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Hello everyone!
I hope to make this vlog short and sweet, and straight to the point.
Well, I am going to explain three reasons why
everyone should partake in #whyIsign campaign on March 13-15th.
Firstly, the Deaf community is now on the RISE.
We are more visible in media lately.
For instance, Nyle DiMarco has won America's Next Top Model.
And now he is part of Dancing with the Stars!
#Deaftalent has been appearing everywhere.
There's more deaf-owned businesses popping up everywhere.
Mozzeria.
Crepe Crazy.
The ASL App.
Even our White House has a Deaf receptionist!
Really, it's amazing how we are on the rise now.
So what we need to do is that we MUST ride on that wave.
It is perfect timing for us to educate everyone about
the importance of sign language. We must do it now.
Secondly, I traveled around the world.
I realized sign language is certainly universal.
Yeah. I met so many international Deaf people.
They have different sign language than me, but we were
able to adapt and communicate in International Signs.
And it was a blast!
I went to several Deaflympics and World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).
It was truly fun interacting with many of them.
Now I had moment of realization about hearing people.
For example, a hearing Russian person meets an hearing American person.
The American knows only English, and the Russian knows only Russian language.
They don't know each other's languages. They will be stumped.
And that results into a communication breakdown.
They will have to resort to superficial gestures.
While we, the Deaf people, have that advantage of communicating.
Thus sign language is clearly universal.
In fact, when I travel around the world, I feel lucky to be Deaf. Truly.
Thirdly, we need to grab this opportunity to educate
the society about the importance of sign language and early language acquisition.
It bothers me that history has shown that
many doctors, audiologists, and cochlear implants companies
tend to tell families of deaf children that they should not sign with them at all,
and that it will disrupt their speaking capabilities.
For your information, research has proven that this is NOT true.
In fact, it has been proven that sign language CAN support and improve their speaking capabilities.
I am going to give you an example.
My girlfriend, Sam, comes from a hearing family.
She was actually the first girl in Philadelphia to receive a cochlear implant.
Fortunately, her doctor told her family that they should expose her to sign language at an early age too.
So she grew up using both cochlear implant and sign language.
She was able to switch between signing and talking.
She succeed at a lot of things, and was involved in dance shows.
She enrolled in Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
But looking back, she realized that it was really exhausting to lip-read and speak.
It was frustrating for her to navigate through those obstacles.
As for sign language, she always feel comfortable and at ease.
Now she looks back and realized that sign language is her way of life.
While her cochlear implant is simply a tool.
So I ask you, doctors, audiologists, and cochlear implant companies, to work with us
and STOP denying deaf children access to sign language. Enough is enough.
Stop doing this. Period.
They need their foundation,
and that is sign language.
Now some of you are curious who can be part of this #whyIsign campaign?
Well, it's for EVERYONE!
Teachers: you can do this with your students. Make this into a class project.
Discuss with them why sign language is important to them? Share your stories!
Families: you can film your stories with your children!
Discuss why sign language is cherished to your family.
Our allies like CODAs and hearing parents of Deaf children.
Share stories about how you realize it is SO important to use sign language with your Deaf family members.
I also want to see organizations get involved.
Like ***, WFD, and many more!
Other countries too! I want this to become a global movement!
We need to work together and tell everyone all Deaf people need sign language to succeed.
Not only that, artists too. I challenge every one of you to come up with ideas,
make paintings, create drawings, take photos that capture the essence of sign language.
Explain why do you value sign language. Do share your artworks!
Colleges too! Gallaudet, RIT/NTID, and CSUN.
You can come up with your own stories. Fraternities and sororities, your stories are welcomed too!
I want to see EVERYONE get involved in #whyIsign campaign!
Now, why the dates March 13-15th?
Well, there is a BIG conference going on during those dates.
What is it? EHDI, also known as Early Hearing Detection and Intervention.
But, we, the Deaf community, prefer to look EHDI as Early Healthy Deaf Identity.
What is that conference about?
Many medical people will be there like doctors, audiologists, and cochlear implant companies.
Also many concerned hearing parents of deaf babies will be there, looking for answers.
We must grab this chance to educate them that sign language is the ANSWER to a deaf child's education.
We need to explain them the importance of early language acquisition.
It is our goal to see our stories go viral and #whyIsign to become trending.
Trending means a topic to be the subject of many posts on a social media website within a short period of time.
We want to see #whyIsign to be trending on Facebook sidebar, so curious people
can click on the link and see different stories, artworks, articles, statistics and other stuff about sign language.
Right now, it's our prime (typo in video) time to educate them that sign language is the answer.
This will change a lot of deaf children's lives in the future, indeed.
I will conclude this vlog with one of my favorite quotes.
Who said this? Pierre Desloges.
Some of you might remember this quote from my #captionTHIS video in the past.
This quote was written in 1779
I am still in awe of this quote, because it still applies to this day.
And that quote is exactly the reason why I cherish sign language,
and that quote is also the reason why I think everyone, including hearing people, should learn sign language.
You will see the quote at the end of this vlog.
Thank you for watching and do feel free to SHARE this vlog.
Do post this vlog on community pages. Do spread the word.
We want to see everyone get involved in this campaign and to see #whyIsign to officially become trending!
Again, thanks for watching!