Is America becoming more deaf-friendly?

Em903 said:
What was recent if I may ask?



Took a look, wow, really cool they did this. Indianapolis is on there! YAY! With a lot of good check marks :)
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That was in 1992..I didnt know how to advocate for myself and I had no self-esteem whatsover.
 
we all have experienced the feeling of being picked as the last one for the team. yea it sucks big time but whatca ya gonna do about it?

Use it as reason to be stronger for next time?..... or are you gonna use it as weakness to make people bend over for you out of pity? that's the question on how you live your life as a deaf person in this tough world. :)
 
Those are fighting words, buster. :mad:

But really, is the world friendlier to us poor deafies? Nawww, depends on where you are at.
 
Bebonang said:
Maybe some hearies can be friendly but I doubt it. Most hearies have no idea what deafness is like and will try to imitate us and make fun of us with sign language (hearies make up the sign words). That was rude. As for finding jobs or having services when we need help, no way would they try to help us get them. In the store, that is a different approach to being friendly to help the shoppers to select the kinds of clothes or materials and very few are not that friendly. So far, I don't know if our hearing world is friendly or not in spite of discrimination against Deaf people. :scratch:
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I agree me being hearing how can I relate, but in the same sense wouldn't people who aren't in wheel chairs relate to those who are and the list goes on. So we do what have it so people who are similar in obvious ways only socialize with those of the same type. I believe no one can really relate to anyone because everyone reacts differently. I guess I have a question, I am hearing and attend a deaf church, why? I never felt at home in hearing church the members, were friendly but only because it was church, never listened never cared. At deaf church people ask me questions and tell me long stories I really like it! I'm not deaf and I'm not an ASL student I'm simply a learner because, I want to talk to people. I guess I find all too often you are right tho, hearing people act friendly but aren't. I find a lot of ASL students going in for the completely wrong reasons not to help more use that to make money. Honestly I'm a learner no gimmicks, if thats wrong let me know. Last week a guy told me a long story about mid evil roleplaying he signed it all. I think he thought was deaf (he is) and than after I told him my name and that I was hearing. He said oh thats fine but used his voice somehow didn't seem fine.
 
The communication barriers needs to come down, just because deaf people rely heavy on their vision for communication, it doesn't mean lip reading is the most effective way to communicate, not every deaf individual can lip read or speak, some do and some don't. Deaf people not born lip readers.

At my work I've seen some deaf customers come in and order food, and seeing them go through the frustration of trying to tell a hearing person what they want, going back and forth, I went over to them and sign. You should see the look on their face, they were relief that there was somebody that could help and to understand them.
 
Tousi said:
In terms of what? Upward mobility in the corporate structure? I don't think so.
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I'd say so when compared to 20 or 40 years ago. But you're not exactly clear on how high upwardly in the corporate structure. Mustn't forget people like Vinton Cerf (Father of the internet) who now works for Google who is the vice president of the engineering section ( Corporate Information - Google Management ) and was on Gallaudet Board of Trustees beginning in 1997. It's true that there are some deaf people who do run their own companies and sell millions dollars worth of their own products as well.
 
A short answer for the OP. NO. No, no, no.

Take today. I had a prowler, creepy Peeping Tom...and I called the police department via relay. The dispatcher kept hanging up, saying I was making a prank call! WTF?! I finally got through...after a good 30 minutes. Geez.

A few weeks ago I had to make some critical decisions on the behalf of my dying sister...without the information as the hospital refused to provide an interpreter! She died, and I often wonder if the outcome would've been different had I made a different decision along the way.

Of course my family didn't have the decency to provide an interpreter for me at her funeral (I offered to pay for it 100%, and they said sure...when time came, no interpreter). Even the last words from the pastor which could be comforting and assuring, were denied to me.

No, it's not a better place. We need to get a new state that is 100% deaf friendly. Start all over. We should call it Martha's Vineyard. Let that be the 51st state of USA!!!!
 
Cheri said:
If America has become more friendly to the deaf.....

-then every deaf individual would have jobs and not having to gone through many hardships to get a job.
-then deaf individuals would not be denied for an interpreter for doctor appointments, school meetings, etc.

There are so many stories of deaf people being denied, so if you asked me if America has become more friendly to the deaf, my answer is no

There are just a minority of people who are friendly to the deaf, not the majority :)
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The question is has America become MORE deaf friendly....not perfectly deaf friendly. Not even all of the hearies have jobs and many hearies have problems with getting to Dr's and school meetings for other reasons like lack of transportation.

Your answer suggests a perfect world when the question is more about progress. IMO progress is being made and thanks to internet jobs,email and text messaging I think progress will continue and even speed up.
 
kokonut said:
I'd say so when compared to 20 or 40 years ago. But you're not exactly clear on how high upwardly in the corporate structure. Mustn't forget people like Vinton Cerf (Father of the internet) who now works for Google who is the vice president of the engineering section ( Corporate Information - Google Management ) and was on Gallaudet Board of Trustees beginning in 1997. It's true that there are some deaf people who do run their own companies and sell millions dollars worth of their own products as well.
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Good post. I think we have to look at things differently. Instead of being mad about the lack of jobs we need to create our own businesses. When it comes to deaf products.....try to support companies owned by the deaf, that wiil help as well. It's hard work but that is the best way to a solution
 
Wirelessly posted (Sidekick LX: Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 4.6; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920)

To me, I see minority is more friendly to Deaf community. But, in Oregon, its depend on where you are. Some areas are friendly, some areas are good people but distrustful to deaf people, some areas are not friendly. Most Oregonians are actually socially and friendly people. That depends...
 
deafbajagal said:
A few weeks ago I had to make some critical decisions on the behalf of my dying sister...without the information as the hospital refused to provide an interpreter! She died, and I often wonder if the outcome would've been different had I made a different decision along the way.

Of course my family didn't have the decency to provide an interpreter for me at her funeral (I offered to pay for it 100%, and they said sure...when time came, no interpreter). Even the last words from the pastor which could be comforting and assuring, were denied to me.
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Quite sorry to hear that. What a shame. *smh*
 
kokonut said:
I'd say so when compared to 20 or 40 years ago. But you're not exactly clear on how high upwardly in the corporate structure. Mustn't forget people like Vinton Cerf (Father of the internet) who now works for Google who is the vice president of the engineering section ( Corporate Information - Google Management ) and was on Gallaudet Board of Trustees beginning in 1997. It's true that there are some deaf people who do run their own companies and sell millions dollars worth of their own products as well.
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I think what you're pointing out is mere tokenism. And since you're asking "......how high upwardly....." as if there would still be tokenism or limitations when there shouldn't be if one is qualified. Let's take the example of the VRS industry and let me ask you, indeed, "how high"?

P.S. Great to hear you've divested yourself of that house in NM.
 
More like, how low they went as for the VRS industry as of late.

I don't think it boils down to pure tokenism at this point when a person is obviously qualified to get the job done. The issue has become more of a communication issue than not in determining how far one can move upwardly on the corporate or management ladder chain. If you can communicate effectively with your peers, clients and your customers, then there's no telling how far one can go whether it's working for a company or running one's own company.
 
kokonut said:
More like, how low they went as for the VRS industry as of late.

I don't think it boils down to pure tokenism at this point when a person is obviously qualified to get the job done. The issue has become more of a communication issue than not in determining how far one can move upwardly on the corporate or management ladder chain. If you can communicate effectively with your peers, clients and your customers, then there's no telling how far one can go whether it's working for a company or running one's own company.
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I was hoping you would side-track the "VRS 26" of which 6 are deaf. My question was: Don't you think the VRS industry should be top-heavy with qualified deaf folks? Seems natural to me....
 
deafbajagal said:
A short answer for the OP. NO. No, no, no.

Take today. I had a prowler, creepy Peeping Tom...and I called the police department via relay. The dispatcher kept hanging up, saying I was making a prank call! WTF?! I finally got through...after a good 30 minutes. Geez.

A few weeks ago I had to make some critical decisions on the behalf of my dying sister...without the information as the hospital refused to provide an interpreter! She died, and I often wonder if the outcome would've been different had I made a different decision along the way.

Of course my family didn't have the decency to provide an interpreter for me at her funeral (I offered to pay for it 100%, and they said sure...when time came, no interpreter). Even the last words from the pastor which could be comforting and assuring, were denied to me.

No, it's not a better place. We need to get a new state that is 100% deaf friendly. Start all over. We should call it Martha's Vineyard. Let that be the 51st state of USA!!!!
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I am so sorry that you all go through all this. Some hearing people are just plain cruel.
 
I'm sorry for all that you've had to endure lately, Deafbajagal.
 
deafbajagal said:
A short answer for the OP. NO. No, no, no.

Take today. I had a prowler, creepy Peeping Tom...and I called the police department via relay. The dispatcher kept hanging up, saying I was making a prank call! WTF?! I finally got through...after a good 30 minutes. Geez.

A few weeks ago I had to make some critical decisions on the behalf of my dying sister...without the information as the hospital refused to provide an interpreter! She died, and I often wonder if the outcome would've been different had I made a different decision along the way.

Of course my family didn't have the decency to provide an interpreter for me at her funeral (I offered to pay for it 100%, and they said sure...when time came, no interpreter). Even the last words from the pastor which could be comforting and assuring, were denied to me.

No, it's not a better place. We need to get a new state that is 100% deaf friendly. Start all over. We should call it Martha's Vineyard. Let that be the 51st state of USA!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I'm shocked that your family and hospital would treat you this way. :hug:
 
I try to help break the gap when necessary, but only when a person seems confused or asks for help. A friend of mine born deaf would rather write or figure it a way to tell the hearing person himself as would some others I know. However there are some people who prefer the help in which case I am more than happy to help each party.
 
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