Banjo's World

Today, I came across some vlogs. There were some by Christopher Corrigan, he was the mayor of the tent city at Gallaudet University last year. That's not really the point here, what I found to be truly appalling was how some people responded. You know how some people can leave such rude comments for everybody to read. Here's one that caught my attention, a mother who tries to put the blame on Deaf Culture and the deaf community for the problems with her deaf son. Of course, she chose to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Three of the comments quoted below came from SignCasts.

Hi, I chose to remain anyomous and here is the reason why I do not believe you.

I am a hearing mother to two sons. One of my sons are deaf and the another son is hearing.

My deaf son has always been a very wild child and he is always in trouble with the police. I have always been very deeply disappointed with my deaf son. He is a liar and a drug addict dragging his feet ahead and his life one step at a time, much to his own destruction.

I really hate what the deaf community has done to my son and now for the first time, I truly understand why he did not succeed at Gallaudet University. Yes, my son went there and I saw the kind of Deaf people he hung with, as a mother my stomach turned in knots as I left him at Gallaudet University that day. My son likes to say Gally and I find that digusting as a parent.

The problem is not the security officers.

The problem is the deaf community itself.

My another son is hearing and has always been a good and very wonderful child. He grew up and enlisted in the U.S. Navy and now works in a very honorable profession and my deaf son is always begging my hearing son for money.

Christopher Corrigan, Are you trying to beg for money by suing Gallaudet University ? You do realize these security officers have a family and they work very hard to keep college kids safe and you as the theif that you are stealing money from Gallaudet University and the deaf community ?

I really wish my son was not like you. I am very disappointed and I think that deep down inside your parents and your sister knows this is true and they are afraid to admit the honest truth to you because you are a very wild and a very un-safe child.

My hearing son is a real man.

My deaf son is just a boy, just like you are a boy.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Conduct youtself properly and apologize for lying and getting the deaf community into trouble. I see you have affected the deaf community both on and off campus very profoundly and very negatively.

Apologize to the security officers and their families. This is the right thing to do.

Then a person made a response to the mother. This response is called for as the mother's comment was pretty appalling and clearly bitter. Just another case of where a parent try to put the blame on the deaf people for screwing up her life and her deaf son's.

This is in response to the mother with two sons: one deaf son and one hearing son. After reading your email, I have been wondering what kind of mother you were to your deaf son. How did you feel when you discovered that your son is deaf? Did you treat both your deaf and hearing sons equally when they were growing up? Are you fluent in American Sign Language? I already have a suspension. Some deaf people are angry and messed up their lives because their parents do not accept their deafness and don't bother to learn sign language. It is a terrible tragedy.

Well-said. What the commenter just said above is absolutely true about some parents being unable to accept the child's deafness. Instead, they blame the deaf community for their children's problems. I'm deaf and I come from a hearing family, I was exposed to Deaf Culture at a young age and started learning sign language at three. My parents were serious about exposing me to the other deaf people as a way of learning from their mistakes and struggles in their lives. Both of me and my parents learned a lot from it. They appreciate the culture very much.

I am not a wild person. I don't smoke pot, I don't do drugs. I don't get drunk every night. I don't get into trouble with the police. I don't get into fist fights with anyone. Never has and I certainly hope I won't have to.

The truth is, it's the mother's fault but she isn't willing to accept it. She is throwing it out onto us. In fact, she publicly declare her disappointment with her deaf son and called her hearing son a real man.

She claimed to have treated them equally.

A mother can say that, but how much truth is there to that claim? Even though I don't know her personally, but I have known a lot of parents of deaf children and I am definitely familiar with the problems that plague these families. I was once a peer helper in high school and counselled deaf students. Family problems was a big factor in many of their personal struggles and disciplinary problems. I'm sure a lot of Deaf bloggers know what I'm talking about as they've seen it firsthand too as well. It's easy to assume only to end up being wrong but my firsthand experiences has taught me a lot about the deaf community and the struggles they face through their childhood, adolescent and adulthood.

Don't you dare question me as a mother and as a woman of good integrity. I am highly respected. I taught my son SEE and he learned the improper, dirty language of ASL. He does not know how to write very well in English. IMHO, ASL ought to be banned from all Deaf schools, universities and in the Deaf community. SEE should be the official language. I took my son to see " Children of a lesser god. " What does my husband and I see? The lights were turned on and we all saw the deaf dafts fighting with their fists and deaf girls ripping each other's hair. I had to cover my son's eyes as I did not want him to see blood and violence. We left quickly before the staff ejected these daft characters out of the cinema. I never allowed my son to watch " Children of lesser god " ever again, not even on t.v. I was truly horrified when the Deaf community attacked the wonderful Deaf actress, Marlee Matlin. My own son told me Marlee Matlin is not successful and I slapped his face so hard because that was complete disrespect for a wonderful woman and I told him to never talk like that about successful people ever again but he continues to backstab successful people.

Take a good look at Christopher Corrigan who is just like my son and that is not a very successful man. This is a deeply troubled boy and we have done everything to help him be a successful man and he insulted me, Do you really want to know where those insults are from ? He learned to insult me through the deaf community. I have done nothing to insult the deaf community, yet you deaf daft punks have been insulting me as a mother for many years. I can remember when I sent my hearing son to Boy scout camp and I asked my deaf son if he wanted to go with his brother. He said no and he wanted to go to Deaf camp. I told him no because I knew what would happen. My husband was fed up and told me " Just send him to Deaf camp, here is the money and the registration. We need some peace and you need to have low blood pressure. We both need a break from him." He attended deaf camp and he got caught fighting then a few days later he was caught pressuring a girl to have sex and smoke the illegal substance called marijuana which I am sure college students are familiar with marijuana. I call the young punks who smoke the illegal substance the " Idiots " that they really are, idiots. My hearing son went on to earn badges and awards from the honorable organization, Boy Scouts of America. My hearing son gained vaublable skills and he is honest and very responsible. He budgets money very well. I am proud as a mother that my hearing son did not rape girls or force girls to smoke marijuana against her will.

I treated both of my sons as equals and I am very sad to say my deaf son did not measure up like a man. The women were always asking for my hearing son. I was very proud of that, as a mother but I was very horrified when drunk and probably high on drugs men showed up asking for my deaf son and they were all men wanting homosexual sex with my deaf son. I was in tears and that really broke my heart and it sickens me that the deaf community loves being a homosexual. Homosexuality is widely accepted in the deaf community with so much a second thought as to what is really wrong with homosexuality. It is un-natural and homosexuality destroys families. I never will accept homosexuality and I am proud to say we are doing the right thing naturally, for God and as a family to reject homosexuality.

The another thing that sickens me and I think deaf power is one big lie and there is nothing wrong with the hearing community. We are not the oppressors. The only oppressing that is being done around here is the deaf community who keeps on oppressing another deaf people, how shameful !!! Please go on and criticize me as the horrible mother who has never been good to my deaf son ? I just have to laugh at this whole debacle and when my son had the orange thing I think it was a deaf history book and I saw the pictures of the schools, " The Instruction for the Deaf and the Dumb ". I thought how fitting and it is funny how the deaf community rejects that and my husband, in his own words said, " 'You can't teach the deaf and the dumb worth a shit. " I think that is a very honest and a truthful statement my husband made and I agree wholeheartedly with my husband.

The mother clearly was defensive in quite an aggressive manner. She clearly didn't want her integrity to be questioned. Well, when you choose to keep your identity a secret and badmouth your deaf son in such a disdaining manner, people will question your integrity whether you like it or not. The person had the right to question her integrity because it's not the first time we've seen a parent trying to blame us for their deaf children's problems. Nice touch on the Anti-ASL sentiments there, I'll say.

It often boils down to how a parent treat and educate a child.

By the way, what kind of a mother slap her son in the face so hard just because he said Marlee Matlin wasn't a successful actress? My mother wouldn't, that's for sure. That's his opinion and shouldn't be punished for speaking his mind. You should take another good look at yourself in the mirror and wonder if you truly did what was the best for your son. I don't think slapping him in the face was the way to do it. My parents have never, never slapped me in the face. If you slapped him for that, I'm sure that wasn't the first time you did that.

If a child said the "F" word to the parent's face, a small slap would had been understandable but a HARD slap in the face for saying Marlee Matlin wasn't successful in her career? I'm questioning her integrity because I find her claims to be somewhere questionable. I just find it hard to believe that a mother would actually slap a child's face so hard over a harmless remark.

People will always try to blame us for their problems and failures. Just like the others try to blame other minorities (Hispanic, Blind, Handicapped, etc) for their problems when the root of the problem is really within the family. Heck, people even try to blame Hollywood for their problems.

It's all sour grapes, that's all it is.

Yes, the picture you just took a look at is a real part of deaf history. Today, I was just stumbling through the websites. I came across an interesting website that focuses on hearing aids. The website is part of the Bernard Becker Medical Library at Washington University School of Medicine. They had a large amount of information and pictures of hearing aids from the 1800s and 1900s. It's called "Deafness in Disguise: Concealed Hearing Devices of the 19th and 20th Centuries". Just to let you know, you can click on any images below to enlarge them for a better look.


Yep, it's a real advertisement, so are the rest of the pictures below. Quite a different world for the deaf to live in, wouldn't you say? God forbid that I walk around with a sort-of funnel stuck in one of my ears. That would turn heads around, especially in today's world. I thought it was bad enough that the hearing people easily noticed the current hearing aids we now wear. Now I feel sorry for these deaf folks who had to put up with it back then.


Another advertisement, can you imagine yourself carrying around a long hose and sticking it into other people's faces to carry on a conversation? Yikes.


Enjoy normal family life again! Enjoy greater business success! Enjoy happy social life again! Enjoy church, radio, movies, music again!

Want to bet none of these claims came true for most people? Talk about a misleading advertisement!

They must have given Bob Hope a pretty penny just to say that.


"I won at least 2 EXTRA years of Hearing HAPPINESS!"

Hmm-mm. I don't think much need to be said on this subject. We all know how primitive the technology was back then. If they were that good, then why do we have cochlear implants? Another misleading advertisement, I'll say.


Only Paravox can claim all of these THREE tests? The first claim is already heavily misleading by saying the people with severest hearing loss can benefit greatly from the device. I really doubt that they did help. The most these devices probably did was for these who are barely hard of hearing. You do have to wonder how many misleading advertisements were made and released without consequences. It was the same with tobacco companies; they claimed that it was healthy to smoke back then.


That must be a lot of fun having that hose with you all of the times. Thank god we've made a lot of advancements since then. I even remember these bulky and awkward FM systems for the deaf. Though I never wore these, just the lighter version that you put on your waist. I've been told that the older FM system was a pain because of its weight and that you had to strap it onto your chest.

If you want to look at more pictures and read up on the history of hearing aids and more. You can go to the university's website by clicking here.

We are quite lucky to live in the 21st century even though there are still some barriers for us to break down, but it's definitely much better than it was a century ago.

There is an e-mail circulating around. Just another one of these anti-Liberal sentiments made up by misguided so-called conservatives. I see quite a few half-baked assumptions and clearly distorted views of the people who hold different opinions. I'm not far to the left or to the right, maybe somewhere to the centre. The truth is, I just tell what I think since I'm dead-on independent, I don't associate myself with either the Liberal or the Conservative party in Canada. I just vote who I think is the best person for the job.

First of all, I want to make it clear that I'm not a devil-worshipper and I don't sacrifice children to Lucifer. That's not what being a Liberal is about. Nowhere close to that at all.

You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on Demand. That a convicted mass murderer has rights which need to be protected. But that an unborn baby is "unviable fetal tissue" and can be aborted at will.

I don't believe in either capital punishment or abortion. Though, I'm not going to stop a woman from aborting her baby, that's a choice that the mother-to-be and father-to-be will have to live with. Nor am I going to stop a government from executing a prisoner. Nobody said life was fair. What people don't realize that if they don't face the consequences here on Earth, then they will once they depart. There's already a lot of wars going on in this world where many innocent people are caught in the crossfire. For instance, the people in Congo, South Africa, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, the list goes on and on. As much we may value life, can we save everybody?

No.

You have to believe that businesses create oppression and Governments create prosperity. That when business makes a profit, it's bad. But when government declares a surplus, that's good.

No, it's great when a business makes a profit. So is a surplus in the government budget. But burning books and spending on illegal activities is definitely a bad thing. Enron anybody?

You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat to the free world than nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Iran, China and North Korea.

No, that would be criminals with guns. There's a difference between law-abiding citizens and dangerous and armed criminals.

You have to believe that there was no art nor education before federal funding. You have to believe that the only way to avoid racism and preserve quality of service is to have federal control over both art and education.

That's absurd. It was ideal back then at the creation of the bill but it isn't today. It served its purpose and need to be put aside for now and focus on breaking down more of the barriers between all of the minorities.

You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by natural cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms Driving SUVs. And by freon in air conditioners.

No, I believe it's both. I'm aware that the natural greenhouse greatly affect the climates around the world. Though we are polluting the land, water and the air which is a problem and need to be resolved before it gets worse. China is one of the worst polluters, both Canada and USA aren't innocent either, plently of pollution problems in both Canada and the USA especially with smog during the summer and water pollution is also an issue. Not only to mention the landfills. In fact, both sides are dumping their wastes onto each other's land. For instance, Toronto bring its dump to Michigan while some other cities in USA bring theirs across the Canadian border.

You have to believe that gender roles are artificial, but being homosexual is natural.

Artificial? Um, a man is a man, a woman is a woman. It's that simple. But you don't get to decide what role they should play. That's up to them, they are free to be who they want to be whether you like it or not. They are able to reproduce babies by nature but sexual orientation is a different matter. It's a preference one holds, the majority is obviously heterosexual while a (not-so-small) fraction is homosexual.

You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal Funding.

No, there's at least three ways to spread HIV/AIDS. Sex. Sharing needles. Blood transfusions. Obviously, sex is the most common way of becoming infected with HIV. Money has nothing to do with that. Money is needed to fund the medical research to find a cure for the HIV/AIDS strains.

You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

If a teacher isn't qualified to teach, then s/he shouldn't be teaching at all. Though children do need to be educated on the subject of sex because they are entering or has began the early stages of puberty. They don't teach 4/5th graders about sexual intercourse, at least that's not the big topic of the sex education at their levels. They are taught about what changes their bodies are going through. Often, they will learn more about sex intercourses once they're in 7th or 8th grade. Though they aren't encouraged to have sex, instead they are encouraged to either abstain from sexual activities or use safe sex methods. Though I don't think a lot of students are receiving the proper education in this area.

You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but PETA Activists do.

I don't like the PETA for their naughty deeds. Most liberals I know don't like the PETA either. They don't care about the animals, they kill a large number of stray animals they pick up off the streets. The hunters (at least the good ones, not these who just hunt for sport) show a great deal of respect for mother nature and see the death of a deer as a sacrifice.

You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than accomplishment, or getting the right answer. You have to believe that if one person is correct, that others will have their self esteem damaged by being incorrect.

Both self-esteem and accomplishments are important. There's a link between these two. Without these two, you will have problems. Having a good self-esteem is where you get your self-confidence from. You won't get anywhere if you don't think highly of yourself. Nor will you be happy with the accomplishments you've made. Having a good self-esteem is what drive you to accomplishments. Why bother trying to accomplish something if your self-esteem is low?

You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of The Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

The NRA isn't bad, it's just an organization of gun owners. People have the right to bear armed. NRA isn't a legal firm organization, ALCU is. Though there's a lot of organizations out there, this isn't really the place to discuss the politics of these organizations.

You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high. You have to believe that wealthy people paying a higher tax rate based on their income is good, but capable people getting paid more because of their talent or wisdom is bad.

Well, to make it simple... the IRS is a joke. It need to be hauled over and reformed. There's a lot, lot of issues with how people are being taxed in both Canada and the USA.

You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more Important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Robert E. Lee

Do you have any idea who Margaret Sanger was? I can't imagine anyone admiring her except for people who supported Adolf Hitler. She was a nutcase. Gloria Steinem, who remember her? (shrugs) George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, yes... they are definitely important to the American history. No doubt about that so do many people.

You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas, affirmative action, and set-asides are not.

Well, not everybody receive the same education. So SAT (and ACT) results tend to vary based on what they've learned. Nothing to do with racism, but I don't believe there's such a thing as a true standardized education in either Canada or the USA. Some people are remarkably intelligent yet they fail the SAT because they differ in the education they receive.

You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge. And that renaming socialism "invest in America" or "progressive" will allow it to work.

Well, America is already part socialist due to the many changes to the laws in the past 50 years. If not, then why do people have welfare and medicare? Canada is both socialist and democratic, but not as democratic as I'll like it to be when it come to certain laws. People often don't get to vote on the law they want rejected or passed.

You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag queens and transvestites should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas and the Confederate flag should be illegal.

Drag queens and transvestites, nothing illegal about that. Though sexual exposure in public is a different matter and should be illegal. (Yeah, I know what the author was referring to when the gay parade was mentioned). The same should be said about the Mardis Gras parades, people (both straight and gay) get naked and have sex in public during these events. It shouldn't be illegal to wave any flags you want to though the 'Confederate' flag is a thing of the past and is no longer in power. So it has no business being on a flagpole on state/federal property unless it's for historic purposes (for instance, a museum). The flag of the United States of America is the one to put up onto the flagpole in the USA. If you take pride in the Confederacy, then you have no business being a Republican since the party was founded by Abraham Lincoln, the one who waged the war onto the South.

You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right-wing Conspiracy.

Well, I think the author made it pretty clear that it is.

GOD BLESS AMERICA. Oops, can't do that either!!

Um, no apologies needed. The first amendment, remember? You're free to say it. President Bush is free to say it as he's a Christian. After all, it's who he is. I don't take offense to any religious-inspired greetings because it's often done with a great deal of respect and kindness.

However, if someone screams "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at me just to make a political point, then that's a different because of the tone used. But will I do anything? No, because I'm not the one with the problem.

After all, I do wish a Merry Christmas to a lot of people during Christmas. (gasp)... I didn't mention the "H" word! Oh my!

Yeah, I never use the word, 'holiday'... because that's for people who are worried about getting punched in their face for using the wrong greetings. But not even people are safe with using the 'Happy Holidays' greetings these days. It's still safe to wish someone a Merry Christmas here in Canada without getting all politically correct.

People need to stop assuming all sort of nonsense about each other.

Circulating e-mails is an annoyance and they are often heavily inaccurate and distorted to fit one's political agenda. Both liberals and conservatives do it on a daily basis, just wait till the 2008 election, it'll get ugly within the e-mails with all sort of misinformation and lies about all the presidential candidates running for the White House.

In this vlog entry, I make a movie recommendation. It's a foreign movie involving deaf characters. I share my opinion on the movie and why I think the deaf people need to see it. The vlog entry is approximately four minutes long.