How Wired Are You?

this is a copy of the response I submitted on www.ridorlive.com when he and other respondents mentioned about deaf people with CIs who seemed to pretend to be something else besides being deaf or put on attitudes and yet still having one foot in the deaf community.

"...I’m a 4th generation deaf myself and I have a CI. Been using for 3+ years. To make a long story short, I call CI nothing more than a glorified and expensive hearing aid. I chose it because I had expected better out of it; it didn’t come out as I thought it would be. Yes it’s helpful especially at work (I work in a hearing environment), enjoy some music and sometimes when watching movies. But it was/is not a boost as I originally envisioned. BTW, I had worn hearing aids all throughout my school years until I went to college. In other words, I’ve had auditory experience but I never reject deaf culture.

Choosing to have a CI was to add or broaden my horizons/experiences, not to diminish deaf culture or deafhood. There is indeed a few exceptions like myself (and 4 other 2nd/3rd generation deaf CI users) that I never pretend to be hearing, never expected to use a telephone and yet chose to have a CI. The world is basically designed for 5 senses, not 4. Strictly speaking for myself, there’s no harm in wanting to experience what is like to have the 5th sense. That has nothing to do with acceptance or rejection of deafhood. To echo the actor Ben Affleck’s words that he once said in an interview, “I’m not responsible for your successes or failures.” In other words, having a CI is a personal decision.

But when it comes to hearing parents deciding to hear-ize their deaf children through CI and deprive sign language, that’s where I draw the line. Of course I become uncomfortable with this. I do cringe when I see toddlers and very young children with CIs. That’s a strong part of deaf culture/deafhood in me which I respond to.

(Below is a couple more paragraphs I added here on my blog, not in the comments box on ridorlive)
I once tutored a hearing couple who has 3 children, the eldest daughter being deaf and has a CI. They were open to both choices. (at that time I didn't have a CI but got it about a year later). At first, the father insisted that I teach SEE. I was caught off-guard and naturally I wasn't enthusiastic myself. (SEE does give me the creeps, by the way) I told him I don't teach SEE. I drew a line across. to demonstrate the continuum. At one end of the line, I wrote below "ASL" and the other end, "English." I also added some more words in between like "PSE," "SEE," "Cued Speech," and "fingerspelling." I told the parents that it's entirely up to them to move in either direction along the continuum. (Later on over time with them, I discovered what the father said about SEE was that he actually thought it was PSE. I explained that PSE and SEE are two different things. He was leaning toward PSE, not SEE after I had clarified the difference) After several weeks of lessons (I used "Signing Naturally" book developed by Ken Mikos, Ella Lentz and Cheri Smith), the father finally came to realize that ASL does make sense. I felt it was important not to cram down their throat but let them, especially the father, to realize that on his own. And it paid off. Soft-pedalling sometimes is useful rather than playing hard-ball about teaching ASL.

About less than 2 years ago, I met a young mother with a newly-implanted toddler. It was extremely an uncomfortable sight for me. I didn't want to antagonize the mother. She knew I come from a deaf family myself and that I have a CI. I simply told her that the best way for her child to learn is to read, read, read books. Based on my experience in the paragraph above, I did not want to drag her into the controversy of sign language vs. oralism, deafhood vs. audism. I felt it was best to let her and her husband (he was already occupied with somebody else a few feet away from us) to travel their own path and come to their own realization (I hope) that they may need to include sign language to go hand in hand with the CI.

Take your pick but wire your battles wisely.

ODE TO THE FLAMING QUEEN

Now is the 25th year of AIDS plague. A crying shame that it hasn't gone away yet. Below is a poem I had written 16 years ago about my friend, Tom Saavedra who passed away of AIDS at the age of 30 in 1990.

Ode To the Flaming Queen

To bid our beloved friend away on his bon voyage
To the far-reaching and wondrous Shangri-La
over the rainbow where the angels greet
and friends joyfully reunite
Express what you may, in grief or solace
Hallelujah! Rejoice in his pleasure
of the everlasting journey,
befitting of the flaming queen with such pizzazz!

A man that loved men as a queen would
With unwasted and unbridled passions
“To be true to thine own self” and
“How dare you presume I’m a heterosexual”
were his credo
An unabashed queen of his own crystal design,
to shock, mock, titillate, and dazzle with glee
Disarming forthrightness sparkled with winsome regality
twinkles in his eyes bespoke, “life’s such a banquet”
Feast adorned with adventures and style
befitting of the flaming queen

The queen’s royal virtues-
to listen to the drummer and
to march to his own beat, wherever it went with him
With his spirited charisma to touch upon us,
his charitable heartbeats to warm over,
his soulful resonance to uplift,
Through him, old coats of muted hues we shed
New beats we light up and to march along
His grace to guide, we soar like butterflies
toward a rising star awaiting our reach
with his Pied Piper’s fife, joining in concert,
we radiate in triumph
Through him, one and all,
we blossom eternally

The guardian angel for life’s little losers
a shining, sturdy beacon of
honesty, faith, courage, inspiration and lively humor
Praises and admiration in homage
from the queen’s folks and,
the people living across the borders
Wearing one crown, yet in many-splendored colors,
The flaming queen as
a comic - outrageous and artful without being coarse,
a leader - defiant without being revolutionary,
a teacher - impartial without being superior,
a friend - the miracle of brotherly love

the generous queen cultivated the garden
that stretched over the boundaries
Bloomed with fruits and sustenance to bestow
the noble queen gone on his trek, return none
If to sow, reap and share his gifts,
His legacy in perpetual bounty shall return
Memories and his essence—the treasures in our hearts,
If within thine folds choose to nurture,
shall live on with brilliance
As decreed by the flaming queen

Of more years carefree and fathomless what might come forth
My lifetime with the queen suddenly a vexed finity
Seven years of friendship now a measured memory
What comfort take to thy searching heart
Friendship knows no age but its precious prize
Times we shared runneth over
Peace and fun be with him everlasting in Shangri-La

Shipboard in his ritzy finery
amidst the sprinkling confetti and undulating streamers,
With the shimmering waves and playful mists to roll by
Sailing toward the amber sunset and to beyond
on the wings of the ocean’s breeze,
on his never-ending vacation
on the royal flagship
befitting of the flaming queen

To Swing or Not to Swing

Never underestimate the power of popular culture. We always associate Tarzan with swinging on the vine, starting with the 1932 movie, Tarzan the Ape Man with Johnny Weissmuller (himself an Olympic swimming champion). This image has had permeated and embedded in our cultural psyche in the forms of sequels, spoofs, TV commercials, other movies (i.e. George of the Jungle), greeting cards, comic books and the like. A long time ago, I was watching a 1918 (silent) movie called Tarzan of the Apes with Elmo Lincoln in the title role. And to my shock, Tarzan himself was NOT a vine-swinger. Rather, he was a tree CLIMBER! We see him mostly climbing on the tree branches. The only shot I ever saw him with a vine was JUST when he landed on the ground and letting go of the vine from his hand. The vine itself was barely seen at the right side of the movie frame!

I never read the original novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, thus unable to know if the author did write about the part of vine-swinging or tree-climbing. According to the Internet Movie Database, this 1918 version is most faithful to the novel than others. It could have had something to do with limited technology or stuntwork during the filming (although the cast and crew spent almost a full year in the jungle). Or, whatever possibilties did or did not occur back, no shots existed in this 1918 film of Tarzan swinging on the vine in full view. To swing or not to swing, draw your own vines.