trouble | Entries tagged with disability: deaf

So this is a thing that happened.

Sign Language Ban Imposed on N.J. Girl

School officials have threatened a hearing-impaired girl with suspension if she uses sign language to talk to her friends on the school bus, the girl's parents say.

Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.

But officials at Stonybrook School — which is not a school for the hearing-impaired — and district officials in Branchburg, N.J., apparently believe signing is a safety hazard. They have sent a letter to the Lesko family ordering Danica to stop using sign language on the school bus or risk a three-day suspension.

...

"The Board is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, and is satisfied that there has been no violation of that policy in this case," officials said in the statement. "The Board is also committed to assuring the safety of all students who travel on District buses, and will continue to take appropriate steps to accomplish that goal."

LET'S PLAY A FUN GAME.

How do you think Sign Language is a SAFETY HAZARD?

Poll #10707 I Am Anna's Sarcasm Voice

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 59

View Respondents

How are students signing on the bus a safety hazard?

View Answers

They are just so fast that sparks fling from their fingers and might cause a small fire.
28 (50.0%)

Students learning that signed languages exist as real languages in this world might make them question whether English is really the Supreme Language of All Things.
31 (55.4%)

Students who don't know ASL are demanding to learn it because ASL is cool, and the school can't find a qualified teacher.
28 (50.0%)

Something something something Québec Protests.
10 (17.9%)

I HAVE A THEORY that it's none of the above.
20 (35.7%)

What is your alternate theory about ASL on the bus?

View Answers

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is Totally Not Evil and 10 is Way More Evil Than Don, how evil are the people who ban Sign Language on school buses?

View Answers
Mean: 9.63 Median: 10 Std. Dev 1.31

Not Evil 1	1 (1.8%)
2	0 (0.0%)
3	0 (0.0%)
4	0 (0.0%)
5	0 (0.0%)
6	0 (0.0%)
7	1 (1.8%)
8	3 (5.3%)
9	3 (5.3%)
Way More Evil Than Don 10	49 (86.0%)

Obligatory Melle Question

View Answers

Kittens
34 (60.7%)

Puppies
17 (30.4%)

Ponies
19 (33.9%)

Cows
11 (19.6%)

Camels
17 (30.4%)

Italy is attempting to declare that Italian Sign Language is a language of "mime & gesture". Foolish Deaf people, thinking they use a language! /sarcasm

( Video, Transcript below )

( Transcript )

Petition Link

FB Page for "LIS: Si - LMG: No"

Another Vlog Explanation in ASL

Another Vlog Explanation in International Sign

Another Vlog Explanation in LIS

Wikipedia Article About LIS

Vlog Explanations in *MANY* Signed Languages

English Language petition at Changes.org

I found out about this via @Deaf on Twitter.

Folks, the Conference of Milan in 1881 basically declared Sign not a language and banned its use in the classroom. Eighteen Eighty One. The people who held the vote were the hearing teachers at Deaf residential schools. Deaf teachers weren't allowed to vote. It's 2011, and people are still refusing to allow Deaf people to define their language and experiences, or to speak for themselves. Many hearing people still act like Sign Languages are just random gestures and mime. It took a hearing man, William Stokoe, writing an academic paper in the 1960s before ASL was believed to be a language in the United States, despite the fact that ASL had been in regular use as a language for decades.

Gestures & Mime? No, this is a language and what we call these things matters.

Crossposted.