DEAF WATCH----December 28,1996 Happy New year! I hope you all have a prosperous 1997! In this letter I will show you why many Deaf people are getting and staying on SSI/SSDI. There are many reasons they have for obtaining these monthly checks. Here is a few possible reasons: 1) They are unable to find employment anywhere and many of these people HAVE TRIED for some time to obtain employment somewhere. OR they have become traumatized as result of unfavorable work conditions such as lack of reasonable accommodations, or suffered harassment under the guise of disciplinary actions. We need more sensitive employers who are seriously interested in hiring AND retaining Deaf people on a full time basis. 2) Many Deaf associations are not doing their work to help deaf people find employment or assist them in getting employers to accommodate their Deaf employees and this cause Deaf people to feel uncertain about their future and they resort to the U.S. welfare system. Some privately funded Deaf associations are told to "go very low on Deaf rights" in exchange for funding. We need to find and expose these "fronts" who do more harm than help. 3) The Dept of Fair Employment and Housing is doing a poor job at combating discrimination. This is due to lack of proper staffing and funding for this agency. They are now overwhelmed with complaints to investigate. The investigative qualities of these investigators have diminished thus making it difficult for them to obtain results favorable to Deaf complainants. We need to ask the federal government to increase funding and staffing for this agency. 4) There is not enough tax incentives to hire Deaf people and accommodate them. Many small business know the costs of accommodating Deaf or disabled employees will burden them and this discourages them from hiring Deaf or disabled people. Again we need write to the Congress and ask them to allow more incentives. These are just a few legitimate possibilities to why many Deaf people are getting and staying on SSI/SSDI programs. I feel the U.S. government needs to improve their programs that encourage employers to hire and accommodate Deaf people. All levels of the U.S government from the President, who signs the bills into laws, to the local judges ,who rule on cases involving Deaf employees, must get involved in getting Deaf people to work and steer them away from SSI/SSDI programs. Either they help us get jobs or they will have to support us for the rest of our lives. The Editor ************************************************************* With 1996 leaving us and 1997 just ahead of us is another exciting year. We all make resolutions for the new year. DEAF WATCH's New year's Resolutions: 1) To educate many Deaf people of their rights. 2) To increase circulation by 200% by next year's end. 3) To encourage the deaf community to unite together. 4) To expose ineffective Deaf/disabled advocacy "fronts" that receive funding and do nothing to help Deaf/disabled people. 5) To encourage Deaf people to participate in civil rights rallies, demonstrations, and protests. 6) To create a web page and pack it with as much information to help the Deaf as possible. 7) To implement a mission statement for DEAF WATCH. _________________ | DEAF WATCH | __________________/MISSION STATEMENT\__________________ | | | "To educate the Deaf and hearing impaired communities | | around the globe of their right to be free from | | discrimination in employment, housing, public | | accommodations and from hate violence" | | | |=======================================================| ************************************************************* Deaf role models all share the same ambitions to show the world that Deaf people can do something on a large scale. Here is a few of those people: 1) Andrew Foster is recognized as a pioneer of Deaf education in Africa and holds the record for the most Deaf schools founded in the world. 2) Olof Hanson is a prominent and renowned architect credited for designing buildings all over the United States and was for a while the president for the National Association for the Deaf. 3) Marlee Maitlin an actress is known very well for her performances in the "Children of lesser God" movie and the the television series "Reasonable Doubt". What can YOU do to impress the Deaf community and the world? ************************************************************ Here's one person's way of dealing with unsolicited email as discovered in the USE NET. NOTICE: By sending unsolicited commercial advertising/solici- tations (or otherwise on or as part of a mailing list) to the above e-mail address you will be indicating your express consent to paying *ME* $1,000 US Dollars/hour for a minimum of 1 hour for my time to read and/or delete unsolicited commercial advertising/solicitation. What a nice punch to give to those SPAMMERS... ************************************************************* Resources you can use. Please call them and ask about the services they provide. Disability Rights Education/Defense (800) 466-4232 TDD/V Handicapped Law Compliance Office (800) 875-4526 V Heath Resource Center (800) 544-3284 TDD/V Job Accommodation Network (800) 526-7234 TDD/V Pacific Disability and Business Tech. Center (800) 949-4232 TDD/V ************************************************************* Richard Romero of Riverside, California in an interview with Parade Magazine responds to the issue of limitations "You need to try and fight for what you want. Break down the limitation. Go right through it." Richard Romero is Deaf. ************************************************************* Shelby Smith, an advocate for the disabled dislikes the term "handicapped" because to him it contains "HAND" and "CAP" which are both associated with panhandling. He sees the term "DISABLED" a closer representation of disabled people than "HANDICAPPED". He is also known as "The Bulldog" as he tends to "bark" the laws at those who discriminate against his clients. (We need more people like him!) ************************************************************* The employer lists have been omitted and will be replaced with letters from our readers. Please send your letters to this email address Nesmuth@bbs.hwsys.com ------------------------------------------------------------- - DEAF WATCH - Circulation by EMAIL : 69 Subscribers - Chief Editor/Editor : Richard Roehm - Orange County, California - (714) 220-8187 24 hour beeper - Internet : Nesmuth@edenbbs.com - Visit Http://www.edenbbs.com/nesmuth/nesmuth.htm - DEAF WATCH Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/deaf.htm ------------------------------------------------------------- - SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION - To be added to the mailing list, send "SUBSCRIBE" - To be deleted from the mailing list send "DELETE" - to this address NESMUTH@EDENBBS.COM ------------------------------------------------------------- - DEAF WATCH does not solicit funds from anyone nor it - sells the mailing lists to anyone. 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