Because of the long-standing controversial issues, some of us, especially those who are bilingual in both English and ASL, are afraid that this ongoing controversy will impact the future generation of the deaf community so we are taking a stand!
The mission of this blogsite is to educate the public about widespread misconceptions related to cochlear implants. We sincerely believe that the deaf and hearing communities* must come together and start driving towards a uniform belief:
That since Cochlear Implants are here to stay, we must do our best keeping our future deaf children (implanted or not) bilingual/bimodal in both sign language and spoken language.
This place welcomes those bilingual cochlear implant users to share their experiences. If you are an CI user that supports this goal, please email us at aslciusers@gmail.com so we can become a blogging/vlogging community. We are opening this mainly for those who have been hesitant to speak up, now is your chance!
We hope to develop different groups: ASL ci users, parents of CI users, CI users curious about ASL and Deaf community, and other group of people so they can have their "discussions" within this blog.
We are in the process of setting up the first "ASL-Cochlear Implant Community" vlog so this blogsite can be bilingual! Thank you for your patience and do check back often!
We will be united, we will stand against ignorance, and we will help the future generations of deaf children "cherish and defend our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift that God has given us"!
-George Veditz, 1910, "Preservation of Sign Language"
*please keep in mind that the "hearing community" does not mean cochlear implant users. There are no "sides", we are trying to break down the "wall" that CI users face because some members of the deaf community do not consider us one of them, when, technically, we are. When we mention "hearing community", we are referring to hearing people who are not familiar with Deaf culture and ASL. Although we recognize that there are some CI users who have never been exposed to Deaf Culture/ASL, we still consider them deaf AND hope that this blog will be their positive welcome into the Deaf World.
16 comments:
Gee, I'm the first one to post :o) Just wanted to let everyone know I have some comments on this and its posted on my website. Please feel free to read it and respond! It's basically a summary of how I got the CI and life afterwards and dealing with the Deaf identity.
http://web.mac.com/alyssa77/iWeb/Site/Cochlear%20Implant%20%26%20Deaf%20Culture.html
congrats, ASL-CI community! your presence is much, much appreciated. i look forward to learning from you all!
I'm so glad that all deaf children are introducated to ASL if they are CI users or not. That's so important.
Excellent start with the idea of having this collaborative, healthy dialogue blog! I look forward to seeing positive results to connect between two communities in one. Bravo!
thank you. I look forward to interesting posting.
Valerie
Great! I am looking forward to reading this blogsite... I just clicked it on my favorite bookmark ;-)
It sure feels like a new beginning for learning how ASL and cochlear implant could dance together beautifully (referring to Dancing with the Stars ;o) ) Anything is POSSIBLE.
Congrats! This is a much needed platform and I look forward to learning from this healthy dialogue!
Julie Rems-Smario
I'm with everyone here!
*waves to everyone and hugging*
:)
I'll contribute whatever I can...but probably more this summer when I'm out of school. Too much work right now and starting an internship this week...ahhhhh!
But wonderful way to set up a bridge here and I look forward to learning more from both sides!
:)
Hi Raychelle,
LIke Barb DiGi and others said, I think the idea of having a collaborative and healthy dialogue is a wonderful one and sorely needed.
Are you envisioning this site as a place where CI ASL users and non-CI ASL users will be equally welcome to express opinions and ask questions through submission of v/blogs? Or is it intended to be a place where only CI ASL users are invited to submit v/blogs and non-CI ASL users are limited to the comments section only? My confusion stems from the sidebar message where it invites submissions from CI ASL users and parents of CI children, but makes no mention of non CI users. It is my hope that both sides will have equal access, as long as all submissions and comments are presented in respectful ways, of course.
Thanks for clarifying!
Candace A. McCullough
Hello all, we are thrilled to hear from you and appreciate your positive comments. We want to clarify the ASL-CI Community are not two separate communities, but one- and that is the Deaf community. This is not the place to discuss which educational method is right, but for ASL CI users and parents (deaf or hearing) of ASL CI users to share personal experiences and research information that support the use of ASL.
And no, this is not Raychelle's work. When we saw some of the comments on her recent v/blogs about the CI and the Deaf community, we started to wonder, "Why don't we, ASL CI users voice for ourselves?" Some of us approached her and told her we were thinking of having a place where we all can have safe, intellectual, and community-building discussions. She was very supportive of our decision and gave us tips on how to set up a blog. This blog does not exclude "non-CI users" but we try to make this a place for ASL-CI users to feel safe to share their personal experiences because we couldn't exactly find other blogs that support our mission.
We especially love the idea of ASL and Cochlear Implant "dancing together beautifully".
Hmm...interesting. Might be helpful to explain who you are as a person(s) that run this blog. A name would be a good place to start.
Congrats on this new blog.
glad to see this new blog...ASL-CI community. Look forward to learning about your experiences and comments! I am hard of hearing and will share my story when applicable.
Mike,
None of us are ready to share our names yet. We hope, with time, we will. There are several people writing for this blog (not just one), and several people contributing to this blog. All have a CI and use ASL, or are a parent of a deaf, implanted child with CI. We have many upcoming projects we are excited about sharing with you all We hope to have more writers and eventually vloggers to help out. Thanks for your support.
After celebrating three years of being CI user, my simple answer is that I love to hear the wonderful world of sounds. I did not realize that I did miss those sounds for 42 years!!! I am so excited to hear from crying grandchildren which I had missed from my children. Smile. I did wear a hearing aid when I was young and hate it because I all heard was same sound! With CI, I hear much different and I am COMPLETELY HOOKED to it! I am still DEAF and still use ASL! Glad to see this blog!
I have to agree with aslci user that some of us are not ready to reveal our identities. time is of the essence.
But I am delighted to know about this blog and like Karen Mayes, and am going to distribute this to local DHH programs. The word needs to be out there that aslci needn't be an oxymoron.
This is faboo!!! I have been considering a CI myself and this blog will really reinforce my desire for it.
I honestly miss my old hearingness....the little things...
Thanks for creating this... :-)
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