I Have a Dream
It would be fatal for the Deaf tribe to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Deaf's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. I am writing this column to remind Gallaudet and the world around us, in the timeless words of Martin Luther King Jr., of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
The point that I am trying to make is: Why can't we Gallaudetians have what almost every hearing university out there has? We simply need the labs and equipment to conduct meaningful research. I needn't go into small details now, but it is certainly reasonable to believe that we can develop some collaborative research relationships with other universities. For example, we could have three Gallaudet biology majors go to GW and use their scanning electron microscope to do some research on the cytoskeleton structure of a cochlear cell for microbiology lab. There are more than plenty areas in science that desperately needs further research on. I know that there are plenty smart Deaf people.
After reading his I Have a Dream speech several times and being repeatedly inspired, I can no longer remain silent. As our martyred hero Dr. King said, "Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights."
The ADA law was only the beginning. I am no longer content with having to spend five times as much time as the typical hearing graduate student simply to keep up with the course's pace. That never was a problem at Gallaudet. The lack of naturally flowing conduits of communication is why Deaf people are hard-pressed to function naturally and normally in hearing society. Today - echoing Dr. King - the Deaf is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
Hearing people might ask "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied when the Deaf is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of social exclusion. We can never be satisfied when we are told "it is just a little extra study time." We can never be satisfied when we use a paper and pen to communicate if the technology that can make these obstacles disappear exists.
The combination of augmented reality with speech and sign language recognition will enable the Deaf and hearing to hold a face-to-face conversation without an interpreter. Just recall of how Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger saw things in Terminator 3. Tone things down a little, and that is a glimpse into our future!
Where better else to develop that kind of technology than at Gallaudet? Surely, it would help bring some prestige to the languishing Math/Computer Science department. That type of work would require collaboration with the Linguistics department in order to parameterize the individual intricacies of ASL, as well with various departments, making it a true multidisciplinary project, which will be very reflective of the liberal arts school that Gallaudet is.
Successfully enabling a computer to "understand" sign language brings with it wide implications. For one, you have the possibility of developing a "Deaf robot" that would enable "remote interpreting" for Deaf-blind persons who then would be free to sit wherever they wanted. Even more shocking is the very real possibility of developing the capability to communicate via brain waves. I know it sounds scary, but at Cal Tech, they have developed a neural implant that reads arm and hand movements as brain waves and conveys them to a computer or a prosthetic. Add that to Sony's newly patented technique in which a device fires ultrasonic pulses into the brain to create what is described as "sensory experiences." Theoretically, if we have a robust capability for sign language recognition and we are able to both download and upload specific arm/hand movement data via the brain, the Deaf would be the first people able to communicate telepathically. Our stock value would skyrocket!
In closing, I would like to invoke Martin Luther King once more: Let myself not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
The point that I am trying to make is: Why can't we Gallaudetians have what almost every hearing university out there has? We simply need the labs and equipment to conduct meaningful research. I needn't go into small details now, but it is certainly reasonable to believe that we can develop some collaborative research relationships with other universities. For example, we could have three Gallaudet biology majors go to GW and use their scanning electron microscope to do some research on the cytoskeleton structure of a cochlear cell for microbiology lab. There are more than plenty areas in science that desperately needs further research on. I know that there are plenty smart Deaf people.
After reading his I Have a Dream speech several times and being repeatedly inspired, I can no longer remain silent. As our martyred hero Dr. King said, "Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights."
The ADA law was only the beginning. I am no longer content with having to spend five times as much time as the typical hearing graduate student simply to keep up with the course's pace. That never was a problem at Gallaudet. The lack of naturally flowing conduits of communication is why Deaf people are hard-pressed to function naturally and normally in hearing society. Today - echoing Dr. King - the Deaf is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
Hearing people might ask "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied when the Deaf is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of social exclusion. We can never be satisfied when we are told "it is just a little extra study time." We can never be satisfied when we use a paper and pen to communicate if the technology that can make these obstacles disappear exists.
The combination of augmented reality with speech and sign language recognition will enable the Deaf and hearing to hold a face-to-face conversation without an interpreter. Just recall of how Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger saw things in Terminator 3. Tone things down a little, and that is a glimpse into our future!
Where better else to develop that kind of technology than at Gallaudet? Surely, it would help bring some prestige to the languishing Math/Computer Science department. That type of work would require collaboration with the Linguistics department in order to parameterize the individual intricacies of ASL, as well with various departments, making it a true multidisciplinary project, which will be very reflective of the liberal arts school that Gallaudet is.
Successfully enabling a computer to "understand" sign language brings with it wide implications. For one, you have the possibility of developing a "Deaf robot" that would enable "remote interpreting" for Deaf-blind persons who then would be free to sit wherever they wanted. Even more shocking is the very real possibility of developing the capability to communicate via brain waves. I know it sounds scary, but at Cal Tech, they have developed a neural implant that reads arm and hand movements as brain waves and conveys them to a computer or a prosthetic. Add that to Sony's newly patented technique in which a device fires ultrasonic pulses into the brain to create what is described as "sensory experiences." Theoretically, if we have a robust capability for sign language recognition and we are able to both download and upload specific arm/hand movement data via the brain, the Deaf would be the first people able to communicate telepathically. Our stock value would skyrocket!
In closing, I would like to invoke Martin Luther King once more: Let myself not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
1 Comments:
The truth shall set us free, the truth about the infamous RIDOR!!!
http://rt101.blogspot.com/
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