sight. Society loves to ignore the biological aspect of being human and twist things around to their own satisfaction - which is why we often have an 'isms' problem (racism, audism, etc).

How can the five senses be listening tools? Lets take Thanksgiving into account since this was last week - our popular food other than turkey would be pumpkin pie. Can you hear a pumpkin pie? This is not a rhetorical question but a literal one. How do you listen for a pumpkin pie other than enthusiastically waiting for it to come out after all the food (when you thought you were full)? You can smell the pie then see it, see it then smell it or at the same time.

Listening is a form of collecting information - so how can hearing be the sole formation of listening. Just because a person loses his/her hearing, doesn't mean that information stops coming to that person. We listen by sight as our primary sense and the remaining three senses becomes our tools. So why is it so bad that a person who can't hear is stupid, dumb, inadequately educated and so forth?

Essentially - 'Why Listening is Important for Literacy' needs to include ASL as an important aspect of literacy development. Lipreading??? Sure - 30 to 40% of the English language can be read on the lips - try it.... mat, pat, and bat. Look in the mirror and try to read what you're saying (tune yourself out or say the words out without using your voice). So how can listening by lipreading be a tool, especially if you can't hear.

AG Bell, himself, had a deaf mother and a deaf wife. He knew ASL, used it but he believed that the use of ASL in the education of deaf children were limiting their opportunities. He also even believed that deaf can't marry deaf. Realistically about 90 percent of those deaf-deaf marriages have hearing children. Oh and...90 percent of those deaf people have hearing family members. Biology trumps Society.

Prior to oralism's rise in the education of deaf children, deaf people held jobs as teachers, doctors, factory workers, politicians, newspaper editors and the like - the world was open to them, hearing people didn't have much of a problem with working with deaf folks ... until Society interferes by saying deaf people are not normal because they don't speak English. After that, we had our 'Dark Ages', educational achievements dropped, oral deaf people were showcased while leaving those who couldn't speak in the dark and worth not an ounce in Society's perspective. Sure, there are successful oral deaf people, but what about 80% (approximation) of the deaf children that were left behind because they couldn't speak. What opportunities did they have?

That is why the DBC has its rally - to bring attention that ASL is not something to leave behind for deaf children. It enhances the ability of the deaf child to be successful in communicating through the resources that they have learned and utilized. That is also why the ASL program at Purdue University was upset with the Speech and Audiology Department (in which the ASL program is under - not even Foreign Language which is the appropriate place to be) because the Department rejected the ASL program outright, not even including them for the conference which is held on campus! We have dissent in the ranks at Purdue University.

Aural methods don't always work for each child - it is a case by case situation. The same rule applies to cochlear implants. Most companies will not implant hard of hearing children because once they're implanted, they become profoundly deaf by destruction of the cochlear where the implant is placed. How do children learn to read? Sound only? I can imagine the literacy level to be way low - say second grade if the literacy importance is based on sound only (aural). So how can a profoundly deaf child be able to read when the educators require him/her to 'listen' by sound - that is why there is a reading level of 5th to 7th grade level, because of emphasis on aural methods rather than visual or a combination of both (depending on the child's hearing levels).

Second point - Deaf people are as human as hearing people. There is no biological superiority at play here. None what so ever. Hearing loss has been around for more than two millennia - we have adjusted fine with no problems, thanks to our other four senses. Heck, we have the capacity to be bilingual with no problems other than common issues of acquisition. We have the capacity to work with hearing people, frequent frustration is the hearing person's inability to communicate (generally speaking...again). We do not expect hearing people to sign, it's great if they do, it shows effort and acceptance of the person and his/her hearing loss - but you know what... it also shows acceptance that the person who is deaf is also .... human.

We go through the same process of life as any one who happens to be different from us. We automatically categorize ourselves into one subculture because of our common denomination - hearing loss (note: nothing about sign language and/or culture) at this point, just like blacks (or African-Americans) categorize them by their common denomination, where they or their ancestors come from. How did this come to rise? The 'superior' attitude illustrated by the hearing and white category (generally speaking again). Remember folks - they're human too. Society interferes with biological processes - once again. I guess our brains and mannerisms really interfere with our ability to accept differences as a part of our diverse human culture. Sad, quite so.

Third point - Y'all probably heard this over and over and over again - 'It takes a village to raise a child.' Note - it's an African proverb. How does this relate to the conference and rally this weekend? I keep hearing 'fifth grade reading level' again - you know what? What is a village? What people are part of the village? No sole, single person is responsible for the child's upbringing. Maybe I gave birth to my son and my husband is his father; however, we can only teach him so much, the world out there teaches him in different ways. Let's break down village.

Village - a group of people living in one place/location, sharing culture and language. Considering this is America...it can be a bit more complicated than France.
Type of people?

• Families
• Educators
• Employment (people sense)
  
• Athletic programs
• Children
• Adults
• Organizations
• Neighbors
• Friends
• You can name a few more...

So for a deaf child - educators are not solely responsible for their upbringing. Even the education system can fail the child. Why should parents decline their responsibility to the child - 'He can't hear, there's nothing I can do.' and leave him to devices without disciplinary accountability and responsibility towards household duties, making friends with others in the neighborhood, and etc. Maybe someday the deaf child would be interested in participating in a local organization, the child wouldn't be encouraged to do so because of other people's feeling that 'he can't do it because he doesn't know how to communicate'...hello, it's the other side too that doesn't know how to communicate just like the deaf child. It's a two-way highway - not a one way.

Interaction within social development is a critical aspect of a human child's life. It doesn't matter if the child is hearing or deaf. It shouldn't matter if the child has cochlear implant, hearing aid or nothing - their lives are in the hands of the village. Denial of access to resources in that village, denies them the opportunity to live a full life. Literacy is more than education, it is social and it is also biological. Every single one of us human beings are born with the capacity to learn, no matter what our differences are.

Fear is a barrier, can we remove it?

Fourth point - "Changing Face of Deafness", I guarantee you the meaning at this conference means technology. It has nothing to do with biological and social change. Technology has impacted our society on all levels of our human development - compared to 30 years ago. Let me tell you this, I appreciate myself more when I read information about technology, how fast it is progressing. There will always be sign language and culture. It will evolve as any subculture has throughout millenna. I do not doubt that. What I doubt is the attitude of people within Society to accept the change, address the change and maintain some traditional aspects of our differences.

A note to hearing people - cochlear implantation changes how you feel about the person, it does not change their biological difference. A profoundly deaf non-cochlear implant user can speak as well as a well-spoken hearing person. A profoundly hearing person can speak as bad as a bad-spoken deaf person. It has nothing to do with our differences but everything to do with our sameness, after all we are human.

You may say - hey what about social change??? It is still the same - human fellows - it is the attitude towards our differences that remain the same. Implanting a child without understanding the biological and social ramification towards the the child's upbringing, purely for the selfishness of adults, that hasn't changed at all. Education system is still unbalanced - teachers are feeling that it is their job, not the sense that their teaching has an impact on the children's lives. (Generally speaking...again). The community at large basically ignores or rejects difference when it can spice up their place of employment, organization participation and the like.

It is 2 am for me - last point, being human is diverse, not accepting our differences (personal or not) will get us no where. Perfection is not evolution, neither biological or social. Listening is not aural based - it is based on the five senses that are biological gifts (and curses) to the human race. Listen to what the real world is saying...not what our Society says what we are. Listen with your heart, your mind and your soul.

Interest of Literacy

I just had gotten an email regarding a mom who's son is deaf, a honor roll student at a public high school receiving low scores on his ACT which would not allow him to enter Gallaudet University as a student. They were puzzled to how he was able to accomplish being a honor roll student and graduating 16th in his senior class. It boiled down to the fact that his reading level was equivalent to a third grade student.

This is the mom's website.... www.teachmysontoread.blogspot.com. I suggest you read this blog, the family's effort to ensure that their son/brother/grandson/nephew will achieve success in reading that will enable him to become a stronger student and not only that as a strong human being that took the challenge and overcame it. What faith and trust do they have in each other! They will go beyond the limitations, which today's society places upon its race.

This is similar to stories of children who have dyslexia, who have achieved academic successes despite the fact they may not have a reading level of an senior. This is eerily reminiscent of the last 30 years of thinking that deaf people cannot read at the same level as their hearing peers. What does hearing loss have to do with the level of literacy? It only takes the effort of family members to take the time to communicate with their children and for schools to ensure that their students are on the same page as other students. Note of warning though, not every child (hearing or deaf or otherwise) read the same way as anyone else. It is also similar to how white people discriminate against the black culture for being unable to read, when they were denied the opportunity to do so ... on basis of their skin color, not because of their intelligence or capacity. (Again, generalizing and this course of action takes place more in the past than currently; however, the action still happens).

Speaking from experience, starting to read independently at about 2 years of age, had nothing to my hearing loss. It had to do with the two major role models in my life (and I have many of those, with different roles they play), my mother and grandmother. My sister and youngest brother are readers; while my other brother didn't like to read, only if he had to for school or for information. When my mother gave him a book that he may be interested in reading - I think it was a Tom Clancy book, he started to read as much as we did. My husband is not big on reading books; he's a newspaper reader and a sports fan. Each of us are different in what we read, it depends on how we are exposed to reading and literacy that helps us develop into readers.

Just because of the fact of hearing loss or skin color difference, we can't read. That is bogus. I can give you this particular experience that my ex-boyfriend (deaf) went through and I was right there when he experienced a shocking moment in his life. When we were dating, we knew that we were different in academic avenues. He had the reading level that was stereotypical of what society perceived for deaf people - but he is the best DJ there is. Anyway, one weekend, I was staying with him in his hometown and he was DJ'ing at a local bar. This guy came up to him and wanted to let him know what music he wanted. Since my ex was well known in his hometown, he had a paper and pen ready for any requests. As any bar-goer and music lover, music is hard to communicate over when it's loud. When my ex wrote down to ask what the hearing person wanted to have put on, the hearing person looked at the paper and looked at my ex with a look on his face. He shrugged and made the gesture for 'no write/read'. It was the first time my ex has ever met a hearing person who couldn't read or write. He looked at me and I couldn't help him. He solved the problem by showing the DVD covers for the music to the hearing person and after the selection, put it on the track.

It goes to show that literacy does not discriminate, just like Mother Nature. It does not discriminate even when the child's parents are the most literate or the least literate. Having the ability to speak or sign fluently or having both skills in place does not make one literate. Being more than just a small part of what society thinks us to be (in terms of physical/sensory/mental loss, race/ethnicity or etc), allows us to be human. We are flawed, always and will be, never mind that we try to achieve perfection. (Into Chaos we go...) Being flawed is perfect, we are not God nor omnipresent. If you don't know the story of the 'Tower of Babel', read the story.

In 2005, I did a literacy survey with several goals: to see if gender made a difference, use of language (whether mono or bi-lingual), communication structure at home/school and today's results. The survey was based on local residents and few out of state respondents. The questionnaire was born on basis of my gathering information of children, whether deaf or hearing (main focus deaf), were reading at the level of other peers. See below. I will be more than happy to do this questionnaire again. One note: the question of parents signing at home was added at the last minute so the figures do not match the rest of the percentages.

Basic Information
Gender
Male	11	35%
Female	20	65%
Age
21-30	5	16%
31-40	9	29%
41-50	6	19%
51-60	8	26%
61+	3	10%
First Primary Language
ASL	11	35%
Oral	3	10%
SEE	1	3%
Spoken English	7	23%
Cued
Other:
SEE/Spoken English	5	16%
Oral/Spoken English	1	3%
Total Communication
Homemade	1	3%
Oral/SEE	1	3%
Oral/SEE/ASL	1	3%
Current Primary Language
ASL	17	55%
Oral
SEE
Spoken English
Cued
Other:
SEE/Spoken English/ASL	2	6%
ASL/Spoken English	9	29%
Total Communication
Oral/SEE	1	3%
ASL/SEE	2	6%
Parents
Deaf	7	23%
Hearing	22	71%
Both (one of each)	2	6%
Parents Sign?
Yes	8	26%
No	12	39%
One Parent	1	3%
Schooling
Mainstream	14	45%
Residental	13	42%
Oral	2	6%
Other:
Public	2	6%
Language used during school
ASL	4	13%
Oral	7	23%
SEE	4	13%
Spoken English	3	10%
Cued
Other:
Total Communication	7	23%
Pidgin	1	3%
Spoken English/ASL	4	13%
ASL/SEE	1	3%
Literary Information
Age learned to read
0-3	11	35%
4-6	12	39%
7-10	3	10%
11+	1	3%
Don’t know	4	13%
Taught by who
Parents	14	45%
Teachers	10	37%
Parents/Teachers	6	19%
Other:
Sibling	1	3%
Where learned to read
Home	12	39%
School	15	48%
Other:
Home/School	2	6%
France	1	3%
School/CC-TV	1	3%
Parents read?
Yes	29	94%
No	2	6%
How often Parents read?
Daily	24	77%
1-2 d/w	2	6%
Sundays	2	6%
Don't Know	2	6%
Never	2	6%
Enjoy Reading?
Yes	21	68%
No	2	6%
Somewhat	8	26%
Important to Read?
Yes	31	100%
No
Encourage Children/grandchildren to read?
Yes	31	100%
No

What I found intriguing was the difference in age and how education was valuable back in the 50's to 70's compared to today's perspective. There is not much difference, only a slight improvement. Now reviewing the statistics, if there would be one thing to add, is to make several statistics based on gender, language use and age. The statistics above, I will admit, are general and may not provide much specific information. Umm... how one always learns, it never stops until we die. Or perhaps after death, we do learn.....

Reading is critical to the academic development of children, so is language. Start the moment a child is born. I know I will, folks who know me, know that I value language, literacy and socialization as a critical development process for children, regardless if they are hearing, deaf, black, white, speaks one language or four, rich, poor, uses technology or not - for education does not discriminate, society does.