The DeafRead Controversy

DeafRead collects deaf related content and videos from deaf or hard of hearing bloggers and places it on their site. Human editors approve each posts to ensure that it is in fact deaf related. It really is a great site for deaf diversity, read a blog or watch people sign through vLogs (video blogs.) I am deaf and a blogger, I've clearly met the minimum requirements and I submitted my blog to their site. Almost instantaneously, I watched the CHRONICLES OF THE BIONIC WOMAN appeared in the blog list and then I waited anxiously for my posts to appear.

As time went by, I forgot all about it until I got a comment on my Greatest Moment of the Year post from a loyal reader.

KW said: Hi!! I've always meant to tell you I love your style of writing. What you wrote in the first paragraph of not being part of the Hearing or Deaf worlds-- I LOVED that. Do you submit your blogs to DeafRead? I wish you would, they need to read you. :-)

As soon as I read that, I surfed right on over to DeafRead, eager in anticipation to see my posts. When I clicked on my blog, I was disappointed by the fact it said that I had no posts. I surfed back to the blog list and recognized several Cochlear Implant blogs such as my bionic belle Jennifer with no posts (unheard of!). I scratched my magnet, something didn’t add up. I started clicking like crazy on the FAQ and browsing all around for some answers on why nothing was coming up! Then I get another comment from my loyal reader.

KW said: Hiya-- I hope this is OK. I noticed you were listed as a blogger on DeafRead and it's been bugging me that your blogs were never picked up, so I complained because I felt that maybe they were unfair to people with CI's. It looks like there was some kind of technical problem, and you're going to be in there now-- all the time maybe. I complained that Jen's blog wasn't being picked up either. I'm such a whiner.

Great! I scooted over there, again eager in anticipation to see my posts and nothing. I said the hell with this but then this post caught my eye, Paotie's site which gave me another suspicious perspective on the DeafRead site.

Finally, some good news by my loyal reader.

KW said: JJ checked into it and saw that you were inactive for some reason, so he asked Taylor who runs the site. Here's his answer--

So, the short answer is that if a blogsite is inactive for a long period of time the blogger needs to “reactivate” it with deafread.com. I’d shoot an E-mail to the person who runs the “bionic Woman” blogsite and ask him/her to reactivate their site by sending an E-mail to deafread.com.

I hope that this is a satisfactory answer?

BTW, I also checked out “…a work in progress” (thanks for pointing out where it was), it also seems inactive.

Eh, why couldn't this simple piece of information be posted in FAQ or HELP section of the DeafRead site? I shot them an email them and sure enough, i received lightening fast confirmation that it was activated. I am now on the DeafRead site, posts and all. Coincidently shortly afterwards the blogs of fellow CIer''s appeared began to make their way on the site.

I don't know what to make of the fact that a majority of the CI blogs were not "approved" or "activated." I sincerely hope this was just a mere technicality because I would hate to think that these human editors deem cochlear implant bloggers as unsuitable deaf related content.

We sleep in total silence too.