Disabled – …And the Truth Shall Set You Free.

Why Should Deaf People ‘Fall’ for Disability Scholarships?

May 5, 2018May 5, 2018 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

‘Do Deaf people view as Disability?’ written by Harlan Lane, “A disability is a limitation of function because of an impairment. Deaf people are limited in some functions because of an impairment of hearing. Therefore, Deaf people have a disability.” The majority of Deaf people I know do not view themselves as disability. Deaf people have their daily calendar. It was one of the greatest ideology Deaf people deals with the stigma.

“During the Middle Ages, madness and other conditions were thought to be caused by demons. They were also thought to be part of the natural order, especially during and in the fallout of the Plague, which wrought impairments throughout the general population.”

“The European Enlightenment’s emphases on knowledge derived from reason and on the value of natural science to human progress helped spawn the birth of institutions and associated knowledge systems that observed and categorized human beings; among these, the ones significant to the development of today’s concepts of disability were asylums, clinics, and prisons.”- Braddock, David, and Susan Parrish, An Institutional History of Disability, in Handbook of Disability Studies, ed. Gary Albrecht, Katherine Seelman, and Michael Bury (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2001)

Why are Deaf people still viewed as demons and prisoners of the hearing colonization? Where is their greatest human right as Deaf people and their pursuit of happiness? It is a process in the healthy Deaf mind. The good news is, Deaf people will continue to discover the root causes of happy thinking heavily practiced and projected through Deafhood framework. The bad news is, the society continues to label Deaf people as disability will not able to see those “root causes.”

When Deaf people receive scholarships or awards directly from Disability organizations, they are quickly judged without conscious thought from the society. Some say it is invisible. Some say it is good thing. Some say it is a bad thing. Some say it is denial. Some is unconscious. But, within certain demographics it has overwhelmed the old politics, and there are plenty of Deaf people in this or that minority culture for whom the old-fashioned hearing politics is more relevant.

For most people of any group, including minority communities, the specifically sociological issues are a small proportion of the actually important yet it is invisible affecting Deaf people everywhere. The Disability framework about Deaf people should be pretty much extinct by now. In that sense, Deaf-centered view is quite welcoming to anyone Deaf. Is it always true? Language, communication, and deficit thinking exists in the term of denial. The reason Disability framework continues to perceive Deaf people so often wrong in that the literature has successfully evolved the status quo to guide oppressors to speculate whatever it is.

Good example: There are some people who actually think the world is flat today. What about the stars revolve around the earth to determine fate and future?

To be Deaf-centered thinking, (not a word to think “disability”) is something that begins with us. It begins in our hearts, in that place that is never separate from the living heart of ours. Between right and wrong, between night and day, and between matter and spirit.

Deaf communities around the world for so long that they have defined themselves in opposition too how the disability framework has viewed Deaf people. Deaf people have defined themselves, and had been defined—and that is the most important thing. It is important not to accept scholarships or awards from disability organizations.

It takes one scholar to recognize another one. I’d like to share my short personal story about scholarships. I was offered several scholarships from disability organizations and groups in the past, and I had to turn them down because I did not feel right about how the society views Deaf people as disability.

Deaf people are being drawn away from the chain of ignorance that the state of being Deaf imposes. Why do Deaf people have to suffer social bias? The educational structure of the Deaf has faced many hardships in the form of disability framework—often invisible. Simply associating Deaf people, as disability is not fair or accurate, as disability is not attributed to a cultural identity.

When I received full scholarship from ASL/Deaf Studies graduate program at Gallaudet University, I felt right. At least I hope I was right. The disability framework is the basic ingredient of American intellectual history. From the eye gaze, the Deaf people build a community that relies ASL for information, knowledge, and communication. Along with the American stories and journeys, we the Deaf people ought to give our community identity and meaning away from disability framework. Receiving scholarships or awards from Deaf-centered organizations would make all the difference.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

The Image of Deaf People As ‘DISABILITY’

May 5, 2018May 5, 2018 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

It is incredible about how much soul breaking each day for Deaf people who must viewed as “disabled” minds in the society. The social model of Disability allows language hegemony towards Deaf people. It is important to know that every day Deaf people carry their soul they create better awareness and establish nationwide with greater freedom and inclusion for Deaf people behind the walls and their free world support, “Soul”—defined from Merriam Webster Dictionary, “the moral and emotional nature of human beings.”

All of this is a good soul for the advocacy work. Eventually Deaf people would able to furnish happiness translating some of the key human compassion against ignorance in the society.

Where is the focus on empowering Deaf people to begin empowering themselves? Before Deaf people begin a public campaign, we need to educate better. American Sign Language (ASL) is all about building a pursuit of happiness. Deaf people will capture the more active and good citizens. Once Deaf community neglects, where is the training for an advocacy for well-being? There are many words in the legal community, social workers, psychiatrists, the Deaf community, and write up complaints, ignorant state lawmakers. What about the media and why Deaf people are viewed as “disabled” people?

The truth is that the Deaf community is vulnerable because there is no mobilization of Deaf database to explain our lawmakers or sign a petition is not a project, and should not be seen as an organizing tactic and recruitment tactic –for example, whenever Deaf people and it would increase Deaf people’s mental health to be process within moving forward.

It is important that Deaf people are also important to human well being’s cause and it is the key to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that would lead them to the land of healthy thinking selected (like Early Healthy Deaf Identity idea) to score the most resourceful idea for Deaf people’s well-being. Information, efforts, resources, awareness, and of course, pursuit of happiness, Deaf people are being furious with a massive image that Deaf people’s adversary are being silenced for the strongest resources, the information is being wiped out when it becomes did or did not.

Harlan Lane wrote an article, Do Deaf People Have a Disability? And the article shows to see struggles and growing pain how Deaf people suffer themselves as disability. How would it replicate Deaf community? Trust, confidence, and respect?

Whose society makes the decision to view Deaf people as Disabled people? Did it begin the marginalization of all, and those who make decision to make Deaf people suffer and carry that stigma? When society labels Deaf people as “Disabled” or “Disability”, it is beyond isolation and alienation—and finally, it is also a betrayal of Deaf people’s fundamental values as a society we live and breathe in. Deaf people are language minority. Not Disabled. Life makes much easier in the long run.

There are plenty of Deaf people’s personal stories of challenges they had faced, and allowed them to express their values, why should they must think, act, and breathe as “disabled people”—that is not how the society works. The model of “Disability” paints wrong picture about Deaf people.

The inspiration and wisdom of Deaf people share their labor of love without thinking “disabled” in their minds. It is a power to move each other that they should not viewed as disabled people.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

Rightful Presence in Justice: Challenging ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620)

September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

I am writing this out of my great concern to respond what Congress wants to pass so-called The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Education and Reform Act of 2017 [H.R. 620] this coming Thursday, September 14^th. From the moment of its passage in 1990, it has quickly reached an unprecedented global scope, overwhelming the human rights formed by Deaf people because of Deaf President Now (DPN) in 1988 to the waves of marginalized people from shore to shore in America upheavals of earlier decades.

ADA became important for everyone including Deaf people and Disabled people. The doors were open. They were left out for generations. It reminds me of a movie called Music Within based on a true story. Richard Pimentel who lost his hearing during war in Vietnam then comes home and became oppressed after that then he became a disability rights advocate. One scene where he and his friend in a wheelchair went into a restaurant in Portland, Oregon and the waitress asked them to leave because they were not “standard” people according to a law called “Ugly Laws” so controversial that made people hate people who had disabilities.

The law continued to practice for almost 100 years from late 1860s until 1970s– several American cities followed the law where people were “unsightly” or “unseemly” to appear in public then it was removed from the law books. ADA of 1990 recognized the growing pain of ugly laws and gave those people with disabilities to have rights. No more hatred. Sandra Fredman in her book, Discrimination Law in 2011, writes:

Individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in our society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society.

Tyler Ray, Americans Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] Washington Legislative Office and Vania Leveille, Senior Legislative Counsel writes on September 6, 2017:

H.R. 620 would completely change the way in which a business is required to comply with the ADA. Instead of requiring that a business comply proactively, the bill would place the burden on the individual who is being denied access. This bill proposes that after an individual with a disability is denied she must first notify the business owner, with exacting specificity, that her civil rights were violated, and then wait for six months to see if the business will make “substantial progress” toward access, before going to a court to order compliance.

The key word: “would place the burden on the individual who is being denied access”—isn’t that the same thing that applies to so-called Ugly Laws? The civil rights would be violated in the highest sense of oppression. The disabled people are at a higher risk of rejecting in a bias-motivated attitude. Why should Deaf people and disabled people suffer and deal with Eighth Amendment “nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” in the United States Constitution?

As bad as Congress brought the idea about wanting to pass unlawful H.R. 620, we must remind ourselves that the old-school politicians have since the last removal of Ugly Law in 1970s, at least moved in the direction of making strongest effort possible, through the eyes of public policy, to reduce inequality for Deaf and disabled people. We must also be aware of 1964 Civil Rights Act, and ADA that has carried the legacy in our society to keep and protect the rights of all our citizens. No matter what the cost is. The H.R. 620 is unconstitutional and inhumane!

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

References:

Fredman, Sandra (2011). Discrimination Law [2^nd ed.]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 96.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/congress-wants-change-americans-disabilities-act-and-undermine-civil-rights

Donald Trump: America’s Biggest Hate Monger

November 26, 2015February 28, 2017 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

Courtesy of Satire & Art LLC (dumptrumpshirts.com)

Dear Mr. Donald Trump, Candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 Presidential Election:

My name is Jason “JT” Tozier—and I believe in stopping hate and intolerance in Deaf America. My physical condition is Deaf and I am very damn proud of it. When you were asked to give a lecture in South Carolina on Tuesday, November 24th, 2015—making a statement whether you should be good fit for American president. After you made fun of Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter for New York Times whom suffers from a congenital joint condition, your IQ has the equivalent of a woodchuck.

Whoever the voters in Deaf America on your side should be ashamed of themselves, you are the face of white supremacy. Not only that, but you also bred hate speech and crime—the home of worst human condition. Your hateful message continues to drive a national environment where oppressing disabled people is acceptable and it is time to end your reign of hate and bigotry. Bless Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] for creating Hatewatch.

Deaf people do not view themselves disabled at all. They are in language minority—in other words, Deaf community needs to use this moment to stop the spew your message of hate and indifference to minority suffering. Your paranoia is about severe personality disorder characterized by a constant suspicion that people have sinister motives against an individual. Anyone with this disorder tends to have excessive trust in your own knowledge and abilities and usually avoid close relationships with others.

You usually shift blame to other people and criticizes others. Paranoia is a two-edged sword, both protective and destructive. It drives you to manipulate others so you can control them, especially those close to you, and to control situations. You are a perfect example of white supremacy—representing and serving the American people is more than inappropriate—it is painful, offensive and ultimate insult.

Robert Greenlead coined the term, servant-leadership in 1970, and it is best summarized by Hamilton Beazley in foreword for the book, The Servant Leader Within: A Transformative Path, which reads: “In education, servant-leadership has lead to new pedagogy, new learning, and new organizations devoted to its practice. In all its applications, servant-leadership achieves what is apparently impossible: bringing transformative experiences to the realm of the ordinary, to the everyday events that, cumulatively, define our lives and shape our experiences.”

The media must free itself from the old known. To the media the only freedom lies in the unknown, because whatever is known is past, gone and finished. Enough is enough. It is time for you to hold accountable for this hate-baiting rhetoric once and for all.

2ED13B6300000578-3334489-Donald_Trump-a-5_1448544735420.jpg

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only including this copyright message.