Comments on: Deaf Community: Local Issues

By: Deaf Trillium

Deaf Trillium — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:44:44 +0000

We cannot wait for the government to see us as a linguistic minority group because there are quite a lot of clients really needing assistance with their needs, interpreting requests, and counselling. For instance, Hawii was forced to fold up its services at the end of June. We were busy complaining about ASL, Audism, SLCC, Gallaudet being on probation, and so on… Where were the leaders in Hawaii to fight their state government to keep the agency open?? Where was the Hawaii Association of the Deaf? (I am not sure of the name of the organization….) Now the deaf Hawaiians are suffering without community and counselling services. Interpreting services were thankfully taken over by another interpreting agency. How many more states will lose their agencies?? I was surprised that no one has brought up this serious matter. I am not from Hawaii (I wish I did!)

By: Mary Lou

Mary Lou — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:21:39 +0000

Hello!!
I have idea What about International Interpreting Service and Video Relay Service as They do for Deaf all over the world. What do you think?? I hope you like this idea Have a good day!!

By: Ella Lentz

Ella Lentz — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:00:58 +0000

You are correct. We need to be accountable to our community by being involved in those issues. However, we need to look at the bigger picture constantly while working on the “local issues” like you mentioned. It’s not enough to just find money to establish domestic violence program or other social service programs such as intepreting services…we need to step back and REALLY critique the whole system… so far MOST of the money that come to Deaf people are based on us being “disabled people” and not as a cultural linguistic minority group with our own language and way of life that is respected. Once the latter is clearly achieved, many many of the “minor issues” will go away because we will be much healthier, and then move on as a political force demanding social justice as a people of language and culture that simply wants respect for who we are, not for how we attempt to deny (or overcome) our healthiest identity.
What I have been thinking is that we need to push our right to Deafhood, beyond just basic “human rights” (which emphasis individualism)… we need to evaluate all programs current or potential for their perspective on Deaf people… if they don’t aim to stop the “individual disabled human” view of us, we don’t support them, or demand them to allow us to take over and design the program the Deafhood way.
Hope I make sense. This is a hard thing to discuss briefly..and will require much more discourse…but at least we are going into the right direction. Let’s do more!

By: Richard Roehm

Richard Roehm — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:09:06 +0000

The deaf society needs to open their eyes to unortodox approaches to solving the question of deaf human survival.

Richard