AGB Deathbed Confession

Alexander Graham Bell (AGB) in his deathbed confession regretted of going down in history as an oppressor of the deaf, despite his good intentions. He seen the benefits of ASL but wouldn't change his mindset in fear of losing supporters of his foundation. It upset him seeing so many deaf children speaking in the classrooms but couldn't understand the lessons being taught, fallen behind their hearing peers. Once using disguise, so no one will identified him, was impressed with what he seen during a tour of ASD with Gallaudet, watching Clerc teaching a class. AGB was at a point of no return, remains stubborn in support of a lost cause. 

H. G. Wells, a good friend invited AGB, along with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to join him on an adventure into the future in a machine he just invented. Ford never seen so many Japanese vehicles on the highways, test drive a Mustang, caught speeding, given a ticket for an expired driver's license from a century ago. Edison enjoys the view from atop Eiffel Tower in the City of Lights, Paris. H.G. Wells got an autograph from director Steven Spielberg after watching "War of the Worlds." As for AGB, he was upset over exploitation of deaf children receiving cochlear-implants, "I only want our deaf children grow up naturally like the rest of us, teaching them speech, but we recreated generations of humanoids. We may someday cure cancer and heart diseases with God given talents, but we can't reject God's creation of us in his image and we'll be accountable for it at the last judgement." AGB saw his telephone on display at the Smithsonian, and thought it's great seeing Deaf using videophones, watching closed-captions on television and surfing the Internet, beyond his imagination. Gallaudet students once thought they saw a ghost on campus that resembles AGB but dismiss it, thinking they were just hallucinations. AGB now agrees that ASL is a language in own right, and blames himself for being ignorant of Deaf culture due to his stubbornness. He wrote a bibliographical of his life, left it in a safe with the instruction that it will not be published until the year 2018, it's then we'll know the real AGB, revealing that he is fluent in ASL, asking for forgiveness and royalties donated to Deaf researchers at Gallaudet. 

Deaf Cruise

Imagine cruising the rivers of the world in our own cabin, enjoy the scenery along the way.

We Deaf can agree to meet at certain point to socialize, hiking the trails, BBQ cookout and campfire ASL skits.

Michigan School for the Deaf

A soldier home for the holidays surprises his younger Deaf brother at the Michigan School for the Deaf.

"Catch Me If You Can"

The Steven Spielberg's film "Catch Me If You Can" is based on the life of Frank Abagnale who recently spoken at Google about his life and the future of cybersecurity. 

E15: Lithuanian

I am at the Lithuanian Pavilion at Expo 15, a world fair in Milan, Italy. These artists are using blowtorch to created an image of a baker on ciabatta bread, it will take them two days to complete the project.

Deaf Dog Rescue

A Deaf dog was rescued from a frozen creek in Kentucky, she is now in safe hands and will be transfer to a facility in Ohio that will take good care of her, and hopefully a Deaf family will adopt her soon. I hope they catch the person who abandoned her.

Source: New York Daily News

Deaf Nurse

Wouldn't it be great having a Deaf nurse taking care of you, I know it will speed up my recovery, and shorten my hospital stays, reduce my medical bills and be more healthier than ever.

Files

No more piles of travel brochures. No more piles of catalogues. No more piles of newspaper clippings. No more piles of pictures. I just post them rather than filing them. Thanks to blogging, we free up our living space. The hard drive is now our storage area. 

St. John's School for the Deaf

This is our elementary basketball team after winning the championship. Unfortunately, St. John's School for the Deaf (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) closes the following year.

VRS Scandal

I

LL, former VRS interpreter

t's a scandal that's sending shock waves within the Deaf community when several VRS interpreters were arrested yesterday in a FBI sting operation against an agency accused of running a brothel. A Deaf  informant notified law enforcement officials that these VRS prostitutes, although fluent in ASL, has been soliciting sex from its Deaf client base, violating its contract with the FCC. One interpreter, now out on bail, has agreed to bare all, sharing her experiences in an upcoming Playboy issue. Investigation are still ongoing, any Deaf involved, just to be safe, are encourage to go to the local public health clinic for a free confidential HIV testing. 

Basketball: Georgia School for the Deaf

Rayshawn Womack scores 11 points in the third quarter against Georgia School for the Deaf at the Eagle's Nest last night.

EXCEL 86

GSD      43

Dog & God

Mary Whittaker, the Deaf minister in the Church of Scotland got a lot of attention in the British press lately as everyone are curious about her dog, Scott, that stole the spotlight. Deaf people love their dogs more than their God. Mary hopes that her Deaf congregation focus on the cross, not on Scott, and grow in faith. I'll tithe a can of dog food to fight hunger.

Bento

During a full moon, the Deaf werewolves are out there among us, so there's no need to fear, unless you oppressed us in some ways, let this be a warning to the audists, beware!  A Deaf werewolf is often the seventh Deaf son in a family, and that individual will be known as "Bento," based on Portuguese folklore. Very often, in some cultures, the seventh child was abandoned at birth. In order to prevent abandonment, a law was passed in Argentina, that the seventh child becomes the godson of its leader, sort of being a ward of the state. the President. The Deaf werewolves, will let their presence be known to us. When we sleep tonight, we can feel the tap on our shoulder, as if Bento is watching over us, given us assurances that we will be safe. there are unconfirmed police reports of burglars being chased away. Bento is keeping an eye over us, wouldn't tolerate oppression, otherwise you'll be torn to shreds. A word of advice, the best time to apply for a job and loan, etc. is before a full moon because Benito will see it to that you'll be hired, approved and received a positive response. Once again, audists, beware!

DVC

Today I attend a DVC annual meeting, we expect the wage increases will affect us and discuss ways to minimize its impact on our dues. We basically rubber-stamped their agenda, approving the minutes, audits, and the election of the new board. There will be three new Disney ships added to the fleet, thought about joining their cruise out of NYC to Bermuda. There will be lot of things going on in the parks in observation of Mickey 90th birthday. We still have our moonlight magic where we can stay in the theme parks ourselves after it closes. We got our own lounge at EPCOT's Journey to Imagination on the second floor to relax, enjoy a drink and a snack. There is also another one is located at the Wilderness Lodge where a chef can show us how to cook, or even paint on canvas with the artist. There is a lot of perks but I'm not going to bore you with the details.  

Anyway, I suggested that the Member-at-Large not be selected by Disney, but let us timeshare owners nominated one of our own and be given the rights to vote. Disney seeks feedback from us, but I sometimes think they are tone-deaf. 

Sociology of the Deaf

Remember the good old days when we Deaf gather to socialize, not so anymore!

Deaf Consciousness

Why are we wasting our time  and energy educating the public with the Deaf Awareness gimmicks, it's not getting us anywhere. It's just a proclamation on worthless piece of paper, a few booths in an exhibition hall selling ILY t-shirts, displays of the latest telecommunication equipment, maybe a workshop on how to use an interpreter. The general public doesn't give a damn because we didn't raise social consciousness on the issues that affect our lives.

Black awareness? I think not, but they march on Washington, demanding equality in our society back in the civil rights era. Remember those scenes of a governor of a state blocking a black college student, the sit-in at the local drugstores, they were fighting segregation. It's their actions that raise social consciousness that causes us to realize that racism is dividing our nation and that we had to do something about it. The blacks don't sit around at a booth like we Deaf do, they took action.

The same with the women, they fought for their rights to vote. Like the blacks, they also raise social consciousness, winning the rights to have abortions, etc. The women don't sit around at a booth like we Deaf do, they took action. Nowadays, the gays are actively involved in achieving their rights to marry. Like the blacks and the women before them, they are raising social consciousness. The gays don't sit around at a booth like we Deaf do, they took action.

Once again, may I repeat; we are wasting our energy and time over the years trying to create Deaf awareness among ourselves, the public already knows we exists so what! Deaf Awareness doesn't achieve our goals, but I strongly believe that Deaf social consciousness is the way to go. If you had any doubts, look back at the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement at Gallaudet, it was a really a social consciousness event that got the world attention in one day that Deaf Awareness couldn't do in a hundreds or so years. We don't need a governor to proclaim Deaf Awareness week, but rather a governor that signs a bill that address the issues at hand.

Tennessee School for the Deaf

Deaf children at the Tennessee School for the Deaf were given new bicycles last night, isn't that great!

Police-Deaf Relationship

The Derbyshire Police visit the students at the Royal School for the Deaf to show them that they are there to serve and protect them. I noticed that its officers are learning and becoming fluent in their sign language and immersing themselves in Deaf culture to understand and  improve relationship with the community. Police are having a rapport with Deaf children, covering various topics that concerns us all, like bullying, crimes, prejudices, etc. It also launches a one on one program for the Deaf know as PLOD, linking an officer with a Deaf individual, seem sort of like a mentorship program, maybe that is something we need here in America. Imagine a whole police force being fluent in BSL, eliminating its dependences on overworked interpreters, it's happening. Maybe one Deaf child may be inspired to become a police officer on the force when he grows up, by then communication barriers began crashing down.

Scientific Signs in Research

If you were at Gallaudet taking up biology, chemistry, or psychic courses to meet the liberal-arts requirements, you probably forgot all the scientific signs you learned already. At that time, probably no agreements on what signs to use for different scientific signs, perhaps each professors created their own. What if you are a Deaf researcher, it's confusing enough, so one is making a serious attempt to uniform them, so it'll be the same in all labs across our nation and perhaps around the world. I myself have a problem with refilling my prescription, not remembering how to spell that damn word that is a mile long. Signing heart medicine is good enough, just hope that pharmacy not lost my file, or I had to wait around while they call my cardiologist. Anyway, these Deaf researchers will find a way to overcome the obstacles in the field and succeed in life with a successful career, and you never know, it may be the Deaf that discovers the cure to cancer and heart diseases.

Young Deaf Hoodlum

The chef, Alfonso, sweating armpits,  listening to the Brooklyn Dodgers' radio broadcast, betting on Jackie Robinsin to hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win a reprieve from paying  the pennantand busy while, as an owner of a pizzeria in Cobble Hill, about the old Brooklyn Dodgers, suddenly the bay window glasses shattered, leaving a baseball in a minestrone soup that spattered the Deaf Godfather's fedora, prompting him to take out a silencer from his holster, in anger ordering his bodyguard to bring in that kid left behind after his friends split the scene holding the stick, fearing it that will be taken away and be used as a rod, whipping his bare butt, and worse facing the embarrassment of exposing his Superman undies. The Deaf Godfather (signing) asked the young Deaf hoodlum, a Lexington pupil, to give him a reason why he shouldn't face the consequences of his action. The young Deaf hoodlum, with quick thinking, quoted a verse from Galatians.

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."

Source: Galatians 6:1 (NIV)

The Deaf Godfather, with a conscience, decided to spare the rod, paid the owners for the damages, and adopted the young Deaf hoodlum from the orphanage, keeping him off the streets, and turning away from life of crime. It's that one quote lead a family to faith.