We must root for the American Deaf-Blind individuals according to the legislative proposal in recognizance of the necessity of Special Services Provider (SSP) - tactile and close-by interpreters and visual equipments.
Just read the enclosure below from the Center for Disability Rights (CDR) -
| Urge Your Senator to Recognize Service Support Providers as a Needed Service for the Deaf-Blind Community! | Take Action! |
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The American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB) needs your help! We are asking you to call your Senators in Congress to recognize the concept of Support Service Providers (SSPs) as a needed service for the deaf-blind community. SSPs relay visual and environmental information, act as sighted guides and facilitate communication for people who are deaf-blind, using the deaf-blind person's preferred language and communication mode. SSPs enable deaf-blind persons to access their communities and connect with other people, reducing communication barriers that otherwise would result in social isolation, incapability to live independently, and inability to participate as citizens within mainstream society. Click on the Take Action link in this Alert and enter your ZIP code. This will take you to a pre-written letter to your senator. Feel free to personalize the letter.
ASLize yours, Robert L. Mason (RLM) RLMDEAF blog |
I'm curious if the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is genuinely collaborating with the AADB?
ReplyDeleteRobert Alfred Hawkins,
ReplyDeleteFYI, the AADB is in the same office building (third floor?) with the NAD on the eighth floor.
AADB have its own special interest and needs different from the NAD.
That is kinda surprise about why the AADB and NAD are seperate organizations.
Any special interest groups like the AADB would do much better while its organization hire their own people.
Deaf and Blind people have been sidelined to the curb for many years without having their own political powers.
For example, my former altma mater, WV School for the Deaf mistreated the deaf and blind students and seperated those students from the rest of deaf students, ever dormitory wings.
WVSD deaf students never had a chance of interacting with deaf-blind students at all.
The Deaf-Blind Department always manage to cocoon their deaf and blind students from everything.
We, deaf students usually looked at the deaf-blind students as some kind of freaks which the school failed to integrate and educate the students about the special needs of deaf-blind students.
I never forgot about the abusive treatment from the Deaf-Blind staffers like forced the light-skinned black deaf-blind to eat the stick of butter or slap their faces, etc.
To answer your q's, I am fully sure that the NAD and AADB are in regular contacts.
RLM
Just asking because what I was told is that there's "token" treatment on part of NAD towards AADB. However, that was the word of few I realize who are neither members of NAD nor AADB. What I'd love to see is top-notch maintained records of collaboration and achievement placed on the record for all to know.
ReplyDelete:)
Robert Alfred Hawkins,
ReplyDeleteMay I call you by your initial - RAH?
Really about NAD's token treatment of AADB?
From my own knowledge, there are handful of NAD members and staffers actively involved in the DB community like David Nelson.
RLM