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Is God’s Love Important Enough for the Deaf to Know, Too?

leyelhudson — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:09:53 +0000

Let me start off by saying that having been an atheist, I realize that not all of you will agree with everything I am writing about, but understand that it comes out of a deep love for equality in the Deaf community. Yesterday, I had a conversation for the second time with a Director from the purported Christian organization Family Life. A few years ago, I pleaded with this organization to understand the value of providing professional sign language interpreters for their Weekend to Remember events. When I called yesterday to plead this case again, Carl Boykin who is the Director of Events responded that Family Life’s position on this issue has not changed. He tried to convince me that they understood the Deaf community’s position on this but I quickly informed him that their organization clearly did not understand or it would otherwise advocate to ensure that these events had professional interpreters. I described how the Deaf community has been discriminated against by various Christian and other religious entities for hundreds of years; I explained that many Deaf community members loathe the idea of attending church after being forced to go with their families without an interpreter to clarify the proceedings. I also explained how I realize that technically non-profit religious organizations are not all held to the standard of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but does that mean as Christians we should not rise above this? As Christians, does it take a governmental edict requiring us to love people to follow through? Has not God already commanded this of us in our own Holy Bible? I realize that there may be other ways legally of having interpreters provided (perhaps from the locations these events are being provided at), but why should it come to that? I explained to Mr. Boykin that by not providing professional interpreters, he was saying one of two things to the Deaf community:

The Deaf community is not important enough to hear Family Life’s message or
Family Life’s message is not important enough for the Deaf community to hear.

Period. Whether that is the intent behind their actions matters not since this is how the actions are perceived by the community.

He made certain to tell me that even though they do not provide interpreters, they do “other things.” When I asked what these “other things” were, he replied that they let interpreters volunteer their time sometimes at the conferences. I asked if his speakers, stage crew, light and sound crew, and other staff members volunteered their time as well, to which he replied no. Let me first say, that anyone who really knows me knows that I volunteer my interpreting services probably more often than I should, so I am not opposed to volunteering. It should not be expected, though. Interpreters provide a valuable service and it is a lot to ask of someone to give up two to three full work days as a volunteer. Not only this, but there is no quality control standard over most volunteers. Oftentimes this means an uncertified and/or unqualified signer is pulled in to interpret without any knowledge of our Code of Professional Conduct. These paying Deaf patrons want to know when they attend a conference over a sensitive matter such as marriage that they can trust their private matters to not be leaked back to the very small Deaf community. At least with a professional interpreter, they have a better chance of receiving this standard of service. Although volunteer interpreters can also be professional interpreters, oftentimes volunteer equates to unqualified.

Carl also informed me…wait for it, this is the kicker…that Family Life is gracious enough to waive the registration fees for the interpreters. Ummm…huh? I told him that would be the equivalent of the college I teach at waiving tuition fees for me to teach. Do they charge their other staff members registration fees? Of course they do not because the staff members are working. They should be paid, not pay to work. At a $129 per person or $258 per couple (not including hotel stay) registration fee, there is no reason that this organization could not afford to pay for interpreters. I reminded Carl that if they really had faith in God as an organization, they should trust that He will provide for their interpreting funds just as He has provided for many of their other initiatives.

I asked Mr. Boykin this, “If you were on trial in a court in China, do you think it would be sufficient if you were provided a volunteer English interpreter?” The answer is of course not, especially with imprisonment or worse at stake. How much more imperative is it for someone to have clear communication when it come to saving a marriage and to the eternal life and death message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Can you tell me, according to the Christian faith, any message of import above that of salvation? I think not.

Sadly, after all of this, I realized that my time and breath had been wasted because Mr. Boykin’s response was just to say that it was an “unfortunate situation.” I let him know that it was unfortunate because Family Life would no longer have my support, the support of my family, the support of my extended family, nor that of many of my friends. How can I support an organization which so blatantly is discriminating against an entire people group? It pains me to speak ill words of a Christian organization because, having been an atheist until the age of nineteen, I know that these types of incidents are exactly what turn people further away from the Christian faith and misrepresent the whole. Despite that, I think it is important to bring all things to the light to allow people to see and make judgments for themselves. Thanks for listening and perhaps one day this Christian organization and others like it will learn what it means to love.

Leyel Hudson
Interpreter and Professor of Interpreting
leyelhudson@gmail.com

Thesis Survey for Deaf Texas Residents

Incognito — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:43:42 +0000

My name is Bonnie Goben and I am a student at Lamar University majoring in Deaf Studies. The purpose of this survey is to assist with my thesis which targets customer satisfaction with interpreters in Texas. I would appreciate it if you could help me gather the necessary data necessary to complete my research by clicking on the link below.

There are three categories in this survey:
1) Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals
2) Working interpreters
3) Interpreting agencies

You can answer two parts of the survey if you are a working interpreter that also is owner of an agency or if you are a deaf/hard of hearing individual that also works as a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) or DI.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bonniegoben

Thanks for your participation and assistance! If you have any questions, please contact me at BJGoben3@gmail.com.

Satisfaction with Sign Language Interpreters in Texas Survey
www.surveymonkey.com

Challenges at work

ozinabox — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:34:28 +0000

The other day, I was talking to one of my deaf friends, and the subject came up that he was planning to continue to attend school. This was after the fact that he’s almost finished with his MBA. His aspirations were bigger than anticipated, so he decided to pursue another degree in Management Information System (MIS). I encouraged him by telling the story of a hearing friend who graduated with his Masters and got flooded with offers from different companies even though he was not actively looking for a job. But, my deaf friend had a different version of the situation. He said that his particular degree was basically useless without the other, and that positions like the one my hearing friend got (who is now a project manager for a technology company in New York) were the kinds of jobs that most deaf people couldn’t obtain easily.

My first reaction was to disagree with him. I initially focused my attention on the fact that he’s got the credentials and experience to get any promotion available for him, or easily get a new job within a matter of days. His degrees show many qualities that a successful professional ought to have, which most companies would definitely want. Then it struck me. I was ignoring a piece of information that made his argument valid: his disability playing against him to achieve his goals. And that is what got me thinking.

Truth be told, any kind of disability do work against smart people in many ways. First, getting a good job is challenging as it is. Scratch that. Getting ANY kind of job during economic recession is difficult. I never really realized the adversities presented in the process: some decide to hide the fact that they have a disability to improve their chances of getting a job. Others don’t, but companies often do not call when they realize that candidates use a relay service. Hearing people have many challenges during the face-to-face interviews. How do those really go for people with disabilities? I cannot begin to imagine. The possibility of frustration from one after another is just one of a few examples of all the problems that people face in order to get in.

Second, the work environment is a jungle on its own. With many ways of discrimination, such as bullying, omission, un-equal remuneration and lack of opportunities to advance, are just a few where disadvantages are reflected. It doesn’t matter if you have the experience, the know-how or the credentials with the conviction, people are likely to take you for granted, maybe even toss you to the side.

Still to this date, I believe that companies are very passive when dealing with this situation. They need to step up and make an effort to be more disabled-friendly. Like Bangalore, where companies are understanding that the disabled are a great resource, and are changing their culture to take advantage of this talent. Below is a snippet of an article from a firm at Bangalore.

“Of late, Bangalore’s private firms, including IT companies, are showing considerable amount of interest in training and recruiting persons with disabilities,” said M Srinivas, chief executive of the Karnataka chapter of National Association for the Blind.

“However, one thing has to be kept in mind — companies don’t recruit disabled people out of sympathy, but because they are efficient,” Srinivas said.

Now consider this deaf friend of mine who has a lot of experience in the computer field, and worked for several companies in the industry. I’m quite sure he had helped companies in ways that they may never realize. Of all the companies he has worked for, only ONE company was really disabled friendly.

Creating this type of environment is hard and takes time. But in the long run, it’s a good change for both disabilities and business alike. The variation of possibilities and such diversity could dramatically improve and impact companies’ outlook regardless of products or services they provide. This is especially in the realms of technology where deaf people heavily rely on. There’s just too much talent wasted, and if done right and put to good use, the rewards for the effort would be much more than compensated. I, Oswaldo Rodriguez, am a hearing person and never understood what it took for disabled people to get and maintain a good career until now. I am currently working with a deaf person, and he has proved himself time after time. He’s one of the most valuable assets of the company, and nobody takes him for granted. Not even himself.

Define your own reputation or let others define it for you…

Longster — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:14:22 +0000

No matter what reputation we uphold, people like you and me will always pass some kind of judgment. If you, by any small chance, believe that you do not judge, then you are simply a hypocrite, in denial, ignorant and/or delusional. Every history, media, and social aspect have proved time after time that we ALL pass some kind of judgment towards people. Don’t believe me? Then read on…

Judgment and reputation are two words that constantly revolve around us. There’s no way to avoid it unless you isolate yourself from the world. First, let’s clarify the definition of judgment. Judgment is the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing. There’s a saying that we shouldn’t judge people. What they mostly mean is we don’t have the right to say someone is right or wrong in a subjective situation. This includes nice or rude, smart or stupid, humble or egotistic, pretty or ugly, awesome or suck, and so on. Ultimately, the sentimental value should hold true, but realistically, has anyone ever kept their end of the bargain? Think for a moment: your subconscious is the one and only thing that determines judgment and that is based on your own personal experience. In that area, there is an insurmountable number of opinions formed in every second, intentionally or unintentionally. Simply put, it is human nature. We judge.

Next, we have reputation which is the opinion of the public toward a person, a group of people or an organization. Reputation is an important factor that let people define who we are, but it is also entirely up to us how we reflect ourselves. Here’s an example, there is a video game called Mass Effect (a role playing game). It allows you to build and control your main character as well as the outcome of the game. There are groups of non playable characters (NPC) which you can converse with. In each dialog, three major choices are given in order to respond – positive, neutral, or negative. Every response you choose, NPC react accordingly. What’s revealing is how NPC behave differently towards a character depending on its reputation. The more positive you respond, the more helpful they are and vice versa if there is a negative response. The kind of reputation varies depending on the action we all make. Now imagine us in the real world, we all have our own characteristics and decide how we carry out our lives. The characteristics and the type of judgment we exhibit determine our own reputation.

The combination of judgment and reputation go hand in hand. People judge on the result of what you do, what you say, and what other people say about you. It’s not the question of who you are, but a question of how you conduct yourself towards others. The nature of those two aspects has a mysterious way that affects people. They can break or make you. When a topic gets mentioned about deaf community, there’s something that needs to be said as a group regarding reputation. There are certain things that rub people the wrong way and others who enjoy our culture. Granted, it’s not just only deaf, but hearing as well. However, we are the minority and we get a lot more attention than others. Therefore, we are scrutinized much more than hearing. Here are a couple of links that came to my attention from twitter related to deafness. What caught my eyes wasn’t so much about the news, but what was said in the comment section. Some of them were harsh, but certainly understandable.

brazilliandanny
Ive Bartended about a dozen ASL parties. I am a tolerant person and have no beef with any religion, race, group, ect. But in 10 years behind the wood deaf people were by far the most rude and ungrateful patrons I have served.

phughes
I was working an event for HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America) in Nashville, TN recently. Their Gala Ball started with a tribute to the founder of the HLAA (formerly SHHH) who had recently passed away. His widow was there. There were people who had been with the organization for 20 years giving eulogies. Except, nobody would stop talking!

These people knew that the event had started, they just didn’t care. You have to understand that they have a myriad of hearing assistive technologies at these events: open captioning, sign language interpreters (on huge screens so everyone can see,) IR systems to plug directly into hearing aids and cochlear implants – hooked directly up to the sound system. These people were asked to stop talking 5 times before the program started, and it still took 5 minutes into the presentation before people quieted down……….I don’t hate deaf people, but I do lack sympathy. If you want to be treated well by the world I have some advice: stop acting like an asshole.

momoichigo
What I noticed from experience is they seem to think society has wronged them. I’m sure society has wronged them, but it also wronged many other people. Furthermore, they make it confusing and virtually impossible to not offend them. Half of them think it’s offensive to be called hearing impaired. Half of them think it’s offensive to be called deaf. Then, they retaliate by calling people who aren’t deaf, “hearing people”. It just all seem very childish to me. You don’t see blind people being offended for being said to be blind. It is what it is. If you can’t hear, you’re deaf. I eventually settled and decided I am going to call them deaf, whether they like it or not. If they don’t they can just suck it up, because that is who they are.

winterface
I used to volunteer at a place on the weekends that had several deaf people, and its always weird, One minute they will just be a little standoffish and the next complete jerks. I’ve only met one nice deaf person. The rest for whatever reason have been really rude.

You can read the rest here and here

One might ask, why should we bother to care what others think? That’s probably a typical response that most of you would answer. The attitude of “I’ll do what pleases me and if you don’t like it, then you can shove it” is common with the kind of people that like to believe that they live in their own world and nothing they do affects anyone. There is more concern about self and less concern about others. In retrospect, why should hearing people even care about us in the first place? Imagine ourselves asking these people for help and they just don’t give a hoot about deaf community itself. We just may never have the luxury of technology, services or whatever it is we need to survive. The judgment we make and how we establish ourselves should be delicately handled.

This isn’t to say that we should conform to please others. It is more of an obligation to seize, correct and educate deaf and hearing. The last thing we need is to create more bitterness and stereotypes that could potentially taint the image of deaf community and/or possibly hinder any progress to better the community. There’s no real easy solution. But before we can solve the problem, we first must correct our line of thought and change our attitudes. Bottom line, quit being a jackass, build up patience, develop a method to communicate–not just for yourself but others as well. Respect one another, educate, and whatever it is that we can do to help each other. Whether you like it or not, we all need each other. Everyone is connected in one form or another. We may not see it, but it is there if we look beyond the superficial.

In the end, you have to ask yourself – define your own reputation or let others define it for you. The choice is up to you. If you choose to inject your negative attitude around you, then you can certainly expect the same treatment from others. Best practice is do onto others as you would want others to do to you. How you conduct yourself and the values you live by are what define you and our culture. YOU are the most important influence in today’s world.

Captioning: Bonus Feature or Required?

Maryellen Sarles — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:29:07 +0000

Imagine that after a long day, you’d love nothing more than to sit on the couch and watch the newest cutesy animated movie from Pixar. No doubt, you cannot be disappointed… after all, it is Pixar, right? have delivered pretty stellar movies in the recent past and this should be no different. Now, imagine being confronted with the shock that the DVD has no captioning at all. Maybe you don’t have to imagine it. Maybe it happened to you, just like it happened to me.

My roommate scolded me, “Tsk, you should have checked Netflix and Redbox first to see if it had captioning or subtitles.” No, I didn’t check before I rented the movie, but in this day and age – practically every movie has either captioning or subtitles that most of us don’t even think to check anymore, right? It was silly to think that I could have vested so much importance into a cute animated movie to help me unwind, but the fact is – I was extremely disappointed!

At first, I thought I was alone. I must have gotten a bad DVD somehow. Just my luck, huh? Then over the next few days, I began to see steady streams of complaints from friends and fellow Deafies asking about the captioning on “Up.”

First it was a “marketing decision.” Then it was a “manufacturing error.”

In a country where closed captioning is considered mainstream, this was a pretty big shock. Pixar (and Disney) released their newest full-feature animated film to all major rental companies without captioning or subtitles. If you required captioning in some form and wanted to watch “Up,” you were out of luck. Well, no… not exactly. If you wanted to watch it bad enough, you could buy the retail version. Conveniently, the retail version has captioning along with the bonus features.

Pixar considers closed captioning/subtitles a bonus feature. Really? Shame on you, Pixar. Back in the heyday, captioning might have been a luxury but today, it is expected. In a place where we have captioning practically everywhere, it is expected of major motion picture companies to produce their movies with captioning.

After a pretty big uproar from the community, Pixar has announced that they will release a new batch of DVDs that includes the bonus features to rental companies.

Let’s analyze what Pixar meant by “marketing decision.” Could it be that they wanted (or needed) to save money by removing the bonus features? Surely, the animation giant would already have all these features someplace. All it would take is a little manpower (and technology) to integrate them with the feature film. So it couldn’t be about saving money. When I sat down to think about it, the only (and most obvious) answer came to mind. If adoring fans wanted to watch “Up” bad enough, they’d buy the DVD, right? Or maybe not. It may be safe to assume that in this economy, Pixar might be suffering just a tad bit just like the rest of us. Apparently, they thought the best way to boost sales was to force those of us who require captioning to buy their DVDs. Lame.

Let’s look at “manufacturing error.” Error? Yeah right. A complete set without bonus features conveniently ended up at rental places while the other batch (WITH bonus features) ended up in retail stores? A mistake can’t get any more perfect than that. For Pixar’s sake – let’s believe for a second that it truly was an error. With the movie being passed through so many hands from start to finish, it’s appalling to even think that everyone could have missed that.

Thousands of devoted fans have become disgruntled customers overnight. I guess Pixar just never accounted for how many there are of us out there. And by “us,” I mean those who need captioning to enjoy their movies and those who just like to have captioning on their screen. If everyone stands together and makes one united voice, we can truly make a difference.

Let this be a message to Pixar and anyone who will listen. Captioning is NOT a special feature!

Houston Deaf Rights Update

Billy Koch — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:49:37 +0000

They finally updated the Houston Deaf Rights Blogsite with an update to what happened and what has been going on with the March and the results of it. There is also a video of it here – it starts around at 6:00 if you want to see it – Click here for video and click on Public Speakers 2 of 4 and around 6:00 is where Dan Warthling comes in and gives his presentation to the City Council.

Dr. Singleton’s Response to One’s Man’s Opinion to Protest

Billy Koch — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:32:28 +0000

This email caught my eye & I can’t help but smile at the similarities in the feelings expressed now and back during the first protest at Gallaudet University for a “Deaf President Now” in March, 1988. Dr. Patti Singleton responded to my posting on Deafnetwork. So I have asked for permission to post her response here on DPHHH.com so you as the individual can read it here. And she approved my posting her response here.

I was fortunate to be there as a graduate student at Gallaudet and on the front lines as history was made…and I learned some valuable lessons in working with the media & politicians in general. There were folks who opposed the protest and those who supported it, but the important thing is that we put aside our differences and worked together for a common cause. I’m not sure that waiting to have a Deaf Awareness Week the most appropriate thing to do to get your legal issues addressed now…I’m also not saying that the Deaf Awareness Week isn’t important, it IS but you need to do much, much more than that…protecting your legal rights is a daily, weekly, monthly, year-round thing…not a onetime event during the year!

You need to have your act together – the Houston Deaf Rights group needs to organize and put out a list of Issues with concrete examples of each, i.e.: legal rights not being addressed or respected, discrimination, etc. What have you tried in terms of resolving these issues in the past? Again you needs dates & data to prove your case.

There is a HUGE amount of pre-planning and organizing to be done before your March — Be sure you have other members of the Deaf Community involved – Interpreters, CODAS, Parents of Deaf children, Deaf-Blind, Teachers from Deaf Programs, members of other disability groups, lawyers, etc…everybody knows somebody who know somebody else who has contacts or can help! They should all help you get the word out to the WHOLE Community, not just the Deaf groups, etc, about the March and be in the City Council Chambers when you speak to the Council.

When you march, keep it peaceful – be sure you have a city permit to march…make sure you are visible, wear similar colors or t-shirts with your slogan on it so people will know who you are
Alert the TV/News media in advance so they can be there to publicize your march – prepare a flyer to distrubute during the march, see if a local printing company can donate this for you…
Have ONE Spokes-person to address the City Council – be sure you know the protocol for signing up to speak, which is usually limited to 2-5 minutes, depending on their rules & respect that – be sure to request an Interpreter be there, and bring one along just in case! Prepare a hand out to give to the City Council Mambers which lists your concerns and what you want done to resolve them.

Present your information in a calm, professional manner, with clear “Talking Points” that show each issue. Appeal to the Council’s sense of doing the right thing, appeal to their sense that we are all on the same team, not a “us vs them” approach. Show them you want to help and work with the Council to improve things so Houston can be a model city, contact Advocacy Inc.and the Texas Governor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities to get their ideas & support. I know the Houston Deaf Rights Organizers are great people and good Leaders, and I wish you all the best!!

Good luck with your Protest and Remember, “It’s always cheaper to provide access than go to court!”
Patti E. Singleton, Ph.D. drpatti7@aol.com

Where are the Real Voices? Speak up!

Julie Reese — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:10:01 +0000

After reading the posts and blogs that everyone has written about related to the Protest and the lack of upholding the DOJ settlement in those cases where the deaf cititzens got denied communication access such as a qualified interpreter. My question is: Where are those deaf citizens who said they got denied an interpreter recently? These citizens need to speak up and make their voices heard. They need to tell the story of what happened. These are the people we should be listening to. Please, speak up for yourselves. You cannot expect other people to do the work and “talking” for you. You can empower yourselves to make yourself heard by the City of Houston and Houston Police Department. Everyone will be listening and will back you up. You are the true voice. Sooo… Speak Up!

Let's Play By the Rules…

Deaf Protest – One Guy’s Opinion…

Billy Koch — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:57:21 +0000

Okay folks – I just got an email about a pending protest that some deaf individuals are planning to have on June 16th. Now I am going to have to admit, I am really bothered by this approach. I am speaking from a personal level – this approach in my opinion will not reflect positively with us and the deaf community. We, the deaf community have already been reflected negatively by the people from our two protests at Gallaudet. The first one was acceptable and totally understandable – but the second one people were like again??

Granted they may NOT understand why, but its is not the point. The point is we need to make our opportunities in a positive manner and have people to reflect off us in a positive manner. For example I am going to say this – we are at fault for where we are. As I wrote in my “Together we Stand, Divided we Fall” article. We are just as responsible for this situation as they the hearing community is. You ask why? I’ll tell you why!
What have we done in the last 20 years? Have we made an effort to create an organization that could be a political and vocal voice for the deaf community? No we haven’t. Instead we whine and cry about what we don’t have. You know from the late 80′s to the mid-90′s we had Deaf Awareness week – which was a wonderful way of exposing the deaf community to the City of Houston. And keep in mind back then we dont have all the technology or media we have now. But by having Deaf Awareness week and utilize this as our opportunity to educate the City of Houston on the people we have in Houston would yield in a much more positive manner. And I know someone has been talking they are looking to start it up again this year! *hands waving* This – I believe would yield more recognition and in a much positive manner than having a protest. Honestly from what I am hearing the community is divided on this protest. And if the community is divided on this protest – then we will fail. We will not look like a strong community.

Keep in mind – everything takes patience – we have to educate the community and the people on our needs. It took me almost two years to get my work to finally provide me a video phone for work. And it was all on education because they don’t understand. All I am asking is, take a step back – lets organize this deaf awareness week – get the media involved so we can utilize this as an opportunity to express ourselves. (those of you who would like to get involved – please do so – Deaf Awareness Week can’t be done just by 1 or 3 people – it requires a COMMUNITY of you!

But what I do ask is, take a step back – pull back lets have Deaf Awareness Week, lets keep trying to educate the community and if next year comes around and we still are being fustrated. Then lets come up with facts, come up with issues, come up with true dedicated information then we as WHOLE can go and protest. I just ask of this from you! Do not lose faith – keep the faith. Lets work together in a positive way and focus on the positives. A protest at this time is not going to help, lets do our part. Create more information, create an organizaton who can help one another, educate the community, and if we are still not getting any positive results then we proceed.

Remember Together we Stand, Divided we Fall. Think about it and choose your path…

Let's Play By the Rules…

Billy Koch — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:18:35 +0000

As some of you folks might know, I am an avid sports fanatic. I love sports of all kinds and I usually participate in various of sports along with other deaf individuals. But it was kind of funny, I run a site for a particular sport, (and there was even a discussion about this in Facebook for another sport). Well one of the discussion was based on how we keep changing the rules every year to benefit “US”. Now that “US” really annoys me, keep in mind these are deaf people voting and modifying the rules here. Well point being is for softball there are a few associations like the National Softball Association (NSA), Amatuer Softball Association (ASA), and United Sports (something – USSSA).

We have governing associations which we could abide by and follow. Just say okay we will be following USSSA rules and just follow it. But do we do that, no what we do is we say we will play by USSSA rules – modified. (Modified to FIT us and our needs). Now off to another sport – Golf – there is a sport USGA – United States Golf Association. Simple follow the rules and play. But no, we as deaf individuals want to modify the game to our needs. Now going to both sports – I can’t tell you how many hours I have SAT in a meeting watching them argue and debate on how the rules were going to be made. Which is ridiculous! We already have set rules just follow it and be on your way and enjoy the game.

Now here is what bothers me – we always say “We are Deaf, nothing else” We can do everything hearing people can do but just can’t hear. Okay if that is the case then why do we HAVE to suggest to change the rules all the time? Why do we even have to modify it? Why can’t we just play along the rules and just enjoy ourselves. Well I’ll tell you why – is because we don’t think of ourselves up to the level as hearing people. For as long as we keep doing this we will always be looked at as “You CAN’T” because we can’t play by the rules like hearing folks.

Now this is from a sports perspective – now lets go into reality. One of the major problems are we as deaf individuals, and parents (not all parents but some who I have encountered). They reinforce our behavior – they reinforce our feeling of needs of being able to do things differently. When we have parents who feel bad for their deaf child because the child can’t hear then they overcompensate the child by modifying things then the child learns to live in a modified world where everything is changed but not the same as hearing folks. Granted we do have needs – accessibility needs. But I’m talking about in real life – if we are provided an interpreter in a classroom then we should be able to do everything a hearing child can do. But when we are put in an expectation that we can’t perform in the level of a hearing child then that is the result, we end up performing to the expectation of what they expect not being able to perform to the level. Or I have met some parents who let their child behave in such way that would not be respectful or toleratable in public and I inquire about it and they are like well he is deaf and so we can’t get through him. So its like “Hey come on! You treat that child just like you would with a hearing child and expect respect and proper behavior” Communicate with the child don’t just sit there and think well my child is deaf and he/she doesn’t listen to me. Some of us were fortunate to have parents to raise us with high expectations and expect the most out of us. But then there are some who don’t have that expectation so as a result the child fails. And when the child is not able to play by the rules he/she will grow up expecting the rules to be changed for him/her because the expectation level is lower. It is time for us to make that change! Start with us, the adults – start playing by the rules and PROVE a POINT we as deaf individuals DO NOT need the rules to be changed! So it all starts with YOU!