TAKE ACTION
Rewrite your reality or someone else will keep you locked in theirs.
If change is the only constant, then you decide the direction of change. Here is how.
“If you're not framing yourself, you can be sure others
do it for you.”
Melissa Malzkuhn
We all have the power to create.
All that is required to create an ideological shift is for each of us to make a contribution within an agreed upon frame, together and continuously.
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You don't need permission or a budget. Start with what you already have.
Your skills, trade, or expertise
Your platform – however large or small
Your organisation's resources and relationships
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It can be a film, a post, an event, a conversation, a policy, a piece of art. The medium is yours. The frame is shared.
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Let the frame shape how you tell the story: Sumains as contributors to human diversity, not as problems to be solved. Then put it into the world.
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This is not a single act. It is a practice. Every contribution compounds.
Ideas are how power is made – and unmade. The frame that has defined Deaf life for centuries was not inevitable. It was built. And anything built can be rebuilt by enough people, working within a better story, consistently enough, over time.
Find your role.
Every person has a position from which they can act. Select yours below.
Youth
Malala Yousafzai
YOUR ROLE
You are the natural born revolutionary. Today's generation lives in greater comfort than the last – less burdened, more free to tackle the next level of injustice.
You have more incentive than anyone else to create a better world because you’ll be living in it the longest. Without youth, there is no #BlackLivesMatter. Without youth, the removal of “homosexuality” from the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases would not have succeed. Now imagine leading the #NewFrame movement on deafness, what would it look like?
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
TikTok
Leverage your platform by creating content within the New Frame. Inspire your followers to think differently about Deaf identity. I am happy to serve as a sounding board.
Social Experiment
How do you interact with hearing people? Try approaching interactions differently – use sign language, smile, use your phone. See what reactions you get. It's a great learning experience.
Why Wait?
You don't need to wait till you're older. Write a book. Become a chef. Start a business. If you're curious and ready, go for it.
Educators
Facundo Montenegro
YOUR ROLE
You wield the power to nourish individual freedom.
In old English, deaf means empty, barren. Thousands of texts have consistently characterised Deaf people as dumb. Among all categories of students in the State of California, Deaf students scored the lowest – see California School for the Deaf, Fremont.
And yet there is no evidence that links deafness with intellectual inferiority – in fact, it's the opposite: deafness and sign language enhance cognition.
The root of the problem is phonocentrism, the idea of deafness: that if you don't speak and hear, you cannot communicate, develop intelligence, obtain a job, or contribute to society. Therefore, you are perceived to be unworthy of investment.
This ideological fallacy has affected all of us on many levels. Educators have the power, and the responsibility, to uproot it.
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
Think, Not Memorise
Replace Academic Bowl with Debate Team. One promotes memorisation, the other promotes critical thinking. Then compete nationally.
It is About Trust
Do your students trust you? If not, learning doesn't happen. Take risks alongside your students. Teaching is an act of love.
Interpreting Education
Offer courses on the dynamics of power in interpreting, policy, rights, and processing. With increased understanding, Deaf students can better leverage themselves when working with interpreters.
Artists
Christine Sun Kim
YOUR ROLE
You are the architect of ideology.
Artists have always been the catalyst of social movements – you are natural born deviants who do not conform to conventions. Art requires freedom of thought, and that is a threat to the status quo. To change an ideology, an artist exposes the status quo and lays out the message of a better world. Understand that ideological shift requires that millions of people are exposed to all of our art, repeatedly. This is why Mass Media is so powerful. Work together in teams and figure out ways to send your messaging in art out to the world.
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
A Picture is Worth…
Create an illustration or other medium that shows the transformation from Old Frame to New Frame – demonstrating the power of conscious change.
Intersectionality
Illustrate your experience within the diverse Sumain community. Share your vision of what an embrace of all frames would look like if we are all self-aware.
Storytelling
Create a story of how the Old Frame affects a person. Invest in character development so the story has layered depth, helping the world understand the damage, and the possibility of change.
Organisations
European Union of the Deaf
YOUR ROLE
You are the backbone of the community – the resource curators.
There are powerful global organisations run by Sumains – Communication Service for the Deaf, the World Federation of the Deaf, National Black Deaf Advocates, Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, and many more. The list of organisations serving Sumains is long and offers vast potential. The question is: what framework are we all operating within, and are we unified under a common banner?
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
Co-produce Films
Form a coalition of talents representing each organisation and produce a film series. Or pool resources and contract with an entity to lead the productions.
Sponsor a Writer
Sponsor one author per year and help them publish. Stories are catalysts. Diverse Sumain authors offer a spectrum of narratives that enlighten the world.
Apprenticeship
Offer apprenticeships for Sumain youth. Invest in them early – they are capable of so much.
Policymakers
Haben Girma
YOUR ROLE
You are ideology's last line of defence.
The Black community has been very successful at creating an ideological shift, so successful that Black culture is a multi-billion dollar commodity. And yet Black people remain among the most persecuted populations on Earth. Why? Law and policy. Early intervention policies concerning Deaf babies are extremely harmful to whole child development, depriving generations of their linguistic rights. Policy is where ideology becomes consequence.
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
Get Elected
Run for office. The frame changes fastest when the people who set policy understand what the frame costs.
Litigate
Offer pro bono work filing lawsuits on behalf of Black and Brown Sumain students and their families. Segregation in education continues today for Deaf children.
Lobby for Deaf Schools
Mitigate State Performance Plan Indicators 5 and 6 so that school districts are not penalised for sending students to Deaf schools.
Architects
Christopher Laing
YOUR ROLE
When you build a place, you create an ideological permanence.
The difference between a space that is "deaf-friendly" and one designed with DeafSpace principles is the difference between adjustment and authorship. Our culture is diasporic. Architecture immortalises a community, giving it presence and strength. With an advent of medical advancement and questionable ethics, our existence is being threatened. By designing permanent structures, we make ourselves seen and known.
ASK YOURSELF
SOME IDEAS
DeafSpace by Design
Advocate for DeafSpace principles in your next project – not as accommodation, but as the default design language.
Build Visibility
Identify opportunities within your organisation or community to create permanent structures that affirm the presence and value of Deaf culture.
Translate the Principles
Explore how DeafSpace principles can be applied beyond buildings – into governance, organisational design, and art.
