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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