There has been several comments on Amy Cohen Efron’s blog post here, that caught my attention, and I just had to laugh. Three commenters at this time of writing, complained that this was only a student project, thus, it essentially was not credible. Seriously? Well, since the door was opened by these commenters, I’ll gladly take the opportunity to discuss the matter of credibility.

First, what is credibility? The dictionary defines it as: the quality, capability, or power to elicit belief; a capacity for belief. Credibility also has to do with one’s credentials. Their training and experiences on a particular topic. One’s credibility is also based on one’s trustworthiness, genuineness, plausibleness and authenticity. With the credibility of information, it has to do with how rigorous, plausible and valid the information is, based on various general, scientific and/or journalistic standards.

For instance, we hold someone who has a Ph.D. in physics to be more credible on physics than a college student majoring in English. We hold a person without a criminal record as more credible than someone who does have one. We hold an open, confident gay person more credible on gay issues than a closet homophobe.

Why is credibility important? Because it helps us filter useless and/or false information out. It’s important for us as individuals and for society as a whole, to have as much truth as possible (all kinds of truth, whether it be intellectual or physical truths), and pertinent information to help us advance, continue or discontinue the existence of an idea in a particular area. Otherwise, the very foundations of democratic society crumbles.

The Facts Regarding the Video

Now onto the facts regarding the video, so we can better understand the question of its credibility. This video project was clearly produced by a graduate student – its description states it was for a 700 level course, which is at the graduate level. And for a person to do this, this means that this person holds at least a baccalaureate degree – otherwise he would not be able to attend graduate school.

It’s important to note that when Amy Cohen Efron blogged about this video project, she was looking at only the beginning of the video where it clearly shows numerous directional signs all over the Gallaudet campus, for its hearing and speech center. She was not talking about the rest of the video, as it was not relevant to what she was focusing upon.

And as far as I know, there are no allegations that this graduate student lied and planted these signs for his video project. Indeed, some students on campus have confirmed that these signs indeed do exist. Thus, it is generally understood that the pictures of the directional hearing and speech center signs are genuine, and not manufactured by the graduate student.

Therefore, the matter of the video’s credibility is settled – it is credible. It meets all reasonable standards for credibility.

The Credibility of V/Bloggers

Now, let’s take this a step further, beyond the question of the video’s credibility and look at it on a larger scale. For years now, we’ve basically had an ideological war on the v/blogs over various issues regarding the Deaf Community. Information and v/bloggers are often blasted as being invalid, unbelievable and so on. People sometimes demand that others take them seriously and attend to what they’re saying on a particular topic. Thus, I feel that it’s time to look at some of the prominent v/bloggers and commenters who discuss Deaf topics frequently and examine their credibility. Whether we want to admit it or not, a few of these v/blogs done by prominent v/bloggers do have some influence on the Deaf Community and its associates’ thinking on certain issues.

On one hand, we have Amy Cohen Efron, a deaf ASL user who has a Master’s degree and works solely in the Deaf Community. We have MishkaZena, a formerly oral deaf person who now uses ASL fluently. She holds two Master’s degrees and has worked extensively in the Deaf Community. And you have me – a native ASL deaf user, who has a bachelor of science degree and has worked/volunteered extensively in the Deaf Community. All of us three have done some form of scholarly research on the Deaf Community. We’ve read books, professional journal articles, attended classes and professional workshops focusing on various issues in the Deaf Community. We participate and subscribe to an email list serv for deaf academics. And it is very easy to find out MishkaZena and my real names – our real identities are not a secret.

On the other hand, we have Mike McConnell, Ann_C and Candy. Nearly nothing is known about Ann_C. We do not know her real name, nor whether if she holds a college degree. The only thing we know is that she is an oral deaf/severely hard of hearing person who, by her own admission, infrequently uses American Sign Language. She has not mentioned working or volunteering within the Deaf Community, or even having friends who use ASL. I have not seen her discuss reading scholarly books, journal articles or the like, about the Deaf Community. From what I’ve gathered so far from her, the only information Ann_C gets about the Deaf Community, is from the v/blogs.

Mike McConnell is hard of hearing and holds a baccalaureate degree. To my knowledge, he does not work or volunteer in the Deaf Community and primarily uses his voice to communicate. McConnell even wrote once on his blog, which post has apparently been deleted or buried under the reams and reams of posts, that he thought there was something such as too much education. As far as I’ve seen, he has not discussed whether after graduating from Gallaudet, if he has read any scholarly books, journals or the like on the Deaf Community.

And we have Candy. Very little is known about this woman. She appears to be a hard of hearing woman who claims to sign. She has not mentioned whether she works or volunteers in the Deaf Community. Word has it that Candy only has a high school diploma, since she is a college dropout, but we don’t know that for sure, since she has refused to disclose her credentials or her real name. Candy has mentioned that she refuses to read Harlan Lane’s Mask of Benevolence, because she heard it was too biased. Aside from the proclamation of refusal, Candy has not discussed reading any scholarly books, journal articles or the like, on the Deaf Community. And lastly, her claim to expertise regarding the Deaf Community, is supposedly due to her being from a Deaf family and her sister being a high school teacher.

The questions now for all of you to consider are – who do you hold as being more credible on the Deaf Community issues? Whose ideas will you primarily draw from, so you can then help obtain what’s in the best interests for the Deaf Community? Which ideas will you hold as being credible?