Second Chance – …And the Truth Shall Set You Free.

The adage that there is no perfect machine holds true from a Jack-in-the-Box to the criminal justice system. What can Deaf inmates and returnees broken by this system hope to achieve during June, which is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) awareness month?

Especially when this awareness reach extends deeply into the Deaf community to places needing empowerment, healing, and positive steps? What resolution can empower Deaf returnees to build learning, healthy and safe spaces?

Imagine the stories of Deaf inmates and Deaf returnees, their hearts shattering under the fiber of social rejection. Even while they are making a positive change to share their experiences to overcome the depression, they experience bullying, humiliation, and surmounting hardships; the toughest thing.

I believe that there are high and unreported PTSD cases by Deaf inmates and Deaf returnees that the social media needs to acknowledge. The sweeping impact of ignoring Deaf simply for who they are, and the lack of awareness, is not felt enough in the criminal justice system. Just like the marginalization of Deaf returnees in Deaf community, why are they being singled out?

While the United States has put more people in prison than any other country, it does not have resources to help Deaf returnees rebuild their lives once they are released. While there is a growing need, there is also a forgotten movement to end mass incarceration to reduce recidivism. Deaf returnees need inspiration and guidance.

Deaf returnees who are in search of rebuilding lives are at once faced with overcoming steep economic hardship, systematic privileges, unemployment, and lastly, PTSD. Changing the pattern across the country would help Deaf returnees successfully transition from inmate to returnee life on the outside.

The Second Chance Act of 2007, which is having a difficult time getting funding, would most likely hurt Deaf returnees in the long run. Why? So, Deaf returnees would be able to get help and learn how to develop healthy thinking patterns.

One bit of critical information here. Not empowering Deaf returnees enough can become frightfully expensive and mentally taxing. Empowering Deaf returnees would require intimate examination of the territory of their lives and not just a perception of its surface, incorporating new knowledge into other knowledge;

Empowering is a good investment, and the supporters’ efforts pay off. Empowering would gain intellectual and emotional agility and strength so needed in society.

-JT

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Do Deaf returning citizens deserve shame? Politics can be funny. The politics of returning citizens remains unseen. The question, do people understand in second chances? Does the society discuss not enough about the pedagogy of second chances? That is up for you to decide.

The biggest holidays of the year: December. You see all those holiday spirits going around, people volunteering to feed the homeless, and in addition with the holiday spirit should encourage to end abuses of shaming returning citizens, and diminish culture oppression in their lives, they had been dealing with some of the prolonged dependency of being as Deaf returning citizen that they account ASL for communication, information, and knowledge. Their experiences have never been done before, but the crisis demands a new form of activism.

The stories are the reason they are here; with that being the case, the society would have doubts as to the relevance of the story they might have to share, but the offer itself also pushed them to take a closer look at the back story that bought their lives to the corner of growing pains. The biggest goal: Be the change. Returning citizens had their notes filled with observations and experience.

The people are true-color oppressors, no more than first-class airplane seats. The journey has begun in the search of healing. Returning citizens have the right to choose to seek path to heal every fiber of their bones. It takes a lot of courage to change a person’s life around. The liberty of respect is hard to replace these days. It takes a lot of hard work to believe in themselves, they also need to refuse to believe in the past and make all the difference as much as I can.

The important question we should need to know: Do you ever think about what justice means and how it should be applied in a democratic society? Can politically active voters strongly against unfair laws that have more to do with political careerism than actually providing well-reasoned fear?

Holidays can be very difficult times for them at this time of the year dealing with stigma—the greater degree to which returning citizens can be integrated into Deaf community and have access to both social services along with neighborhood supports, the greater the chance for complete rehabilitation.

There is more to that as the signs of the holidays may be the time to highlight the spirit of the holidays—not everyone feels merry during the holidays. For some, it can be lonely due to a loss of loved one, being far from family, rejection from circle of friends, bear with difficult memories and even from Deaf community itself. Struggling with the “Holiday Blues”—Would it make people feel better if they commit more to support Deaf returning citizens and understand their struggles and stories?

Any effort at getting to know Deaf returning citizens will reveal many who, despite all odds, struggling to be good neighbor, and community member. The societal debt had been paid, and they are free to pursue life’s opportunities as any other normal American citizen. Re-entering into society is a hard place filled with hate, anger, depression, and loneliness. The part about loneliness is the most invisible human trait.

-JT

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Tag: Second Chance

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