Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Tim Rikker's "Letter to the Editor" of USA Today

Tim Rikker, one of the respectable finanical advisor in the West Coast (CA), wrote the letter to the editor of "USA Today" newspaper appear today on 8/26/09 on the issue of cochlear implant.

Here is his letter to the editor -

Ear implants
Timothy Riker - Sacramento
It's important to educate readers that cochlear implants are not the silver bullet that some in the health care industry are claiming ("Giant steps for ear implants," Life, Aug. 17).

As a deaf person who learned American Sign Language as an infant, I had the social foundation needed to make me a successful person academically and professionally. I am disappointed with health care professionals such as Debara Tucci, the associate professor of otolaryngology at Duke University Medical Center, who said children who receive cochlear implants "are mainstreamed in school. They do beautifully. These kids won't need sign language." These words implied that deaf people who use sign language and attend a school for the deaf are inferior.
American Sign Language is a language to be respected as equal to spoken languages. Deaf people are not to be looked down upon because they communicate in sign language.
Posted at 12:07 AM/ET, August 26, 2009 in Letter to the editor, Medical Issues - Letters
hostName = '.usatoday.com';
USA TODAY welcomes your views and encourages lively -- but civil -- discussions. Comments are unedited, but submissions reported as abusive may be removed. By posting a comment, you affirm that you are 13 years of age or older.

This "letter to the editor" version of Tim Rikker seems shortened than appeared in the USA Today's print edition.

SEE THAT???? We, deaf citizens of Deaf America and other places around the world needs to spill our black kettle to spread our deaf activism than just whining and sitting on our rear behinds.

YOU COULD DO THAT BY YOURSELF! PLEASE STOP WORRYING ABOUT YOUR ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS. JUST DO IT! MANY OF YOU ARE REALLY SMART THAN YOU WOULD GIVE YOURSELF. SMILE! OR YOU COULD SUBMIT YOUR VIDEO POSTING IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE - AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AND MAKE EDITORS OF MASS MEDIA TO WORK OFF THEIR ASSES TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU SAID TO THEM.
LOL!

ASlize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog

12 comments:

  1. I'm Deaf and native user of ASL. I don't use hearing aids or CI and I don't intend on using them ever.

    I'm no fan of situations like this such as the very misleading statements made by persons like this audiology professional quoted in the news article.

    To be fair in this dialogue I'm no fan of Paul J. Kiel who doesn't welcome balanced viewpoints (e.g. ASL users who happen to benefit from CI) on his blog.

    I think the extreme sides on this spectrum is now ruining the credibility of this ongoing dialogue.

    Don't you find it odd that Paul J. Kiel rarely lets anyone post differing comments. I asked him if local deaf are supporting. He refused to answer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous,

    Oh I see about your real frustration with Paul KIel for not letting your comment to be posted which do not comply with his own personal ideology and belief.

    You are more than welcome to post your comment on my blog if you could not possibly get your comment published on Paul Kiel's blog/vlog posting. :)

    I agree with you that we need the real balanced viewpoint without resorting to such ideological leanings. :)

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

    RLM

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have yet to check on comments as there are hundreds and hundreds. I do not have the luxury of time of responding to thousands and thousands. I would have to hire someone to do that.

    In spite of it, I have no idea who anonymous was and what he or she wanted. This is interesting how he/she use my name and continue to be anonymous.

    What do you expect? He/she needs to let us know who he/she was.

    I ain't talking to a ghost.

    Adios!

    ReplyDelete
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