Saturday, September 1, 2007

Oliver Sacks, Author of "Seeing Voices", Join Columbia University Faculty

Dr. Oliver Sacks recently join the Columbia University Faculty as a first Columbia artist, a newly-created designated postiton. Sacks is a well-known clinical professor in neuroscience (ex. neurology) with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY for 42 years. One of his books inspired the "Awakenings" film with Robin Williams as Dr. Oliver Sacks and Robert DeNiro as a comatose patient, then awakened 28 years later.

Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote the "Seeing Voices" book in response to the Deaf President Now movement and acknowledged the signing community as a non-disability. He and Dr. Harlan Lane were several hearing professionals in addressing the complexities of community norms and societal expectations, etc. Sacks himself realized his own pathological views of deaf people for years thru the medical viewpoints.

Some people in the Gallaudet community during the late 80s, accused Dr. Oliver Sacks of being an opporuntist just write the Seeing Voices book for bucks. Dr. Oliver Sacks seems disappeared from the world of deaf so far after receiving the lukewarm responses from the deaf community itself.

Dr. Oliver Sacks will receive the multimillion dollars in grants for continuting his studies on neurology area at the Columbia University.

You could see Dr. Oliver Sacks's "Seeing Voices" book at the http://www.amazon.com/ and type "Seeing Voices" on the search engine for reading the book reviews and criticisms.

For the NY Times (NYT) article on Dr. Oliver Sacks to be Admitted to the Columbia University faculty -

http://www.nytimes.au/2007/09/11/books/01sack.html?themc=th

or http:www.nytimes and register for an online access and type oliver sacks on the NY Times search. The NYT article is on Saturday, September 1st, 2007

ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog

In Response to Mish's Corner - More Religious People Use the Federal Law to Refuse ......

In response to the Mish's Corner vlog presentation - "Interpreter Woes - Refusal Due To Religion Beliefs".

More and more religious zealots exploit the existing federal law - "Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993" as an excuse to refuse to proceed with any workplace or personal task.

Several recent cases involved the male doctor at the emergency room (ER) refused to accompany the simple request from the female rape victim for the "after-morning pills" to prevent any unwanted pregancy. The doctor simply ignored the endless pleas from that rape victim. At last, the doctor finally responded "Sorry, I could not give you the "after-morning pill" which is against my religious belief".

Same thing happened with the pharmacist refused to serve the female client for the birth control prescription. The pharmacist stated "That is against my religious belief".

The passage of "Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993" federal law was in response to the controvestial topic on the use of peyeote by the Native Americans. The law enforcement officers arrested the particular tribe for using peyeote (hallicutated drug), etc.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Public Law 103-141, November 16,1993, 103rd Congress, H.R. #130 to be unconstitutional in a 6 to 3 decision in June 25,1997 in the case of City of Boerne, Texas v. Flores.

States across the United States ought to address the issue of educational interpreters what they could do or not.

More info on the Religious Freedom Restortation Act of 1993 Act -

http://www.religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/RFRA 1993.hmtl

Excellent vlog presentation, Mish! I would respond much earlier but the computer system error prevent me from doing it yesterday. I hope that my blog posting is very helpful for you to comphrend why terps and other people usually find some kind of excuses for not going ahead with their given duties.

More employers are putting in sticky situations.

ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLMDEAF blog