August 26, 2010
Dear Assemblymember Mendoza,
This is in response to your email inquiry (8/25) of the CDNIAS coalition’s new position on AB 2072.
An overarching goal for all of us: Setting the foundation of success for children who are Deaf and hard of hearing in homes, schools, communities and life.
• While AB2072 does address the need for providing complete and comprehensive information to parents of newborn Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, it does not address the most fundamental issues for success in academics and life, namely access to natural language from birth on. Too many Deaf children experience deprivation or delayed language access and development. Each year standards testing reveals the tragic consequences of delayed language acquisition for children who are Deaf and hard of hearing. The Senate and the Assembly needs to work with the Deaf Community and educators of Deaf students on enhancing and reinforcing early, natural language acquisition for all Deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
• The bill does designate the California Department of Education as being the agency to oversee the activities of the stakeholder advisory panel in producing the pamphlet to be given to parents, and this is a good start, though there are remaining issues regarding the composition and functioning of the advisory panel which will need to be expanded on later.
• With the exception of one potentially ambiguous phrase, the bill does recognize that for our country, the United States of America, and for our state, the State of California, there is only one visual language: American Sign Language, and that “communication modalities” are not languages.
In brief, ASL and English are languages; all the other options are communication modalities.
The inclusion of the stakeholders who use American Sign Language is the key to success.
• Any effort to create a bill that is proposing new policy in regard to Deaf infants and children, and Deaf individuals, must include the stakeholders, i.e., those who use American Sign Language. This is the key and is a human right.
• The inclusion of these stakeholders as participants in discussing the bill was not done from the onset. Audiologists and physicians are trained to focus only on the medical and physical aspects, and not on the significance of the educational aspects of being Deaf or hard of hearing. Therefore they are not stakeholders in educational success for Deaf children.
• This is evident more so now that an audiologists’ association has taken a position of opposition to the August 20 amended version of the bill, based on the fact that they will be required to tell parents about all communication and language opportunities. They know, as we do, that they do not have the knowledge and expertise to give accurate and adequate information about ASL. Their true colors are showing, especially in that they are apparently objecting to having to mention ASL at all.
• It is important to recognize that there are merits to the basic, overall objective of the bill, in that parents should be provided full and unbiased information. But we must also recognize and evaluate the language of the bill or the process to be used to determine whether it allows audiologists to exercise undue influence in advising parents on only some, but not all communication and language opportunities.
• The area of early identification and intervention definitely needs to be revisited next year. Audiologists’ opposition to the August 20 amended version constitutes a clear indication on their part of not grasping the significance of the educational importance of early and natural language acquisition, which access to American Sign Language can provide.
• It is important to recognize that there are still other areas of concern, such as the need for balanced representation on the stakeholder advisory panel. This should have already been worked out and will need to be taken care of next year.
Every parent wants to maximize opportunities for success for their children.
• We in CDNIAS represent the majority of the Deaf and hard of hearing community, including families and professionals who simply wish to protect parents from being blindly steered in a misguided direction, and protect their Deaf babies by helping families avoid becoming lost in the pitfalls of an over-reliance on the medical view, and by helping them become aware and focused on the positive, educational benefits that early, natural language acquisition provides. America’s visual language, ASL, gives those babies 100% access and plays to their strengths.
Language is a human right.
• The human right to sign language is included in the United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities recently signed by President Obama. The State of California is obligated to respect, protect and promote access to and use of American Sign Language. We have come a long way in our struggle for Deaf civil rights.
• We have a long way to go, however, toward working together to lift the oppression that our community has had to deal with over the past 130 years (since the resolutions of the Milan Conference where non-signing, non-Deaf professionals officially denigrated the benefits of natural signed languages). We are committed to working with you on future legislation recognizing the human right to and value of American Sign Language as a natural language, in early identification and intervention programs.
In conclusion.
• The Deaf and ASL Users Community must have full recognition, respect and representation in all matters which impact on us and our community. This expectation and right is also accorded to all ethnic and cultural minorities. We greatly value our Assembly members and Senators for demonstrating their intent to support and work with us, especially on future legislation.
Hence our new position is: support for the August 20 version of the amended bill, with the reservations and expectations noted in this open letter. This is a first step toward authentic partnerships to benefit all.
We salute our California Senators for stepping in to assist, for understanding the concerns of the ASL Community, and most importantly, recognizing that Deaf infants and toddlers rights to language takes precedence over anything else.
This letter will be posted on our official website www.opposeab2072.com for all Californians to see.
Thank you,
–California Deaf Newborn Identification and Advocacy Stakeholders Coalition (CDNIAS)