Meredith Sugar, president of the Alexander Graham Bell Association wrote a response to a Washington Post article. In her response she makes audist and xenophobic attacks against Nyle Dimarco and the Deaf community at large with statements such as:





- "ASL exists as a communication option for deaf children"

- "children who solely utilize listening and spoken language, rather than a combination of this with ASL, demonstrate better listening and spoken language skills"

- "It is our hope to dispel the myths about deafness and spread the word that deaf children can hear and talk"

- " (deaf) children actually are part of a hearing culture"

These outrageous assertions diminishes the importance of Deaf culture, denies deaf children access to their culture and their language, and reverts to pre-Deaf rights era discrimination that ignores ASL and Deaf culture entirely by substituting ASL for verbal/oral and Deaf culture for hearing culture.

This is oppressive, xenophobic and absolutely audist. Deaf culture REVOLVES around Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals whose unique perspectives and experiences shape said culture.



Meredith Sugar is NOT deaf nor is she hard of hearing and therefore UNQUALIFIED to make assumptions or opinions regarding the deaf community.



Therefore, it is the consensus of these petitioners that she resign from her position as president of the Alexander Graham Bell Association(AGBA) and provide an opportunity for AGBA board members to educate themselves regarding the history of oppression, discrimination and struggle of the Deaf community over many decades.