Joey, awesome vlog I ever watch! I concurred with you all the way about NAD needs to stand up against AGBell for pass out those mails. Not to AFA so they get scolded. Seriously, NAD needs to make a major changes and go back to what George Veditz did in the past that he cherish ASL and Deaf community. AFA didn’t do anything wrong at all for which I supported them all the way. You’ve said it all in your vlog. 😀

Good for you Joey!!! Always admire your determination to put certain “Hearies” back in their place!

I believe in signing ASL and mouthing English so I stand on my own. There are interpreters out there who need lots of work too! They keep “talking” more than signing ASL when there are “Hearies” who arent well versed in ASL. The “Deaf” are not aware of this and are somewhat slighted.

We have to watch certain “Certified Interpreters” who also have an attitude , When using VRS,, certain of them feel a need to explain what I may not understand some “PHrases”. This has to stop!

I instill in my students learning ASL they should never ever step over the boundary.

I would appreciate if you can specify the person who did the scolding to us AFAers and what exact reason was it for? Then we can scold that NAD person for being trivial. Thanks. Dean

Really? I am surprised.

I know that one of the NAD’s board members was there. You mean, he was there to “tattle-tell” the Board what AFA were doing over there? (I know, you didn’t say that)

Come on NAD — wake up and smell the coffee.

Joey . . . good perspective on your part! I’m glad you made this vlog and I wholeheartedly agree with you. it has been going on for too long so we got to say “Enough is enough!” You’re right, NAD is taking the wrong stance. Perhaps I can help in a small way. Hear me out. I am the editor for Deaf Seniors of America quarterly newsletter “New Horizons”. Is there a way we could connect via VP or emails without listing our phone numbers or email address on this site?

I totally agree with you, 110%!! NAD said AFA “desecrated Volta bldg” huh?!…with the tape?! oh please!!
It sure is a shame that NAD would take stand for AGB instead of AFA! Shame, shame on NAD!
We will not give up, we will keep taking our stand for AFA, til death do us part! Go AFA
Go!!

In the past the former president of NAD, George Veritz, confronted with Alexander Graham Bell. He scolded or criticized Bell. He was a strong fighter. You have to keep in mind that we have different leaders of the NAD. In the past the NAD leaders were very strong and stood by Deaf people. Nowadays there are different breeds of NAD leaders. I guess in the past there were not many organizations. Nowadays there are so many organizations. NAD has more responsibilities to focus many issues. I guess NAD does have its priorities.

AGBELL organization is very powerful because there are money talks. Is NAD a powerful organization is an excellent question? Look at the organization for the Blind. It is very powerful because the blind people themselves speak for themselves. NAD people do relay on hearing people because they use interpreters as well relay operators. We, the deaf people, always get second handed information, not first-handed information. I always have an impossible dream to teach the whole world to sign.

Dean – it will not be helpful if we name the person but that person claim that he represents NAD – enough said.

Phil – yes, NAD representative was there but left after few hours I presume.

Perhaps this incident will galvanize the NAD membership to be more careful about who is nominated and voted to serve on the board.

There’s an old quotation (author unknown): “Text out of context is a pretext.” In other words, everything must be placed in context to be evaluated, understood, and acted upon.

You said that AGB was encouraging people to join in for free. I find this very strange but are they up to something?

I wonder if NAD could do the same thing and then encourage people to join in for free and make donations. Perhaps this will help strengthen the NAD organization and include more powerful voices. Your thoughts?

i agreed with sandra we still depends on hearing people no matter what but nad shoudnt have no plms becoming powerful organization when we do have deaf lawyers and ceo etc that should makes the organization stronger. the question is does monies is the big issues? do we have enough monies to make this organization stronger if so maybe we should have more empower, better staff, etc etc big question mark!!!

My suggestion to resolve this issue. Go to NAD conference next summer and make sure we vote in board members who will take a stand against AGB and focus on deaf education issues. Good Vlog Joey

Hmmm..

Excellent VLOG.. I’d be EXTREMELY frustrated like you!!!

Is NAD Prez deaf or hearing? Hearing in mind? Hmm..

Does NAD get giant sum of money from AGB? If so, could that be the reason of NAD scolding on AFA for their performance… ?

I challenge you. Go to CAD Conference on Aug 11-14. http://www.cad1906.org.

Tom – unfortunately, I have annual family vacation on same week. Not only that but I am not able to make a big commitment yet because I have a young family. One way or other, I will continue to contribute in other ways as always. 🙂

I could never figure out why the Deaf community should urge the U.S. Congress to recognize American Sign Language and have Deaf Awareness for a week like Martin Luther King. Ask the U.S. Congress make it a law, so every year we can appreciate ASL and Deaf Awareness for a week and have it as a holiday.

Joey, I understand. While you’re busy with your other commitments, hearing parents with young deaf children are attending AG Bell conferences.

Maybe I can make some suggestions, why not the Deaf or HOH urge the McDonald Hamburger, Wendy, Burger King and other fast food enterprises to allow the Deaf or HOH to run the fast food to the public to earn the money to support the Deaf or HOH community. Maybe have one or two in each state. That would be nice to raise funds to support the Deaf or HOH. We Deaf buy alot of fast food from these companies. I understand that in Europe, they have the Deaf or HOH to own the fast food enterprise to make the income for the Deaf Service or whatever you want to do with the money. That would provide more jobs only for the Deaf. Good Idea!!! Get busy and communicate with the owners of these enterprises. I dont know if they would do that or not. Better take a chance than not doing anything. We could urge we have so many Deaf or HOH in U.S. How many??? I am not accurate on the figure. Something to consider. Even Cocola or any kind of drinks.

Tell me how can we Stop AGBell. If you can find a well known Deaf or Hearing person to give workshop in front of AGBell conference to show the parents that we care about the Deaf babies’ communication of ASL. Will that work or not, I am not sure. Need have a committee of different intelligent Deaf or HOH to discuss different ideas to confront AGBell. Can do that thru Video Conference.

What is wrong with NAD!!!! What do NAD stand for???

You are right and you say it very clear! NAD should stand up strong like George Veditz did. RID (Regional Interpreters for the Deaf) used to have many deaf officers and deaf members. Now a very few members or officers, what happened? They are not involved in the Deaf community or let them know about their “deaf” events. RID and NAD work together right? About six years ago, I went to the NAD HQ in Silver Springs with two other deaf couples, a front desk lady does not know sign language and some officers are hearing, they work at the NAD…What? Hope your VLOG helps..NAD needs to wake up.

ExcellentEST vlog, Joey. You laid out all the important points yet still gave us hope to keep on acting.

Sometimes before we can challenge our system, we need to take care of our people first. Like it or not, NAD is our people. And their action hurt the Deaf community, period. NAD needs to retract this certain board member’s scolding of AFA, and proclaim their support for AFA, a GRASSROOTS organization up against an well-oiled, well-funded, well-lawyered up organization (AG Bell!)

To those of you commenters who have ideas on how to do this, keep this up! The best thing we can do at this point is to keep showing up, discussing, keeping the flame burning. Consciousness!

HEY, YES I AGREED WITH YOU. NAD SHOULD BE STANDING UP!!!!