Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing — Attraction in Washington

AGBell Association controls information and narratives about Deaf people but they are not Deaf themselves. They fail to honor the "nothing about us, without us" principle by continuing to make decisions about a group (Deaf people) without their leadership and involvement. I struggle to understand how can AGBell Association act neutral and support so-called 'parental choices' then constantly go around making dehumanizing statements about Deaf people. It is not ever okay to discriminate, oppress, demean, and insult a group of people, especially when they are already marginalized in society. I ask AGBell Association to listen to those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing and learn their truths.

Here is a honest perspective coming from a Deaf person.

English-only route is nowhere close to being inclusive and is actually a route of taking risks and chances for Deaf babies. There are too many Deaf children and adults who are uneducated and illiterate due to not being successful in acquiring spoken language even with cochlear implants/hearing aids. Statistics on Deaf children's quality of life, mental health, language skills, and academic skills are harrowing. All linguistically deprived Deaf children and adults I have met are from English-only backgrounds. I can't count how many times I have seen oral Deaf adults coming into Deaf community saying "I finally can learn with ASL." And often times their English improve through their acquisition of ASL. Studies after studies have revealed this reality. Look to science, not fears. The majority of Deaf people in the Deaf community today are products of oral education and they gravitate to ASL because it enhances their quality of life. They are angry at being cheated out of good education and good life due to misconceptions spread by organizations like AGBell. AGBell wants to divide us into two camps - Pro-ASL or Pro-English and denies the reality of many Deaf people's lives being raised bilingually. Get with the times and reality. Many of us are bilinguals & bimodals and this method is inclusive , guarantees success, has no risks, and opens up the world to us. Don't go down the route of gambling on Deaf children's language development by hoping they have sufficient access to spoken language. It is never guaranteed. Give Deaf children everything. Give them ASL. Give them English. Give them everything. Deaf people care about Deaf children because we are Deaf children grown up. We have seen it all. Our parents have been duped by...

The Alexander Graham Bell Association was founded by a notorious eugenicist who publicly called for the elimination of an entire language and community of people solely based on the fact they were physically different from himself. He referred to the spread of this group and their culture as a "calamity".

The organization that Bell founded has continued his legacy and aims by continually spreading lies and misinformation and has done irreparable harm to the linguistic, cognitive, academic, and social development of the Deaf children they profess to "care" for. Their legacy and harm continues even through to today.

The AGBell association should be classified as a hate organization, and their public pronouncements as hate speech. Accordingly, the AGBell association should be formally disbanded and sanctioned, should any of its members or officials continue to spread its particular brand of hate.

Oh, and this organization professes to "bring Deaf people and their families together". Tell that to my family, who I have a distant and strained relationship with, all because AGBell and their proxies lied to my parents and the parents of untold numbers of Deaf children like me.

My only regret in this review is that I cannot give a negative star rating to this reprehensible...

I would give this organization negative stars if I could.

The message they spread to parents of Deaf* children are horrendous. They suppress sign language and focus entirely on speech. While being able to speak is not a problem- it's the fact they criticize sign language despite the countless research that shows how amazing sign language is. They even mock American Sign Language saying that it's a "method" and not a language, which it is!

The Deaf Community* has had it. We are tired of the oppressive, offensive things they do to hurt Deaf* people and the parents who deserve to do what they want to do... raise a happy and successful Deaf* child. And they can! Just not with AG Bell's hypocritical "advices."

Plus upon review of their financial information through Guidestar, their finances are NOT stable and their CEO are overpaid ($180k at last glance) for the terrible work yet do. This is NOT an organization you want to donate or support. They are performing cultural genocide and oppressing so many Deaf* children...