Houston Deaf Network » Politics

NCD National Summit on Disability Policy 2010

Longster — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:38:38 +0000

Here’s a great opportunity for anyone in the deaf community who is knowledgeable of disability policies who can influence the decision making during the national summit in Washington, DC. National Council on Disability (NCD) are actively looking for applicants who want to become a delegate. Here are the information…

The deadline for submitting an application form for consideration as a National Summit delegate is rapidly approaching. Everyone Needs to Apply by October 15, 2009. Only those who actually submit an application will be considered. If you consider yourself to be a disability policy expert, you too must apply by submitting an application before the October 15 deadline. We want to ensure that you are not left out of this historical event.

The application only takes moments to complete. More than 1,400 people have applied to date. Don’t miss out. We need your expertise. Apply now at http://www.neweditions.net/ncd2010/nomform.aspx. The NCD Selection Committee will invite delegates that include the full range of expertise and diversity. Space is limited so not all registrants can be accepted. Delegate invitations will be distributed starting in January 2010.

There are limited Scholarship Funds available: If selected, consumer delegates (those individuals not affiliated with an organization) will have the option of requesting scholarship funds to cover hotel accommodations and meal per diem. Details will be provided in the invitation letter.

All applications are due by October 15, 2009!

Mark S. Quigley
Director of External Affairs
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2022 fax
www.ncd.gov

You also may want to join more than 2,000 subscribers who receive the latest news from NCD via its listserv. Please sign up at http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/ and click on On-line mailing list archives, then select NCD-NEWS-L and complete the short subscription form.

Texas Congressmen on Facebook

Bradley Porche — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:40:00 +0000

I have been pondering ways for many of you to reach out and maintain contact with your Congressmen. I mentioned TweetCongress and contacting your Congressmen the old fashion way. Little did I realize that most of them have Facebook pages. So I went ahead a did a little digging to find out who has Facebook.

Those are several Congressmen I have found so far, if you have more. Please let me know and I can add them to the list! Please note, when you write to them on the wall page. Be sure to state this,

Honorable (Full name of Congressmen)

I would like you to support H.R. Bill 3101. Can you co-sponsor this bill and if so, it would be greatly appreciated by us in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community.

Thank you
H.R. 3101 Bill Supporter

I think it would be a great way for you to connect to them through Facebook and let them know to support H.R. Bill 3101!

Also, there is an Facebook page called OpenCongress which has several bills you can pull up and support. Any bill that you support will show on Facebook page and you can easily let your friend know which bill they can support as well.

Hope you had a great weekend!

The Case for H.R. 3101

Bradley Porche — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:51:24 +0000

It is the year of 2020, you are walking with your friend who says, “Look at the news, man…can you believe that!?” You suddenly become curious to know what is going on. Your friend is shocked and watching the news on his mobile phone. You ask your friend what the newscaster is saying. Unfortunately, there is no captioning. Guess what, you have to rely on him to give you the news.

This mobile technology is not very far ahead and take CNN Mobile for example, which pushes VOD (video on demand) to an iPhone (other cell phones can be enabled as well). Currently, CNN Mobile does not offer captioning because there is no FCC mandate that says otherwise. You have Netflix which says that the technology is not possible (read the excerpt here) and you have iTunes which continues to lag behind in providing access to the Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Then there is Hulu which is currently the ‘Gold Standard’ in providing captioning access via digital streaming. although Hulu does not offer 100% captioning access to all shows. Click here to read the story about how Hulu came to provide captioning.

There are over 30 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in the United States. The potential for the market is huge and whoever captures the market has an advantage. That advantage currently goes to Hulu, only if Hulu was able to find a way to stream digital media to cell phones with captioning, it would be “winner takes all.” However…what remains to be seen is what the other competitors will offer on the table in the near future.

The only problem is that those competitors like CNN.com, iTunes, and Netflix are not required to provide captioning access anytime now. They have nothing to worry about and the only thing they have to worry about is whom ever provides the best or the most content. Never mind the 30 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing people who are waiting for the access to have captioning.

Our time is now and we have the potential to encourage the legislation to approve the bill, H.R. Bill 3101 (read HR 3101) that requires media providers to provide captioning access through digital streaming. In summary, the H.R. 3101 is to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet-Protocol based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st century. There are at least 6 co-sponsors and 95 companies supporting the bill (source). We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and wait for things to magically appear and fall in place. We have come a long way in making big changes from the man going to the moon, First Black President of the United States, and the original Deaf President Now march. Anything is possible and that is why we, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, need your voice to be heard all the way to Washington D.C. Write a letter to your Congressman, Tweet your Congressman, contact your House of Representative and Senate to bring the fight to the very core of the issue.

The issue is to provide access to digital streaming captioning to those 30 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in the United States and to liberate the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people from the dependency of others.

To read more about who is backing H.R. 3101, go to the coataccess.org website.
To find out more information on how to contact your representative, go to Deaf Network website.

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.

Results from the March??

Billy Koch — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:24:29 +0000

Apparently a day has passed and at this time many of us have watched eagerly the news media, the Chronicle who were supposed to be at the event cover this March. And yet we, the deaf community have not heard anything. So meaning we did not make the impact that we had hoped? If you participated in the March please let us know how it went! We have checked the blogsite for updates and information and nothing has been posted. Where is the communication to the deaf community? For those of you who were at the event let the deaf community know how it went and provide your insight! We would love to hear from you!

Update from 3rd Meeting for March

Billy Koch — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:53:02 +0000

Last night meeting at Woodhaven church served a constant reminder of the issues that many deaf/hoh face after a long sought settlement between the Department of Justice and the City of Houston. The truth is the City of Houston has continued to fail in the requirement that has been outlined in the settlement when it comes to meeting the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. That was one of the main reason to have the March, to bring awareness to the city council of Houston. Brian and Kathy and the other co-founders hope to bring that awareness to the City of Houston and ensure that the requirements are met in the 1998 settlement.

There were about 40 people at the meeting, and some were able to watch the meeting online. Some were there to prepare for the March and others were there to question the integrity of the March and the co-founder’s preparedness. In the meeting, there were more questions than answers and many felt uneasiness in the way the March has been planned. From our observations, we could see many of the audience members did not receive a satisfied answer and was more puzzled than before. However, the March Founders was adamant to go on with the March regardless and mentioned that Brian will be having a meeting with the ADA Coordinator, Robby Laws on the issue of the settlement agreement.

Some has expressed concerns on facts and evidence that could be presented to the City Council in regards to our situation. Others has expressed that this issue is really a two way street, not just necessarily the City of Houston failure to meet our needs but because we had no one to really follow up with the City of Houston.

So as a result, many of those in the audience had the renew call for an establishment of an organization. An organization that will meet the needs for everyone in the deaf/hoh community. We ask for those to continue to participate and bring more awareness/voice in the establishment for a organization. Please keep an eye on the update on DPHHH.com for information. Remember this is not about you, but about the deaf/hoh community as whole. Updates will be coming soon about upcoming meetings in regards to the deaf/hoh community.

Next Protest Meeting – Monday at 7 p.m.

Billy Koch — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:43:26 +0000

Here is the information for the next protest meeting – now whether you are FOR, OPPOSED, or UNSURE about this protest – I highly encourage you to show up and voice your opinions – because this is YOUR COMMUNITY so you need to make sure that you are informed.

Our next meeting officially is held at Woodhaven Deaf Baptist Church, located at 9920 Long Point Road, Houston, 77055. Again, it’s scheduled on Monday night, June 15 at 7pm for a final preparation for our June 16 march. Everyone is encouraged to attend. Don’t forget to bring to the meeting (optional) as follows:

-One white cardboard (size 22” X 28”),
-Several markers (black, red, or blue ink is preferred, but if you prefer other colors, that is fine),
-One wood stick (wood sticks must be ¼ inch thick, according to the city’s rules for the march). These are for making signs/posters.

We also suggest a blue shirt to wear for our march in order to be recognized as a group of marchers for our own cause (can be light blue, royal blue, or navy blue). If you have any questions regarding our march, please email at HouDeafRights@aol.com.

Update Information on Deaf Protest

Bradley Porche — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:03:08 +0000

Here is the Department of Justice settlement between the United States of America, Rashad Gordon and Michael Edward against the City of Houston, TX. Again, this is only a settlement and does not emphasize a case law. Settlement Agreement There will be another meeting taking place on June 15th at 6:30pm (location will be updated), you can find out more information on the Communication Access Now blog and there is an outline of explanations from the 5 co-founders.

Hope you find this informative and I would strongly encourage you to attend the meeting. I plan on having a real time streaming and archived video of the meeting posted so that more Deaf/HOH people will be aware of what is going on and eventually feel like they are “participating” . It will be from this account, UStream.tv broadcast and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks!

Pre-Deaf Protest Meeting – Tuesday 9th

Bradley Porche — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:16:18 +0000

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend the pre-protest meeting at Memorial City Mall. The meeting finally started after a few minutes delay due to waiting for more Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals to show up. There were approximately around 15 Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals.

There were diverse individuals from different background, some were Deaf and Hard of Hearing, some had a strong conviction to protest and some were not sure of what was going on. Neverthless, Brian Determan, one of the co-founders of the Deaf Right Protest (the title of the protest has not been clarified) took the floor and explained the issue of why we should need to protest.

Several issues were brought up. Some stated that it was a long struggle for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals to gain access to interpreters and the city did not fullfill the needs of Deaf individuals. He said that he met with the city and the city coordinator said that there was not much Deaf awareness and did not know how to provide the support for the Deaf community.

Brian said that he has exhausted all channels with the city including meeting with the County Judge which he mentioned it was a woman, (it is Judge Ed Emmett), contacted with the Mayor Bill White, etc. He also mentioned that they (the co-founders) have contacted the Houston Police Department and came to the conclusion that there was no support for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals through HPD. He has mentioned that he contacted James Solboda of the HPD and spoke with him. That gave a strong conviction that they have tried all means of contact and came with no solution. Hence, the main reason to have the protest on June 16th.

After Brian’s explaination, other Deaf/HOH individuals came up and explained their case. One said he became frustrated when he called ahead to request an interpreter and once he showed up in court, there were no interpreter present. He requested to reschedule the court case and asked for an interpreter, the next time again there was no interpreter available. He felt that he had no choice but to communicate through pen and paper. In the process, he felt lost and was unsure of what to do.

Another said that in the past he had problems with calling an non-emergency 911 call and requested an officer to have an interpreter with him present. Once the officer showed up and the compliant found that they did not bother to have an interpreter. Then when the second time he had to make a non-emergency 911 call, they did not send an interpreter. He said that it was difficult and frustrating so he felt that the time is now to protest and try to deliver the message across.

There were more people who expressed their frustrations and concerns of the lack of access that the city of Houston is not meeting the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals.

After all is said and done, I decided to get up and press Brian further to ask him a series of questions relating to the protest. I asked him, “Who is representing the protest, who is the spokesperson?” Brian said, “It is me that will be the spokesperson because I know and understand everyone’s situation and what should be done.” Brian explained that he has seen many cases and realized that it became overwhelming that gave away to the fact that it was enough that the city was not doing anything. The only best possible solution would be is to have a protest/march on June 16th to “wake up” the city council and explain the case to them. Hopefully, the result is that they become more aware of the issue and Brian said that he knows it will be a long process. It will be an effort to get the message cross and felt that this is the best way to go.

Previously earlier, when I asked Brian what he does and he said that he works as an advocate with the office of Deaf/Hard of Hearing services. I felt that it was a conflict of interest since he himself leads the protest and is a spokesperson as well. When I told him that I was concerned about the conflict of interest in terms of public relations and the media’s perspective since it might look like a one man march. Brian said that he is willing to have a neutral person that would be in the best position to be the spokesperson for the protest/march. That has yet to be determined on who is the spokesperson and I was asked to be their spokesperson on the spot. However, I felt that it was inappropriate because there was no proper voting from the members in the meeting. You cannot just select a member out of the blue but in order to have a spokesperson with a strong backing of the members, you have to have a voting prodecure. I also explained that being a spokesperson is a huge responsibility and it would be a person who truly understands everyone’s concern and be aware of the real issue at hand. I think they should have done an voting prodecure but with the protest date nearing, it would not be enough time in my opinion. Again, this is not an organization.

When I asked Brian on what the plan was after the protest? “Do you have an agenda in place?” He said that he hopes to get the message across through the protest with the city council and eventually start from there. One of the member, Don, has said that we need the protest because it was “long overdue” and that for many years there were problems after problems.

It seems to me that there were some members who are still unsure of whether we should be having a protest and there were other members who are ready for it. When one of the member in the audience asked that if everyone was ready for the protest, Brian said that there are more people who has not showed up in the meeting and those are the people who were ready to protest, there are more “numbers”. I got up in front of the audience and told the members in the audience that “numbers” do not mean a thing. It does not matter if you have a LARGE protest or a small one. What matters the most is the message you are trying to get across, that you have exhausted all channels, and you have no options but to protest.

The meeting took more than 2 hours at length and since the mall was closing at 9, many members felt that there should be more time and Brian suggested that there should be another meeting before the protest. Some of the members agreed to have another meeting and some members have expressed to postpone the protest outright.

In my opinion, I felt that there are more to be done and remain exclusive to the idea that there are more channels to go through such as contacting Judge Ed Emmett, etc. There are other options such as establishing an organization such as Houston Association of the Deaf to provide a strong establishment within the Houston community. We need to have a multi-pronged approach and a better plan of attack. We need to have a more democratic form of ideas and vote on it on which is the best agenda to follow through. It cannot just be the co-founders’ ideas and expressions but requires a community of whole.

First thing I would like to see from the founder and co-founder is a blog that explains EVERYTHING in detail of the plan, agenda, why, etc. That way we as a Deaf community can be better informed and have more meeting with the members of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community. I understand that Brian has mentioned that there has been a meeting prior to establishing the protest but the question is, if several members of the Deaf community is not aware of the issue or a meeting that took place then what good would it do for the protest?

Second, I would like to see an establishment of an organization and have that organization to be a representation of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community then eventually lead the protest. I would like to see a more organized form of structure and prodecures that provides an establishment of electing a spokesperson, leader, etc.

That is why I asked to delay the protest to another date, but if the protest is to continue then at least change the message from complaining that there is a lack of access within the Houston community to a better message of establishing a Deaf representative with the mayor’s office (the city council can vote on that, so why not ask?) If the city council refuses to vote on having a Deaf representation, then it would be a stronger conviction for the Deaf community to say that city council is discriminating the representation of having a minority voice within the city council and the mayor’s office. It would look better for us through the media and the public but of course, that is just my opinion.

However, the good news is that there will be another meeting on Monday and I am hoping more people will show up and voice their concerns on whether they are supporting the protest or not. Maybe provide a better ideas and options that could lead to better result.

As soon as I find out more about the meeting on Monday I will post!

Feel free to express your concerns in the comment box below and remember, “Rome was not built in a day”

Note – this is solely my opinion and does not represent the opinions of the writers/owner of the dphhh.com

Deaf Protest Meeting – Tuesday 9th

Bradley Porche — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:15:09 +0000

I have volunteered to be a writer for the Deaf Protest/March Rally and there will be a pre-march meeting taking place today (June 9th) at Memorial City Mall (Food Court) at 7 o clock pm.

As a contributing member of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community, I would strongly encourage you to attend and participate. Like Billy Koch previously said, “It takes a community.” A community is one of the most valuable thing a Deaf/Hard of Hearing individual can have because not only the support is there but knowing what is going on is important as well. I plan on attending, write (blog), and participate about the meeting and I ask of you to do the same to blog and participate. Therefore, the message will be heard through the blogosphere, Facebook, etc. One person cannot do it all but many of you have the will power to make a difference.

This is my opinion before the meeting and I have many questions to ask. Does the Founder and Co-Founder have a plan? If so, what is it? Have they exhaust all means of communication (contacting members of the community)? Are they well prepared for a long struggle (it may take years, I expect them to not give up)? Vice versa.

Those are the kind of questions I will be asking, not because I want to see the protest to come with results, but because it is part of me. As a Deaf individual, I want to ensure that my opinion and rights are heard. It is not just one person but a community as whole.

Please show up and participate, remember…”It takes a community” – Billy Koch

Here is a flyer – Deaf Protest