I Remember

Aye, yi, yi, yi,...

So tonight, March 5th, 2013, one day after ABC's historical airing of a televised episode in American Sign Language, I decided to jump onto the Switched at Birth bandwagon and have myself a little look-see. Because of this, I will not write a review or critique the show but rather write how I feel after watching Season 2 Episode 9. My first dose of Switched at Birth.

Hmm....Let's see...

I'll first start by stating that I have once again returned to the blogosphere after a much needed hiatus from it. You see, I, like everybody else, have personal things to take care of and deal with and I don't always make the best choices even when I know what the better ones are. In short, I'm Selfish, Destructive, and at times Volatile. Sex, Drugs, and Vanity. Truth be TOLD though, I don't take crap from anybody about anything and more so when it comes to people and their expectations of a "d"eaf person. In this case, MY Deaf person.

Now, for what choices I have made and what I've done since, I'll have my reasons (excuses) and my culprits (blame-games), but most importantly I have my experience, (wounds and wisdom) to which no one can deny me. Come on y'all, I am a survivor of an education system that uses and abuses the poster children of the ear and a humble pupil of the eye. Aye, you shall not, you will not, and cannot destroy people like...

Me.
Person.
Individual.
Moi.

...we are MANY, they are few.
A common experience had.
Another Truth be shared.

With that said, "We" are an individual type of people and "We" are a people who are identified as a people who have less than average hearing. In other words, we don't communicate strictly by the ear. We are a visual people. A people of the eye, eye being spelled capital "D"eaf.

Yet,...Blah, Blah, Blah,...Many of us know this shit. Many of us have "been there and done that." Many of us are done with there and that. Quit! Finished and DONE, shoving our two thumbs forth as if we're finally free. We've either accepted the status quo and settled for what we can without entirely feeling good about the future of our cultural entity OR we isolate ourselves and do nothing about it!

SO...

When watching a television show that recalls historical events in our Deaf History,...
When reading a blogger's concerns about representation of the cochlear implant (not the Deaf person) on the show...
When being split between captions and signs...

I feel jaded but...

...I'll say, technology might make our lives easier yet it doesn't make us who we are. When one person selfishly chooses to not to surrender their phone (pagers, laptops, handhelds) for the sake of solidarity, they do not remember Alexander Graham Bell's ideology. When people refuse to communicate by a means other than speaking and listening, they are choosing to communicate without heart.

I shed my tears because, of course, je me souviens.