Hello all,

ASL Update here.

At the end of last month, the ACLU-DE quietly submitted their revised complaint re: DDOE to the OCR. While the complaint is improved in removing some of the most aggressive audist and anti-ASL language, and in making clearer that the goal of the complaint is to provide services in the southern part of the state, there are still some areas of concern. For example the ACLU-DE continues it's campaign of saviorism, attempting to reinvent the wheel rather than working with existing state providers and allies. The organization seems unable to process that Delaware has no centralized state service provider for D/HH students to ensure that services are equally spread across the state. A recommendation that one such agency be established was delivered by D/HH educators a decade ago, and should be the priority, again, working with existing providers. For this to be possible, district LEAs will need to be on board and give up some power and money to support their D/HH students. 

The complaint also contains language that attempts to parse between deaf and hard-of-hearing children, and other demonstrations of the organization's limited knowledge of the Deaf ed sphere, or of language deprivation. This is particularly concerning given the very oralist stated goals of the previous complaint.

Finally, there has been minimal public interfacing with the revision of the new complaint, no ASL or captioned access, or even press release to this new step in the process. This leaves their harmful language from the first draft still hanging in the air, and raises questions about true intentions and relationships still being fostered. Recall that a very outspoken, anti-ASL oralist advocacy group leader remains a valued "ambassador" for the ACLU-DE as listed on their website. As the ACLU-DE has previously worked in tandem with LSL-only advocacy groups, including said ambassador, in an attempt to close DSD via the state legislature, and has not yet owned up to harm done, their actions continue to concern the community at this time. 

I'd encourage you to read the revised complaint for yourself, here, and contact the ACLU-DE directly with concerns to let them know they are still being held accountable by the community and allies.

(You can also follow along with all the updates in ASL with closed captions in the ACLU-DE highlight on my instagram account @photonovic.)