Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students from Massachusetts Ask State Senator to Change “Hearing Impaired” Terminology in State Law
Did you know that the Transportation Security Administration currently forbids Deaf people from working as officers? Brandon Dopf shares how his experience shows that Deaf people not only have the ability to do this job, but have the tools to excel.
Help us change TSA’s policy! https://www.csd.org/letuswork/
Transcript: Conrad dancing to an internal song. Word PITY appears by his shoulder, he brushes it off. Word PATERNALISM appears at his other shoulder, he also brushes it off. Big DEAF text appears and Conrad signs it. Big I DON’T CARE text appears and Conrad signs it. Word DISORDER flies towards him and Conrad puts up a hand to deflect it. Word DIAGNOSIS flies from other side towards him and he puts up a hand to deflect it. Words HEARING IMPAIRED comes towards him and he dodges it. Conrad then deflects word IDEOLOGY. He signs don’t care towards word CURE. Conrad sweeps away word AUDISM. Conrad deflects word ISOLATION. Big DEAF? text appears and Conrad signs it. Big I’M PROUD text appears and Conrad signs it. Words DISCRIMINATION and OPPRESSION appears above his shoulders and Conrad pushes them off. He ends it with a flourish move- a hand down his face and camera pans towards him. He smiles.
Resolve to support #deafsuccess this year with promoting high expectations for success!
Each week of this month, we will highlight a Key Impact Area (KIA) which helps address challenges to postsecondary success for deaf individuals. This week focuses on high expectations. What are ways that you or others in your community promote high expectations of deaf individuals? How can YOU be a part of the solution?
To learn more, read: https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/highexpectations
Every day, Deaf people “fail” the hearing test immediately after being born, face “language delays” with their hearing family that don’t learn their natural language, and attempt “perfect speech” in order to fit into the hearing world. They fight to use interpreters that benefit both the hearing and the Deaf, and deal with job discrimination — all simply because they cannot hear.
An arts based enquiry provides an account of how a Deaf teacher negotiated her identity within an audist educational environment. This enquiry is supported by autoethnographic data gleaned from personal journals and a brief discourse analysis of policy recommendations revealing institutional audism. The account reveals the encounters between the Deaf teacher and her interpreting staff who attempt to undermine her as a supervisor and a teacher. This narrative was initially interpreted as a conflict between strong personalities. In this study, however, the narrative is told against the backdrop of colonialism, and specifically, audism. With insights provided through visual art, the interplay between image and text makes for a richer and multilayered story, revealing injustices, and a much compassionate view of all the players who were struggling with the pain of being subjected to audism.
The underlying message is that hearing is better than deaf, which is audism.
Videos of babies hearing after getting cochlear implants are perpetuating misconceptions, some Deaf people say.
Some fear that, by offering deaf people access to sound, so-called bionic ears could spell the end of the culture built around ASL.
JAMES MCWILLIAMS
JAN 5, 2018
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