2009 NAD Youth Leadership Camp: Deaf Studies Day!

We've survived a full week here at YLC! The first week has definitely been an enriching experience! We can't even begin to imagine what's in store for us for the next three weeks, every day has been a surprise!

Today was deaf studies day! Ryan Commerson came to provide workshops for today, and he will be staying with us for the next couple of weeks! Before Ryan Commerson proceeded with his presentation he warned us, “What I am about to tell you will be overwhelming.” Upon hearing that, we were mystified; what could he possibly teach that was too much for us? We turned to each other and gulped “OVERWHELMING?” Ryan's presentation was based on his work from his Masters program at Gallaudet University!

First, Ryan explained that the environment and society that causes us to view things in an old frame of thinking. Old frame? What? It was difficult to take in what Ryan was saying in our heads, so instead Ryan showed us what he meant by old frame. He used an example, the word earth; a long time ago everyone thought that the earth was flat, that was their old frame. Today we know that the earth is round, that is our new frame. We still use the word earth, but our visual of the word is now different. He gave a piece of paper to five different groups, and asked us to draw the word, “deaf.” Easy, right? But we were wrong. Most of the group drew an ear with a cross over it, symbolizing that we couldn’t hear. Ryan told us that was the old frame. He went on to expand our minds by telling us that it’s not about what we can’t do, it’s about who we are, our own personal values and beliefs. He explained that we need to create a new frame, something we can use to define ourselves instead of letting others define us. After straightening things out, Ryan showed us two films created by Andrew Jones and Robert Sirvage, both from his Masters program at Gallaudet.

What Ryan said at the end made a big impact on us, he shared Jacques Derrida’s phonocentrism theory, an idea that suggested hearing people understand their existence by hearing themselves speak, so how do the deaf people understand their existence? Perhaps by the means of reciprocity? This means that we as deaf people, because we have good spatial understanding and ability to gesture, can communicate easily with people from other countries without even learning their language. Because this is possible, it suggests that ASL leads to less communication barriers and misunderstandings, further suggesting that deaf people could even lead us to world peace! It would lead to new knowledge of technology. New future, new everything.

Ryan emphasized that duality is important in the deaf community and the importance of creating a new frame. At the end, most of us were speechless as our minds were trying to process what Ryan had shared with us. Obviously it has made a good impression on us, as Ryan Baldiviez, member of Firefly, plans to go back to school and give a presentation to his high school peers on the matter of creating a new frame!

Oh boy! Fish sandwich and chips for lunch! There was something on the chef's board that got us all talking, "sit with your groups of fire, air, water, and earth astrological signs." Air signs include Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius. Earth signs include Virgo, Sagittarius and Leo. Fire signs include Aries, Capricorn, and Taurus. And water signs include Pisces, Scorpio, and Cancer. When sat down with each other, we noticed that many campers were air signs, we realized that there were so many people who had the same signs, and it shocked us. When we all sat down, we started talking about our sign and how it applied to our personalities. We talked up a storm, agreeing and disagreeing with things. “No! Libras are better than Gemini! “Please! Gemini are way better than Libras!” Before we knew it, lunch was over and it was time to go. We couldn’t believe it, time had gone by so fast, all we did was talk about our horoscopes! Maybe that was the chef's intention, to get us to learn more about each other!

After lunch we split into groups to write lists of words that apply to the old frame of "deaf." Words such as 'disabled', 'low functioning', 'delayed education'. When we finished we were told to throw that frame away, and to never use those words to describe ourselves ever again! Next we made a whole new list for our new frame of deaf! Those lists included words like 'global citizens', 'collective beings', 'we are what we are', 'we are one'. We felt inspired by our new frame!

After dinner we had our first official debate! "Give me a new definition of 'deaf,'" Vivienne Schroeder began the debate time. Four groups, A, B, Callus, and Firefly picked their brains, what kind of definition should we give and how do we support our definition? We were given five minutes to decide. After we figured out what we would argue, we sent our representatives to give the opening statement. After each team gave their statement, each group discussed their challenges for the other teams. We sent new representatives to go up and give our challenges, many of us were rusty on this part! When the challenges were given, all four groups once again gathered to discuss for rebuttal. After our new representatives gave our rebuttals, it was closing statement time! You see, it’s very important to have a strong and powerful closing statement. Often a powerful closing statement has a lasting impact on the judges.

“Our team, Callus, was great because of our teamwork. I am very impressed with our togetherness and I am very excited that we got first place for Debate Time. I felt that I contributed to the win for Callus!”-Leo Curry

Tonight at fireside, Ryan Commerson shared his story of how he grew up and how he first became an activist. He got his start in activism at Michigan School for the Deaf. He strongly feels that we as deaf people have a huge need for media and film so that we can educate others on our new frame and change the world one step at a time! His story was extremely inspiring! We enjoyed getting to know him a little better and are looking forward to knowing him more over the next couple of weeks!