The Fight for an Education

It might be a little early to worry, but I am concerned about the education my kids will be getting here in Utah. Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind fully supports an oral educational approach for our deaf kids. In their opinion, oral education is the answer. Deaf kids who are educated orally will be better able to learn and function in society. They will be able to compete on the same level as kids who hear. They will be eventually mainstreamed and be normal happy teenage kids. That is what they want you to believe.
Last night we went to a meeting where we learned that the truth is not just different, but it is scary. A high percentage of kids who "graduate" from the oral and mainstreaming program read on a 4th grade level. A low percentage of them graduate, and an even lower percentage go on to college. Deaf kids who do go through mainstreaming aren't accepted. It's just the opposite. Instead of finding themselves accepted in the normal system, they are isolated as the only deaf child in the school. They are kept from participating in normal activities like sports or spelling bees. They are encouraged to take classes that will help them "graduate", but are not academic enough to help them get into college. An email was shown last night that showed how the administration of USDB in 2005 felt about their deaf students being encouraged to go to college. Basically, that kind of activity was referred to as giving the students "more false hopes". The person who was going to encourage these kids to enroll and apply at the U of U was told to give the deaf students "a good dose of reality, and not sugar coat it." If the statistics and attitudes that were shared last night were happening in a "normal" school district, it would make the news, parents would be up in arms. Yet here it is happening, and no one seems to notice. Why? Because what better can we really expect for the deaf kids? They don't really expect to go on to college, do they?
I expect my kids to go. I am ready to do everything I can to make that happen. My first thought was to move away, someplace like Texas, or Washington, D.C., where there is a strong Deaf community. Where my kids could go to school and get the education they deserve. But if everyone who felt that way moved away from here, who would stay and fight? No one. The USDB would win, and oralism would be the only way here. We decided we will stay and take up the fight. To make our kids' lives better, and make the lives of others better.
So, what is a better way? It's not hard to figure out, I think. The same way that hearing kids are taught, should be the same way that deaf kids are taught. Hearing kids go to school and communicate with their friends and their teachers in their native language. Most of the time, there is no interpreter, because the communication is direct. Deaf kids deserve the same. An all signing atmosphere for school. The communication would be direct. They wouldn't have to struggle to try to listen and read lips. They wouldn't miss vital parts of lessons because the interpretation was unclear. It would be direct. They would be surrounded by positive role models who are like them, who can set good examples for them. They would be surrounded by friends who are like them, and they would all be signing. It would be like any other school. They wouldn't feel ashamed or discouraged because of how they are different. They would be accepted. This would be good for building support for the future, building a community, based on common, positive experiences. I believe their test scores would go up, they would be better able to read and better prepared to go into college. They would be surrounded by adults, who believed and expected them to succeed, instead of knowing they would fail. Imagine the power we would be giving our kids, as they learned to love who they are, and have pride in who they are, instead of always focusing on what they are not.
If we don't speak out, then who will? The USDB will continue on like it has been doing for years. But if we come together and say that what they have been doing is not good enough, and our kids deserve better, if we demand that, how will they be able to deny it? We have that opportunity next week. On Thursday, November 12, at 6:30 at the Sanderson center, there is a Town Hall meeting with the new Superintendent of USDB. We need to be there to make our voices heard, to demand that they do what is right for our kids, which is educate them and prepare them for college.

No We Didn't Forget the Time Change

I imagine if anyone in our court saw us leaving before ten on Sunday, they probably thought, "How embarassing, the Dietz family forgot to set their clocks back." Truth is, we didn't forget at all. We were leaving just when we intended to. This last week we went to the LDS Deaf ward near our house. We were hoping it would be a good experience for Johnny to be around a lot of other people who sign, so he wouldn't feel like he was so different from everyone else.

It was amazing to see the difference it made for Johnny. He just sat and watched all the signing around him. He was just glued to the front. I mean, he didn't pay attention the whole time, but he didn't try to escape, he didn't scream, he didn't hit Eliza, it was amazing. He was still a two year old, but he was as reverent as any two year old I had ever seen.

After sacrament meeting the Bishop came over and said hi. I had met him a couple of days before at work, and told him we would be coming to the ward. He wanted to meet my two kids. The whole ward was so kind and welcoming. Even though my wife and I are still learning ASL, everyone mad an effort to make us feel welcome. It was great. Johnny seemed to do well in Nursery, and Erica and I were able to sit through all three meetings in church. It was pretty cool. We are not sure where to go from here. Going to the ward would be a good opportunity for us to be immersed more in the culture, which will help us as Johnny and Eliza grow. Plus they will have the opportunity to grow up in a ward setting where they are normal, which would be a huge deal for any kid. However, it would be a big change for us. However, well, I guess we'll see what the Lord wants for us.

Finding a Place for Johnny

We have been starting the long Pre-School Journey. The Journey to find the right pre-school for Johnny. It has been long and hard. A few weeks ago we visited the oral and total communication classes. We didn't feel like Johnny was very comfortable there. The first class we went to, the teacher kept talking to Johnny and asking him if he wanted to color a fish. Then she kept wanting him to say "fish" and Johnny just stared at her. It was like that in most of the classes. Johnny just didn't get engaged in the classes, he didn't know what was going on. There is a lot of pressure when your child has a cochlear implant to abandon all signing, and only do oral communication. Johnny is not ready for that. I don't know if he ever will be. When we done with our visits at the oral and TC classes, we were more nervous than ever about what it was going to be like when Johnny started pre-school.

Today, we went to the signing pre-school, called JMS. We walked into the classroom, and something really cool happened. The teacher was signing a story and invited Johnny to come over and sit on the floor with the rest of the class. Johnny went right over and sat on the floor. As the teacher signed the story, Johnny looked back at us with a surprised smile on his face. He thought it was pretty cool. After the story, Johnny joined the class at the tables where they colored a tree and stamped on some apples. Johnny really enjoyed it a lot. He thought the stamps were cool. After that they had a couple of apple peeler/core removers. The teacher demonstrated how it worked, then helped each of the students do it. It was all visual, all hands on. Johnny was engaged almost the whole time. We were in the class for an hour, which was way longer than Johnny wanted to stay in the other classes. In fact, when we needed to go, Johnny wanted to stay and play. We told him it was time to go, and he just signed "no!" and tried to ignore us. Then one of the teachers thought maybe he would want to go if he thought we were going to leave him there, so she told him we were leaving. He just waved bye to us, and went back to playing. That was a great sign that he felt comfortable there.

Through this whole process we have learned that the most important thing to consider in all of this choosing, is the child, and their needs. Johnny needs the signing, visual atmosphere right now. That's where we feel he needs to be. I don't know if the state will agree, but we are going to fight for it. When it comes to what's best for my kids, I won't back down.

Why I don't like Alexander Graham Bell

I understand that Alexander Graham Bell might be very familiar historical figure. I understand that the invention of the tlephone is one of the greratest inventions of all time. On the surface, Bell might be a hero. However, I have some issues with the man, and what he believed, and how those beliefs affect people, namely my kids, today.
First of all, Bell believed in the theory of Eugenics. I have a real problem with that. For people who do not know, Eugenics was a progressive movement in the early 1900's, which followed Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest to its logical conclusion in society. Progressives wanted to make society a better place, and felt that the government was the way to do that. One way to make society better was to eliminate certain aspects of society, like disease, retardation, blindness, deafness, or anything that could be considered a disability. Bell was a supporter of this idea. Many eugenisists, including Bell, felt that one way to eradicate these portions of society was to prevent them from reproducing. Bell strongly felt that this should apply to deaf people. If both members of a couple were deaf from birth, then they should not marry or reproduce because this would lead to more deaf babies. Laws, like this were passed in many states during that time to prevent certain populations from marrying. Some people were even encouraged to voluntarily become sterile. Eugenics had many supporters during this time, and was quite prominent in the United States. Only after Hitler and the National Socialist Party of Germany adopted the theory of Eugenics to justify the murder of millions of people, did it become unpopular in the United States. This idea of Eugenics is what led Bell into his life's passion and work.
That work was the oral education of deaf children. Along with being a eugenicist, Bell was also a Nationalist. Nationalism at this time meant a great fear for outside groups and cultures. Bell felt that the Deaf community fell under this umbrella, since they had their own language and culture. He felt that it would be important for them to abandon their language and culture, which seperated them from society. He came up with techniques and ways for deaf people to learn how to speak, and therefore become part of mainstream society. This new idea became very popular, and soon many deaf schools, that had previously taught ASL, switched to this new method. It was taught to students in very ruthless ways, where they were harshly punished for using their hands in communication at all. The goal was to eventually eliminate ASL all together, and only have oral deaf people in this country, until the actual goal was realized where deaf people were eliminated all together, and society would be wonderful and hearing.
Fortunately, students at these schools secretly taught each other ASL and deaf culture survived and was strengthened.
So what is the problem with oral communication for deaf people? For me, part of the problem is that it teaches deaf kids that there is something wrong with them, that needs to be fixed. On their own, they will never be happy or successful, or part of society, or any of that. When a child who is deaf is raised to be only oral, then he is constantly at odds with himself, about who he is and what his value is. His self worth takes a huge blow. Another part of the problem is that it is a hard way for deaf kids to communicate. Yes, there are cochlear implants and hearing aids, but it still takes a lot of effort. Communication is hard enough, without added complications. ASL is a beautiful language that enables deaf people to communicate freely and openly, or anyone who learns the language.
Now, my son is deaf. He has a cochlear implant, which means people automatically assume that we want an oral only lifestyle for our son. This is not correct. We see the implant as a tool for him to use to help him along the way. The harsh reality is that no one in our family is deaf besides our kids, so no one signs except for us, and one aunt. This is ok. It's the reality of the situation. We want to give Johnny the tools for communication in all aspects of his life, which includes his family. However, we will not force him to give up sign, or even encourage it. I have seen my son come alive through sign language. It is his first language, and I will not take it away from him. I do not believe that encouraging him to sign or to participate in the deaf community is going to hinder him. On the contrary, it will give him strength. I do not look at other kids who have cochlear implants who talk and listen only in the auditory world, and say to myself, "Finally I see that my son can have a happy, productive life." No! I see that as only one aspect of my child's life. I always believed that he would have a happy productive life, with or without hearing. I hope as he gets older, he is proud of who he is, and accepts himself, and does not view himself at all with shame. His success is not attached to the implant in his head. I want him to think, I am happy and productive, not despite being deaf, but because I am Deaf.
I hope the deaf community will accept him, despite his implant. We did not do it because we are ashamed of our son or because we did not think he could succeed without it. We did it to give him another tool to help him communicsate with others. The hearing world will not ever bridge that gap, so my son had to sacrifice to bridge it. Maybe this is wrong, but it's what I think.

Monthly Update

School has started for me, and that is why there has been such a long break in between blog posts. I wanted to take a few minutes to update everyone on everything that is going on in our lives, because life does not stand still!

Johnny is making great strides with both the implant as well as signing. He has started to imitate more sounds that he hears, including fire engines and the word "bye". He has also started to turn when we call his name, which is pretty cool.

Even cooler has been the increase in proficiency we have seen in his signing. He is starting to link bunches of words together to make sentences. Sometimes he will sign things so fast, I am not sure what he is signing. His favorite sign is Firefighter, since that is his current obsession. Today, we went to Erica's parents' house for a western night. They had a fire going, and as everyone was kind of leaving, and the fire was dying, Johnny waved his hand to get my attention and then signed fire, Firefighter, then water, and made the action of spraying water on the fire. Apparently, he wanted the fire department to come and put out the fire. It is amazing to me that he can put that all together. He has also begun to master the art of talking back in his signing, like when we tell him it is time for bed, or time to change his diaper. He is very good at signing no and shaking his head, then he looks anywhere, except at us. I would get angry, if it weren't so cute!

Johnny has also been enjoying the football season. I got him a little football outfit, that he wore for five days straight. I also took him to the first Utah home game, and he loved it. Now, every once in a while, you will find him getting down in his stance, and then jump up and run, sometimes he just runs, and sometimes he will run at me to tackle me. It is awesome. I think he is going to be a linebacker someday. Who knows?

Eliza is beginning to make more sounds as well. She just turned one on September 8, and it has been incredible to see how much of a little personality she has been developing. She smiles and laughs all the time. Her favorite game is to find a piece of clothing and drape it over her head and then walk around with it on up there. It's just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. She has begun to mimic more of the gestures she sees. Tonight at dinner, I signed eat to her, and so she moved her hand up to her mouth, copying me. Her favorite sign is what. She walks around all day doing that sign, nonstop. I think she must see us do it all the time, either that, or she really just wants to know what everything is.

Erica is doing well. We are getting more and more excited about our next little one on the way. At first it was a shock, but now we are just excited. Boy or girl, this little baby is coming to a great family, with awesome older sibling to show him or her the ropes.

The Cabin and Eliza's New Tricks and Other Big News

This last weekend was a lot of fun. We went up to a cabin in Huntsville, UT. Johnny loved it there. He saw horses and water and fire and ate s'mores and hot dogs and chips, it was a dream trip for him.

We got there on Friday afternoon and moved our stuff into one of the bedrooms then we went for a little walk to the barn that they had on the property. On the way there was a little stream that went through the property, and Johnny had fun just throwing rocks into it. He didn't want to leave it. Then we took him across the street so he could see some horses, which he liked as long as we kept our distance from them.

That night, we built a fire in the backyard and had an old fashioned wienie roast. It was delicious. Then we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores. Johnny liked that as well. The next day, it was kind of rainy in the morning, which disappointed us because we had planned to go canoeing that afternoon. In the morning we went over to David O. McKay's childhood home. We signed to Johnny that it was a prophet's house, and he thought that was really cool. He has been obsessed with prophets lately, so it was really neat.

After lunch on Saturday, it cleared up quite a bit, and we were able to go canoeing. We drove down to a little reservoir and took the canoe and kayak down to the water

and everyone took turns going out in the water. Johnny loved being on the canoe with us. He thought it was great because he was on a boat on the water. He was mad when we had to leave.

We left the next day after church, and after we almost caught the cabin on fire when we cooked some pizza. All in all it was a great little getaway.

Now for Eliza's new tricks. She has been spending more and more time on two feet instead of on all fours. She has even started taking steps. Today, while I was at work, she walked across the living room. It is amazing to watch her. She'll be sitting on the floor, then she'll get herself up and start walking, just like that. Pretty soon she is going to be chasing Johnny

down the hall. It is funny to watch her, she always gets so proud of herself when she walks, and looks around, and waits for us to clap for her, and then she claps for herself. It's fun.

The last part is our big news. We are excited to announce that our little family of four will soon be a family of five. It is a little sooner than expected, but we are excited nonetheless about the addition of another baby to our family.

Wonder Woman

When I was younger, there was only one thing I really wanted to be: Superman. Unfortunately, I can't fly, I don't have super strength, and I've never tried, but I'm pretty sure I'm not bulletproof. Not to mention my physique, which is not exactly super. Maybe I didn't grow up to be Superman, but I got close, because I married Wonder Woman. For those of you who read this and know Erica, you know what I'm talking about, or you at least have an idea. For those of you who don't know Erica, you're missing out.

Why is Erica so awesome? Where do I start? The world has it's own ideas about what makes a "wonder woman". This is a picture of perfection- the ultimate career woman who is also the ultimate soccer mom, who also keeps a perfect house, whose kids are just perfect, and through all of this her make up stays perfect and not a hair is out of place. This is not reality. The sad thing is that the world is missing out because the reality is so much better.

Erica does not have a career. She gave that up, by choice for her kids. Our house may not always be perfect, and neither are our kids. My wife doesn't have to worry about her make up smearing, because she is more beautiful without it, than she ever could be with, and fortunately for her, her hair looks great no matter what. So apparently. she does not fir the world's perception of perfection.

Let me tell what she does do. Last year, our world changed forever. In some ways we were planning on this, since we were expecting another child, which always changes things. What we were not planning on was being catapulted into a whole new cultural world. Our world was broadened and changed when we found out that Eliza was moderately deaf, and then a couple of months later, we found out Johnny was profoundly deaf. Erica, up to this point had no experience with deaf kids. She did not know a lick of sign language. She knew nothing about deaf culture, and had never imagined raising a deaf child, let alone two. This could have been enough for anyone to start questioning why things happen the way they do. As much as i would like to deny it, it was easy at first to see this as a trial and a challenge, a tragedy. Erica never did. She knew it would be hard, but she knew that raising kids would be hard. She seemed to realize from the beginning that this was not a tragedy, but a blessing. Through it, she has brought our family closer together, and has had nothing but love for our kids all the time. She has loved them unconditionally. How fortunate my kids are to have her as a mother, someone who will help them find strength in who they are, focus on being able, not disabled. She has grounded me in the knowledge that our kids are the most wonderful kids in the world. It has gotten to the point that we would be a little disappointed if our next kid was not deaf.

Besides all of this, Erica has been a wonderful mother. Our house may not be perfect, because Erica puts a priority on spending her time with the kids. She seeks out different activities to help the kids experience new and different things. She has shown me nothing but love, and has made my life worth living. She is always willing to pull me back down when need be and help me stay grounded, whether that is financially or whatever.

Erica is one of my heroes, and right now, I feel like she needs to now that, and I want others to know that. Sometimes, we get to caught up in what we are not doing right, and miss all the things that we do really well. I don't want this to be the case for Erica, because she does so many things, so well. I love her, and I look forward to our eternity together.