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Deaf people, like everyone else, CAN do anything they set their minds to (but hear!) If you birth a Deaf child or make a friend who is Deaf, you CAN communicate with them. You CAN learn American Sign Language. My parents are Deaf and I am a professional sign language interpreter. I've seen it happen time and time again. Jennifer is showing her support for ASL NOW! #ASLNOW #DeafCAN #DeafIsNormal #CODA #AmericanSignLanguage #ASL

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#DeafHeart Jennifer Clifford: I have been in the signing community for 21 years. I love these people. I love their language, culture and hearts. I thank them everyday for the gift they have given me. I would not be where I am today without them! #EndAudism #ASLNOW #Interpreter #Ally #SanDiego #Deaf #ASL

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His name is Armando Contreras. This ASL NOW picture represents Armando in #ASL as a welder. His is a professional and welding is his craft. Armando says, "Those of you out there that are #Deaf like me, follow your dreams, you can be whatever you want to be and you can do anything! Don't let anyone tell you any different!" Here is Armando showing his support for ASL NOW. #EndAudism #ASLNOW Facebook: ASL NOW

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Modela Kurzet was born #Deaf. She was an only child of Deaf parents. She attended the School for the Deaf in #Poland for 13 years. She used sign language, #PSL communication, with her parents, but in school, no sign language was allowed. The teacher was abusive and would slap her hands with wood to the point that they were badly swollen. Modela was unable to use sign language for 13 years (Poland was a communist country at that time) in Poland. She survived by reading lips and through speech. This period of her life before her family left Poland was not an easy time. They left Poland and journeyed to #Toronto, #Canada. Modela was enrolled in the Metro Toronto School for the Deaf at the age of 14, where she began learning English and #AmericanSignLanguage. She was so thrilled to finally be allowed to communicate in #ASL with her teachers, students and interpreters. She felt a sense of freedom for the first time in her life. For Modela, being allowed to use her hands and use American Sign Language was very important to her because it gave her and her classmates access to success in their lives. Modela's English began to improve after American Sign Language became a part of her life. Modela is so thankful that her family were able to immigrate to the free country of Canada. Modela says, "I feel very fortunate to have ASL in my life and also have the freedom to live in the USA. I join our community board members at GLAD & PSCAD by showing our support for ASL NOW!" #EndAudism #ASLNOW Facebook: ASL NOW

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This little baby is Deaf and his name is Gaius Lee. He has Deaf parents and their names are Thanya Marie and Jeffrey Lee DuPree. He also has a Deaf grandma, Gilda DuPree. They attended the ASL NOW photo shoot at UCLA, July 2013. His Deaf mother's ‪#ASLNOW‬ photo WAS TAKEN while she was five months pregnant with Gaius Lee DuPree. His Deaf father's ASL NOW photo for "Stop Oppression" was taken when Gaius Lee was born and they found out that he is an ‪#ASL‬ born user and at that time the family moved to Riverside, California. After they settled down they asked family friend Jasun Hicks an ASL NOW photographer, to take the photos of Gaius Lee so they could add Gaius' photos to the ASL NOW family portraits that are on display in their home. He and his big brother are 5th generation Deaf from their father's side. Gaius Lee is an actor and model and will attend California School for the Deaf, Riverside, in 2015. With the Clock (the blue butterfly wings are very old, a hundred years old) that given to his family by Antonia Lindsey, who was recently diagnosed with Meinere Disease. My family supports her new discovery in her ‪#Deafhood‬ journey and she is the family's angel. They are so glad to have met each other and have her in their family's life. She has supported Mason Lee (photographed in a black frame), who is six years old, and Gaius Lee's older Deaf brother. Mason Lee is going through the "cyborg robot" phase. A dark, terrible time for him right now. He is being deprived from his Deaf family because the oralism system has caused a divide within their family. Mason Lee will always be with us, his Deaf family, because they continue to carry him everyday in their heart, mind, soul with love and with their Deafhood. This was the family's purpose for all taking their ASL NOW photographs, so they could show the family's support and the unity of the family with their framed photographs hanging in their family home. Gaius Lee wants his brother to use ASL and to be a part of their Deaf family. Their Deafhood will continue to live on in Gaius Lee and in his family with the ASL NOW clock as heirloom for many generations to come. #EndAudism‬ ‪#DeafChildren‬ @mrjasunhicks

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Women united for #ASLNOW to protect #Deaf children! #EndAudism #ASL @deafaslnow facebook.com/ASLNOW

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Story about this picture, go to facebook.com/ASLNOW

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Read story about this photo at https://www.facebook.com/ASLNOW

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One of my lifelong passions - learning! Learning - especially about the two passions of my life - my #Deaf sons and their #language, #AmericanSignLanguage. My solo journey began with the births of my sons both unable to #hear. How would I #communicate with my sons? This was a very vital & crucial part of my life. I remember asking my sons #doctors questions. What should I do? Where can I go for answers to the many questions I have? Of course, back then I was sent to the House Ear Institute & John Tracy Clinic. I quickly disregarded their offers & agreed on hearing aids for my sons and I knew the path I'd take from then on. I gathered as many books as I could on #communication & different ways of communicating with one's #children. Back in my time (some 35 years) the only process I felt comfortable with was SEE signing. That seemed the least intrusive & least harmful way of communicating with my children. Years later, I chose to change what I'd learned from SEE signing into my son's true language - #ASL. Wow, this part of my life has been an incredibly fulfilling journey & continues to amaze me! I no longer view my sons as having a "#disability" because of "hearing loss". I view my sons as #normal human beings, all they ever needed was to discover #Deafhood as their true #identity and ASL as their true language. Both of my Deaf sons are normal! As a #mother, it's your responsibility to provide your Deaf children a means to discover and nurture their true identity and to #educate them on the meaning of Deafhood and ASL. Fixing your Deaf children's ears and speech won't give them success as a whole person. I can promise you that from all the years of experience I've seen it happen to many children. Now, I'm showing my undivided and ultimately support for #ASLNOW!

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Once I learned about #ASLNOW, I immediately became motivated to participate because I was born and raised in a #Deaf family using Total Communication and I survived through the mainstream program using Total Communication. Once I got exposed to #ASL, my perception of my life changed completely. After years of using Total Communication, my English was not improving until ASL became a part of my life. However, the more I learned about ASL, the more I saw that ASL is not as widespread in the Deaf community. My heart was crushed because ASL gives Deaf #children a wonderful opportunity to explore the true meaning of life. With the right #language at the core center of our lives, we can tap into our greatest potential and have a lasting influence in the world. So ask yourself this question. Is that what the world is afraid of? Is that the reason that #audism exist? What I am seeing now is that there is no #equality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. This is the very reason why I signed "equality," but not completely equal. I will always use ASL and continue to expose anyone in my life with ASL until the day I can sign "EQUALITY" at last. I'm showing my support for ASL NOW!

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Born to a vibrant #Deaf community, Tina Jo Breindel grew up in the best of New York during the 60s, and witnessed not only protests against #discrimination and racism, but also the beginning of #audism. She is obliged to the educational communities supporting #ASL and Deaf education that develops many of the products DawnSignPress has published. This led Tina Jo to a vision that no obstacle is too great: “I have been challenged to advocate for Deaf #children’s rights to signed language: ASL from the start. We work together for the betterment of Deaf babies’ lives including promoting their right to be #bilingual in ASL and English. Simply put we celebrate ASL. We all know it’s unjust to deny Deaf #babies the opportunity to learn signed language, especially with ASL’s PROVEN success rate among babies, hearing or Deaf alike. We see too many Deaf babies deprived of visual #language learning because #parents are uninformed of the marvelous benefits of complete and natural language acquisition and whole child development. Many have made ASL an oppressed language. No more of this ignorance.” Tina Jo encourages community involvement especially with hearing parents to understand the prevalence of misconceptions and misinformation that devalues ASL (to inform parents of the importance of ASL in early language acquisition.) Hence #ASLNOW!

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Our family is deaf as well as our kids, our grandparents, and our cousins. Jayne, our mother went to 9 mainstream schools and 5 deaf schools. Our son, Ramy Jr, aka R4 went to a mainstream school. We have experienced plenty of ‪#audism‬. Jayne works at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside as a Residential Life Counselor and is on the Community Advisor Committee (CAC). We strongly believe in a bilingual and bicultural philosophy and we are very proud that CSD Riverside is actually teaching and practicing it on campus. They embrace our unique needs as well. Ramy, the father in the family and his daughter, Jarita both went to CSD Riverside their whole lives. Ramy is a California School for the Deaf Riverside Alumni Association (CSDRAA) president and Jarita is the freshman president. Jarita would like to be the Junior National Association Deaf (JrNAD) president someday. ‪#ASL‬ is very important to us because it had given us access to success in our lives! We are so grateful to attend CSD Riverside, since our kids, have participated in so many activities such as sports, leadership, the academic bowl, and more!! They didn't stop us from having the passion to go after our dreams! We empower other deafies to be like us! We are the perfect example of a deaf family! Our family cat is also deaf! ASL means to us that there is a clear understanding of communication for us, and our deaf family. We are able to get help without feeling any intimidation or without any unconfident feelings amongst hearing people. We proudly stand up that our deaf family and feel that it is God's gift to us. They are showing their support for #ASLNOW!

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John Bond first began his journey into ‪#Deaf‬ Culture, three and a half years ago after meeting the love of his life. John was never exposed to Deaf Culture or the Deaf Community and knew little to nothing about it, along with no ‪#AmericanSignLanguage‬. That all changed in the Spring of 2010 when he met the man that would become his partner in life. John knew that the communication gap would only be bridged if he learned all he could when it came to the Deaf Community and Deaf Culture, which included as much ‪#ASL‬ as he could absorb. Today, John proudly stands by his partner as well as the Deaf Community to end ‪#audism‬ as well as the unfair treatment of all. Thanks to that faithful meeting, John's course of life has been forever changed and he is forever grateful. John is now well on his way to becoming an American Sign Language ‪#Interpreter‬. John's hope is that he can be a positive force and give of himself, not only in the Deaf Community but in all aspects of life. Here he his showing his support to end audism, as well as his support for #ASLNOW.

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While Glenn Eichensehr was a toddler he became deaf, and he lost his access to language acquisition until he enrolled in The California School for the Deaf, Riverside at the age of six and started picking up ‪#AmericanSignLanguage‬. Glenn, a Deaf American, supports ‪#Deaf‬ toddlers' right to the access of ‪#ASL‬ and #ASLNOW.

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I became (d)eaf at the age of ten. Many years later now, I have become (D)eaf. Ironically, it was life as a teacher of a self-contained Deaf class in a hearing, public (mainstream) school, that has been an eye-opening experience, and has propelled my own personal transition. I have been teaching ‪#Deaf‬ children for ten years in this mainstream setting. I saw first-hand the way SEE signs (acquired by the students in other districts) negatively impacted the children; destroying their reading comprehension, and how mainstreaming often demoralized ‪#students‬ and was often a waste of time. I've also seen first hand how a love of ‪#ASL‬ and Deaf identity has a powerfully positive effect on the kids, and how ignorant, and arrogant, Administrators often are in their running of the DHH program in hearing ‪#schools‬. This experience, and seeing these issues through the beautiful, expressive, eyes of my students, led me to understand, love and respect, deeply, the ‪#ASLNOW‬ and anti-audism campaign. After a heart-wrenching decade in this job, I have left it now, finally honoring my longing to follow my many students who transferred to the local Deaf ‪#school‬, and find some respite and healing, myself, in a Deaf-centered environment. Simple things like access and support, curriculum designed for Deaf students and being able to see the announcements made by the Principal, for example, will be truly thrilling to me. But the lessons learned in the trenches about just how deep-seeded how insidious and how harmful ‪#audism‬, both conscious and unconscious, is, in modern American mainstream education, will never give me peace until I have gotten the word out and participated in trying to change it. Teaching those children was a tremendous honor and joy, and I hope they can hold tightly onto even a thread of the exhilaration we experienced together as Deaf people in the throes of that very hearing (yet not at all listening!) community. Now, in an era when mainstreaming and Cochlear implants are on the rise, our children, are all too often being "taught" by hearing people who have neither any Deaf ‪#Education‬ background nor the humility to recognize how little they know. In these settings there is no connection to or accountability to the Deaf community. Yet, these are the precious developing years of life. It is an outrage and shame that while these staff members are patting themselves on the back and convincing themselves, each-other, and the parents, that they are doing good work, the light in the eyes of the children is growing dimmer and the wildly joyful ‪#language‬ skills and educational abilities within them, turning to mush, as they grow older in a system of dysfunction and basic, brutish ignorance. She is showing her love for Deaf Children and support for ASL NOW! ‪#EndAudism‬

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Jeffrey DuPree aka ‪#Deaf‬ Revolutionist, experienced so much ‪#Audism‬ in his life. His very own Deaf child was taken away from his life and given a cochlear implant by the arrogance of a hearing parent who thought it was the best thing for their 5 year old son. He has been tirelessly fighting for his rights as a father, and wants the best for his 5 year old son, a normal Deaf life, a culture, and it's language. It frustrates him terribly knowing that his son has lost his identity as Deaf, who has come from a large 5th generation Deaf family, who is now in a category that has an unsuccessful rate, with a label of an "artificial hearing kid". Here he is expressing with both hands "END AUDISM" this is what he really wants for everyone, so that they don't have to go through the same struggles that he has gone through in his life, especially the struggles with his precious 5 year old son. Here he is showing his support for #ASLNOW!

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Thanya DuPree, as a pregnant mom if this baby (Gaius) is born deaf or hearing, I will always love them equally. If it is a hearing baby, I will never remove their hearing because it's natural, the way it was meant to be, not like many ignorant hearing parents who try to convert deaf babies to "artificial hearing babies" when they should never be. If this baby is to be born deaf, I look forward seeing my deaf baby be a successful adult and I will be proud of whom he will become, just as much as hearing adults do with their hearing children. Deaf and Hearing children are both normal, there's no such thing as a disability in ‪#Deaf‬ or Hearing culture. Just because we come from a large deaf family, we function and lead a very normal lifestyle. This is Deaf Revolutionist's wife. She is showing her support for #ASLNOW!