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The Blue Ribbon: Why Do We Wear Blue During September?

Sep 13, 2024

The Blue Ribbon: Why Do We Wear Blue During September?

by | Sep 13, 2024 | Deaf Culture and Lifestyle

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Did you know that blue is the colour of Deaf Awareness? While many causes have ribbons and colours associated with them, you may find the story behind the blue ribbon quite intriguing.

The blue ribbon was introduced for Deaf Awareness in 1999 by Deaf scholar and activist Paddy Ladd. He also created the Blue Ribbon Ceremony for the Deaf Community. Blue has been associated with the Deaf since Hitler used it for his Deaf interns in the concentration camps.

September is Deaf Awareness Month, and if you, like so many others, are looking for exciting ways to celebrate, you have come to the right place. The blue ribbon is not only a way to celebrate Deaf Awareness Month. It is a meaningful representation of our solidarity with Deaf people, past, present, and future.

When Did We Start Wearing Blue for Deaf Awareness?

Blue as a ribbon was officially introduced as the colour for Deaf Awareness in 1998 to a small audience. It was received by a larger audience at the WFD Congress in 1999 and has been used since.

Although this was when we began voluntarily wearing blue to mark the month of Deaf Awareness, the colour was associated with Deafness long before then.

Blue was the colour that Adolf Hitler had Deaf inmates wear in concentration camps during World War Two.

While some may feel that this tragic past lends a negative connotation to the ribbon, the organizers of the Blue Ribbon Ceremony in 1998 felt that it would be the perfect colour for a Deaf Awareness ribbon. Not only does it help us reflect on past injustices, it also reminds us of what the Deaf as a People have overcome and continue to achieve.

Why Is September Deaf Awareness Month?

Deaf Awareness Month is an exciting month in Deaf and Deaf Education circles. It’s a time to increase public awareness of Deaf issues, people, and culture. During September each year, we get to show off the positive aspects of Deafness, encourage social inclusion, and raise awareness of local and international organisations that support Deaf individuals.

But have you ever wondered why Deaf Awareness Month falls in September of all months?

It actually started as just one day!

Back in 1958, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) declared an annual Deaf Awareness Day. Later, that was extended to an entire week. This week is still celebrated as the International Week of the Deaf during the last week of September each year. (It commemorates the first World Congress of the WFD in 1951!)

From a week, the Deaf Community collectively felt that a month would better fit the celebration needs, so September has become Deaf Awareness Month across the globe.

What Is the Blue Ribbon Ceremony?

The Blue Ribbon Ceremony was created by Deaf scholar and activist Paddy Ladd. It consists of a series of short speeches about life as Deaf people and those involved with raising and educating Deaf people.

Paddy Ladd designed the Blue Ribbon Ceremony to address a need he noticed within the Deaf Community.

Although Deaf Culture is inclusive in many ways, he noticed that other cultures have a sense of spirituality that Deaf Culture lacked at the time.

This is how Paddy Ladd explains the need for the Ceremony:

“The blue ribbon is important for us as the Deaf Community. In the same way, if you look at Aboriginal or Native American culture, they have spiritualism in their traditions.  When life was hard, they managed to look at these and generate strength from within.

And if you look at the 1960s black Civil Rights movement in the USA, for example, they had some very strong links to spiritualistic beliefs. The image (…) of Dr Martin Luther King going to jail and the people outside with candles, singing and the people inside the jail singing, joining each other. There was something empowering about that whole process.

With the Deaf experience, we didn’t have an equivalent. And really, the notion from that, I guess, is that there is an understanding of celebration, of actually looking at our roots and where our spirituality comes from. Blue comes from the colour that the Nazis gave to Deaf detainees in concentration camps, and so it came to me from above.”

The first Blue Ribbon Ceremony was performed at the FDP Literary Conference in Blackburn in 1998. It was well received.

It was next performed at the 1999 World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) Congress in Brisbane, where thousands of Deaf and hearing viewers around the globe watched it.

The purpose of the Ceremony is to help Deaf people feel that they have a place in the world and have something to hold on to when times are challenging or dark.

How The Ceremony Works

The Blue Ribbon Ceremony is written as a script and is performed as a drama. Although it can be performed precisely as the original was written, it can also be used as a template. Performers can adapt the wording to express their gratitude and remember what they feel is appropriate for their needs.

No interpreters are used during the Blue Ribbon Ceremony.

It begins with a darkened auditorium, and seven figures enter the hall holding candles. They take their place on the stage, standing in a semicircle. When it is their turn to address the crowd, they step into the middle. When they are done, they return to their place in the semicircle.

Each narrator addresses the audience about a specific topic. The topics are as follows:

  • Narrator One:  We celebrate the unity and diversity of Deaf people worldwide. That, despite oppression and adversity, Deaf Culture persists.
  • Narrator Two: We remember those Deaf individuals who were placed in mental institutions or experimented on.
  • Narrator Three: We remember Deaf individuals who were forced into oralism and denied access to Sign Language, resulting in isolation and rejection by the Deaf Community.
  • Narrator Four: We remember Deaf individuals isolated from their families because of a lack of communication. We remember children of Deaf adults and the challenges they face.
  • Narrator Five: But we are meant to be here! We stand as examples and show that all races can unite as equals. We take joy in our Deafhood and are strong and positive as Deaf people
  • Narrator Six: These experiences and beliefs have come together in the symbol of the Blue Ribbon. The ribbon symbolizes the remembrance of those who have suffered oppression. We encourage all who bear the ribbon home to spread its message.

The Last Scene: All narrators form a tight semi-circle around a Deaf child near the front of the stage. They look at the child and then back at the audience. They file off the stage, and the lights are turned back on.

Wrapping It Up

Today, Deaf individuals have the privilege of living in an era with captions, text messages, and interpreters available. Many schools for the Deaf support Sign Language as a mode of communication and strive to improve the quality of education for their learners.

Even so, it is vital that Deaf and hearing individuals learn about the oppression that the Deaf have faced throughout history and continue to face in many instances today.

It is only through education and the constant willingness to empathize with the experiences of Deaf individuals that those in the hearing community will begin to understand what it means to be Deaf in a hearing world.

“From the depths of despair and murkiness of misunderstanding, a People managed to stand firm.”   – Kelly Naude

Let us wear blue this September. Let us stand together and celebrate the overcoming of oppression and inclusion of our Deaf members of society this Deaf Awareness Month. Let us live the truth of the Blue Ribbon.

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