Gallaudet Conference
Sunday February 4, 2007
On February 3, Gallaudet held a conference, sponsored by the Coalition for Critical Inquiry. I went to the conference and took notes of highlights. Overall, it was a good conference. The CCI website has archived Flash videos of each conference panel.
 Tayler Mayer (Deafread.com) |
There were four panels:
- Whither Gallaudet
- Must change
- Asl podcasts
- Knowledge is power
- Need to reach out to hearing parents
- Get word out..how can gally do?
- How can Gally meet mission?
- Make expectations clear
- Role of hearing people? Can't shut hearing out, must include hearing faculty
- Media does not give enough information on cochlear implants
- Futuristic Visions of Deaf Identity
- Many gally grads go to work in deaf community
- Raise expectations, multicultural, stop big d and little d
- Multiple identities, shared identity of experiences
- Black deaf people don't like to be split. No one definition of what it means to be black. Parallels with deafness - many ways to be deaf
- Impact of technology
- Narrow picture of what a deaf person is
- Can be deaf no matter where we go thanks to technology. Internet lets us communicate with each other in words and sign.
- Blogging will not replace socialization but will change deaf community
- Deaf studies at Gallaudet examining vlogging..best practices?
- Young deaf want place to call home. Blogging vlogging encourages identity discussion
- Deafhood being incorporated
- Growing up in isolation. Identity in the home.
- Everyone is wired different
- Natural language - not asl, not oral, but written English
- Avoid labels
- Balance..between education and defining ourselves
- Proactivity
- ASL has different levels. How does ASL-English relate to identity?
- The Futuristic Classroom (I skipped half of this panel)
- Technology for classrooms such as voice recognition
- Fewer deaf in schools for the deaf
- Competition and technology
- Early identification, early services
- Low incidence disability
- Need for more skilled teachers who can teach deaf, in classroom
- Political impact from no child left behind
- Gallaudet self examination - same number of students in future?
- Role of distance learning, infrastructure
- Technology needs to be available to all..including low income. not every household has a computer
- Vlogging/Blogging and the Future of the Deaf Community
- Vlogs - communication, discourse. Understand without text.
- ASL vlogs - give freedom, flexibility
- First vlog? George Veditz in 1913
- Blogs/vlogs create more openness and reduce isolation
- Deafread adding about 15 blogs a week
- Blogs/vlogs becoming more specialized
- History of blogging...companies once thought blogs not important
- World doesn't know half of what happens at Gallaudet. Deafread helps Gallaudet by making content available
- Major events boost deafread traffic
- Vlogs have replaced the little papers of decades ago
- Accountability, credibility for bloggers/vloggers
- Over time, rules for bloggers/vloggers
- Resources help voices be heard
- Deaf people who can't read need the asl vlogs
- Vlogs for kids too
- Minimize hateful comments
- Opinion versus fact (At that point I stopped taking notes due to being tired)