The N-Word terrorization: To boldly go where black men are not welcome
I woke up this morning to a lovely conversation about the N-Word. I immediately had this idea about the word. The idea is to terrorize using the N-Word. Before I delve into terrorizing using the N-Word, I want to share the conversation with you. The conversation began with a thought about the evolution of [...]
Word Lens revolutionizes deaf travel
This is the first in a series of articles about technology, culture, and the Deaf. If you have any good tips about new technology that is beneficial to Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, please let me know. Word Lens is a iPhone application that does one thing, and one thing well — it is an [...]
I am a man in a hoodie and Trayvon Martin didn’t have to die.
I am a Black man in my hoodie. I live in Washington, D.C. I am Hard of Hearing (HoH). I am educated. I am a man, brother, father, uncle, friend, and a human being. No matter what propaganda is put in the media about the Black man to defame, demolish, squash, belittle, or portray me [...]
National Public Radio’s Article on Cochlear Implants–Heavily Biased?
Many of the comments under the article on cochlear implants that appeared on National Public Radio’s (NPR) website on April 8th, 2012 claim that it is heavily biased in favor of cochlear implants, and poorly researched. Also of note are two remarks by Dr. John Niparko, an expert in the field, and the lack of [...]
You Pray They Fall Right
I built a rope swing for my son Jack the other day. Not the world’s safest creation… yet. The tree is old and gnarly—it’s possible his weight (increasing hourly) could yank the whole branch down. Or the knot could slip, though I tied it seven times. Or he could fall again as he did [...]
Finding My Name Sign
My first name sign was given to me by a hearing person. The A handshape tapped squarely in the feminine area on my cheek. It weathered years in a mainstreamed classroom, and traveled with me to the deaf school in eighth grade. The deaf school was also my eye-opening immersion into Deaf culture and [...]
Time for the “ASL Cobra” to Come Out?
Today, Martin Luther King is well-respected – they’ve even given him a statue in Washington, DC. Even as MLK is respected, another Black leader of his time, Malcolm X, is not so highly regarded by many, and even ignored, forgotten or relegated to a moment in history. But if Malcolm X had never existed, [...]
On Why Dora the Explorer Isn’t a Superhero—Where a Lack of Discrimination is the Problem
Quite a few deaf people, I would bet, have experienced the following scenario: A couple of years ago I was at the airport (using a major airline). I told the people at the desk near my gate that I was deaf; a standard practice of mine in case somebody announces a gate change. [...]
“Selective” Mutism
He has selective hearing. People say this a lot about hard of hearing folk. Wives chide their husbands with this bon mot; parents do the same with their teenagers, who hear the vibration of their pagers in noisy rooms, but miss repeated requests to take out the trash. I’m interested in another phenomenon: selective [...]
Feeling Stupid or ‘Smart-for-Deaf’
I work in an environment where one’s intellect is often a proxy for self-worth. I’m not endorsing this view, mind you, but it is hard to escape it. Deaf and hard of hearing people have a special version of this: what I call the ‘smart for deaf’ version. That is, we acknowledge that there is [...]