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Open Ceremony today opened with Jason Altmann welcoming the audience, then introducing NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins.
The room was packed with several hundred people, with four sections of
chairs nearly completely filled with people in the front, and people
sitting around a couple dozen tables toward the back. Bobbie Beth was
greeted quite warmly with visual applause all around. She began by
asking if people remembered why the NAD was founded in the first place,
and reminded all that the NAD was established in order to counter the
negative influence of the International Conference of Milan, especially
as that influence related to the oralists taking over the schools for
the Deaf in America. She explained that now the NAD has "come full
circle," explaining that: "We look at American Sign Language as our
human right and we see that we [the NAD] fit very well with DBC's
philosophy when they [DBC] focus on Deaf babies, and we can do it more
successfully as we work together."
A heavy round of visual applause for Bobbie Beth Scoggins led to the
introduction of DBC's founder, John Egbert, who was also greeted
enthusiastically. Egbert began: "I know how you all feel. I'm very
excited to see everyone here, as tomorrow we'll all have the same
understanding and experience as we come together."
Egbert then emphasized the central point which DBC is attempting to
convey to the general public: "The MIND is necessarily more important
than the ability to speak, and how we develop the mind is through
language." Egbert's speech was punctuated with visual applause,
culminating in loud cheers. It was obvious to all that John had brought
the audience to a higher level of antipication and excitement, with an
unspoken "sense of electricity" becoming nearly tangible.
DBC core member Barb DiGi was up next, speaking of language development
of Deaf children: "If they are denied [ASL] from birth, they end up
being behind and not school-ready," also explaining: "Parents, of
course, have that right to make that decision, but they are unaware of
the facts of bilingual education [...] So we need to work harder at
exposing parents of Deaf children to their options." The excited
feeling from the audience continued, with Barb later remarking to this
blogger that she felt a real sense of inspiration in the room.
David Eberwein (DE) took the stage and explained insights he gained in
his work as an educator. Time and time again he has found that the Deaf
students who flourish are the ones who had good access to language
(i.e., sign language) at home. This always turned out to be the
deciding factor. DE ratched things up significantly by declaring (about
AG Bell): "Enough is enough!" This was met by wild applause. He
continued: "We're going to talk about this day after day for the next
four days!.... AG Bell must go! They need to stop inhibiting access [to
Deaf children's natural language learning].
DE then projected one of Alexander Graham Bell's infamous quotes on the
screen: "The adults who use sign represent our failures; let us have as
few of them as we actually can." DE, responding to the AG Bell quote,
proclaimed: "People who sign are NOT failures!"
(Open Ceremony update to be continued in next post.)
--Brian Riley, DBC conference blogger
Written: Friday, June 27, 2008, 11:10PM
Posted: Saturday, June 28, 2008, 6:30AM
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