It seems Ridor isn't the only one experiencing job discrimination - this gentleman in India is another sufferer. It seems the job market for Deaf people is just dwindling these days. I wrote to Erfo this morning:
In a sense I do think it's okay to ask people questions about how they'd handle situations. But I do think this was discrimination because a) it's a deaf agency; they're supposed to educate, not pamper hearing people's illusions and b) once Ridor got to know people they'd know to call back with relay. Heck, they could program his voicemail to get people to call back with relay. You can get TTY's which automatically respond with PLEASE CALL BACK VIA TTY. A couple people on his blog suggested video relay, but that wasn't, to me, the point. The point is they raised a specious objection to block a perfectly good candidate for a job... and in the process revealed exactly how discriminatory people can be.
Sometimes I think I should just suck it up and be a good Deaf person and go collect my SSI check. But noooooooo, I really love my job, I really think it's possible to be a Deaf person and a professional, so I continue to go out there and fight the good fight... even tho sometimes I have to sit on my hands to keep from saying what's on my mind...
But that's what a blog is for. Here's today's rant, in an experimental vlog - would LOVE comments and suggestions for improvement!
More soon. Back to baby-gazing.
15 comments:
Very true, thanks for the rant vlog. You need to do more! Hopefully next time the resolution can be better but I still had no problem understanding. I'm glad you had subtiles though so hearing people, or oral people, who happen to stumble onto your vlog would be able to understand and perhaps sit down and reflect on the message. You do bring up a really good point, Deaf people who are passionate about their language and culture are often labelled as milants by people all over the world.
More vlogs!
Wow, I love your content how you put things together. We are capturing the power of articulating the social movements using media and our ASL language and also English subtitling to reach more people!
I definitely look forward to see more of your vlog works!
You might can get better resolution using a hybrid camera (photo and movie in one camera) if you have it?
Anne Marie (both hands waving!)
Hi,
Thanks everyone. Yes the resolution is poor - I have a great camera - at home in NYC. I only brought my iSight webcam down to Fla. so I could VP with friends! So I decided to use that... and I'm glad it's clear enough to understand... My family watched it first so I know hearing people will get it too.
Hope to do more soon!
Awesome vlog! Enjoyed your video inserts of different images to drive the message home!
Good job on the Vlog! Do you think that black people, women, etc. were similary taunted, ridiculed, and belittled during their protests too? It's commonplace when challenging the status quo. I'm not sure if lamenting the attacks on the protests is the way to go if you sincerely hope to change minds. Continuing what you have been doing which is explaining why the deaf community is protesting is probably more effective.
Joseph,
YOU...SAID...IT! Right on! (I'm still picking my jaw off the floor). You hit it on the spot.
Too often Deaf people are labeled militant...by other Deaf people. I've seen Deaf leaders roll their eyes when Deaf activists insist on ASL for all.
You are correct about the media; when we do protest, they do come. I'm not sure if the media is automatically our enemy- the recent Gallaudet protest's negative spin was orchestrated by our own people. I've experienced a mini-protest where the media was totally on our side and would follow our narrative to the letter.
Joseph-- I totally agree with you. We need to stop accepting people's "suggestions" that we remain meek. Act radically!!!
Thank you for making my morning (heck- my YEAR!).
DE
Hi Joseph
I enjoyed your vlog and creativity. I look forward to seeing more of your vlogs.
Excellent. We do need to do more. Better yet, we must be more cohesive - meaning us Oral deafies (we do experience snubs, too!) should accept ASL deafies. And vice versa, of course.
Thanks, Joe!
After thinking about this vlog for a while now... We all have to remember that obviously the black people, women, and GLBT community had to deal with nay-sayers and people calling them horrible things and even being violent towards them as well when they tried to stand up for their rights and what they believe they deserve. It's only later on that people started to open their eyes and think hey.. Black people do deserve the right to be treated equally... Women deserve to vote and have jobs other than being thrown in the kitchen and pumping out babies, GLBT have feelings and deserve to marry, etc. But even to this day.. There are still nay-sayers. There are still hate crimes. There are still people who think lowly of women, of black people, of the GLBT community and so on. The GLBT community are still not able to marry in some states, women are being paid less than men in some workplaces, black people are still being treated differently than white people by many people. But things HAVE improved and surely will as we keep fighting for our cause, and i believe that is the same for the Deaf community as well.
The tough thing in our case is that when we try to act as if we treasure our culture and language they see it as if we are trying to completely seperate ourselves from the hearing world, which you and I know is not true. There's so many people who do not buy the idea that Deaf people could have a culture, despite the fact that we sign in a completely different way - with our hands. Hopefully as we spread knowledge, and keep standing up for what we know we deserve - the repect that we are a culture, and have the right to tresure it and ensure that our Deaf children of the future will get what they deserve.
It's never easy, but we'll keep trying. We may be called milants. We may be called children who throw temper tantrums.. and told to shut up and learn how to speak and forget about our language... and who knows what else. But we'll keep going.
Okay, first of all, you're supercool because you're a Mac user. :-) I loved this vlog - and it's great to finally match your writings to your face/ASL!
Beautifully put together. More, please.
Incredible vlog! I like how it is put together.
Anyone calls someone a deaf militant is getting very old and those very ones are afraid of good change.
God knows how many times I get called that everytime I say what hearing people do not want to hear. They like other deaf people because they bow to everything they dictate out of fear but what they don't know is what these deaf people have told me privately they DO NOT want to hear.
You're a great addition to the Deaf community!
Katherine
Loved your analysis!! Excellent points you have raised making us more aware that it is ok standing up for our rights without shame.
Keep it going!
Wow! Fab!
Loved the subtitles too, helped this UK deafie to understand what you were signing.
Agree with the above comments, other liberation movements were also told to shut up and suck it up, usually by both their own community elders and the oppressing group.
It takes guts to keep on going and keep on trying and win out in the end, which is what the Gally 2006 protests did.
Here in the UK, we have the opposite problem, everyone is saying where is the militancy, we need more militants!
Our militants have grown older, are having babies, getting full time jobs, moving abroad etc.
Deaf representative organizations have suffered from too sharp a switch from 'deaf' based to 'sign based', and a lot of energy has drained away over the cockup of the UK Govt 'sort-of but not fully' recognising BSL.
We need more deaf-based and accessible media like your fab example to bring the issues out again!
Perhaps you could post a simple guide to filming, editing, subtitling compressing, then embedding? (keep it simple please!)
I'm still struggling with filling in the gaps in my understanding of this whole process, and a lot of people are too.
Best wishes
xoxo Tomato
Tomato, I'm intrigued, could you tell us more about why you feel the switch from 'deaf based' to 'sign based' organizations in the UK was too rapid? What are the differences between the two kinds of organizations and what kinds of problems are you seeing?
SEEKING DEAF GLBTQ FILMMAKERS
(please distribute widely)
MIX NYC, the Queer Experimental Film Festival is seeking submissions of short
(10 minutes or less) films made by Deaf GLBT filmmakers.
MIX is New York's longest running GBLT film festival, now in our twentith year.
This Nov. we are pleased to annouce that we will be presenting a screening which
will be open captioned and accessable to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.
We have recieved funding to caption four films for a program of
shorts, and to have ASL interpreters. However, I would like very much
to also include films made by Deaf anf Hard of Hearing filmmakers in
this program. (what a dull program it would be if it was all hearing fimmakers!)
This project is very dear to my heart as i was hearing impaired as a
child, am fluent in ASL and have strong ties to the Deaf community.
Our submission from is online now on our website www.mixnyc.org
(click on "call for work".)
I can waive the submission fee for any Deaf or Hard of Hearing person
submitting work,
just attach a note to the submission form saying "requested by Kate Huh".
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me;
kate@mixnyc.org
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kate Huh, Co-Director MIX NYC
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MIX NYC
MIX Festival * Community Screenings
ACT UP Oral History Project * Filmmaker Resources * Youth Media Training
79 Pine Street, PMB 132
New York, NY 10005 USA
(212) 742-8880 tel (voice)
(212) 742 8882 fax
www.mixnyc.org
Post a Comment