Living in a Signing Town — Will it make a difference?
On days like this, I pause and think innopran xl. What am I doing dostinex? Why am I pushing towards making the signing town a reality?
The sacrifices my family and close friends have had to make thus far are huge. My deaf children sometimes beg me to relocate to Indiana School for the Deaf so they can have more peers and more activities. I totally understand, and I struggle with this on a daily basis. As a father, you want to provide your children with best opportunities possible.
I am not writing this to whine. I am just considering the price we have to pay thus far, and I am not sure how much more we will have to give before we finally see this town become a reality.
Why are we so committed to this?
The answer: This small town will change everything.
The playing field will be leveled in:
- Politics
- Education
- Religion
- Recreation
- Social dynamics
- Health and mental health
In America, democracy and votes are almost everything. With them, you have power to change or shape your community to reflect the local values and needs.
With education, we will have the ability to decide what happens to our children — deaf, hearing and hard of hearing — ourselves. Not somebody else. Us. We get to decide what standards our children will aspire to. We get to decide how they are taught about English, ASL, oralism, deaf culture, our history, and more.
With religion, we can work to ensure that places of worship is totally accessible so not one will be left out.
Socially, our community will evolve even more towards interdependence reality as well as better understanding of who we are, why we do what we do and where we are going as a community.
In health and mental health care, we will see breakthroughs in treatment because members of our community will finally understand why they are suffering and how to help themselves to a better life.
This is why we can not and will not give up.
November 20th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I commend you for sticking to making your dream come true and I support you all the way for the reasons you listed!
November 20th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Don’t give up. We’re all counting on you!
November 20th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
same thing happen to us when i was trying to start a deaf commuity in oceano calif in two years we didnt get far enough then my kids complaint of poor school in our area we gave up moved to fremont calif to make our children happy it seems hard as many deaf perfer to be located in large city and near where many deaf actives more often
that was back in70s i since moved to tucson az and have study deaf in tucson i feel that deaf still perfer to live in cities not in rural area
i thank u for trying
dave and joy saunders
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Danish people moved to California around 1910?, set up a new town, Solvang.. you can see Jared’s video… I don’t know if they still speak danish but I hope this video inspires you! Wish you good luck and look for the good result!
Don’t give up at ALL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqN9J6fvvWE&search=Deaf%20ASL
November 27th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
I was doing a report on the Deaf Community on Martha’s Vineyard. And I heared about what you are doing and have been following your progress.God Bless you and your family. Don’t be afraid to adjust your vision. Just you don’t give up. I am hoping to become an interpeter and maybe one day I can visit your town. God Bless You All Carol Love
December 16th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Recently, I was reading in a DeafDigest Newletter (DeafDigest.com) I get every weekend. He had an interesting spot on Deaf History:
WOULD HAVE BEEN WIPED OFF THE MAP?
There was an announcement last week that the state of
Georgia wiped out 519 small towns from its official
state map. The reason was to make the map easier for
tourists to follow.
What about it? Way back around 1850’s John James
Flournoy, a deaf activist, lobbied the state of
Georgia to establish a small town - restricted to
deaf, ASL speaking residents and to send a deaf
representative to the Congress.
Flournoy’s idea failed. But what if he
succeeded then would it be the 520th town wiped off
the 2007 map?
If Laurent had been established, I doubt it would have been wiped off any maps anytime soon. However, it might be a while before any current mappers would include this small town on any furture maps in the next few years. I ve wondered how long it would take for the GPS mappers to include the location of Laurent, so our deaf community at large will be able to find it? Probably the best thing to do is to include the GPS location of I-90, and Hwy 81. Then no one can miss our town. I just have one thing to say to the investers and bank, H U R R Y U P !! Smile.