Comments on: What Should Our Priorities Be?

By: Joey Baer

Joey Baer — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:18:40 +0000

I know I am late in the game BUT it is no brainer that we should focus on Deaf Education. Some suggestions made above are excellent such as requiring teachers to pass ASLPI before teaching Deaf children.

You see, Deaf children, are OUR future and it is really waste of our time if we try to train “old dogs” how to communicate with Deaf people. We need to pour our energy to our Deaf children and once they are empowered and inspired, they will be better leaders than we are nowadays.

Deaf Education!!!

By: David Evans

David Evans — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:29:48 +0000

Brainstorm away, by all means. :)

By: Michele Ketcham

Michele Ketcham — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:19:48 +0000

#2…I know it will require some work to make it happen. It would also require some restructuring and paradigm shift for that to happen.

It doesn’t have to be the state…it could come from other sources. I was just brainstorming.

By: David Evans

David Evans — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:36:41 +0000

Never heard of the “Hands & Voices Guide By Your Side” program. I just checked their website, and it looks interesting, but it also seems to be a program where parents are the guides, and not necessarily deaf/hard-of-hearing people; I think that such a program should involve both groups. You mentioned mentor programs above, and I think that may be one way to go.

By: David Evans

David Evans — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:31:06 +0000

Ok– I agree with you on “reasonable accommodation”– what’s “reasonable” to some is “unreasonable” to others. It’s too vague. While Deaf Pundit is correct that the law as it stands works to a degree, just filing a complaint doesn’t always resolve the situation.

As for converting volunteers to paid workers, I’d be all for that, but where will the funding come from to do that? Not all states are going to be willing to budget for this.

As for #4, yeah… I should bring this up next time I’m at a party or social event, and see where it goes.

By: David Evans

David Evans — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:26:16 +0000

I agree- while many associations and organizations may be fighting for the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, it wouldn’t hurt for the rest of us to become familiar with what’s going on and write letters in support. That’s one of the benefits of blogs, I think– through this method, we can help educate each other and hopefully convert dialogue into action.

By: David Evans

David Evans — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:23:28 +0000

Deaf Pundit, I agree there needs to be a push for more interpreters who have advanced skills in areas such as legal and medical interpreting. I think, as you point out, part of the solution to that will need to be advancing ASL in four-year colleges as a viable course of study. Right now it’s mostly at the junior/community college level. While some of these ITPs are fantastic, I think ultimately interpreting as a profession, in any language, needs to be further strengthened and legitimized. There are interpreter shortages in many places in many languages, not just ASL. One major hospital in my area, for example, as of a couple years ago had only two full-time Spanish-speaking interpreters. This is in a city/county with at least a 50% Latino population…

By: Michele Ketcham

Michele Ketcham — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:08:43 +0000

David,

I do think that section of ADA needs to be rewritten, because I see too many examples of businesses claiming that they can’t “afford” to provide access, when in reality, they can. And when they are forced to, they then cut corners and do all they can to circumvent the process.

That has to stop, and I believe changing “reasonable accommodation” might be the key. The hearing society has had over 15 years to get used to the idea of ADA and they have been educated over and over again via lawsuits, TV, magazines, deaf employees, etc etc and the reality is, they will continue to stall as long as they can.

As for #2…I agree that there’s wide disparity in relative strengths from state association to state association, and this is because ALL state associations rely heavily on volunteers to run their affairs. And of course we all know that volunteers can only do what they can, around their work schedules, their family obligations, etc.

I’m thinking that maybe one way to equalize all state associations is for each state commission or advocacy organization (state level, not national level) to actually PAY Deaf people to do their work for the state association. This would be similar to mayors, city councils, etc and these people do receive pay for their work.

#4 is doable…I have no doubt your friends in L.A. have thought of this at least once and/or maybe even talked about it, because I know that definitely in DC circles, we have been talking about this for quite a while.

By: A Deaf Pundit

A Deaf Pundit — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:04:52 +0000

C.B., I find your comment a bit offensive. Yeah, many of us can’t make intelligent decisions, but that ain’t our fault. It’s the EDUCATIONAL system’s fault.

To blame us for that is a cop-out. Did the study explore WHY we didn’t make intelligent decisions?

By: C.B.

C.B. — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:46:39 +0000

McConnell I was never part of that cencus bureau that I was deaf. Well that is 22,000 plus me.