Tag: Canadian Hearing Society

Around 8 PM this evening, I got an e-mail from the chair of the board for Canadian Hearing Society [CHS], Mr. Timothy Andrade himself including a duplicate of a document or an e-mail with two board members, Mark Wafer and Mary Lau-Brennan after I wrote an open letter to the CHS dated July 4, 2015. Keep in mind that the e-mail is very short-lived which means an insult to the Deaf community. The e-mail written through wireless smart phone by Timothy below:

July 9, 2015. 7:55 PM.

Hello Jason,

This is a quick note to thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns with us. As chair, I have the utmost confidence in the wisdom and decision of our board. Best wishes for a great summer!

Sincerely,

Timothy Andrade

My response for Timothy as well as Mark and Mary Lau,

Dear Mr. Timothy Andrade,

The Deaf community, and there is one, needs to meet and vote no confidence for yourself to be removed from the board. As I have the utmost confidence in the wisdom that it is painful to protest CHS. I believe that is, but it is a pain Deaf people should not complain, a suffering they must learn to sociologize the more they engage in it. Hearing community like yourself shall set Deaf people up to be free of this necessary pain, so Deaf community need to turn against the oppression and question why it is practiced in the decision of the board. It is not an easy route—your wisdom meets the perfect criteria as written below:

“Those who are already wise no longer love wisdom–whether they are gods or men. Similarly, those whose own ignorance has made them bad, rotten, evil, do not strive for wisdom either. For no evil or ignorant person ever strives for wisdom. What remains are those who suffer from ignorance, but still retain some sense and understanding. They are conscious of knowing what they don’t know.” -Socrates in Plato’s Lysis, 218b, fourth century B.C.

Deeply influenced by Socrates, I believe that once each person gained sufficient knowledge, he or she would become committed to excellence in it. CHS board did not understand the nature of sensitivity in Deaf community that the CEO does not excel in ASL, Deaf Culture nor Deafhood framework, so the CEO would excel itself in it. To do so is very much part of human nature to excel in what CHS knows and posses.

I still believe that it is time to protest against the flawed due process by CHS board and I believe that it is what the protest is all about, and it has two demands—not to hire Deaf-centered CEO and the oppression to resume afresh after future generations.

The ignorance does not meet the highest trait of education, which is a noun form for “to educate”, meaning to train someone for whatever it is. After all, it is board-centered, not community-centered. As an activist demanding for Deaf-centered CEO, again, I have the utmost confidence in the wisdom and the decision of the Deaf community. All the board members CC’d in the e-mail are hearing and one of them is proclaimed to be disability expert does not understand the full capacity of Deafhood framework. How come Deaf board members are not CC’d in the letter? Please educate yourself more and minimize your ignorance.

Sincerely,

Jason Tozier

CC: Timothy Andrade. Mary-Lu Brennan. David Hass. Janice Taylor. Stephanus Greeff. Linda Campbell. Roger Carver. Diane Gregoris. Arista Hass. Gerard Kennedy. Catherine MacKinnon. Ethan Poskanzer. Rohan Smith. Mark Wafer.