DEAF WATCH----March 1997 Dear Readers, First of all, thank you all for your letters and messages about your experiences and a number of you have sent me mail complaining about your local Deaf associations. This information will greatly assist us in identifying problem Deaf associations and advocates. This comming June issue will highlights few of these organizations. The reason I am doing this is to optimize the performance of all Deaf/disabled organizations. Lets keep these letters comming! My mailbox at nesmuth@edenbbs.com has been closed from Feb 21 through March 8 due to a number of problems between the admins and their feeds. I have already taken a number of steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Also the emails are now sent out on the last week of each month instead of the last Saturday. Beginning with the next issue I will have a list of lawsuits and their payoffs. I am sure that by seeing these lists, deaf people will be encouraged to attempt legal recourse when they become victims of discrimination. DeafNation did a great job with their Deaf Saturn ad investigation! Richard ************************************************************* Deaf and Disabled people held a protest at Goodwill Industries in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 13, 1997. The protest took place where an SSA training was taking place 15 people with disabilities, including one who is hearing impaired, who have a PASS chanted the National PASS Participants' Rights Campaign's slogan "Hey hey ho ho, Dependency has got to go" when refused entry to the meeting. The police were called three squad cars arrived the media was NOT allowed in the building where they were loudly chanting our National slogan. Goodwill switchboards were shut down meetings throughout the building were disrupted for at least an hour then the director came out and allowed a few of them to address the meeting. A spokesperson of the protesters read a statement and a few others gave personal testimony. They then expressed their thanks and were escorted by police. This protest was put together in a matter of hours because people with disabilities in Cincinnati are saying NO to abuse through SSA work incentives. There was a similar protest in Denver, Colorado on March 3. ************************************************************* EDITOR'S REVIEW OF SPIN CITY'S MARCH 18'TH "DEAF-COM 4" EPISODE After reviewing the show several times, I have found a few disturbing things portrayed in the show. 1) Marlee Matlin used very weak signing and was reading lips. A very small percentage of the Deaf population would read lips. Lip reading hardly parallels Deaf culture. Sign language was kept to a minimum. The Sarah (Marlee Matlin) character pales in comparison with the character Marlee played in Reasonable Doubts. 2) When the mayor spoke to Sarah there was no interpreting of what he was telling her. There was lack of reasonable accommodations in the scene. There should have been someone signing TO her as the mayor or his secretary was speaking to her. I myself read lips well but I always ask for an interpreter to be assisting me every time I have important business with the hearing people such as jury service, lawyers, doctors, police..etc. The message from this gesture in the show is "It's ok not to have accommodations for the Deaf". 3) And the mayor's final press conference in the show was another disappointment. There was again no interpreting of what the mayor was saying nor was there any closed captioning seen on the tv screen in which the mayor aides' were watching. I turned off my closed captioning decoder and saw there was nothing on that scene in which a Deaf person could understand what the mayor was saying. The scene showed Sarah standing right next to the mayor that's it. I was scratching my head thinking what the hell is this? There should at least have been an interpreter standing next to the mayor signing what he was saying instead of Sarah just standing there saying 'I know what you mean' and then correcting his sign for 'understanding'. ************************************************************* Deaf Watch will start a special program to recognize Deaf homepages that promote Deafness. The award will be in the form of a small badge to put on the homepages. The award will be named after Priscilla Vinci a deaf activist. You may view the sample image of the badge at Http://www.edenbbs.com/nesmuth/pvbadge.gif and keep on checking the Deaf Watch Homepage for the awards giveaway. The qualifications for the award are: 1) The site must promote Deafness and/or Deaf Culture. 2) The site must have at least one (1) link to any Deaf or Disability resources homepage in the internet. 3) The site must have at least one (1) link to any Deaf newspaper's homepage or any Deaf newsletter's homepage. 4) The site must have at least one (1) link to any Deaf association's homepage. 5) The site must have at least one (1) link to any Deaf school's homepage. Keep an eye on the Deaf Watch homepage for a special place to submit your nominations. Starting May, all qualifying sites will receive this award and be mentioned in this newsletter and be listed in the Deaf Watch Homepage. ************************************************************* Deaf activists are a valuable asset to the Deaf community. The more activists we have the better we are able to defend our rights. Yes, we need more Deaf activists than there are at this time. If you have the time and resources to spare you can become a valuable asset to your community. ONLY the ones that are truly sympathetic to the Deaf community should consider becoming Deaf activists. Victims of disability related discrimination are STRONGLY encouraged to become activists. Take your time, get a little this now and a little that later. You will function better if you absorb these items on a gradual basis. The editor gave himself 18 months to accumulate these resources. REMEMBER You are to serve the Deaf community and not expect anything back. Here is one way to start yourself as a Deaf activist. 1) Join local Deaf associations AND attend their meetings. (NOT RECREATION/SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS). 2) Obtain Deaf news from Deaf newsletters or newspapers. 3) Gather the names and addresses of as many U.S. senators and as many representatives in your state. Communicating with them is one important part of being an activist. You will ask them to support or reject bills that are introduced that affect the disability community. Make sure you get the official position on the bills preferably from the National Association for the Deaf before you communicate with the lawmakers. When you write to lawmakers, just send to the ones that directly represent your state. 4) Gather resources on SSI, SSDI, SSA, Workers Compensation, EEOC, and Fair Employment and Housing authorities. Make sure that the information comes from the government agency. It will be helpful if you were familiar with the procedures for these programs. 5) Gather information and business cards from at least 5 attorneys who specializes in cases involving disabled people for referrals. In most cases, you will need to refer someone to an attorney. Keep their problems confidential if they spill it on you before you get the chance to refer them to an attorney. 6) Start a community newsletter if you have resources to spare. 7) Obtain a copy of the entire ADA law and all the technical manuals (about 8-10 lbs of papers) from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission It is a good source of information. 8) Obtain a copy of your local Social Services Resource Directory. With this you will able to provide Deaf people with information on how to get free food, rent, transportation, and legal assistance as well as referrals to free specialized help. The resource directory is very valuable. 9) Participate in any civil rights demonstration if you have the time to spare. Try not to restrict yourself to Deaf demonstrations, go to other disability demonstrations and civil rights demonstrations. (This will help you form alliances!) 10) Contact other Deaf or Disability activists and ask them to help you get started. They know how to go about things and will be a valuable source of information. Volunteer your time helping them out. Most activists can use a lot of help. ************************************************************* SUGGESTIONS TO THWART MERCHANT HANG-UPS ON TTY RELAY CALLS from DEAFDIGEST. The following suggestions were given by DEAFDIGEST subscribers 1. Establish your own pre-announcement to replace the standard TTY relay message (tell them it is not telemarketing and that it is a potential customer) 2. Write a letter to the business owner explaining the hang ups by one of the employees 3. Take your business elsewhere; tell them they blew a big order 4. Establish a black list and have it distributed everywhere 5. Do not pre-announce. Just go ahead with your message ************************************************************* "There is not one disabled American alive today who has not experienced some form of discrimination. Of course, this has very serious consequences. It destroys healthy self-concepts, and it slowly erodes the human spirit. Discrimination does not belong in the lives of disabled people." I. King Jordan, President of Gallaudet University, testifying before Congress in support of the proposed Americans with Disabilities Act, 1989 ************************************************************* "Hiding Franklin Delano Roosevelt's disability is an affront to every American with and without disability." Jim Dickson, director of the FDR in a Wheelchair Campaign, At a protest demanding that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's memorial show his disability. ************************************************************* Letters from readers....... (Progress in Georgia!) Hello, Just to update you, if you dont know the latest status of legislative action on GACHI and GRID. Yesterday, Tuesday,(March 18) the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations for Human Development met and restored $130,445 for GRID. Also supported House restoration of funds for GACHI. Large number of people were present to support the cause. I was personally surprised and delighted. This is a good step forward, but it is going to be a fight right now to the last day, so keep those prayers coming and pass the ammunition. I'm copying this message to people I remember were present, so you can get an idea of some of the people who were present. Senators to contact are George Hooks, Pierre Howard (who is also Lt. Governor), Charles Walker, as well as Terry Coleman, Representative who is also a member of the joint Senate/House conference committee. Nelson M. (A job well done!) ------------------------------------------------------------- (A Saturn dealer's response to the editor's letter regarding their Deaf TV AD) Richard, we thank you for your comments concerning the Saturn Corporation advertising spot. We understand your concern. However, we think you are working with defective information. Hal Riney & Partners, the company that created this spot for Saturn has, at our request, researched your concerns and they have assured us that the person doing the commercial is in fact a hearing impared person. If you have any further comments, we will be happy to hear from you or you can contact Saturn Corporation at the following number 800-553-6000. Again, we thank you for your comments and feedback. Sincerely, Carl Leach Saturn of Eugene (Yeah sure......."defective information") ------------------------------------------------------------- We have received news from WRAD-GERMANY that the camping at Boltenhagen, Germany from July 5 to 12, 1997 is being cancelled because there were not enough people that registered for the camp. We at WRAD International are very sorry about it but we plan to have several WRAD-related activities in Denmark during the World Games for the Deaf. They include the following: Beach party and a get together party as well as our WRAD International Board Meeting in Copenhagen. Details will be announced in Copenhagen during the WGD. BRUCE GROSS WRAD INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT ------------------------------------------------------------- - DEAF WATCH - Circulation by EMAIL : 184 Subscribers - Chief Editor/Editor : Richard Roehm - Orange County, California - Internet : Deaf@activist.com - Nesmuth@bbs.hwsys.com - Nesmuth@concentric.net - DEAF WATCH Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/deaf.htm - Visit Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/nez.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@BBS.HWSYS.COM ------------------------------------------------------------- - DEAF WATCH does not solicit funds from anyone nor it - sells the mailing lists to anyone. 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