Anxiety Gone Overboard: The Spring 2007 ASC Newsletter is available now. Check it out to learn how to tell the difference between normal worrying and worrying that has gone over the line. Find out about some Deaf people’s specific worries. Read about the different kinds of anxiety disorders, including social phobia, compulsive shopping, and obssessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

As always, ASC welcomes your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future newsletters.

To join the ASC Newsletter mailing list, send your name and email address to: asc@ascdeaf.com.

Vlog Summary: Candace A. McCullough reveals how “The Secret” is a modern-day version of snake oil. The vlog discusses the history of snake oil remedies and phrenology, both of which represent forms of pseudo-science. Based purely on claims, without scientific evidence, snake oils explode in popularity through hype and aggressive marketing. According to the law of attraction, the underlying theme of “The Secret”, your thoughts determine your destiny, and positive thoughts are of utmost importance. Based on this logic, Deaf people are entirely to blame for audism. Critics of the self-help book and DVD include psychologists, counselors, and social workers, many of whom are concerned about its blame-the-victim philosophy. Included in the vlog is a clip from the DVD, shown to illustrate the materialistic aspect of “The Secret”.

To cite:

McCullough, C. (2007, May 1). The Secret: Self-help Snake Oil. ASC on the Couch. Retrieved May 1, 2007, from http://www.ascdeaf.com/blog/?p=308

Call for Participants: If you are a Deaf woman who was sexually molested as a child by your brother, you may be interested in participating in a research study being conducted by our friend, Risa Shaw. Risa is the editor of Not Child’s Play: An Anthology on Brother-Sister Incest, one of the very few books on this topic. Below is some information about the study, as well as contact information.

The women in the study need to meet the following criteria:

1. The Deaf women need to be native ASL users (grew up in a Deaf family and/or attended a residential school for the Deaf)

2. They all need to have the experience of childhood sexual abuse where they were sexually molested by their brother when they were a child;

3. They need to have talked with one or more of their family members about the sexual abuse; and

4. They need to have a support network upon which they will rely, before, during, and after their participation in this study.

What’s Involved: As participants in the study, two Deaf women will have a conversation with one another about having told one or more of their family members about their brother sexually assaulting them. They will not be asked to discuss the sexual abuse per se. This conversation will last approximately one hour and will take place in a location that is comfortable and convenient for the two women. The conversation will be videotaped, but no one else will be in the room for the conversation, only the two women will be there. The women’s identity will be kept strictly confidential. All participants will be asked to choose a pseudonym that will be in all written material. No other identifying information will be used. The location of the conversation will depend on who the study participants are and where they live. Travel and lodging costs will be paid by the researcher, although there will be no direct payment for participation.

Participants will also be asked to participate in an interview done by a Deaf study-interviewer. This will be done at a later date.

Then, at an even later date, Risa will have a conversation with each of these women (separately) about their earlier conversations. Each woman will be able to watch her videotape conversation and interview if she wishes, ask questions, provide clarification, and discuss any parts of the earlier conversations.

For More Information: Risa Shaw can be contacted at Risa.Shaw@yahoo.com. Feel free to ask her any questions, suggest names of others who might be interested, or express your interest in participating. Risa is happy to answer any questions people have about participating, and about her study in general.

For Every Step Forward: So far this month, we’ve seen Deaf artist Matt Daigle’s wonderfully designed breastfeeding logo win a national contest (that’s the logo in blue and white). We’ve learned of new research touting the mental health benefits of breastfeeding for children. But then, for all the progress and enlightenment we’ve supposedly achieved in our so-called advanced society of 2006, we have this: A mother, nursing her child on a plane while awaiting departure, was ordered by a flight attendant to cover up her child’s head with a blanket – or get off the plane, which she and her family eventually did.

The Good and the Bad Breast: What kind of society are we living in, where flight attendants find breastfeeding offensive and a BabyTalk magazine cover gets flak for showing a baby nursing at the breast? As Marilyn Yalom, author of the fascinating read, A History of the Breast, notes, contradictions surround female breasts. They are benevolent symbols of life, nature, and nurture; they are X-rated symbols of sexuality and lust. Breasts can be displayed in skin-tight shirts or barely-there bikini tops; but a nipple should never be displayed when a woman is breastfeeding. Breasts are entertaining in MTV videos and Renaissance-era statues and paintings; breasts should be covered up and harnessed in constricting bras.

Support for Nursing Mothers: It’s time for people to stop acting squeamish and silly when it comes to breastfeeding in public or catching a glimpse of a breast. There’s no need for anyone – mothers, children, or adult onlookers – to be embarrassed or ashamed about breasts or breastfeeding. There’s no need for nursing mothers to stress themselves out by trying to construct a tent-like shield around an exposed breast and nursing child. There’s no need for prudish parents to pass on to their children shameful messages about breasts and breastfeeding. For the de-planed mother, the law is on her side, as well as 30 parents who protested the airline’s actions at a nurse-in at the airport where the incident occurred. Let’s hope that Matt’s logo helps create a healthier and more supportive breastfeeding environment.

What Exactly is Mental Health?: Mental health equals emotional well-being. It means feeling good about yourself, the people around you, your job or school, having healthy relationships, enjoying life, and being able to deal with its many challenges. Lots of things affect mental health: biology, psychology, education, politics, social structure, and religion, to name a few.

In a chapter of a book devoted to multicultural mental health, Marsella and Yamada (2000) describe how society’s long-standing and deep-rooted social injustices can hurt people’s mental health. We thought about the implications of these injustices for our Deaf community’s mental health, especially today at Gallaudet, where so many Deaf people are struggling with issues that impact their mental health. Summarized below are the authors’ main points, which we think are well worth repeating.

There can be no mental health:

Where there is powerlessness, for powerlessness breeds despair.

Where there is poverty, for poverty breeds hopelessness.

Where there is inequality, for inequality breeds anger and resentment.

Where there is racism, for racism breeds low self-esteem and self-denigration.

Where there is cultural disintegration and destruction, for cultural disintegration and destruction breed confusion and conflict.