Mr. Sean Maiwald:

Please allow me to congratulate you on becoming president-elect for the District of Columbia Association of the Deaf (DCAD) for 2021-2023 for transparency, accountability, and, above all, a commitment to serve one of the largest Deaf communities in the world. 

As a member of the Deaf community living in the District of Columbia, I have watched a since-deleted video, during the DCAD election, one of your proposals was to get a bill passed under the auspices of LEAD-K strategy. However, there were concerns about the collaboration with Alexander Graham Bell, gaining full power of falsehood to profit from those interests in the Deaf community. 

The history of Alexander Graham Bell headquarters in Washington, D.C. has not owned up to their full accountability, refusing to acknowledge the harm and pain targeting American Sign Language (ASL) for many decades, criticizing Deaf space, disempowering others.

Would you be willing to work with this idea with open mind and heart to create an anti-language deprivation bill, the most powerful ever in the history of the Deaf community and make sure the bill would be Audism-free, Linguicism-free, ASL-centered, oriented, mandated, and pedagogical philosophies? Including the goal to enable the sharing of humanity in a way that is healing for Deaf survivors who experienced language deprivation. May the truth prevail! 

Sincerely, 

-Jason “JT” Tozier