A question

[Dan Parvaz]

I think a point that is probably getting tip-toed around is the fact 
that it was created by a hearing person, and has only really been 
consistently championed over the decades by the same person. There's no 
historical reason why that should be a big deal; few language 
communities have ever invented a viable script, and so almost everyone 
else has to import and adapt. Historically, smaller élite communities 
(ruling class, scribes, clergy) begin writing, and it spreads to the 
general population later. Even in instances where implementing the 
orthography has been more abrupt (as in the shift to Roman writing in 
early 20th-century Turkey), the adoption of the system has still been a 
top-down deal.

That said, the political climate is different now than it was -- 
particularly post-DPN and similar events/movements in other countries, 
like Sourds En Colère -- and so one of the things that SW has to 
overcome is its reputation as an outsider system, e.g. like Cued Speech. 
Usually, the reaction to SW that I encounter is one of total ignorance. 
The next most common reaction is that it is Val's baby; no one ever 
talks of the DAC, for example.

Food for thought?

-Dan.