July 19, 2001

Investigating into CSDR and Dr Stone

The NAD and the CAD are both investigating the situation, and will report their findings. It is necessary for everyone to wait for the results of the full investigation before making any statements of "blatant deaf discrimination."

There are situations in which a "deaf person" simply is fired from a job for not performing their job properly. There are some deaf people who, just like hearing people, simply get fired for not doing a good job. This needs to be understood by both the deaf and hearing communities. Neither the deaf or hearing communities should automatically "support" someone who has done a bad job in their work, or people who do illegal things, or engage in inappropriate behavior. Therefore, it is ESSENTIAL for people not to make ANY statements, since no one knows the truth, no one has seen the employment records in this case, no one has seen anything that really was the cause of the termination of Rachel Stone's employment. No one has seen the report by the professional consultant about Rachel Stone. Only Rachel Stone has had access to that employment file information, and she hasn't disclosed the information to the deaf community.

In addition, only Rachel Stone has access to her own employment records and files at the Indiana School for the Deaf, and she hasn't released that information to the deaf community either.

No one can reasonably "take sides" YET, until that information is released, and people KNOW which "side" to take. Everyone needs to wait and be much more patient, and the truth will be disclosed.

And no, "ASL" (as it is defined NOW... see the recent message I just posted to DCN because most people are still confused about this) IS NOT the "natural language" of everyone who is deaf and hard of hearing. One's "natural language" is the language that is used by their parents and families, at home, prior to entering school. ASL is only the "natural language" of deaf children from (usually) genetically deaf families that use ASL as the primary home language.

One's "culture" is the culture of their own parents and family members. Now, IN THE PAST, deaf children were not able to fully access their hearing parent's and family members' language or culture. That was in the past, and it is not true anymore. TODAY, deaf children CAN access the language and culture of their hearing parents and family members. The world is far different now than it was in the past. It is even different today than it was 5 years ago, and the future will bring even
more changes.