(sigh) Let’s do this.
Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome back. I was going to have a book wrap up video be the next one I uploaded, but a few things happened that made me decide to make this first. I was in part inspired by one of Hallease’s videos, Why I’m REALLY on YouTube. But mostly, I decided I’d go over why I’m on YouTube for those who may be new or may not know.
This channel started back in 2014, six years almost to the day as of this upload. I started it because I was watching quite a bit of YouTube, but knew of barely any deaf YouTubers other than Rikki Poynter. A huge lack of representation for deaf people, AND at the time, there were so few Deaf YouTubers who signed only. Now, there are more, but still not enough in my opinion. I had the skills to do it, so I thought, why not? It started out as a purely vlogging, “day in the life of” type of channel. I also used it as a sort of creative outlet while I was in college, because it was something that I could do and had everything that I needed. It didn’t take long for me to start taking it in a more educational direction, because I personally love learning and dropping random facts for people. At first, it was just about the deaf community and a bit of ASL. I had zero interest—and is still true today—in teaching ASL, like a list of words or phrases (note: apart from regional signs and idioms, that’s different). I wanted to do what was less common, which is why I started my ASL Ponderings series. That’s where I talk about things that I’ve noticed interpreting students tend to not know or struggle a bit with, or things that I personally wonder why we do in the Deaf community. It’s a pretty broad series, but basically, anything that I felt like isn’t talked about much.
When I decided to be public about my sexuality, and later on my gender, I shifted to have a lot more educational content about the queer community. In part because I was learning a lot that I knew a lot of other people wouldn’t know. But a major part of that was because there is SO little in the way of ASL resources about the queer community. So I wanted to and still want to improve that. Also, representation comes into this again. Many of the other Deaf YouTubers I’ve seen are straight, white, and/or cis. So while I’d be adding another white face, I’d be adding representation for deaf queer people. I would LOVE to see more BIPOC Deaf YouTubers across the whole spectrum!
Even with all of that, this is still a creative outlet for me. While I make a little bit of money from this, this is not my job. I do this mostly for fun. That’s why I have no upload schedule, apart from a benefit for some of my Patrons. I’m saying this because while some people probably mean well, I have gotten a few messages or comments recently that are… Hmm. One was telling me I should do less book content, because they were here for the deaf stuff. That came after I just happened to be posting a lot of book-related videos, it was around the time of the Queer Lit Readathon. I never said that this channel would only be This Stuff and nothing else. I will make what I want, and if you don’t want to watch particular content, that’s fine. Watch just what you want. That’s what y’all do anyway right? Then I recently got a message through Instagram. I don’t always reply and I didn’t in this case, but it was someone asking when I’d be doing more YouTube videos. First, it’s impossible to tell tone through text only, but I want to caution people against doing this kind of thing. It can seem like you’re demanding more from a creator, when you have no idea what’s going on behind the screen. They could be experiencing burnout, they could just be needing a break—like I mentioned in my previous video—they could be busy with their own lives and things that you don’t see online. Sure, I’m posting on Instagram. But I’ll always be more active there than I am on here, because that takes almost no time at all while YouTube tends to take more work. Again, this is not my full-time job. And well, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and a huge cultural shift. Nothing is going to be normal. I don’t want things to go back to our old normal.
I realize that it might sound like I don’t care about y’all. That’s not true, I do really appreciate you and the fact that you take time out of your day to watch a video of mine. When I upload. (laughs) I am really grateful for all my Patrons who continue to support me monthly, and those who sometimes send me a coffee on Ko-fi. I’m glad I’m able to share my nerdy self with you. (sigh) It just rubs me the wrong way when people try to tell me what to do. Suggestions are welcome of course, but when it’s phrased more like a demand or a must-do, that’s not okay to me.
Okay, I’m done now. Stepping off my soapbox, thanks for watching if you went all the way to the end. I’ll hopefully see you again soon.
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.