DEAF WATCH NEWSLETTER - November 30, 1996 Hello, With our bellies stuffed we have 3 good reasons to be thankful. First on Tuesday, November 5, thanks to the millions of Americans who made the right decision to re-elect our dear friend, President Clinton, he has made the deaf community feel safe and secure for the past 4 years and we trust he will continue his work protecting the deaf and disabled in the next 4 years. Secondly on November 1-2-3 thousands of people came to the DEAF EXPO which is a good sign of unity and a growing interest in the deaf community. I was able to meet a few of the subscribers and many of my 'long lost buddies'. Finally I thank you all for your raves and support for my mission to educate the deaf community. Until the next letter, I wish all of you joyous holidays. The Editor *********************************************************** It is my understanding that most of the deaf people who have internet access are of a better caliber than the general deaf population. This is really a message for the general deaf population. Hopefully you can preach this out to them if you have the time. Unity is very important to all of us and should be exercised every day.... NOT only at major Deaf events but EVERY DAY!!!!!!! Major deaf events simply reinforces unity of the deaf community. Lets reduce the time we spend on the gossup wildfires and backstabbing each other. Let's spend more time on uniting ourselves to face and battle a common enemy which is DISCRIMINATION. Unity begins at HOME! What you do at home greatly influences other people. If two deaf neighbors get along real well and live peacefully with each other, they become a good example for others to follow and also it makes it easier for the deaf community to unite as a whole. Working together toward one goal becomes very easy once the deaf neighbors get along with each other. Accomplishing unity is a very simple thing to do. The easiest way to do this is by respecting your deaf neighbors every day. ******************************************************** At the Deaf Expo, Comarco presented a road call box with a keyboard for deaf motorists to use in the event of an emergency. They will be installed in the Los Angeles area. As for the other areas, it is up to the deaf motorists. If you commute to and from work on the freeways, you would want to be able to call for help on the call boxes if your car has a problem. You should contact your local transportation authorities and as them to have the special callboxes installed on the freeways you use. It wont hurt you to bug them. The hearing people can call for help while we can't. It's not fair to us! Bug them TODAY! ******************************************************** What you should do in the event you feel you have been or about to be discriminated against. --1) Make a journal or diary and note all the actions of the people who are working against you. Note your feelings to these actions and how they affect the way you are living at home and how they affect your social life. The journal will be valuable when you want to claim psychological damages. --2) Gather info on people who decided against you and most importantly WITNESSES who will testify in your favor. Get copies of your employee file, all papers you have received from them and all information regarding the position you wanted including ads on walls, newspaper. You will have to do this secretly. And most importantly, MAKE COPIES OF ALL THE PAPERS PERTAINING TO YOUR CASE AND HIDE THEM IN A RELATIVE'S HOUSE. --3) File a protest with your employer's human resources, union, and Labor Department. Make sure you have all copies of the protests in a secure place. --4) Contact the Fair Employment and Housing Dept and schedule an appt with them. Filing a complaint with this agency will preserve your right to sue the person(s) involved. Try to get the complaint in no later than 6 months to ensure you are within the statute of limitations. --5) Contact your local deaf association for referrals to an attorney. Be very patient with the attorney's questions to you. Lawyer 'shopping' is HARD WORK that PAY$ very well. This phase can get very fustrating. Try to bear with their slow speed as they usually have other cases to take care of before yours. Once you have retained an attorney, HE/SHE is in charge of ALL of the elements that goes into the case. The average time a case is resolved is 4-8 years. --6) BE READY TO LEAVE WORK. Update your resume and seek employment elsewhere. Or have all information regarding disability, SSI, Workman's Compensation ready for you in the event you are discharged or become unable to work for that company. Try to get on disability leave immediately after their adversive actions against you. Have a doctor/psychologist information ready as well. --7) SILENCE UNTIL CASE IS SETTLED. Telling others of this case could weaken your case as the people who you are suing may find out from your friends and build up a defense. The surprise element is very cruicial to your case and has many advantages. *********************************************************** ----Reprinted from Deaf Digest November 15, 1996---- ARE THE DEAF MISSING OUT ON INTERNET VOICE CALLS? The Internet system can serve as a voice telephone service, linking two users - just like a long distance telephone call. Does that put the deaf at a disadvantage? Yes and no. Yes, because the deaf people cannot use voice telephone unless the TTY relay system is involved, logistically impossible at this stage. No, because you could only call only those already hooked up to the system as of the moment. No, so far because of compatibility problems between different systems. And again because of differences in hardware logistics. No, because of the poor quality of Internet telephone calls. And a point to consider is low cost of a regular phone as opposed to the need to spend at least $1,000 for an Internet telephone system. How many Internet telephone calls must be made to recoup the investment? ********************************************************** Deaf actor Billy Seago is spending his time teaching deaf children acting skills. He is on many A.S.L. training videos. ********************************************************** Margie Summers, an attorney who works for Gloria Allred's law firm is fluent in A.S.L. and handles deaf clients. *********************************************************** The following companies have shown great interest in having disabled people as part of their teams. Hughes Aircraft - Knotts Berry Farm Northgate Supermarket - Walmart The following companies have a very large number of complaints filed by disabled people. (This information is not available this month) ------------------------------------------------------------- - DEAF WATCH - Circulation by EMAIL : 65 Subscribers - Chief Editor : Richard Roehm - Orange County, California - (714) 220-8187 24 hour beeper - Internet : Nesmuth@edenbbs.com - Internet : Richard.Roehm@sbaonline.gov - Visit Http://www.edenbbs.com/nesmuth/nesmuth.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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