Contact the American Society for Deaf Children!
There was a discussion on DeafDC.com and Chris Heuer proposed an excellent idea and I’m going to quote what he wrote:
Just imagine what we could do with an effective interactive website that gave parents ALL of the information in an unbiased manner… and an INTERESTING manner. For example, did you see Elissa Abenchuchan’s recent article on the effectiveness of cochlear implants? Imagine if we had a website where a) if you clicked on a map of the US, you could first get a breakdown of each state by county, and then we had all the info of EVERYONE a parent living in that county/state might need to call. Including audiologists….
And then we had interactive communication vlogs… if you clicked on an option, someone would pope up explaining that option in voice, English text, or ASL. Plus we could have a donation section on the site, with the message that all procedes would be used to pursue two things:” mandatory early infant hearing screening in all states, and a legal requirement that all practitioners in audiology/Deaf Ed present ALL options in an unbiased manner. We could also offer online counseling services, which is something most parents never get.
A medium-sized grant could build that website, but we’d need more funding for the counseling. That’s where Gallaudet could come in. Rather than just being an educational institution, it could provide information services on a scale nobody has ever seen, and set up majors teaching the students how to run it, which would create more jobs/internships…
I then proposed that the American Society for Deaf Children be a better fit for Chris’ idea. He agreed and then asked that we all send an e-mail to the organization saying:
Okay, I propose a social experiment that we can all participate in.
First, open a second internet window and in it open your regular email account. Paste the following address in the “To” field: asdc@deafchildren.org . Then put “Comments Regarding Your Organization in DeafDC.com” in the subject field.
Below that cut and paste the following letter:
*
Greetings, members of ASDC!
We are commenters on the DeafDC.com blog (see Shane Feldman’s blog entitled “My V/Blogging Conference Presentation”). As we discussed that article, your organization was mentioned by one of the commenters, and we would like you to be aware of some of the ideas that were discussed.
We hope that you will have one of your representatives post on DeafDC.com in Mr. Feldman’s blog and discuss some of those ideas with us!
Sincerely,
A DeafDC Commenter
*
When you are done cutting, pasting, signing, and sending, immediately come back here to DeafDC and post, as I will below, the simple message “DONE.”
Why? This experiment will first allow us to see how many of us actually DID something rather than just sitting around TALKING about doing things. Two, the experiment will allow us to see how ASDC will respond, thus giving us some insight into how other organziations will respond if we try something like this in the future.
Thus far, six of us have e-mailed ASDC. We are:
Chris Heuer
Vikee
Deaf Pundit
Wildstarryskies
Curious Eyes
Virginia L. Beach
So I am asking all of you readers to join us in e-mailing ASDC and letting them know about Chris’ excellent idea! When you have finished your e-mail to ASDC, please do let us know by either posting DONE on DeafDC.com or on here!
Thank you for all you do!
~ Deaf Pundit
Hiya Deaf Pundit:
INTERESTING. Wow this blog is currently at the top of the list at DeafRead, too (though it’ll bump down a few places by later on tonight). I wonder what effect the greater exposure will have on this little experiment of ours! Exciting, isn’t it?
Chris
Hope it stays on the top for a while! This idea is definitely worth looking into, and I’m hoping enough people send in e-mails for ASDC to consider this seriously.
Done!
I’m a member of ASDC and I know some people there like Barbara Ramaindo who is a spokesperson for IDEA. I’ve shared my idea that is almost similar (see my vlog page) about this concept of having a blog center page. Frankly I think Gallaudet should take the helm to work closely with asdc, ced, and csead. I’m hoping to have this access for all parents who would be able to read a variety of posts with differening opinions and opportunities to comment. We need to work together on this concept.
Synchrocity rocks. Chris, you know who to contact at Gallaudet so everyone can coordinate on this? Let’s get this ball rolling.
http://handsandvoices.org/
“Hands & Voices is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families and their children who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as the professionals who serve them. We are a parent-driven, parent/professional collaborative group that is unbiased towards communication modes and methods. Our diverse membership includes those who are deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing impaired and their families who communicate orally, with signs, cue, and/or combined methods. We exist to help our children reach their highest potential.”
Done!
(I also posted on Deafdc.com)
Done!Great idea, Chris!
Done!
Man, it’s so refreshing to be finally walking the walk rather than just talking the talk! Brilliant idea, Chris! You, too, Deaf Pundit! You rock, dudes!
I like Barb DiGi’s suggestion that Gallaudet take the helm of working closely with ASDC and other deaf-related organizations serving in the best interest of D/HH children and empowering their parents.
I posted over at DeafDC too - DONE!
Newborn hearing screening is now mandatory but we are finding gaps in the follow up procedures. Parents are sometimes not getting the results of the testing or they are not following up with another test with a pediactric audiologist. We also have no standards for providing non-biased access to all of the options. Hands & Voices has a program called Guide By Your Side that pairs up an experienced parent trained to provide non-biased support with a parent of a newly diagnosed baby. We are working to get this set up in states that want this approach. This program includes deaf and hard of hearing mentors that interact with families as well. More info can be found on http://www.handsandvoices.org.
Okay. Here’s an idea. Why doesn’t ASDC, Hands and Voices, with Gallaudet and other organizations coordinate this website and follow up procedures? Because I don’t think one organization can do this alone. A mentor is great, but I would also like to see a *website* with neutral, unbiased information!
Yeah. It seems that we have all this stuff laying around, but nothing is linked up or coordinated. It’d be great if a new parent of a deaf child (or even a parent who SUSPECTS their child is deaf) could click on something easy and find all of these resources… have everything clearly explained. There was a book entitled Hearing Parents of Deaf Children that recently came out and their findings fell along these lines… counseling services for parents… both informational and emotional, are just TERRIBLE. The faster we can get a parent to ASDC or Hands And Voices, the better… so it’s not just a question of an efficient website. It’s efficient advertising, too…
You know, I think we need to separate the role of Gallaudet and our roles as citizen advocates. Gallaudet’s mission is to teach and research. It’s up to us as independent, functioning adults and passionate advocates for the betterment of deaf people everywhere. Why do we need Gallaudet involved in our collaboration and activism with ASDC and Hands & Voices? We’re perfectly capable of doing this on our own as well as together with our home communities. Gallaudet prepared us well and with all the tools we need to tackle the Goliaths of discrimination and ignorance. Let’s go forth and do good work.
Well, for me personally, I want Gallaudet involved because frankly it’s good business for them. It moves them into a position of being able to provide what nobody else provides, and that alone brings in more money, more customers, more contacts, etc. Plus it brings in gratitude, because from here on out parents can say… “My kid wants to go to Gallaudet? Great! I remember how they helped me when nobody else had the time…”
But really, ANY organization that jumps on this kind of idea–maybe not this specific one but the idea of revolutionizing their information services in general and making them far more accessible and interactive–stands to gain a lot from doing so. We’re not the same “information based society” that we were ten years ago. We’re advancing at an enormous pace, and the average guy is the guy who just tries to keep up. The giants are the ones who push the whole game forward.
CE — Bingo! I personally believe it is not Gallaudet’s role to do this but Gallaudet can refer people to the right place/site.