Document, Document, Document

As the Deaf Community continues to struggle for equal communication access, we’ve embraced the power of the Internet and have used it to our advantage. This is a terrific thing, but to ensure we win battles in our struggle, we need to document incidents in formal written documents. Many of us, understandably, feel awkward with writing formal letters documenting what took place. For this reason, I am going to share the letter I just sent to the Duncan Wyeth, the director of Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns regarding the DODHH Advisory Council meeting on May 2, 2008.

One thing I need to mention before I put in my letter here - we have great news, which I did not discuss in my letter. Duncan Wyeth announced that the state will begin searching for a replacement to fill the executive director position at DODHH! So all of the hard work by the Deaf Community paid off! As soon it is official and a job posting is available, I will blog it. And if anyone’s interested right now, before it’s official, let me know and I will point you to the right person to talk and keep in contact with.

Regarding this letter I wrote, some people may be wondering why this is important to do. The reason why people need to write letters is because if a person has a problem and the person doesn’t put it in writing, the problem does not exist. Letters like this can be used as evidence in court and so on, whereas it is very difficult to get verbal communication admitted. So it is very important when someone has a problem and gets blown off, like I did at the Advisory Council meeting, to document it. And now, here’s the letter. I hope this will give people an idea how to proceed with situations like this.

******

Dear Mr. Wyeth:

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the response I received to my public comment regarding the Quality Assurance program at the Division of Deafness and Hard of Hearing’s [DODHH] Advisory Council meeting on May 2, 2008. As I stated at the meeting, I am Deaf and a student at Grand Valley State University, majoring in Public and Nonprofit Administration. This past winter semester, I was assigned an interpreter for the deaf who holds a QA II. However, I observed the interpreter making numerous errors that a QA II interpreter should not be making. As a member of the Deaf Community here in Michigan, I expect that interpreters rated at QA II will not commit semantic errors such as interpreting the phrase “roll call” so as to render it nonsensical, signing “role summon.” If an interpreter makes such basic errors like this, then she is obviously unable to faithfully interpret at any level. If this basic error had been interpreted to a Deaf persons whose English is weak, in all likelihood they would not have been able to understand what was truly being said.

This by itself would not greatly concern me. However, I have been noticing that this is not an isolated incident and in fact, I am seeing interpreters new to the field holding QA ratings that are not congruent with their skills. These multiple incidents have led me to question the integrity of the QA testing process. I am not alone in questioning the integrity of the QA system as evidenced by other Deaf individuals’ remarks at the meeting. The majority of those who made comments expressed identical concerns and requested an explanation to account for the changes we are recently seeing. One woman in particular, Sheila (last name unknown to me) stated that she was noticing inexperienced interpreters receiving QA IIIs, and experienced interpreters failing or receiving QA Is. She was visibly upset about this, and asked a very legitimate question, “Why is this happening? It should be the other way around.”

DODHH’s response was dismissive to all of us who expressed our concerns about this matter, and this has prompted me to write this letter. I am disturbed in particular by the state interpreter coordinator’s response to our very serious concerns. The only response made was that the QA testing process had not changed, but remains the same as it has always been. There was no acknowledgment that our concerns have any basis, nor were we given any assurances that our concerns would be investigated and appropriate corrections made. Perhaps most disturbing of all was the attitude from DODHH that indicated a clear lack of genuine interest in what to us, the people whom it is DODHH’s mission to serve, is a very serious matter. DODHH’s response is not sufficient, and does not account for the widespread dissatisfaction and concerns about the recent spate of inadequate interpreters now holding credentials unwarranted by their skill levels.

This only reinforces my suspicion that something has changed within the QA testing process, and gives me the impression that DODHH, for some unknown reason, does not want to investigate and correct. This greatly perplexes and disturbs me. Prior to Chris Hunter’s retirement, DODHH had an outstanding reputation of advocacy and ensuring that only properly skilled interpreters received Michigan Quality Assurance ratings. It is disheartening to see that this seems no longer to be the case.

I would like to see the DODHH investigate this matter and provide its constituents with the reason of the cause for this now unreliable credentialing process, with a firm commitment to correct it immediately.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I look forward to a response soon.

Sincerely,

Jeannette K. Johnson

cc: Andrew Levin

 

We Want To Be Controlled

It’s time for another The Deaf Edge rant. Now, this isn’t meant to sting or insult people. This is merely my feelings based on what I am observing. I already posted a very similar version of this on Tayler’s DeafRead official blog, but since that thread is winding down, I thought I would re-post and elaborate more on my own blog.

I do not understand why people are still upset over DeafRead’s upcoming changes. Tayler and DeafRead are going to release a version of DeafRead where you can customize the list of v/blogs that you can read/view. In essence, they are empowering us to be more selective in what we want to read and/or view.

Yet we have people saying, “No. This solution isn’t any good. I want the CI v/blogs gone, period. I don’t like them, therefore it shouldn’t exist for anyone and I want DeafRead to do all of the work for me.”

It seems to me that people want to be controlled, instead of being empowered to make decisions for themselves. They want to be told which blogs are good or bad, and what’s Deaf-centric and what’s not and so on. Why else would they want DeafRead to do all of the censoring instead of doing it themselves?

But then, I can kind of understand that. It’s a lot easier to live your life, if someone else’s making the decisions for you. And sadly enough, historically the Deaf Community has had others making the decisions for us. Our parents made all of the decisions for us. Our doctors. Our educators. Everyone, except for ourselves.

And so the self-repression and lack of self-empowerment marches on…

Note - I used repression as defined by www.m-w.com: a mental process by which distressing thoughts, memories, or impulses that may give rise to anxiety are excluded from consciousness and left to operate in the unconscious

 

DODHH Advisory Council Meeting!

Quick note before I return to studying for finals - As we in Michigan know, the Division of Deafness and Hard of Hearing’s director position has been left vacant since Chris Hunter retired, and the Advisory Council has not met in over a year. There also has been a sharp decline in the quality of interpreters in the past two years.

There is something that the Deaf Community can do now - the Advisory Council will be finally having a meeting on May 2, 2008. It is imperative that we attend this meeting and tell the council members of our concerns!

I will be present at that meeting, and I will be discussing my concerns about the quality of interpreters. Below is the agenda of the DODHH Advisory Council meeting.

DODHH Advisory Council Meeting
Michigan Public Health Institute - Interactive Learning Center
2436 Woodlake Circle, Suite 380, Okemos, MI 48864
Contact: 1-877-499-6232 V/TTY/VP

Friday, May 2, 2008

TENTATIVE Agenda

9:00 Coffee and Rolls
9:30 Business Meeting Begins

• Communications Policy

• Welcome/ Roll Call - George Griffith, Chair

• Approval of Agenda

• Approval of Minutes

• Chairperson’s Report - George Griffith

• Director’s Report - Duncan Wyeth

• Advisory Council Members’ Terms of Office

• Budget and Staffing

• Public Acts 23 and 24

• Day at the State Capitol for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People: May 21, 2008

• Staff Reports (Twyla Niedfeldt, Joy Thomassen, and Janet Jurus)

• Report of the Rules and Regulations Chairpersons (Maureen Wallace and Diana McKittrick)

11:30 Public Comment
12:00 Lunch (Council members, interpreters and staff)
1:00 Meeting Resumes

New Business

• MCDC Update - Duncan Wyeth

• Council Member Reports

• Achieving Full Staffing for DODHH - All Persons Present

• Partnership Reports (5 minutes each)

1. HLA-MI - Carolyn Caughill
2. Deaf-Blind - Jill Gaus
3. Coalition for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People - Nan Asher
4. MRC - Kenya Lowe
5. MIRID - Helen Boucher
6. MRS - To Be Announced
7. Michigan Deaf Association - Diana McKittrick
8. EHDI - Michelle Garcia

Announcements

3:30 Adjournment

Interpreters, CART and assistive listening devices will be provided at the meeting. Please call Christy, toll-free, at 1-877-499-6232 V/TTY/VP if you need any other accommodations. If you bring any handouts to distribute at the meeting, make sure that they are available in alternative format (large print, braille, etc.)

 

Audism Runs Amok in Hollywood!

There’s an uproar in the Deaf Community over how we were portrayed in the recent episode of ‘Cold Case’. A Deaf person murdered a cochlear implanted person over the implant. Now, I haven’t seen the episode myself, but a comment (#31) over on MishkaZena’s blog caught my attention.

This person is basically saying we’re getting upset over nothing, we’re too sensitive, being unrealistic, and s/he’s tired of listening to our complaints.

You know what? When Hollywood consistently portrays a minority in a negative light, that is an issue. The media plays a huge role in shaping public perception.

Don’t believe me? Look at how the movie “Jaws” impacted the audience’s opinion of Great White sharks.  That movie barely had any grounding in reality, but after the movie’s release, the population of Great Whites actually declined and people would be more fearful of swimming in the ocean.

If it was that bad for sharks, imagine how bad it is for minorities.

Look at how Hollywood presents gays/lesbians, for instance. I cannot tell you how many people still think that all gay males are feminine or that lesbians are masculine. Where did those misconceptions come from? It obviously didn’t come solely from Hollywood and rest of the media, but it sure did play a big role.

Those minorities fought back, and no longer are the African-Americans and Native Americans being cast in such a negative light on a consistent basis. It’s slowly changing for the gay/lesbian communities as well, but it still has a while to go.

In terms of the Deaf Community, Hollywood’s recent presentation of us has been mainly negative. Those who ASL Deaf are supposedly rabid CI haters who would resort to murder to stop the spread of CIs. Give me a break! If they varied it’s portrayal of us, then I along with so many others wouldn’t be objecting to what’s going on.

 

What’s the Matter with Interpreters?!

Right now I should be finishing a research paper for a class, then studying for two upcoming tests this week. But I’ve just had it with incompetent interpreters and it’s not like I can insert my rant into my research paper. And so, my rant is basically this:  What the heck is wrong with interpreters lately?!

Why is it that so many interpreters cannot understand fingerspelling? Now, I understand my fingerspelling isn’t the best in the world, but seriously… Do I have to give a second per letter? How slow do I have to go? I don’t have the time to be s l o w in class or in a limited time situation. I just don’t understand. Maybe I’m too hard on others when it comes to fingerspelling, because the majority of the time, I know what the word is halfway through due to context. And I don’t need the person to slooooowly fingerspell it out. What does it have to take to improve hearing people’s receptive skills?

Speaking of receptive skills, it is truly strange to me that American Sign Language seems to be the only language where students, particularly hearing students, tend to have better expressive skills than receptive skills.  In every other language, it is the other way around, and if someone’s expressive skills are better than their receptive skills, usually that would be just cause for a battery of psychological and neurological tests to find out what’s wrong!

Then we have the problem of when it comes to general academic terms, many interpreters show their lack of education by not being able to interpret the concepts properly into ASL. Half of the time, they fingerspell the word when there is a sign for it, and the other half of the time, they use the wrong sign.

I actually had an interpreter this semester who signed role call instead of roll call, and the way the interpreter signed call was the sign that meant summon in English. So I’m sitting there going, “Role summon?” then a light bulb went off in my head, “Ohhhh. Roll call.”

I’m fortunate that I have a good grasp of the English language, so I’m able to compensate for the  interpreter’s incompetency, but you know, it gets tiring. This is exactly why I want an interpreter who has a minimum of a Bachelor degree and a QA 3. My ideal interpreter would have a Master degree and be RID Certified. Those interpreters who have those credentials are truly the only ones who can keep up with me and appropriately voice for me, matching the register, intent and mannerisms of what I’m saying.

That interpreter who made the roll call error had a QA 2, which is the intermediate qualification an interpreter can have here in Michigan. I ended up having to fire her. I gave her ample opportunities to recuse herself and I was hoping she would just recuse herself and save us the agony of having me to fire her… but nooooo. She had to stick it out, causing me to fire her. Talk about an awkward situation.

That’s another thing I don’t understand about interpreters.  Why are there so many interpreters who refuse to recuse themselves, when they know damn well that they should?! It’s part of the code of ethics, but I see so many interpreters who are out of their league, and they just stay there, and do a half-assed job. It makes the interpreter look bad, and it makes the Deaf client look bad, when the interpreter can hardly voice for the client!

Right now, I’m scratching my head, wondering how the heck those interpreters passed the QA test. Something is very wrong with the Michigan QA test. It wasn’t like this when Chris Hunter ran the Division on Deafness and Hard of Hearing. Interpreters were truly qualified… and now… they aren’t.

*sighs*

 

Call to Arms - Lying To Ourselves?

Deaf Education. That word carries so much meaning and controversy. A ideological war has been waged over Deaf Education for the past two hundred years. Now, I am seeing people call for arms for deaf children and babies to be given the right to access American Sign Language so that they may receive the opportunity to a good education.

By no means am I opposed to that. I am heartened to see the increasing exchange of knowledge and a growing maturity on our part. We are starting to come into our own and ensure our right to American Sign Language.

What puzzles me however, is that despite the call to arms for American Sign Language in Deaf Education, there is an eerie silence regarding North Carolina School of the Deaf. Initially there wasn’t enough information for me to throw in my support one way or another. But now, I feel that there is enough information for myself and others in the Deaf Community to support the students, parents and staff of NCSD.

Yet, I see no wide outcry of support for NCSD. I see no organizations of and for the Deaf coming in to help the students, staff and parents of NCSD. This leaves me with some difficult questions in my mind. Why is there such a loud silence? Is it because people know picketing at NCSD won’t work and they rather just picket, and nothing more?

A call to arms to me, means doing everything possible under the sun. Documenting what happens, damned the ire of others. Being not anonymous. Dealing with personal confrontations professionally and documenting it afterwards. Organizing with like-minded individuals who share your concerns and pooling together the documents. Speaking with the government about what’s going on and showing them the evidence. Helping others learn those tools. Giving support to others who need it.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not easy. It’s not something that will land you on the front page of the newspapers immediately. It’s not gonna get you on national news because there’s almost no opportunity for you to make yourself a martyr.

But the fight at NCSD and similar places goes at the core of what matters in Deaf Education. That is where the trenches are at. That is where the battles are won, and ultimately, the war. Where are we? Why are the trenches empty?

 

For Jodi - The Gay and Deaf Worlds

I just finished reading Jodi’s blog, and I felt compelled to write a post in response.

The Deaf world is very much like the gay world. Gay by Nature, Proud by Choice is a slogan that us Deaf could borrow if you replace Gay with Deaf, because so many of us identify with that sentiment. You’re born with it, and it’s who you are.

For the Deaf Community, when we see a parent trying to have their deaf child implanted, many of us recoil, because it’s similar to the gay conversion pseudo-therapy that some parents put their gay kids through.

In fact, the whole Oral/ASL debate could be compared to the gay conversion/gay pride debate pretty well. On one hand, you have a faction who’s screaming, “It’s abnormal! There’s too much social stigma, and it’s unnatural! We gotta change it!” and you have the other faction going, “Variations in human nature is normal! Be proud of who you are and just accept yourself!”

Now we know that gay conversion doesn’t really work. There might be 1% where it does succeed, but then it’s probably because the person’s bisexual, and not gay. So when we see a deaf person get a CI, we feel that person’s lost to us, shoved back in the closet and a pretend hearing. Up to several years ago, the CI didn’t really work as advertised. So we had to sit back and watch in sorrow as that child or adult struggled for years, even decades before giving up, and accepting himself then joined us. Those people were taught to be ashamed of his/her deafness, that speaking and lip-reading is infinitely better than waving about your hands in public.

Just like how being straight is taught to be infinitely better than being gay.

And then we have ASL. Our language’s like how a dyke or a flamboyant gay would dress. We’re so obviously gay. We’re so obviously Deaf. We swagger around, swish our hips, wave our hands about in public and we’re not ashamed to show that we are X, and that offends the sensibilities of the Puritans! We just cannot have those outrageous displays! *hands over mouth!*

Then we just don’t know what to do with the proud oral deaf. They’re the bisexuals of our world.  Not quite in the hearing world, but not quite in the deaf world either. They’re in their own world. Just like the gays and straights, we want them to just make up their minds, goddamn it and pick one side! But it doesn’t work that way, does it?

Then we have the semi-closeted deaf. They don’t use ASL. They use other communication modes and we’re annoyed at their refusal to just come fully out of the closet. A deaf person using SEE is like a butch saying, “I’m a lesbian, yes.. but I’m still going to wear dresses.”

You know that this person is a butch and not a lipstick. You know this person is Deaf. Why don’t you just embrace yourself for who you are? Go full throttle and freely express who you are instead of being stifled in a social construct in what’s supposed to be normal, proper and acceptable? Screw what’s normal, proper and acceptable!

The LG community eventually came to accept the transgenders and bisexuals, and so will we when it comes to the oral deaf and CI’ers.

P.S. When that happens, can we borrow your flag?

 

Rant Redux

I thought I would repost an essay that I wrote before I began blogging. This essay also happens to be one of my very first blog posts. I thought it would be worthwhile to repost it, due to the controversies going on DeafRead. I am hoping it will give an insight to the hearing readers into the mind of a culturally Deaf person.

Without further ado, my infamous rant.

———-

I am stone-cold Deaf. I do not consider myself to be disabled. I can read and write far better than the average person at my age. I can do anything just as well as any average hearing person. The difficulties I have with being Deaf is how people judge and treat me.

I have been asked if I could read and write. My hearing friends have been questioned about my mental capacity from strangers who have never met me. My friends and I receive dirty looks when we use ASL to converse in public. People have approached me, only to blanch and leave when they realize I am Deaf. One woman, jealous of my writing skills, submitted me to public humiliation by standing up in class and accusing me of turning in a paper written by my mother in order to receive an “A”.

My Deaf friends have been abused sexually, physically, emotionally, and mentally, simply because they were Deaf. Furthermore, they cannot get justice for these inhumane acts, because just by being Deaf, their credibility is in question.

Hearing educators, arrogant in their assumptions, have integrated Deaf people into hearing classes. Most Deaf students go through school without a bilingual education, therefore forcing them into a system about which they are unaware. Through social promotion, they are advanced without learning anything. The highest level that my Deaf classmates ever attained was a sixth grade education.

People keep decrying, “How do the Deaf know when they are in danger?”

Being Deaf is not dangerous. We have ample warning if we are in danger through pagers, phones, television, strobe lights, and our own eyes.

People then ask, “How can the Deaf really experience music?”

One need only experience a small portion of the songs and poetry in ASL to realize that they are some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Our hands are our voice. Our faces convey our emotions. Some things expressed in ASL can never be properly translated.

One needs only stand still and feel the rhythm, to feel the vibrations course through one’s body, to realize how we hear music that hearing people create.

To hear the rain drops patter down, we simply just have to place our hands on the windows. To hear the thunderous applause from an audience, we just have to look at the hands applauding.

We hold a baby, and see it’s laughter on it’s face. A toothless grin. To hear how people feel, a simple glance is only needed.

I can sit in the middle of a forest, and enjoy it. I see the birds and squirrels flit from tree to tree. I smell the freshness of the earth. I feel the gentle, warm breeze that carries wafts of various scents.

I can see a rainbow. I can see the pure white snow. I can see the beauty that is here on the earth. I can feel, smell, and taste it.

With a swish and twist of my fingers and hands, I can tell a joke that will cause a room full of people to burst out in laughter. With my hands, and my eyes, and my body, I can tell a story that will move people to tears. I don’t need a voice or ears to do it.

I can even sit anywhere, with people or alone, and simply enjoy the so-called silent world I am in.

I cannot properly convey the full beauty and depth of Deaf culture with words, because there are no words to describe it. As Deaf people, we cannot fully grasp hearing culture, and hearing people cannot fully grasp Deaf culture, even when one is immersed in the other. Therefore, all we can do is wonder how the other side truly experiences life and try to accept each other.

©Jeannette Johnson/A Deaf Pundit

 

Petitions

Some students at NTID have set up a petition for the removal of a plaque honoring AG Bell, and it has over 160 signatures at the time of this writing. I think it’s cool that people are pulling together for something that they care about, and I hope the petition is successful. AG Bell does not deserve to be honored.

However, what strikes me the most are people’s apparent priorities. When I started the Bahl petition, a petition to object against police brutality against the Deaf, the Bahl petition barely squeaked past a hundred signatures.

Judging by the amount of signatures on the two petitions, police brutality is not as important for the Deaf Community as removing a plaque from a dorm and renaming said dorm.

I can’t help but wince at that.

 

Impersonation and Libel

It was brought to my attention that someone on Mike McConnell’s blog left a comment saying:

“The person who mentioned AGBell’s grandson is Brian Riley, so take everything he says with more than a grain of salt. He is also “Deep Ears” and writes stuff for Eggbert on agbellinfo.com”

Written By Deaf Pundit, the Deaf Edge
For Deaf Pundit, The Deaf Edge | 02.09.08 - 2:04 am | #

I have never said or written that quote in that comment. That accusation is false and I do not appreciate being cited for things that I have never said or written. I have emailed Mike McConnell to give me the ip address of that person so then I can consult with an attorney about whether to take legal action or not.