Most of us never give much thought to the exclusion of deaf people. And deaf people don’t give a damn about the exclusion of blind people, because they’re deaf and not blind, and deaf is definitely worse based on a poll at Gallaudet University. This is why clapping is literally horrifying.
Britain’s largest national student union has told attendees of its annual conference they would face “consequences” for cheering and clapping because these forms of expression exclude deaf people.
What those consequences might be is unclear, though it clearly involved repeated warnings, public shaming, and the occasional burning of a witch. And like all truly exhausting problems, it required the institution of official rules to make it so.
In response to the complaints, the Durham University student union proposed a motion at the conference that would see clapping and whooping banned at all future NUS events. According to the motion, “access needs of disabled students are disregarded/overlooked in terms of conference member behaviour and NUS structures”.
But if not clapping*, then how would students make their approval known?
Instead of clapping, the students were advised to use “jazz hands” – a gesture when people wave their hands in the air – as it’s believed to be more inclusive to people with hearing problems.
For those living in caves, here’s a tutorial on jazz hands.
Fun stuff, for sure. But there is a problem, a very serious problem, in the direction taken that favors the inclusion of the deaf at the expense of the blind. The notion is that the deaf can’t hear clapping, and might therefore be left out of the loop when something is said that the audience appreciates.
Stop it immediately, pointing out that they can’t hear what is said making this all absurd. They could have a sign language interpreter you know, who could similarly interpret that the audience is clapping, even though that would probably stigmatize the deaf where the sign language interpreter is otherwise a wonderful thing. But I digress.
Yet, why is it viable for blind people to note jazz hands and not clapping? Is clapping invisible? Are they incapable of seeing hands striking each other repeatedly? Has science failed to recognize this peculiar phenomenon, when it can “see” the Higgs Boson but not clapping hands?
And why do they hate blind people so much? After all, a blind person can hear the presentation, appreciate its brilliance, but then be denied the inclusiveness of watching jazz hands raised around the room. Could there be any other purpose to this seeming madness?
This isn’t the first time the student union has tackled the issue of clapping. In the past, some NUS events banned clapping because it might “trigger anxiety”.
So it’s not just that clapping excludes the deaf, but could give rise to mass anxiety. Sorry, blind people, but you’re just going to have to suck it up and be happy in silence.
*Yes, whooping was banned as well, which reflects the institutional disdain for vulnerable and marginalized hillbillies.
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Is this more proof of the self-evident truth too much virtue signaling ain’t enough?
This is what comes of the inevitable conflicts of virtue, when one gets favored at the expense of another, even when there isn’t an actual problem in the first place.
I think, although I admit I’m not certain, that what you’re referring to as “jazz hands” is actually how you represent applause in ASL. I’m too lazy this morning to look it up, but I’m basing that statement on the experience of sitting in church on a Sunday that was also the 4th of July and watching the interpreter as the national anthem was sung as the benedictory hymn. When everybody was clapping at the end, the interpreter was doing jazz hands, as I understand them anyway.
Also should mention that the ASL sign for the word “brave” is totally badass.
I’ll give you credit for braving the obvious when you have the fortitude to leave a comment that includes the admission that you’re too lazy to know whether what you say in your comment is accurate. A bold move.
As it happens, I’m a bit familiar with ASL, as my daughter studied it for seven years, serving as sign language interpreter on occasion. She gave it up in her last year of college when her prof, a Gallaudet grad, made clear that she hated hearing people doing ASL as they were corrupting deaf culture.
To the radicalized deaf, it wasn’t a handicap at all, but an entirely different language and culture, and hearing people were unworthy of participating. They can take their jazz hands and shove ’em. They can see clapping.
As for the radical deaf perspective, watch this (to the end).
Where are sign language interpreters supposed to come from if hearing people never learn sign language?
An excellent question.
OK, OK, I looked it up and what seemed obvious in church that morning was, in fact, obvious. Jazz hands, or something very close to it, is (are?) in fact the ASL sign for applause. I’ve always prided myself on having a keen grasp of the obvious.
My oldest daughter was similar to yours, in that she was interested in languages and self-taught herself ASL in high school and college. Fortunately, she didn’t suffer from the misfortune that your daughter did of crossing paths with someone who was so caught up in their orthodoxy to the point that they’d shame a young person for showing intellectual curiosity. I’d say shame on your daughter’s prof, but her commitment to her dogma probably allows no room for shame.
In 75 years this guy’s philosophical descendants will be fighting for the right to keep their children stupid.
This guy? Okay then.
Are the deaf students really bothered by the whooping? And if they are, are they really deaf?
That’s a question only they can answer, and then only if they’re being honest as opposed to searching desperately for microaggressions that they don’t really give a shit about but can use to demonstrate their victimosity.
Even so, there is a very real question of “so what?” The alternative is Harrison Bergeron, and that kinda sucks for everybody. When it’s a zero sum game between the vulnerable, somebody has to lose.
On the illuminated stage, where the theater is otherwise dark, the performers (assuming they’re not deaf) can hear the applause and cheers. The waving hands and arms? No so much.
Of course, if the cheers and applause are for the audience rather than the performer . . . .
I’m off, now, to put in my hearing aids (I’m not quite deaf, though without them in I miss a hell of a lot).
That’s why I rely on Garrett Morris.
As long as Francisco Franco is still dead, that should work.
He’s making a comeback.
Jeff’s was a humorous retort in his thread. See?
Prohibitions against whooping are why they make those miniature air horns.
Also, why they make ‘shine.
Careful. Shine leads to hollerin’, and those not of Central Appalachian heritage shouldn’t be appropriating holler culture, lest it lead to another hate crime of the magnitude of the Civil Wars’ breakout hit.
The clamor about inclusion and exclusion is really over the top. Should restaurants close because some people cannot taste food? Should botanical gardens close because some people cannot smell the flora? Should art galleries close because some cannot see the paintings? Should architects design without varying textures because some cannot feel them? Should the music industry shut down because some cannot hear? The extent to which some rail against this or that “exclusion” is past the point of absurdity.
At some art museums, they have braille signs next to the images. It’s unclear how they find the signs along those big walls. We do what we can, but reality tends to make life a problem for people with disabilities. That’s why they’re disabilities. Would it be great if we could accommodate every issue, without creating a detriment to someone else? Sure. It can’t always be done.
They put Braille on the keys on the drive-up ATMs, too.
That’s always unnerved me a bit. Is the driver of the car pulling up behind me one of the folks who need the Braille?
Since walk up ATM’s must have Braille keys, I would assume it’s just easier to manufacture all the keys the same for every machine as a money saving issue.
Well, aren’t you the little fun-sucker.
So, I just had to go searching. Wow. Worth the five minutes:
“. . . who could similarly interpret that the audience is clapping”
Or, you know, just look around. After all, they’re *deaf* – not blind. Its like these people don’t even bother to think through the implications of the policies they wish to implement. I guess ‘inclusion’ is too important to wait.
But none of this is about inclusion. This particular piece of insanity came to national attention during Occupy *, where idiots decided that clapping was too bourgeois. All the rest of it has been just looking for a justification that even their own members won’t say is too ridiculous.
It’s always gratifying when someone spells out in painful detail what I’ve alluded to in a post, so that the intellectually challenged don’t feel excluded. Thank you.
Glad to help.
This is the same country that produced a government directive to use “thought shower” instead of “brainstorm” because the word brainstorm was supposedly offensive to epileptics. This rightly earned the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council an earful from the National Society for Epilepsy for being condescending, but being Britain “thought shower” has spread anyway.
So “thought shower” has seized the country?
Taken it by storm, apparently.
Wonder what Helen Keller’s take would be on this?
I noticed a bunch of those students can walk, speak, and even chew food. There are many who cannot.
This isn’t about virtue signaling. This is about training people to be silent. Silence the mob through shame and not by force, then watch them thank you for their enlightenment.
England is lost. You will burn culture, society, your arts, and your sense of self with a clear conscience and sense of purpose.
This is your end, and it will be silent.
Most relatively sentient people recognize that there are people who are worse off than they are, in one way or another. At the same time, they realize that everyone has their problems. Yet, we all go about our lives. There’s nothing to be ashamed of for being able to walk, speak and chew food, and if deaf people think hearing people should be shamed into not clapping (or walking, hearing or chewing food), then they’re narcissistic entitled nuts.
If you can’t go through your day without a clear conscience and sense of purpose because someone out there has a disability that you haven’t sufficiently been trained by shame to appreciate, then serious psychiatric help is warranted. Empathy is fine. Psychosis is not.
So now you’re a slychologist? Is that not outside of your conundrum? Not to mention training!
Report me. I dare you, snitch.