Sign Language. It is a linguistic right for ethnic culture of Deaf People (visually inclined/orientation/preference). Sociological epistemic violence occurs when a ‘post-hearing dependent,’ evolved human is subject to mechanical head implants to force audionic attention to dominant hearing culture by ‘listening’ which is nothing less than lazy.
Put your body into it. It isn’t that hard to use some expression and raise your hands. Oh! but the threat of violence from sonic words cannot physically inflict pain, but only that which is associated to that what can be seen. Is this the motive for business/lawyer suits? Hide your communication. Poker face. Wash your hands clean. Don’t do the dirty work, the chop-chop!
Gang signs (the identification of by law) is a racist way to ban non-verbal communication. But we have freedom of ‘speech’. We do not have freedom of movement, or visual space.
My intention is to bring Deaf-biased consciousness to an issue that I have lived with everyday all day my whole life. I have examples in my own life, that deserve to be told, and heard, to counter the discourse of the Sound-wave dependent, My interactions have been with 99.9% hearing people, that have been key forming identifiers of my Deaf identity. My deafhood.
My education was mainstreaming with Oralism and Audism, separated from other deaf and identified as hard-of-hearing, forced to try to hear. I grew up with a hearing aid, but now I don’t wear it. Well, actually, either one of them.. I got a second aid for other ear when I went to college. I don’t know why I didn’t have two since I was born with both ears the same. These were all decisions made by others, for me. Well, finally I decided, for me, to resist the machine. I stopped wearing the hearing aids I guess when I became an entrepreneur, about 8 years ago for sure.
Why are we told to sit still in class?
Well, I’m back in the workforce as an employee since the market crash, and my decision to employ my time with a company (which I chose to be a co-operatively owned). Earning my income as a wage instead of capital gains, commissions, and rental income is more consistent and dependable in the immediate term. The liquid currency stopped circulating in my industry so my investors stopped buying property. I got tired of property management. I was only in the field to make as much money as I wanted, and work only when I felt like it, to thereby have enough free time to do art and music. I succeeded. To the end. Until I went bankrupt. LOL.
The beauty though, was that I didn’t have to wear my hearing aids because all agreements have to be in writing, to be legally binding, you have to take physical action and do something that can be seen (sign the document, pun latently intended). So if I don’t hear everything in the negotiations, the important thing is what I can see, the non-verbal (written) contract. Besides, they say buyers are liars and sellers are worse. So who cares what is said.
One time I used sign language on a guy that made physical contact and I spent 5 years in the court system.
They used to tie deaf kid’s hands behind their backs to keep them from signing.
They have it in the statue books in 30 states that ban deaf-deaf people from marrying.
They are always sticking things in our ears. You tell me whats violent?
Listening is more than hearing.
Speaking is more than talking.
I am choosing the deaf side, since I will never be hearing. I tried. One time a faith-healer took out my hearing aid and threw it. I had to crawl under the pews after service and why I failed to hear and come up with a spiritual explanation why I didn’t allow healing. Was it my sin? I wasn’t sure, I was just a kid.
Why did I have to listen? I just want to be free. To be me. I accept me who I am, the way I am.
I was never told it is ok to not hear. I was always told to be something I’m not.
Im tired of trying so hard. I dont have any social energy after working 8 hours with hearing people. Perhaps with music I could burst more effective social energy. Because who cares what I heard? These are my songs and as long as I get on stage and sing, who cares what anybody said. But at work, if I don’t hear something, that could be cause for negligence, or like, not fulfilling job task or something. But for the first time ever, as an employee, I am telling my co -workers that I am deaf. Even though I talk and can hear. I am still deaf. Life is such a contradiction and paradox.
My categories have always been ambiguous. The other day I had to select race category, but I could only pick one. What is hard of hearing? It is identification with one end of spectrum without giving validity and credibility to a shade in the middle as having it’s own worth, presuming it wants to be hearing. So I like the term deaf, that way people can’t assume I hear. It is so much easier for me. It puts the burden on them to reach out to me to communicate. Instead of me always leaning forward and asking them to repeat it. If I say I’m deaf, they have to confirm with me if they want to know I heard them. Instead of the presumption that I heard, and the subsequent fault of mine if I didn’t.
These are things I think about everyday. I have to make value judgments on what people say, to sort out what is important to ask for repeat. If I deem their nonverbal to indicate they are expecting a response, then I will guess what was said and creatively throw out some variation of words to express my attention to the fact that they are throwing words. Until the eye contact breaks or they walk away, I keep throwing words until they stop, although Im never sure exactly what was said or if something is expected of me, in terms of action. Sometimes I’m wrong, but if I knew sign and they did, we could be more effective.
Thanks for listening. pun latently intended.
one last thought: is it discrimination when deaf people post sign language video without English subtitles?
