This Blog is about discussing the Deaf identity and with respect to various religious, cultural, social beliefs. The purpose is to learn from one another and not to engage into insulting or flame wars. It is very good to understand the diversity of the Deaf Minds which helps us understand who we are as a whole. One requirement is to keep an open mind and have fun.
I do not believe ASL will fade away; however, there is a trend that shows hearing students taking up ASL 1-4 at many community colleges and universities across America.
A huge growth on Video Relay Service (VRS) usage and Video Phone (VP)
ASL is in fact growing each day and year.
Long Live ASL!
Follow-up on discussion with Mike, Kim and Marie.
My opinion, I believe our hatred is passed down to us from our great great great grandparents through our DNA. There are things we cannot control and most of the time we oppress our evil, hateful thoughts ourselves. I applaud Aidan Mack and people from deafdc.com who are talking about racism and other forms of human oppressions. Is it our human nature to hate like the animals do? Give us your insights and opinions on this topic.
We need to contact the FDA or FTC to include a disaclaimer that AVT and Speech Threapy programs or services are not intented to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any form of hearing loss. This is important for parents because they believe everything the Snake Oil Sales
Laurent Clerc never got a Honorary Degree from Gallaudet University?
That is a shame and he is our founding father with ASL.
Let's check the facts and see if that is true then we will take action.
I wanted to share two funny stories from my youth. I know it is not nice but I still laugh hard when I think about it.
I am sharing a Deaf person's way of how one should pray. Again, this is my opinion and experience. Each person has their own experience and I am looking forward to hear your experience.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Peace and Blessings,
Stephen Hardy
It is very important to convert negative message (energy) into positive messages. Negative message is also very powerful and the same for positive messages.
Train your mind to convert negative messages into positive messages. Messages are energies and can spread to people like wildfire. We do not need any negative energies spreading around. When you hear or see negative message and trick your mind by rephrasing the message itself.
What you think is what you allow within and becomes duplicated by sending that message to other people. Think good and loving thoughts and send it to the Deaf community also watch and see what happens. It will spread like fire because energies travels from people to people like a telephone. Be careful of what energies you are sending to the Deaf community in general.
I am explaining why I am not a member of any organized religion. I respect all religion and do not want to be part of it. I hate seeing different religions fighting over silly things. I love to talk about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I know there are people out there who are playing some kind of a game that tries to trap me into their game. I refused to play that game and I want no part of it. There is nothing special about me and I am just a Deaf ordinary man just like others. If someone says I am this or that and just ignore them. I have already forgiven people and I do not hold any grudges or whatever it is called.
Peace and Blessings,
Stephen Hardy
Have you had a wonderful hearing friend and taught that person everything about sign language and Deaf culture. Then you encouraged that person to get better and better by being their mentor. Then this interpreter becomes nationally certified and you celebrated with that person. Few weeks later you asked to go out and that interpreter did not want to hang out with you anymore because you became that interpreters' customer or client.
Has that happened to you, too?
I am answering DeafFlower's vlog question from: http://www.deafvideo.tv/watch/3083
I want to include Daniel 7:13-14 because it mentions "Son of Man." This was foretold before Jesus became an incarnate "God in the human form."
The Son of Man Is Given Dominion
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,which shall not pass away,and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Lords Prayer in ASL and the Roman Catholic version ends at Deliver us from Evil, Amen. The Christian version includes, "For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for Ever and Ever. Amen." Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4
I just woke up with a message to share. Remember the Holy Spirit within you speaks directly to you only. There is a lot of people who believe that other people tell them that the Holy Spirit asked them to do this and that. Be aware and know that you already have a direct link to God and no need for other person to do that for you. Trust your heart and this is where God is at with the Holy Spirit (God, Jesus and Holy Spirit = One). You are a spiritual being and have access to God anytime and any place. If a person says that God told me to tell you this or that and be aware because God can tell that to you directly. No human on earth is above you and remember this. God is in everyone regardless if a person believes or not. Holy Spirit is your helper and your teacher, trust the Holy Spirit and you will get correct insights. Holy Spirit communicates you through dreams, symbols, words, vision, voice, your heart and etc. Be alert when Holy Spirit communicates with you and you need to quiet your mind so the Holy Spirit can channel its communication to your heart.
My response to Shawn's (ASLisRisen) concerns regarding to the Deaf man and why his name was not in the Bible and etc.
The book I showed is "Introduction to the New Testament" by Dr. Henry Clarence Thiessen, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. ISBN 1-56563-724-0. This book is used in seminaries and those who study theology. It is not an easy read because of scholarly language is nature.
My VLOG response to ASLRisen (Shawn) and explain what a person needs to do to experience God. I gave an example of how to do it where you are now.
We have sinned Romans 2:23
We will be Judged Hebrews 9:27
We cannot save ourselves Eccelasiastes 7:20
We can be saved through Jesus Christ Romans 5:8
No religion can save you even man it has to go through Jesus Christ only
Suppose there is a cure through technology, medical advancement, or genetic engineering. Would you accept the cure? Most Deaf people would say, "No!" What about Jesus Christ? If Jesus says, "It is God's will to cure your hearing." Would you accept or argue to stay Deaf, which? Another point here is in the New Testament, Book of Mark, Chapter 7 and verses 31 through 37 where there is a story about Jesus Christ healing a Deaf man and it is a very interesting historical event that happened during Jesus' time. Would you accept Jesus' healing of your deafness, yes or no?
Accusing American Sign Language itself of causing pain or problems is a fallacy because blaming a "Language" for something that does not have anything to do with human nature.
Direct the problem to people and not the language. People are causing issues and target them instead. It is true that Deaf people oppress other Deaf people and it has nothing to do with American Sign Language in general.
Methods or techniques to use against the school board members who think that ASL is not a formal language or is a foreign language. This is one of the ways you can use to win an argument along with other methods you have learned via vlog/blog.
There are times when a person who wants to end their life. It is very important to get help fast because those are serious issues and getting help is good. You are here on earth to find yourself and I understand things are so overwhelming and hard. Do not attempt to hurt or kill yourself because you have spend so many lifetimes to get here at this moment. When you do, it will take you back many lifetimes which is not what you wanted. Get help ASAP and when you overcome your issues and everything will become past tense. We love you so much and we care about you. Seek God within and ask God to help you. Do not talk to the Mind because they play tricks on you. Talk to the heart and that is where God is at. Inside your heart is a HOLY place and you will find GOD. Do not give up and you can win this battle!
You cannot serve two masters. One is the Mind and one is from the Heart Within.
The Mind belongs to the flesh and the Heart within belongs to God within.
Both Masters are powerful one is temporary and one is enternity, which will you choose?
My perspectives on religion and why the Deaf need to investigate and find the truth on their own than relying on their truths. Deaf people must ask questions and check for facts because your time on earth is limited. Seek the truth within!
The video is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvmuNUA4Ilw
I am not sure what happened after uploading two videos and it disappeared. You can view them at you tube and they had no problem with my uploads.
I am answering e-mails in the topic of Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Spiritual issues.
I did not realize this would cause people some confusion or to be upset. What I was hoping is to have an open mind discussion about Spirituality. Religion topics are very dangerous when one goes deep and I understand it had to stop.I am not upset or offended and if anyone was please forgive me and I apologize for those videos. I thought I was sharing my views but it lead to confusion.
Thank you, Peace and Blessings.
Hello, I am back from yesterday. I wanted to share something that is unusual. When people post blogs via text and do they get a lot of response? As opposed to vlogs and many people visited the vlog site and responded. Does it mean most Deaf and hard of hearing people prefer to watch video than text. I see that already that most people prefer video. I was expressing about captions and it is not that simple for most vloggers. Is this holding vloggers back because of this reason? I also mentioned that should we have a ASL vlog blog without captions? This would be an excellent medium for ASL level 2-3 students who need receptive exercise and they can do that by watching ASL vloggers.
Hello, my name is Stephen Hardy and I am from Florida. This is my first time doing a vlog. I have blogged in several of places and doing this is my first time. Please forgive me for not providing open/closed captioned or subtitles.
What I am signing? I wanted to let the audience know that the past several months we have seen a decline of vloggers and I am concerned. I asked my community what they think that could be the reason for the decline of quality vloggers. The information I received that many Deaf vloggers were being insulted or put down for their ideas, comments, or expressions. It is healthy to have various viewpoints or perspectives and no need to put anyone down. I have disagreed with a lot of bloggers; however, I find value as I can analyze people’s comments and see how they think also how their thought process works.
I mentioned that we should support Deaf business and encourage them to grow even purchase their products. That will create jobs for other Deaf people in America.
I wanted to take the time to thank DeafRead folks, Tayler and Jared for making this medium accessible to everyone. It is not an easy job because they have to make sure the information is appropriate and not in any form of hatred or evil threats. They need to be applauded for their efforts!
We have seen so many physical and verbal abuse reports from the Deaf people all over the country. Majority of the abuse is related to lack of communication. Most law enforcement personnel have no patience in communicating with the Deaf ,even, writing down on paper, also hand gestures.
Ricky Taylor (ridorlive.com) has expressed his lack of trust for law enforcement officers. Taylor's reasons are valid and we have seen too many Rodney King scenarios against the Deaf people in general.
At the deafdc.com there is also a discussion related to law enforcement issues and one prominent writer has expressed his concerns and fears in case he gets pulled over by a law enforcement officer. One little misunderstanding will be impossible to rectify because dead people cannot talk.
A lot of police officers have killed Deaf people in the United States even most of them knew they were Deaf. Law enforcement officers assume that signing to them is a threat and they get into fight and flee mode. They have little or no training on how to communicate using gestures or sign language.
I noticed fear has been emerging because of historical facts law enforcement personnel all over the country are being shown with videos of them beating up on unarmed civilians. Most law enforcement officers that have been charged with brutality remains employed within the law enforcement sectors.
It appears that most law enforcement officers only have high school education and passed the law enforcement training academy. This is scary because the less educated law enforcement officer are most likely to use violence to use their anger to control unarmed civilians. The motto, “To Protect and to Serve” no longer applies to the majority of Deaf people in the United States.
Deaf people cannot trust the police when they needed help and fears instead they will summon a hearing person so they can call for help. Hearing person speaks the same language as the law enforcement people do. Deaf people communicate through American Sign Language. What I do not understand is why, “cops are afraid of sign language?”
What needs to be done now is to get, “The National Association of the Deaf, (NAD)” to host a press conference outside of NAD building and explain to the nation this police brutality has gone too far and suggest that NAD work with the national law enforcement organizations to find solutions to this ongoing nationwide problem.
They need to add training for new law enforcement recruits on how to communicate and deal with Deaf and hard of hearing people.
This is a serious topic and I think NAD should consider doing a press conference as this is a Deaf Awareness month also a good time to spread the message.
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