She compares the arguments in favor of oralism to the phenomenon facing Frankenstein, a hideous, unloved monster who yearns to conform to social norms.
…people wish for conformity or assimilation into the norm to avoid pain, segregation, and rejection. It is from these historical fears that Oralists acquire their fundamental value that assimilation into the hearing world is most beneficial for all involved.
On the other hand, Baker describes pro-ASL groups as those who highly value social-emotional benefits and the privilege to exercise human rights. She compares their philosophy to that of Thomas Hobbes, who said, “The first and fundamental law of nature . . . is to seek peace and follow it.” According to Baker, social-emotional stability is one way to be at peace with oneself. Connecting Hobbes with the civil rights protected by the Constitution, she concludes that:
Those who support ASL understand the privilege and compulsion to practice these natural laws, as they are rights that should belong to every human without question.
While oralism allegedly shuns visual and manual access to language, I’m not sure that protesting at the AGBell Conference with posters such as AGBELL’S IDEOLOGY HINDERS DEAF KIDS, MANY DEAF CHILDREN WERE DEPRIVED IN EDUCATION BY ORAL METHOD, or AGBELL WAS A PROUD EUGENICIST, AND SO WAS ADOLF HILTER would be effective. If anything, it may validate hearing parents’ fears of their children becoming angry deaf people who isolate themselves from society (an erroneous generalization, of course).
Fortunately, parents have the authority and freedom to choose their children’s communication at home and in the classroom (via Individualized Education Plans). This leaves it up to different, and often, competing ideologies to win the support of parents of deaf children. But why compete? Perhaps there is no “wrong” way to communicate with deaf children. Baker explains, “A solution to this debate has been long coming, and may never come, as the choice in communication methods for deaf individuals largely revolves around the fundamental values held by each individual.”
The people who intend to protest at the AGBell Conference will dig a deeper hole for pro-ASL supporters if they throw mud rather than take the higher road.