"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance" - Socrates

loml

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While revisiting "Breaking the Code," an educational video on Cued Speech produced by Jennifer Bien, I went through the recent comments on the YouTube page and realized just how much negative comments there were in comparison to the positive ones. I wasn't surprised at the fact that there were negative comments, after all Cued Speech was created at Gallaudet University by Dr. Orin Cornett in the middle of a bastion of ASL Culture.

What's interesting though is the content of those negative comments. None of these comments indicate that Cued Speech has had a harmful impact on any of the commenter's lives, yet all these comments are derogatory in that ignorance allows them to claim Cued Speech is not an "official language" or that it is an "oppressive method." Another claim made was that Cued Speech and ASL "cannot exist in harmony."

I'll just quote the most recent comment, made by Tar2006.

"If I were Board of Education for that school. I will throw Cued Speech program out of the window in big time. I DEMAND put ASL in that program period! This is just disgusted me to see how much you abused their Deaf children's education by using Cued Speech which is unofficial recognized as language. Someone please delete this video.."

This comment reeks of ignorance and extreme prejudice. Unfortunately, this is a common theme that repeats throughout most of the negative comments posted over the course of the past year. Jennifer Bien, the producer and director of the video, responds to those comments in a polite manner, indicating that in the video an ASL interpreter is visible for those who prefer sign over captioning. Also, quite a number of the individuals in the video know ASL.

I have observed a pattern in the negative comments. A large number of these comments seem to be ridden with grammatical errors, suggesting that those detractors could have had an arduous academic experience, harboring resentments against those who had a role in their education. On the other hand, they may have deep roots in the ASL culture and resent any thing that might seem to present a threat to their culture. Either way their comments reiterate the need to improve the literacy levels of deaf and hard of hearing children, which Cued Speech addresses specifically.

Myths:

1. "Gallaudet does not support Cued Speech."

Cued Speech classes are offered each semester, with the primary audience being speech language pathology students (HSL 690 Introduction to Cued Speech and HSL 712 Cued Speech Seminar). Dr. Carol LaSasso, a faculty member of the Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences department, leads the research on Cued Speech with published articles in various journals related to deaf education. There is also a virtual library of bibliographies hosted by Gallaudet's library with a link to the R. Orin Cornett Memorial Cued Speech Collection.

2. "Cued Speech and ASL cannot exist in harmony."

At each board meeting for the National Cued Speech Association, both transliterators and interpreters are provided for the deaf board members. Quite a number of native cuers also know ASL. In fact, at the last board meeting three other deaf board members and I went out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant. We all switched between signing and cueing, often cueing a word that we didn't know the sign for (or didn't want to fingerspell). At Cue Camp New England, I saw a native cuer interpreting Cued American English into ASL for a child who did not know Cued Speech. Native cuers that also sign learned ASL in different ways. Some chose to go to Gallaudet or RIT, while others grew up in a large community of signers. The rest learned ASL either in the classroom or through later exposure in the community (like me).

3. "Cued Speech is torture."

Where this came from, I do not know. Growing up, I don't remember feeling tortured. Waterboarding is torture in my opinion, but that's a debate for Congress to take up. Speech therapy can be troublesome for children who have therapists that focus on negative reinforcement instead of positive. Yet, Cued Speech is something to be learned for parents and something to be absorbed for young children. Torture is defined as "infliction of severe pain as a means of punishment or coercion" or "excruciating physical or mental pain." Doesn't seem like a definition that could be applied to Cued Speech.

4. Cued speech is "one of the most oppressive teaching methods."

Unlike AVT, where children are urged to utilize their speech to the fullest and communicate verbally, Cued Speech doesn't require a child to utilize his speech. It is simply a visual mode of expressing spoken language. At the same time, cuers can utilize their speech while cueing simultaneously. I cannot recall a case where a native cuer was admonished for using sign language or refusing to cue. Another point to make is that Cued Speech certainly isn't a widespread method like AVT and ASL are. In Minnesota, there are a few programs that incorporate both Cued Speech AND ASL together, as showcased in an episode of Reading Rockets, titled "Signs of Literacy."

5. Cued Speech is "not a language."

Well, Cued Speech is not a language, but a visual communication system that expresses spoken language verbatim. Instead, we refer to "cued languages" as the visual languages that native cuers are exposed to. Consider cued languages as a visual mirror of spoken languages. The concept of Cued Speech is to break down spoken language at the phonemic level so that each phoneme is visualized consecutively as a "cuem" to create a cued language. My first language was Cued American English in a Southern Dialect (i.e. my parents were from the South so they would cue to me the way they pronounce it in their distinct accent).

In the end, there'll always be animosity from people who don't understand or fear Cued Speech. The reality is there's no excuse to leave unsubstantiated derogatory remarks for people to see. These negative comments are a reflection on the detractors' character, and everyone can see plain and clear that those individuals are ignorant and prejudiced.

Aaron Cues
 
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