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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Contains some useful information, but is highly subjective.,
By A Customer
This review is from: No Dignity for Joshua: More Vital Insight into Deaf Children, Deaf Education and Deaf Culture (Paperback)
Presumably, this book was written in part for people like us: hearing parents of deaf toddlers, struggling to know what is best for our child, and what his or her world will be like. From that point of view, Bertling DID provide us with some perspectives not available elsewhere, and I'm glad I read (both of) his books. At the same time, I have some serious misgivings about this book. For example, I wanted hard data: names, dates, places. Bertling provides almost none, making me heavily dependent on HIS assessment of what he says things were like. He might or might not be accurate; I have no way of being sure. Bertling also seems unaware that many of the kinds of things he criticizes in Deaf culture occur in other cultures as well. For example, Bertling criticizes the Gallaudet student strike in 1988 as being orchestrated by outsiders. But student unrest all over the world is often aggravated by outside forces. My question is, how is this relevant to DEAF issues? If his point is that Deaf culture is no more immune to such manipluation than are other cultures, he convinced me; but if Bertling's point is that such manipulation is a fruit of Deaf culture (and I rather think that IS his point), I'd have to say sorry, not convinced. The first two chapters of "No Dignity" are especially inflammatory (a criticism I do not make of the rest of his work). The problems of residential schools are real, and little Joshua was additionally brutalized by an extremely sick person. Who could disagree that this is horrible? But, is this where we should start the analysis? If proponents of a given educational regime are rightly criticized for only parading their success stories, why should not opponents of a system be castigated for trotting out the worst case scenarios? Bertling's second book, although still quite short, is better written (or perhaps it is just better edited) than was his first. Obvious English errors have been greatly reduced and the references at the back are improved, lending an improved sense of credibility to the text. To the degree that Bertling has provided a reality check to the fanatics that exist in every cultural group, I think his book is a service. Moreover, so many people in the Deaf world still so new to us seem to have read it, that it merits a reading if only to keep up on the current discussion. But I do not recommend that this book be early on one's deafness reading list, and when one does sit down to read it, I recommend that it be read with a VERY sharp eye to detail.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Contains some useful information, but is highly subjective.,
This review is from: No Dignity for Joshua: More Vital Insight into Deaf Children, Deaf Education and Deaf Culture (Paperback)
Presumably, this book was written in part for people like us: hearing parents of deaf toddlers, struggling to know what is best for our child, and what his or her world will be like. From that point of view, Bertling did provide us with some perspectives not available elsewhere, and I am glad I read (both) of his books. At the same time, I have serious misgivings about this book. For example, I wanted hard data: names, dates, places. Berlting provides almost none, making me heavily dependent on HIS assesment of what he says things were like. He might or might not be accurate in his narration; I have no way of knowing. Bertling also seems generally unaware that many of things he criticizes in Deaf culture occur in other cultures as well. For example, he critcizes the student strike at Gallaudet in 1988 as being orchestrated by outsiders; but student unrest all over the world is often aggravated by outside forces. My question is, how is this relevant to DEAF culture? If his point is that Deaf culture is no more immune to such manipulation than are other cultures, fine, he convinced me; but if his point is that such manipulation is the FRUIT of Deaf culture (and I rather think that IS his point), then I have to sorry, not convinced. The first two chapters of "No Dignity" are especially inflammatory ( a criticism I do not make of the rest of the work). The problems of deaf residential schools are (or were) real, and little Joshua was additionally brutalized by an extremely sick person. Who could disagree that this was horrible? But, is this where we should start the analysis? If proponents of a given educational regime are rightly criticized for only trotting out their success stories, should not opponents of a given regime be criticized for only parading the worst case scenarios? Bertling's second book, this, although quite short, is still better written than was his first (or perhaps it was just better edited). To the degree that Bertling has provided a reality check to fanatics in any cultural group, I think his book has served a useful purpose. Moreover, so many people in the Deaf world still quite new to us seem to have read it, that it merits a reading, if only to keep up on the discussion. But I don't recommend this book be placed early on one's deafness reading list, and when one does sit down to read it, I recommment that it be read with a very sharp eye to detail.
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