Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I write the following not out of hatred or distaste for the average hearing person but for the sake of telling the truth of the average deaf person. You see, in our rich human history, we, as deaf people, have been chastised for our lack of hearing. We have been labeled to smithereens and displaced as a whole. We are, as they have it, not normal and are a liability to the world. We are the rejects of a “normal” society and thus we fight such normality. And so it goes, in the eyes of humans, all MUST be normal yet in the eyes of Creation, everything IS as it should be, a part of the whole.

Hmm…

Is it not true that our American government has discriminated against other races? Is it not true that women have suffered from a male domineered ideology? Is it not true that the disabled have been limited in their abilities because of the assumption that they are a lesser variety? Tell me, my friends, is it not true?

Now, if you would, please allow me to share with you some quotes to help you see our history:

“Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’”
-Barbara C. Jordan, July 25th, 1974

“We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings. We are fighting for human rights.”
-El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, 1964

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but my the content of their character.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr. December 11th, 1964

“If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything that smacks of discrimination or slander.”
-Mary McLeod Bethune, 1944

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”
-Margaret Mead, 1935

“Only to the white man was nature a “wilderness” and only to him was the land “infested” with “wild” animals and “savage” people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families that we loved, was it “wild” for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was that for us the “Wild West” began.”
-Luther Standing Bear, 1933

“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”
-Louis Dembitz Brandeis, 1932

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
-Frederick Douglass, 1886

“The prejudice against color, of which we hear so much, is no stronger than that against sex. It is produced by the same cause, and manifested very much in the same way. The Negro’s skin and the woman’s sex are both prima facie evidence that they were intended to be in subjection to the white Saxon man.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, February 18th, 1860

A’ight!

These are just a few of the many examples there are to be found regarding certain discriminations and injustices that have been laid before us. I could give you so much more but I believe the above should offer you enough to actually think AND feel.

Now, Now, Now…here we go:

Deaf people are often discriminated because of their inability to hear perfectly and speak impeccably. They are not truly included as a part of the nation. They are restricted to the boundaries of vile assumptions that we are incapable, broken, and thus rejected. Would it be fair for me to say that hearing people are unable to learn signed languages or empathize with those of us who cannot hear? I should hope not. And why do they blatantly put hearing men and women at the risk of losing their hearing when they can replace them with those who are already deaf? Surely, deaf people can be given an equal opportunity to serve their country. Yet the answer is no. We are the oppressed and they the oppressors. You see, it is more profitable, for them, to increase the number of potential consumers in the hearing loss market than it is to diversify the country with various abilities. Shall we march alongside the fascist pigs? Nay I say!

Ahh, such ignorance!

The lukewarm and moderates are perfectly fine with the idea that the hearing are above us and they, being who they are, continue to reinforce that very ignorance which forces us to the subjection of a false authority. They are wrong and it is rather unfortunate that many cannot see this. I pray that they may one day awaken to the self evident Truth.

We deserve to be heard and by that I mean listened to. By that I mean felt. By that I mean understood. And ultimately, accepted as we are.

We will not stop our good fight.
We will not falter.
We will not die.

You will continue to have deaf babies come into the world. You cannot deny that truth. It is our place to be here so that you, the ignorant, may see that everything is a part of the whole. We are not gods! That includes you and your bullshit.

To reject your own truth is to deny your existence.

Be ye watchful of the things to come…for this is the dawning of a long awaited enlightenment for all deaf people in the world. The closed society is no more.

Watchful I say…watchful…