The intention of this speech was to introduce parents of deaf children that there are ways to improve their children lives. Most parents give up, other won't care but the one being affected are the children and not them.
I did it for a convention os Speech and Language last year, it was my goal to have the chance to do it. I was selected because of my skills at my profund loss to communicate with hearing people, in other worlds I was being the voice to the deaf that could not speak and their parents won't sign at all.
The purpose was for the parents that wanted their children to master speech at ealry age and not to go against sign language. Is more of a " inspirational" speech than a " This is better because I say so" speech.
I hope you take your time and read it and comment it.
As you can see, if I post in here is because I want to make a difference for those children and I am very happy to do that.
Here we go
Good Morning, my name is Fabian Corrales, it’s an honor for me to be present with the opportunity to be here at this convention and help to make change for others. I was born deaf and with a profound hearing loss as many of the kids and teens that are close to you right now. Because society looks at us in a different perspective does not means we are that different from you or many other. We have a heart and desire to do our best, to learn and to create an acceptable image for the rest of the world.
Today, I am here not because of me but for the those kids and their families, I am not here to tell you just one thing, I am here because I want you to know there are many important choices to make and either way a commitment should be made. We already know of the impact the deaf community has made over this country. It has change the rules that were considered impossible a century ago. It has reformatted the everyday life of these young kids-- but there still more work to do and we all can give a helping hand to them.
"Asked to select the most precious of the five senses, few people would name hearing. Yet of all man’s links to the outside world, hearing seems to be the essential sense, the one that makes man peculiarly human. How precious hearing is becomes clear when it is lacking. A baby born blind or insensitive to pain usually surmounts his handicap to lead a useful life. A baby born deaf may be lost to mankind. The first steps of intellectual development are beyond his reach. The sounds of life—his mother’s lullaby, the clatter of a rattle, even his own yowl for hunger—remain unknown. He cannot learn to imitate meaningful sounds because he cannot hear them. Unless heroic efforts rescue him, he will never truly master his own language; he will live cut off from the human race.
It is hearing, with its offspring, speech, that gives man his superlative capacity to communicate: to pass along hard won knowledge, to make use of that knowledge and so to rule an entire planet."
From 1980 to the present the National American Sign language Association has reinforce the language barrier of the hearing impaired. It advocates strictly for a parent to institute their deaf children in a sign language program. This is its major goal. Now there are millions of hearing impaired that can only have communication between the limited populations that know that language. We live in a generation that has become a technological era. With the help of hearing aids, many of us are able to at least hear minimal sounds we never heard before, and in some cases improve the quality of our lives. Sadly not everyone had the chance, I am one of them, my loss percentage allow me only to increase a high frequency sound wave with my hearing aids, that means I can hear at least the sound of a plane close to my hear, but not the voice of a person. Only a 10% percent of severe loss patients are able to master the speech language because of the tradition of the sign language institution. Its time to take wise action over the future of your deaf child. We live in a country where speech communication is vital for every human being. The options are out there. You need to look over the positives and negatives of each one. But I a telling you, there is nothing wrong about teaching a deaf child to communicate-- if we all put an effort to it. The deaf children have a special quality, “the desire to try”. That should be the example you will need to show them, because they are the next generation. I am very involved with hospitals, therapy centers, and even community conventions because I care. I am one of them and I know the hard life of becoming a ghost in society. I have seen them with my own experiences. Life is not easy for those kids. No one ever told us that and we need to work it on together, that way we can help the outside kids. I am no miracle, I am no an experiment, I was like your child, not a single word, not a single noise, but with the support from my family and friends I am reaching for the top, and so can your child. If we all cooperate with each other, give them the time they need because patient is vital for them.
I am not able to hear myself, but I am able to believe in myself. Teachers, doctors, friends, and family they cannot believe it but to be amazed at my skills, and I tell them, “Is all because of you”, everyone supported me and for that I am glad, now is my turn to return the favor to the deaf children. Is not my job, is my purpose. It takes me 3 weeks of hard work to teach a single word to a single kid. It is not a race, as hard as it looks like; the feeling of witnessing a deaf child to say their first word is a joy for their families and me. I am thankfully for the time you give me today. I want you to know that if your child is deaf, is not your fault and neither the child fault, no one asked for it. Remember that they are “kids”, we can teach them to speak; they will teach us to listen.
Thank you
I did it for a convention os Speech and Language last year, it was my goal to have the chance to do it. I was selected because of my skills at my profund loss to communicate with hearing people, in other worlds I was being the voice to the deaf that could not speak and their parents won't sign at all.
The purpose was for the parents that wanted their children to master speech at ealry age and not to go against sign language. Is more of a " inspirational" speech than a " This is better because I say so" speech.
I hope you take your time and read it and comment it.
As you can see, if I post in here is because I want to make a difference for those children and I am very happy to do that.
Here we go
Good Morning, my name is Fabian Corrales, it’s an honor for me to be present with the opportunity to be here at this convention and help to make change for others. I was born deaf and with a profound hearing loss as many of the kids and teens that are close to you right now. Because society looks at us in a different perspective does not means we are that different from you or many other. We have a heart and desire to do our best, to learn and to create an acceptable image for the rest of the world.
Today, I am here not because of me but for the those kids and their families, I am not here to tell you just one thing, I am here because I want you to know there are many important choices to make and either way a commitment should be made. We already know of the impact the deaf community has made over this country. It has change the rules that were considered impossible a century ago. It has reformatted the everyday life of these young kids-- but there still more work to do and we all can give a helping hand to them.
"Asked to select the most precious of the five senses, few people would name hearing. Yet of all man’s links to the outside world, hearing seems to be the essential sense, the one that makes man peculiarly human. How precious hearing is becomes clear when it is lacking. A baby born blind or insensitive to pain usually surmounts his handicap to lead a useful life. A baby born deaf may be lost to mankind. The first steps of intellectual development are beyond his reach. The sounds of life—his mother’s lullaby, the clatter of a rattle, even his own yowl for hunger—remain unknown. He cannot learn to imitate meaningful sounds because he cannot hear them. Unless heroic efforts rescue him, he will never truly master his own language; he will live cut off from the human race.
It is hearing, with its offspring, speech, that gives man his superlative capacity to communicate: to pass along hard won knowledge, to make use of that knowledge and so to rule an entire planet."
From 1980 to the present the National American Sign language Association has reinforce the language barrier of the hearing impaired. It advocates strictly for a parent to institute their deaf children in a sign language program. This is its major goal. Now there are millions of hearing impaired that can only have communication between the limited populations that know that language. We live in a generation that has become a technological era. With the help of hearing aids, many of us are able to at least hear minimal sounds we never heard before, and in some cases improve the quality of our lives. Sadly not everyone had the chance, I am one of them, my loss percentage allow me only to increase a high frequency sound wave with my hearing aids, that means I can hear at least the sound of a plane close to my hear, but not the voice of a person. Only a 10% percent of severe loss patients are able to master the speech language because of the tradition of the sign language institution. Its time to take wise action over the future of your deaf child. We live in a country where speech communication is vital for every human being. The options are out there. You need to look over the positives and negatives of each one. But I a telling you, there is nothing wrong about teaching a deaf child to communicate-- if we all put an effort to it. The deaf children have a special quality, “the desire to try”. That should be the example you will need to show them, because they are the next generation. I am very involved with hospitals, therapy centers, and even community conventions because I care. I am one of them and I know the hard life of becoming a ghost in society. I have seen them with my own experiences. Life is not easy for those kids. No one ever told us that and we need to work it on together, that way we can help the outside kids. I am no miracle, I am no an experiment, I was like your child, not a single word, not a single noise, but with the support from my family and friends I am reaching for the top, and so can your child. If we all cooperate with each other, give them the time they need because patient is vital for them.
I am not able to hear myself, but I am able to believe in myself. Teachers, doctors, friends, and family they cannot believe it but to be amazed at my skills, and I tell them, “Is all because of you”, everyone supported me and for that I am glad, now is my turn to return the favor to the deaf children. Is not my job, is my purpose. It takes me 3 weeks of hard work to teach a single word to a single kid. It is not a race, as hard as it looks like; the feeling of witnessing a deaf child to say their first word is a joy for their families and me. I am thankfully for the time you give me today. I want you to know that if your child is deaf, is not your fault and neither the child fault, no one asked for it. Remember that they are “kids”, we can teach them to speak; they will teach us to listen.
Thank you
