Thursday, April 10, 2008

Faces of ASL CI Users


Note: Not all of the participants in this video are active CI users. The intention of this video is to show diverse members of the Deaf community that happens to have a cochlear implant and use ASL.

57 comments:

raychelle said...

haha what a wonderful video. interesting, if i'm correct, 9 people in the video used the U-handshape, 10 used the bent-2 handshape and 2 fingerspelled C.I. these numbers are similar to numbers in the ASL-CI poll about which sign is preferable. interesting!

Anonymous said...

Ohhh, I loved this video, what a joyful affirmation: who made it??!!!

Anonymous said...

That s good!

InsaneMisha said...

*hands waving*

I'm very pleased to see most CI people using ASL. We'd welcome all CI with ASL in the Deaf community.
One thing is I'm not very receptive to CI people without ASL/even reject ASL.

Misha :D

Dianrez said...

Loved it! These happy faces and joyful ASL signs sends a message to both the CI and anti-CI people: one can have it both ways and get the best of both worlds!

Anonymous said...

Nice vlog & i second misha :)

Amy said...

That is the BEST video I've ever seen!

Thank you so much for doing this and it helps to dispel all of the myths, especially about ASL as an inferior language, and deaf people who wears CI only can listen and talk.

These people are happy! I like one guy who explains that he is able to interact with Deaf and Hearing people . Many of us can do that too!

CI is only a tool, a device, and a technological invention that helps to hear *some*.

It is what between the ears, is very important!

Thank you for doing this.

Amy Cohen Efron
www.greatestirony.com

DeafRoger said...

CHAMP Video! I have to remember this one for Deaf Read Awards 2008!

Very very clear and important message for the Deaf community!!!

Cheers!
Roger

Abbie said...

I loved this video! Would you mind I posted this on my site?

KyDeafie said...

Wow! Truly a beautiful and loud message. Thanks! *Hands Waving*

David said...

COOL!

Deafchip

Anonymous said...

A-M-E-N ! ! ! Yes, they are part of Deaf community no matter what! Thank you for this vlog!

Karen Mayes said...

I LOVE IT! Very positive and joyful. *Hands waving*

Divided said...

how cool that is...love it!! Amy is right saying that what is between those ears that count. smart lady!!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic!

I really enjoyed watching the vlog. It truly shows how diverse we can be as a community.

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

Champ! I have some deaf friends who have CI. They sign beautifully, too! I support babies with ASL whether CI or not.

Beaux Arts de Boutjean said...

How I love the burst of happy bubbles in your faces! Let me read herein what Voltaire says in "Candide" (vide infra):

"Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles."

Translation from French to English:

All is for the best in the best of POSSIBLE worlds."

Soon you will become trilingual or
even multilingual!

Perstare et praestare!
Jean Boutcher

Anonymous said...

How charming! This brightened my day. We need deafies, HOH, hearies, ASL supporters, AGBell members, ignorant individuals, giant companies, audist observers, and worried parents to see that brilliant ASL-CI video!

Shawn R.

Anonymous said...

Jusgt a reminder:

Marlee Matlin will be on TV
about CI Sunday night.
Check your TVGuide.

Thanks.

Dy said...

What a fantastic, positive video!!!

LaRonda said...

Finally! A video clip that affirms the positive identity of Deaf ASL users who have CIs. I hope hearing parents can see the benefit of ASL with CIs. These people obviously feel they have the best of both worlds.

I second Roger! This video clip is a winner!

~ LaRonda

Unknown said...

Crystal clear and loud message

Truly beautiful video!

*Hand-waving*

ASL Forever

Unknown said...

These faces of ASL CI folks are no different than my 8 years old Hoh son who speaks well and signs fluently.

I will like to see some of them share their testimonials on how they became bilingual and also how well they fare in speaking and hearing English in their school setting, training sessions, and with their families and friends. We need more information on this.

Great job, thanks.

Adam said...

i so loved this video (and not just because i'm in it!). what a wonderful project; i'm feeling all positive now. keep it up!!

DeafWomYnPrIdE said...

*Hand-waving* I loved it! very beautiful and spiritual! WOW so beautiful! I will tell my friends about this! Thank you so much!

DeafWomYnPrIdE said...

*Hand-waving* WOW I loved IT! So beautiful and spiritual!! I will tell my friends about this. Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Classic!!! yeah I know it's just one word....one more time....Classic!

Unknown said...

Two cents here.... I just shared thisw clip with my friend who is a parent of a ci child who attends an oral program. Sh mentioned something that I felt compelled to share with the blogger of this site. She said she knew the parents of oral ci kids would say that does not change their minds since they are more interested in seeing their children being able to HEAR and SPEAK. Wow. That reeks of soft audism.

Can we make a new clip to show what CI ASL kids/adults could do.... which are no less in terms of ability level but more thatthey can sign ASL and are a part of the Deaf world. Of course I know some of my CI adult friends who got implantyed at adulthood say they enjoy gained hearing ability, but theyr'e not interested in speech therapy or to improve thier speaking/listening abilities. Nothing wrong with that.

ASL CI kids especially those implanted early are the onbes who could prove the oral ed advocating parents wrong that ASL doesnt impair child's ability to develop listening and speaking skills.


Just my 2 cents worth here....

Unknown said...

In response to comment #26, "ASL CI kids especially those implanted early are the ones who could prove the oral ed advocating parents wrong that ASL doesn't impair child's ability to develop listening and speaking skills."

I found two articles on Internet and one in Sign language Studies that explain differences in language development milestone between monolingual and bilingual - multilingual children. Parents of CI kids may wish to see them develop their speaking skills at maximum and overlook the actual long term benefits of being bilingual and differences in milestone development.

I have been watching three children from their first year to now in their 7th - 8th years, their development in both languages have been quite staggering until now they are starting to smoothen out showing their good ability to separate both language's set of rules and application in pragmatics. I just observed them in a classroom..

Here are few links to show what is really typical and so old in Europe countries.

Multilingual Children, milestones from 0 month to 36 months

Difference in bilingual and monolingual children's language development milestones

If you have an access to an university library, you can get this article.

Dr. Laura Ann Petitto and Dr. Siobhan Holowka's commentary, "Evaluating Attributions of Delay and Confusion in Young Bilinguals:Special Insights from Infants Acquiring a Signed and a Spoken Language" Sign Language Studies 3.1 (2002) 4-33

Anne Marie

K.L. said...

That is a very good point. For the ASL/English bilingual method to become widely accepted, we will need to show that the kids can be successful with both ASL and verbal english.

Anonymous said...

Wow - What a beautiful video. It inspires me and my daughter who have our CI. We love CI while signing ASL. AMEN!!!!

Anonymous said...

Can any of them talk too?

Anonymous said...

deaf is deaf. yesterday, today and tommorrow! no difference!

Platonic's Eye said...

Interesting! but my question what they do with CI for whom? There will always be two different kind of being and non being Deaf!

IamMine said...

I love this!!! :)

I noticed the poll on CI sign (thanks, raychelle - wouldn't have noticed it without your comment!)... I had been using the snake-bite/bent 2 hand-shape, but I now prefer the H/U shape behind ear (not on neck!! lol)

Wonderful video with ASL-CI users!

I'm with everyone who said this was a classic video!

raychelle said...

native asl/ci parent of deaf child:

i believe this video was created specifically for the deaf community (not for hearing parents of CI children) to show that Deaf people who have CI cherish/still use ASL and are proud members of the Deaf community - in response to the many fears of the Deaf community that CI will destroy/reduce the number of ASL users/Deaf community members.

your suggestion is a good one, i do hope asl-ci community will take that up into consideration (hint, hint asl-ci community ha). you can even help with that (since you are a parent of a ci child :))

Unknown said...

This video is even good for parents of CI children. It will be interesting to show CI children speaking then signing. If there is going to be a video clip showing kids doing both, be sure to close caption everything so that way everyone will get to see everything.

Beaux Arts de Boutjean said...

An inquistive mind like mine wants
to know how many implanted children OF DEAF parents Laurent
Clerc Center (LCC) has on the Gallaudet campus.

Are Deaf parents of implanted pupils at LCC basically oral or proficient signers? Are some of them implantées?

Anonymous said...

Yes!! I use ASL and am in progress of getting CI!! Cute kids there-- know a few.. cute!

Bacon said...

What inspirational video! Excellent that I really enjoy to watch over and over. Good Job!!

Kim said...

Splendid, marvelous, delightful, amazing... many more "good" words!!!
I love 'Yesteryday, Today, Tomorrow' videoclip - it's the biblical saying. Yep, CI users are still Deaf! Hope to see more like this in the near future!

For the sophisicated research, it would be awesome to montior the CI children in ASL families and see how they evolve into bilinguals with strong love for ASL & Deaf community. BRAVO!!!

Anonymous said...

Right on Ann Marie! I agree with everything you said. Parents need to see this video.

To the people involved with this video - more power to you for the "still deaf" part. The CI is a tool, likewise the hearing aid.

Sorry I had to click "anonymous" can't figure out how to use the google account thing. Feeling technically all thumbs today, smile.

Thanks again for sharing this wonderful video! You rock!
Sheri Farinha Mutti

Laurie said...

Way to go! I'm mom to 8yo Deaf daughter with CI and we use ASL all the time. She will introduce herself as "Hi! I'm CLaire and I'm Deaf. Are you Deaf?" She does not say "Hi, I'm Claire and I'm a CI user." One intro tells who she really is, and the other talks about an accessory she uses, like whether she's wearing socks or sneakers.
Great Video!

Anonymous said...

I feel pity for C.I users because they will have headache frequently, play sports with limited. I'm not against C.I but I'm against people implanting BABIES and young kids who has NO choice. The parents DON'T own babies and young kids' body/skin. Would the parents have babies and young kids tatooing? or bellybutton piercing? Think about this. Thank you

Anonymous said...

My husband and friend had ci and they never use ci sound as they still have ci . I think waste thier life for ci. Please let thier childern want or not want when they getting older, Don't force child. Let each child be happy as deaf in life. Keep ASL all the time. Like Marlee Martin's story about nothing in my ears. Thaht's wondeful Story.

Anonymous said...

Rachel-
I know a few of these people-yes, some of them can talk.

Anonymous said...

Pasty - good to see you on BLOG - and proud of what you said... I am same "old Patsy" with a CI and always be "Deaf" :*

Anonymous said...

You are still deaf then you are waste CI

Anonymous said...

This is exact what we need in the Deaf community, so many thanks to those who have made this video clip! So much of negativity going on right now with CI - and I want to say that I'm one of those people who are CI user and still identity myself DEAF period so WOW, awesome video clip! *Bravo* :)

Anonymous said...

Really disagreed this because the deaf-born still goes on "life" Yes, this is truly beautiful of "ASL" than stupidity CI on it. I believe that should be wait until 18 year old or so because of his/her decision that the parent's decision setup before them! Wow! Abuse those parent issues!!! I loved to see those so cutie kids' ASL for only one reason! Not CI for KID'S proudly deaf life!

Windell

Ema said...

I think the CI is a great idea, but as far as parents making the decision for children to get them? There's something wrong about that. Deaf children shouldn't get it done until they're mature enough to know what the outcomes losses/gains will be.

Unknown said...

Very interesting video but are the kids really express their feelings? Seems to me that someone behind the camera tell them what to say as you can see where their eyes go. hmmmmmm

Miss Kat's Parents said...

As a parent of an ASL using Deaf child who will be implanted very soon, I would like to speak to the idea of waiting.
There is a very short window of time in which the brain can learn to interpret sound. That window closes around 3.5 years old. If the child's brain is without sound for longer than that they are less successful learning and using spoken language. The point of the CI is to give them that ability. In essence, if you choose to wait, you ARE making a decision. You are deciding to make the CI less effective.

Anonymous said...

Hello people all deaf ASL,

I am form Quebec of Canada so i am french too and my language is LSQ for french so i can understand what you say ASL...

I try my best to write for you english so i did can do it Okay and hope you understand ;-)...

I look very very like this one key can proved who people have CI it not change in world so i am very proud all deaf in world are power... still keep culture and language sign

I am still thing that why people in world hearing can't understand of valour precious of deaf..

it not we are problem deaf so it your probleme people hearing don't understand and i wish to do create one chips IC for people hearing making understand !!!! What exact my own deaf can't changed in world...

Keep my valour, my culture, my language sign...

thank god we are power smart ;-)...

Anonymous said...

C.I. is OUT!!! Natural deaf is IN!!! I'm deaf and haven't C.I. why no? i needn't to have a C.I. I'm for deaf community and ISL! Happy new year 2009 and good luck!

John W Dudley said...

Growing up with my deaf family has been a wonderful experience. Because of my association with the deaf my life has been full. Thank you so very much for this wonderful video. I wish my that all of my deaf family could had ci implants. Their lives would have be so different and happier.

John W Dudley CODA

Anonymous said...

Please, give me link to download XRumer 7.0!!!
Thanks!

Always yours,
miss MW